New Opportunities

A new, and exciting opportunity has arisen for the Baring community. Recently, a friend of Thanee's told him about a Christian radio station he was listening to at work. Thanee checked it out and discovered is was a low power local station operated by Bangna Life Church, not too far from Baring. Thanee contacted the pastor and arranged for us to meet him. Today, after going to the slum at Ja Rurat, Vee and I went and picked up Ah Jan Winit at the church and we went to meet Thanee at Life Church.

Meeting the pastor of life church, one of Ah Jan Winit's old students.

In the operating studio of the station, on the top floor of the church's building. The pastor explained to us that he had done a lot of door to door canvassing in the neighborhood, and that the church had received a very cold reaction from the community. But, once the radio station began broadcasting, they have become increasingly popular within the community, and they have seen forty people come to faith in the past year. Today, a woman showed up at their church service. She said she had been listening to the station while doing her ironing, since the day they signed on. She told the pastor, she had come to faith in Jesus some weeks ago, and now felt it was time to publicly acknowledge that.

D.J. Thanee

Vee and Thanee looking over letters that have been sent to the church because of the radio station over the past year.

A basket full of letters from people in the community.

The pastor explained that the station has a fairly small signal radius, and he strongly encouraged Immanuel to establish a station in the Baring area. Because we want to plant a church there, this could be a huge step toward reaching the people in the community. Life Church's broadcast is a mix of Christian music and teaching from the pastor. Presumably, we'd have something similar.

We are far from committing to anything, but the possibilities are very exciting.