When it comes to reasons why Thai people begin to follow Jesus Christ as Lord, I believe there is a common theme that emerges through their testimonies.
There are two key experiences that come up over and over again:
When it comes to foundations, there is no other foundation that can be laid but that which is already been laid, Jesus Christ. (I Corinthians 3:11)
However, Jesus himself is the embodiment of these two major influential qualities. Continue Reading…
Are you living a safe comfortable country-club-type faith journey?
Or are you on adventure with God, on journey, on quest?
In the video below, Missional thinker Alan Hirsch challenges us to go beyond the safe comfortable middle class expression of our faith and take risks with God.
Are you simply a faith community or a communitas? Be stirred… Continue Reading…
Some of my friends in Thailand can get disconcerted when they hear that I spend alot of my time talking with Buddhists. They may hear a word or phrase that I use in the Thai language that is more “Buddhist” than “Christian” and their minds are bent by it. They may automatically start thinking that my allegiance has changed and that I am “watering down the truth” or even that I am becoming something other than what they have always known me to be.
The reality is that I am building bridges with people and not walls. Am I perfect at it?; as you will see, the answer is no. But I am working on it and when the right time comes, I am always bringing the truth of the Gospel to bear on my conversations. Continue Reading…
Update 31 Oct 2011: Been high and dry for awhile now. Weather is perfect for a visit. Come and see us here and enjoy the city!
Update 5 Oct 2011: Flooding has ceased, clean up has begun, and life is returning to normal here in Chiang Mai.
Previous story: The Mae Ping River has overflowed its banks here in Chiang Mai and the rainy season is not yet over. More rain in the area will have disastrous affects on the areas located down river. Here are a few pics and video I shot from the 28th-30th. Images may take a second to load. Continue Reading…
Samsara.
What is it?
Essentially it is the Buddhist cycle of birth, rebirth, pain, and suffering thought to be common to all of humanity.
Buddhists would call it “rebirth”, others maybe “reincarnation.”
How could it practically play out in the world according to the Buddhist teaching?
Let the disciple answer for himself.
The quote below is from the Satriputra (Sariputta), the chief disciple of Gautama, called the Buddha.
“Imagine this scene: a layman sits in front of his house, eating a fish from the pond behind the house, holding his son in his lap. The dog is eating the fishbones and the man kicks the dog.
Not an extraordinary scene one would think, but the Ven. Sariputta comments: Continue Reading…
Ignorance: Lacking knowledge or awareness.
This is exactly what happened recently here in Chiang Mai, Thailand when students dressed up in full Nazi costume and regalia from the Third Reich and marched in to their school with pomp and pride, even carrying plastic machine guns.
The foreign parents and staff were absolutely shocked, but the Thai staff “did not understand the controversy.” They kids thought it was simply “fashion.”
Granted, Hitler did co-opt a Hindu/Buddhist symbol, twist it, and turn it into the symbol of his armies, so maybe there is some confusion by the Thai students when they see the swastika being used in popular culture. (I’m really reaching here, aren’t I?) But this is simply unexcuseable, especially for the Thai teachers to not “understand the controversy.”
Missional: It is a newer word to describe a person or group of people (ie, church) who know that God Himself is own Mission and that he has called them to join Him.
Missionary: It is a term used to describe a missional person who crosses cultures and other boundaries to bring the Gospel where it is not.
All are called to live a missional life, but not all are called to be missionaries.
Make sense? Some would like to blur the terms, but as Stephen Neill once said,
“when missions (and missionary) is everything, then missions is nothing.”
Why missional? Because your neighbors, family, co workers, and people you come in contact with each day need the grace of God found only in Jesus Christ. Continue Reading…
Here are the best tweets so far from the recent Desiring God National Conference , Finish the Mission.
I took the liberty of collecting some of the best quotes and posting them here for you guys and gals.
The conference, hosted by @JohnPiper, featured key missions speakers like Ed Stetzer, Michael Oh, David Platt, Michael Ramsden, and others.
Through 140 characters or less, you can get a quick taste of what was being said through the lives of these men of faith and let it stir you like it did me.
First up… Continue Reading…
For certain, my mind has been affected by the Word of God, but my whole life has been dramatically impacted by the very manifest presence of God.
I don’t ever want to take it for granted.
I’m sure I have many times, but the Lord has been gracious to me and I still have experiences of when his goodness and love just overflow in my life.
It mainly happens for me during times of praise, worship, thanksgiving, and waiting on Him.
If you haven’t tasted and seen that the Lord is good, here and now, you are missing out on a key aspect of our faith, of even life itself; relationship, here and now, with God through his Spirit. Continue Reading…
Craving affirmation; I think its something we all do at one time or another.
As human beings we are hard wired for affirmation. We respond to it.
When encouragement and affirmation comes from a person we admire or respect there is even a greater release of the “feel good” chemical in the brain.
Affirmation can push us on past the pain and difficulties we face.
We feel like we are heroes again… like somebody that actually matters.
Stuff like this….you know you love it!
Like a chocolate-lover who is fasting chocolate then gets to take a bite:
you feel the rush, the energy, the excitement of even the smallest taste.
Thai people, like all people, love affirmation too.
One of their favorite compliments is “You are a good person.”
The problem is there is hardly an ounce of encouragement and affirmation in the Thai culture. Continue Reading…
A person whose heart is aligned with God’s, hears the four voices that cry out for the Gospel.
“Whom shall I send, and who will go for us” (Isaiah 6:8, NIV)
“Please go and warn my brothers lest they end up here as well” (Luke 16:27‐28, paraphrased). Continue Reading…
Buddhist friends like to tell me that Buddhism is natural (dhammachardt). The Thai word for nature comes from the word for Buddhist teaching (dhamma). So we see that the two are thought to be one and the same.
But what if there is something above nature; supernatural…orginating from the highest point of origin possible? What if our natural wisdom, knowledge, and ability to develop ourselves is not enough?
Like a man who is swimming in an ocean on his own, we all have differing abilities and limits on what we can do. Some can swim for a few minutes, some a few hours, some a few days, but in the end we will all give out without a rescuer. Continue Reading…
I was recently contacted by a family in the US who asked for my help in visiting their son who is now awaiting sentencing in a large Bangkok prison. His crime?
Intention to sell methamphetamine.
This got me looking deeper into the world of “meth” use in Thailand.
Here is what I found:
According to the US Department of State, Thailand is home to the worst abuse of methamphetamine in the world. The Thai word for meth is “yaa baa” or crazy drug. Little tablets of the substance retail for about 50 baht ($1.20) each making them easily accessible to all Thai people, with the poor and disadvantaged in slum communities especially vulnerable. Continue Reading…
Ever think about the layers of American Christianity and how they affect our worship services and ministry today?
Living in a majority Buddhist nation, I think about things like this often because I am constantly trying to dig into the foundations of why Buddhist practice here is the way that it is.
What I find is that there are layers here in Thailand as well.
From the myriad numbers of Hindu gods, to the philosophical nature of Buddhism, to the animistic practices that predate Buddhism and much more; it all forms the faith of the Thai people today.
So, it got me thinking… Continue Reading…
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Flooding in Thailand- Fast Facts
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Missions Training: 5 E’s
Human Trafficking, Poverty, & Sex
5 Mistakes In Sending MissionariesThailand’s Meth Epidemic
Steve Jobs Was A Buddhist?
Loi Krathong &The Water Goddess
Thai Culture 101
Thai Woman Encounters God
Help With The Accident Case
Why Western Missionaries?
How To Reach Thailand With The GospelThe Craziness of SamsaraThai Culture & AffirmationMost Of Thailand is Not Truly BuddhistIgnorant Thai Students
T4T Training For Trainers: 1-4Week I: Humility and Language Learning
Ministry & Playing To Your StrengthsCreeds: The AnasthasianTaking a BreakT4T Training For Trainers: 5-8T4T Training For Trainers: Background
Church Planting & 7 BillionT4T Training For Trainers: 13-16Driving in ThailandFreedom House Church-Charlotte NC- Five Years of God’s MiraclesDr. Michael Brown’s “Line of Fire” Radio on 5 Nights A WeekPraying For MissionariesAccess to the GospelThe Front Page Stories of HeavenThe Presence of God
Thai Values
Mr. Lek
Thai Elephants and Entitlement
Eat Meat and Suffer Karma?The Most Important Skill in MinistryJust In From OrlandoDiary: Car Accident UpdateComing Home
Christ to the Buddhist MindDiscovery Bible Study in ThaiForget Me NotT4T Training For Trainers: 9-12The Reality Of…Being a Shipbreaker in BangladeshThe Summer of Love 40 Years Later
My Observations: Chiang Mai vs. IsaanEndurance Through The Power of Reward
