Working with Khao Lak churches

There are a large number of very small churches in Khao Lak, most just barely getting by with ten or twenty members. I got the chance to meet several of the pastors and our team spent time with them, encouraging them and praying for them.

This is Pak Ping Christian Center. The church is beautiful. It was designed by a member at Immanuel and built with financial help form Immanuel. About forty people are members here. The church also operates a school through third grade.

Most churches are in little storefront locations like this one. Twenty people would fill the place to overflowing.
Zion Christian Church was our headquarters for the trip. We spent the evenings here. Immanuel provides most of the financial support for this church, too.
Pastor Pet, the pastor of Zion Christian church, and our host and guide for the week. The majority of pastors in Khao Lak are women. Pastor Pet is a remarkable lady. She works so hard and is a real women of faith.
Having supper with a small group at ITV, a community near Khao Lak. A sweet and special moment, sharing a meal with a group of believers in this tiny area. The American sitting opposite me is a man named Dave, a full time missionary with Pioneers, who works in the community.

Rolling up our sleeves and working

Wednesday, we spent part of the day helping put posts in place to support the roof of an expansion to the home of a local church member. It's the kind of thing I really enjoy doing and hope to get a chance to do more of.

More on the tsunami

I spoke with this man, Promoth, while I was in Khao Lak. He told me that he is a fisherman, but was not out on the water when the tsunami came (actually, most those who WERE on the water were able to ride it out OK). He was near the sea shore and saw the water rushing out and then the wave approaching. He ran as far as he could and then climbed a tree and wrapped his arms around the branches. He said the water tried to pull him away, but he managed to hold on until it went back down. His two children fled to higher ground and were safe, but communication was cut off, so for two days he thought they were dead.

These two boats ended up something over a half mile inland and are maintained there as a sort of memorial. The first is nicknamed the 'demon boat,' because as it was swept in, it crashed into several small buildings and destroyed them, and it crushed several people. The locals claim this boat killed nearly a hundred people on its way to its final resting place.

Khao Lak

Whew! What a week! Over the next several days, I will be posting entries about my trip this week to Khao Lak, a small beach town about a ten hour drive south of Bangkok. I went with my buddy, Vee, and a team from Immanuel Baptist Church to encourage and work with several small churches in the area.

I knew before going to Khao Lak, I had been aware that they had experienced a lot of damage from the tsunami of 2004, but I had not known it was one of the hardest hit of all areas. The entire region had been devastated. Each day, the enormity of what had happened sank in more and more.

At first glance, Khao Lak looks little different from most other small towns in Thailand. Then, you notice that almost everything there is new, or nearly new. In the year following the tsunami, this area was swarming with relief agencies and church groups and the entire town was rebuilt... from new businesses to new homes. Since then, though, most of the outside help has left, so you don't see much of that kind of activity any more.

For most of us, the tsunami was a tragedy that was too far away to fully grasp. I know I was that way. To give you a clearer idea of what happened, let me explain it the way several people there told me about it this week.


On the morning of December 26, 2004, an earthquake struck well off the coast of northwestern Indonesia. From that spot, it is a clean shot across the Andaman Sea to Khao Lak. An hour later came the first indication that something unusual was going on at Khao Lak. There were no warnings or advance notice, but people along the sea shore and fisherman on the water noticed that the sea suddenly began to rapidly recede. It was like the tide was going out, but much faster and the water pulled back much, much farther than it ever would at low tide. No one had any idea what this meant. Most just stood in amazement and watched. After just ten minutes, the water stopped pulling back and things stood still for just a moment. In the distance, a line formed across the horizon and came racing toward the shore.

(Looking out to sea from the beach at Khao Lak)

One thing that surprised me was that the wave was not as tall as I had envisioned. At its highest, it was 'only' about thirteen feet, high, not the towering fifty foot wall of water from the movies. But it had the power of the Indian Ocean behind it, and nothing could stand in its way. At the time, Khao Lak was a thriving tourist area, famed for its beautiful beaches and great diving adventures. Other beach resort towns like Phuket had concrete high rise hotels that could withstand the surge, but Khao Lak had a more rustic reputation, and it's hotels were mostly sets of small bungalows along the beach. In addition, the town, itself, sits nestled on a very low lying area between the ocean and the nearby mountains behind it.

Some were far enough from the ocean to flee when they heard the shouts and screams as the wave approached. Others were able to climb trees or other tall objects. One man, as he was being swept away, reached out and grabbed his son with one hand and with the other grabbed the side of a boat being driven past him and managed to cling to it long enough to save himself and his son.

In the end, some 4,100 people died in the Khao Lak area alone, with another 5,500 injured. Virtually everyone there today lost a child, a spouse, or a parent. It is pretty mind boggling.

The Tsunami memorial. Each of the squares holds a name plate of a victim. The wall represents the wave, and is about the height of the actual wave.

Among the victims were many children, whose families left photos to keep their memories alive.

Street Scenes Again

Yep, that chicken is real. Left with other goodies at the spirit house in front of the Fenix Building where I work. Apparently, someone was seriously seeking help from the spirits.



Bananas are very common here, but a good deal smaller than you usually see in US stores. There are lots of vendors grilling bananas along the streets. They slide them off the skewers into a clear plastic bag and drizzle them with a dark syrup. Gooey sweetness.

My friend, the fruit vendor near where I work. I buy fresh pineapple from him almost every day after lunch. A half pineapple, chopped into bite sized chunks is ten bahts, or about thirty cents. Here, he is slicing up a guava.

Soi 107 09/28

Meanwhile, at Soi 107, we are giving the kids a break for several weeks from their English lessons. Today, we had a play day. Almost fifty kids showed up and I can not explain how excited most of them were over the simplest of games. Remember, some of them do not attend school, so they may never in their lives have had the opportunity to be involved in something like this before. The cheering and carrying on was amazing. For many, it is a day they may never forget.


Tony (below) is definitely operating in his area of gifting when he 'emcees' something like this. He is so high energy and positive, and the kids adore him.

A race, moving little snack balls from a plate to a cup using chopsticks.

Ja Rurat 09/28

Sundays at Ja Rurat were becoming pretty routine. Every week we sing a song or two, I teach a short Bible story and the kids color on a coloring book page using the same theme as my story. I told Vee last week that if we didn't do something to change things up, the kids were going to get bored and quit coming. He agreed, but I know he has been far too busy to do much about it. So, I went out and got some scissors and construction paper and glue sticks and we tried something a little new today. We sang songs, as always, but then I talked to the children about how prayer is just talking to God and that God longs for us to talk with him on a regular basis. Then we had the kids trace the outline of their hands in a "praying hands" posture, and cut that out and glue it to a second sheet.

It went well. The biggest problem was that it was just Vee and me today. No one else could go with us. We had our hands full, but the kids had fun and several parents watched closely and seemed to really approve.

San Lang

San Lang is the lady whose home we meet in front of when we work with the children of Soi 107 in the slum area. She comes to church every Sunday, a very, very long bus ride from her home. I had told Vee several weeks ago that I was eager to hear her story and learn from her how she came to be a believer and how she connected with Immanuel Baptist. I finally got her to sit down and tell me her story through Rin and Jenny (Jenny is a career missionary with Pioneers who works with the Immanuel team each Sunday). What San Lang told me was fascinating.

Left to right: Rin, San Lang, Jenny.

San Lang said that seventeen or eighteen years ago, "I was a drunk." She was an alcoholic who spent her time wandering around the slum areas drunk. One day a woman from Immanuel Baptist who lived in a community not far from Soi 107 was walking through the community looking for chances to share the gospel with people. She came across San Lang and could see she was drunk, as she usually was. This woman asked San Lang, "Do you want to quit drinking? I know how you can."

San Lang blew her off that first time, but a week later, they met again. Again, San Lang was drunk. This time, though, the other women shared the gospel message with her and told her, "If you are serious and really never want to drink again, I want you to go home and pray to Jesus and ask him to set you free." Late that night, San Lang did pray that prayer. She didn't feel any different at all and assumed nothing had happened, but when she woke up the next morning, she had no desire to drink for the first time in many years. She has never had a drink since.

That was an act of grace on God's part because San Lang still did not fully understand the gospel, nor did she fully believe. Finally sober, she decided to apply for a job, and she decided to test Jesus. She said, "Jesus, if you are real, please get me this job." She was 48 at the time, and in Thailand, it can be very hard to get a new job at that age. Now, testing God is not a good idea for believers, but he honored San Lang's request, and she got the job.

For her, though, something was still missing. She had started getting rides to Immanuel an attending church and a church friend told her she should follow the Lord in baptism and she agreed. On the day she was to be baptised, standing near the baptistery in the church, she began to weep. She had no idea why. She wasn't sure if she was happy or sad. The pastor who was baptising her was thrown off by the sight of her crying so hard, but he went ahead and led her into the water. San Lang said he asked her if she had received Jesus into her life as savior and Lord, and she said she had. He lowered her into the water, and she said that as she came up out of the water, it was as though she was a completely new person. She felt clean for the first time she could remember.

What an amazing story. And it is made more so by the fact that she wants so much for the rest of her community to know the hope she has. She asked Immanuel to please come out and start some kind of church to reach the lost, which is where the whole children's ministry started and where the idea of a new church plant, which is now being planned out, first started.

I am also touched by the thought that this other woman would go out by herself to meet and share with others. Because she was faithful, she met San Lang. Because she met San Lang, literally hundreds of lives may well be changed for eternity.

During the course of my stay here, I have come in contact with many career missionaries, both Baptist and otherwise. They have all been just wonderful folks. One thing that I keep thinking about is that each one of them, at some point in their life, came to a point where they laid their entire lives at the foot of the cross and said, "I give you my life, I give you everything. Use it as you will." I have no words to describe my awe at and appreciation for that kind of commitment.

In many Pac Rim countries, missionaries have to keep their identities and real roles guarded because they are not welcome. Here in Thailand, that is not the case, and in fact each of these folks have blogs, I believe.

Below are David and Claudia Johnson, who work with the International Mission Board of the Baptist church. They have been in Thailand for over twenty years and are truly wonderful people. They are from Alabama, and even had me over for some southern biscuits and gravy and grits last weekend! David will coordinate any short term mission trips involving my home church, Pleasant Valley Baptist, working with Immanuel Baptist in 2009.


Greg and Chris. Greg is new to Thailand, having moved here just a few weeks ago. He works through Pioneers, an interdenominational missions organization. He'll be working in Bangkok, helping plant new churches. He also comes to help the Immanuel Baptist team with the slum ministry at Soi 107. Chris is stationed about three hours west of Bangkok, nearer to Burma. Sent by his home church, a Calvary Chapel church in California, he is pretty much independent, working with villagers and trying to find ways to share Christ. Chris has been in Thailand for two years. When he comes to Bangkok, he heads for Immanuel and considers it sort of his 'home base' here. I appreciate so much that Immanuel welcomes people from other church backgrounds to partner with them in their ministry efforts, and that people like Chris and Greg are eager to do so.

Boy

This is Boy. He's the young man who invited me to Immanuel Baptist. Boy is a young man with a deep, simple faith. He speaks very clear English and feels called to ministry. In fact, he has initiated contact with Midwest Baptist Theological Seminary in KC.

It hasn't been easy for him. Boy's father passed away when he was very young. His mother is a school teacher, and teachers do not make much money here. He's had to do without a lot.

Today, my Sunday School teacher related a story to me about Boy that was pretty incredible. The teacher often starts class by asking everyone what God has done in their lives over the previous week. Two years ago, he asked that question and when it got to Boy, he said God had done something special for him. Boy said that he had never had a birthday party or a birthday cake or even a birthday gift. He said his mom loved him a lot, but she was very busy and well... he had just never had his birthday noticed. Anyway, Boy said that one night that week he had gone to sleep and had a dream and in his dream Jesus came to him holding a birthday cake with candles burning and said, "Happy birthday, Boy." Boy said he then woke up and realized it WAS his birthday. He hadn't even thought about it. Boy said he knew it was God's way of saying HE knew and that He loved him.

9/14 in the Slums

Today at Ja Ru Rat, we had twenty five kids and it sent really well. After we sang a few songs, I told them the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand with five small loaves and two fish. I stressed that he got the food from a 'lek puchai' (little boy) in the crowd. Afterward, we gave then a coloring book page that went along with the story. I was amazed that almost all the kids could answer all my questions about the story. (It was fun to see their faces when I told them there were twelve baskets full of leftovers!)

It is also encouraging that there are more and more adults hanging around the edges to watch and listen. That's the idea... to reach the parents through their children.

I made a fuss over one child's picture and took her photo. Suddenly EVERYONE wanted their photo taken, and they all wanted me to draw a star on their pages.

As the last of the kids were leaving, Vee asked a group of them to come stand with me for a photo. They were more than happy to oblige.
At Soi 197, Tony's fan ministry started today with a couple of people from the community bringing broken fans in for free repair. Tony knows his stuff. He had one motor torn apart, soldering stuff and next thing you knew, it was working like new! I'll be interested to see how this ministry goes. What a great example of 'finding your niche'!

Worship at Immanuel

I know there is a LOT of curiosity about the worship services at Immanuel, so here is a small taste. The words are usually in both English and Thai on the screens. Note the man in the grey shirt on the front row. That is Pastor Winit. He plays the violin and usually picks it up and joins the band on most songs. Enjoy.