Opportunities in times of Crisis

Man on the plane wearing two masks?  Double protection?

Last week I took a flight down to Bangkok for a meeting and when I got to my seat someone was sitting in it.  I showed my boarding pass to the air steward and he politely directed the man to move from my aisle seat to his assigned seat by the window.  As he moved he smiled and said that he’d already cleaned my seat and with his gloved hands he proceeded to get out his alcohol wipes and wipe down his new seat, the tray table and the arm rest.  I thanked him very much for cleaning my seat for me and that was a conversation that we might have never started if it weren’t for the coronavirus.  

Just as it was for 9-11 and the Tsunami, a time of crisis brings opportunities for spiritual conversations that might not happen in normal times.  May we have the courage to use these opportunites.

Chiang Mai University English Language Team (CELT)

Cardiac Electrophysiology Research & Training Center Presentations

I have started helping as an English consultant at Chiang Mai University, Medical Faculty one day a week.  I attend the weekly Cardiac Electrophysiology Research and Training Center (CERT) presentations and listen to 2 research presentations and provide English feedback.  I also mentor 2 first year medical students each week with their English.  

It has been a good opportunity to meet more Thais and help the community.

Air Quality

The new and old air purifier filter

While my home town of Sydney discovers what air purifiers are from the savage bushfires, here in Chiang Mai I am well acquainted with them have 5 units in our house since last year.  Unfortunately, this year the air quality has worsened earlier in the year than in previous years.  This year we have had "red" PM2.5 reading in January already, whereas in previous years it has been at least February before the air pollution worsened.  Last year, I was caught out in not buying replacement filters quickly enough, so this year I've bought them early.

There was presentation by one of Chiang Mai's leading Paediatric Pulmonologists at our children's school recently about the air pollution in Chiang Mai.  I wasn't able to make it, but apparently some (or a lot?) Chiang Mai's air pollution is caused by the biggest poultry company in Thailand, which has been planting fields of corn to feed its pigs.  The feed burning practices for the supply of this animal grade corn is what is causing the air pollution.

The Thai people I have spoken see to agree with this view and they don't think much of the owner of this company.

I do hope there is an improvement of the air quality in Chiang Mai in the future as it seems to be worsening each year and impacting life here more and more.

EFT North 50th Anniversary Celebration

EFT North 50th Anniversary Celebration @ Mae Jo University

On 4-5 November, the Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand (EFT) in North Thailand celebrated their 50th year anniversary in Chiang Mai.  The EFT is one of the 3 major Evangelical church councils in Thailand, the Churches of Christ in Thailand (CCT) and the Baptist Convention being the other two major ones.  

David Yonggi Cho was invited as the keynote speaker.  I set up a booth to promote The Bible Project Thailand, the Prakhampee and Know God facebook pages.

My booth at the EFT North 50th Celebrations

They were hoping for 3,000 church leaders to attend.  I'm not sure if they reached this number or not.  On the first night I stood at the door and handed out flyers and I gave out at least 500.  I hope that the 2 days at the booth would have helped in getting the word out about these 3 internet Christian resources.

Prakhampee (Bible) Facebook Page Ministry

Prakhampee Facebook Page

We have been in Thailand 12 years and we couldn't have imagined the different types of ministries we ended up being involved in.  We started out in church planting, then teaching at a Bible school, leadership of missionaries and now into Internet Evangelism and Digital Media ministry.

Our involvement in the latest ministry in Internet Evangelism and Digital Media, started when one of our workers running this ministry was going back to their home country and a person was needed to takeover.  When this need was discussed at our leadership council meeting, I was the leader with the least number of missionaries under my leadership and had more time than the others.  Not only that, when I heard about the ministry, I felt that this ministry must continue and if there was a extended time with no one leading this ministry then the previous 7 years of work might go to waste.  So I volunteered to take it on, even though I did not have any prior experience in this ministry.

So from July, the plan was to spend 75% of my work hours on this ministry and 25% on my leadership responsibilities of other missionaries in North Thailand. 

There are several aspects to the Internet Evangelism and Digital Media Ministry.

1. Prakhampee Facebook Page  

This page encourages people with daily Bible verses and encouraging messages as well as short Christian video clips like from the Jesus Film.  As far as I can see, it has the largest number of "Likes"(117,000+) and "Followers"(122,000+) for a Thai Christian facebook page.  We hope to develop this page by adding courses and articles to help Christians grow as well as introduce Jesus to those who do not know about Him.

2. The Bible Project Translation

The Bible Project is an organisation that has produced over 160 amazing videos with topics ranging from "How to Read the Bible"; Themes of the Bible and introductions to the books of the Bible.  We in partnership with Campus Crusade and Create Thailand have been translating these videos into Thai. We have almost completed the first 10 video and are slowly working through the rest.  These video will be a great resource for Thai Christians and those wanting to know more about the Bible.

I have been given the task to develop our team and build on this ministry and by God's grace it will have a growing impact on Thai speaking people around the world.

Memorial Service for John Davis

Memorial Service for John Davis at Phayao Bible Seminary

John Davis was an OMF missionary who came to Thailand in the late 1950s from the UK.  He found the land on which the present Phayao Bible Seminary (PBS) and was it's first principal.  John spoke Thai, Northern Thai and some tribal language fluently.  John's influence in establishing PBS and in revivals in North Thailand have left a lasting impact on the Thai church.  I can't help feeling that we lack the people of the mould of John in missions today.  They are rare.  He was much loved and honored by the Thai brothers and sisters.  As an OMF missionary, I stand of the shoulder of giants, and John was truly one of them.  "Thankyou God for this good and faithful servant."

OMF Thailand Conference 2019

This year, the North region organized the annual missionary conference for OMF Thailand (each of the 5 regions takes turns so we only need to do it once every 5 years).  Unfortunately, with the number of our missionaries in the North declining by more than half over the last 3 years and most of the remaining missionaries on home assignment, we were down to just 3 who would actually be at conference (including myself and my wife!).  Praise God that so many people from other regions helped.  It was great example of partnership in action, which was the theme of the conference.

There appeared to be a fierce spiritual battle before the conference with the main conference speaker’s family and one of workshop presenters affected with various difficulties and illnesses.  1 and half hours before the first session the main amp died and with 5 minutes to go the connection between the computer and the data projector failed and refused to reconnect.  We asked for prayer on the facebook prayer event which we had set up for the conference.  Praise God that both the amp and connection were restored in time for the first session.  We only lost the connect between the computer and data project in the final 5 minutes of the first session when it was time for announcements.  One of the privileges of running conference is that you see the ways in which God answers prayer.

We are thankful to God for the great children’s and youth program volunteers who came from Australia, Singapore, the Netherlands, Brazil, the United States, South Africa and Switzerland .  He answered prayer in this area too.  Early February, things were looking bleak with only one volunteer confirmed to help at conference when we need at least 15.  Then the idea came to post a video on facebook calling for volunteers which really raised the profile of the need and started the flow of inquiries.  In the end with had 24 volunteers and we even had to turn people away!

Conference is an important time, especially for those missionaries living in remote places to be refreshed, trained and encouraged.  For many missionary children, it is the highlight of their year. We are so thankful to God’s for all that he did through this year’s conference.

Thailand Media Network Meeting

First time I have attend the Thailand Media Network meeting here in Chiang Mai.  They meet every 2 months.  There were representatives from Create International, Global Recordings and other Thai and mission organisations.  It is great to see different groups sharing resources and working together.

Building of the New Chiang Mai Theological Seminary

Ribbon cutting and ground breaking ceremony

Ground has been broken for the building of the new Chiang Mai Theological Seminary (CTS).

CTS was established by OMF missionaries in 2001, initially as the Chiang Mai Bible Centre.  3 of the key OMF missionaries involved with the building and establishing of CTS until today have been Henry Breidenthal, Larry Dinkins and Daniel Kim.  Daniel Kim has just stepped down as the director of CTS after 15 years, handing over to a new Thai director.

May God continue to use CTS to train and send our church planters and church leaders for Thailand and beyond. Please pray that the remaining funds needed to complete the building will raised.

Worst Air Pollution in the World

Every year around this time, Chiang Mai, the city where we live experiences an increase in air pollution due to the burning of fields by farmers in North Thailand and surrounding countries.  Chiang Mai is surrounded by mountains and the air pollution is trapped in the city.  We have lived in Chiang Mai for 3 years now and this is the third burning season we've experienced and undoubtedly the worst.  The most commonly used measure for air pollution is the PM2.5 which is the air particle matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers.  These particles are dangerous because they are so small that they get lodged deep in your lungs and perhaps even into your blood.  The World Health Organisation (WHO) guideline is to keep the PM2.5 under 25. A PM2.5 reading over 50 is considered unhealthy.  Levels over 250 are considered hazardous to your health.  Chiang Mai has had days of PM2.5 over 400 in past weeks, being the worst polluted city in the world. 

When the levels are high you can feel and smell it in the air when you wake up.   Fortunately, none of my family have any breathing issues like asthma.  We also have the money to buy air purifiers which can reduce the air pollution within our house.  We also have bought masks for when we go out.  

We are praying for rain which will help reduce the pollution.  There is noise from those in authority about how they will crack down on the burning but it doesn't seem to ever have any significant impact. 

We are thankful that this is only a issue for about 2-3 months of the year, though I read a report that the period of air pollution has been increasing each year.