Chiang Mai, Thailand and Battambang, Cambodia
September 4-17, 2011

Greetings from Thailand!  I just returned from a ministry trip to Chaing Mai, Thailand and Battambang, Cambodia where I had the privilege of serving with local missionaries, Adrian and Jenny Oliver. Bill and Lynette Sharp, and Krissy and Steve Velasco.   

Chang Mai is a beautiful city in the northwest part of Thailand and one of the busiest tourist destinations in all of Asia.  Jenny and Adrian work with Powerpack Ministries.  Their newsletter features information about our trip.

Jenny uses Salt and Light Ministry resources to equip her ministry teams in Thailand and it was her vision to bring me over there to help with training teams and ministry groups in the area.   Jenny has translated several movement pieces in our “Movement for Non-Movers” series and uses them as tools to equip Thai’s in evangelistic ministry to their own people.  

Jenny had me working extensively in the local Christian school, Grace International School, where I taught a variety of classes on creativity and creative ministry tools.   While there, I was able to connect with several talented and gifted students who have a heart and ability to use their arts in ministry.  It was such a pleasure to speak into their futures and encourage them in this direction.  Not-so-coincidently, we support two missionaries from our church who serve on faculty at the school.  Bill and Lynette Sharp serve in the science and math departments respectively and do an incredible job teaching and mentoring the students in their fold.  I actually stayed with the Sharps and their two children, Connor and Jaden, while I was in Chang Mai.  They were such a blessing!

Dan and Jen Bray also serve in Chang Mai with YWAM (Youth With A Mission).  Dan and his family were on their way to India when I met with them to attend conferences on reaching Muslim nations for Christ and then visiting friends and ministry contacts through India.  So, I only got to spend a couple evenings with this dynamic couple.  They are also missionaries that we support through our church.

Besides teaching daily at the school, Jenny also organized a teacher training conference and an evangelistic outreach for children while I was there.  I also had an opportunity to speak to a packed Sunday morning worship service at Chiang Mai Christian Fellowship.   Thanks to Pastor Tim Dunham and the staff at the church for such a wonderful opportunity.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip that was strategic in its planning and timing and certainly a worthwhile trip for me to partner with Jenny and Powerpack Ministries.

Normally, ten days is about all I can do on a trip like this, but I couldn’t be in Asia without taking advantage of the opportunity to work with Krissy and Steve Velasco, our YWAM missionaries in Battambang, Cambodia. 

I’ve been to a lot of places in my twenty five years of ministry, but I can’t remember ever being in a place like Cambodia.  From the moment I flew into the airport at Siem Reap, I knew this was going to be a totally different experience.  The country is at the end of their rainy season and headed into the dryer and eventually hotter season.  The thought of a “hotter season” than what I experienced there is a little overwhelming.  As Krissy so aptly reminded me, “Cambodia is somewhere to go if God is calling you there.” 

Although just getting back into the country herself after the birth of her first child, sweet Alexa, Krissy had me moving in ministry from the moment I got there:  We did childrens outreaches in several villages; youth after-school programs; programming at a government-run orphanage and work in their recently established Jeevit’s House, a support facility to help and support children at risk; whose lives have been affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.  Each and every opportunity made me feel smaller than the one before it and I was overwhelmed by God’s love for all people.  Even traveling to the most remote parts of the city and into the surrounding villages, I was keenly aware that God knew every person by name.  In these wonderful ministry settings, I became a student of ministry and ways to share the gospel to people so completely different from myself.  It was an experience that continually took me out of my comfort zone and challenged me to consider these types of culturally diverse people groups as I develop materials for Salt and Light Ministries. 

Mostly, I was reminded of the power of the human touch and the ministry of presence.  The only truly effective thing I learned to do in every situation was to be present in the moment and give of myself to whatever opportunity made itself available.  That normally meant being in touch, literally touching, a child.  The children made the rest of the ministry so inexplicably easy just by being vulnerable, relational, and affectionate.  They are a beautiful race of people, but people just the same; people like us who desperately need to know Jesus.

So, while the weather was oppressive to this Westerner and the effects of poverty all around sobering, the work was a joy and the time slipped by as quickly as the rainstorms passed through the area daily.  The 16-day trip was a unique and remarkable experience.  I want to sincerely thank all those who sent me on this trip with their gifts of finances and prayers.  I also appreciated all of you who sent encouraging notes through Facebook while I was away.  Check out our slide show below that includes some incredible pictures of this ministry trip.