Thaimissions News

July 2010 Praise God for His goodness. It has been a long, hot summer but the rains have finally started and with it our church attendance has been growing also. We have much to report, so on to the news: Attendance: During the last month, the attendance at our Chiang Mai church has almost doubled. Our members have been inviting people and praise the Lord, they have started coming. This does pose a problem as our church is almost packed to capacity. We are actively looking for a larger building but the price is almost triple what we currently pay. None of the steady visitors (most have recently moved to the area) have joined the church as of yet, but it has been steady, so please pray with us that these new people will join and become active members. Land Purchase: Our land fund is still not growing. We are looking at a plot that is located about ¼ mile from the main highway that is about ½ acre. The price is just under $70,000. We cannot finance the land since I am not a Thai citizen, and we will purchase the land in the name of our non-profit organization. Our church is not looking for a free ride as we have saved over $8000 to be used for a building and legal fees. If the Lord leads, would you be willing to assist in this worthy effort? Gifts can be sent to BWMOM marked for Frederick building fund. College Ministry: This is an exciting new avenue for our church. A missionary working with us while attending language school, Michael Sullivant, has opened a coffee shop/student center just outside the university. He has started teaching English there several times a week and has many students already. I (Mike) was contacted by the English professor about teaching on campus and am now co-teaching a class on literature and essay writing. The whole term I will be with the same thirteen students. Between the coffee shop and the on campus teaching, we are making good inroads at the college. Short Furlough: We had the chance to visit our supporting churches in Japan during the month of June. It was a great trip, especially to visit two churches we had never been to but who have been supporting us faithfully for nine years. Military ministries are very difficult, especially the navy as there is a lot of stress on military families, and the rotation of families can decimate a church very quickly. We are thankful for their faithful support these many years and commend them for their vision to reach the world. Also during our trip, Hannah (our youngest daughter) was able to attend teen camp on Okinawa. She had a great time fellowshipping with the other teens and was challenged by the messages. What a blessing that the organizers of the camp allowed her to attend for free! Francis also enjoyed the trip as she had the opportunity to meet several people who were instrumental in her early Christian growth. As for a longer furlough to the USA, we still have no immediate plans to return. We would love to come and share what the Lord is doing in person but that won’t be possible for the next year or more. You can follow our ministry by visiting our web site www.thaimissions.org. You can see ministry pictures, read updates, and see videos on the site. You can subscribe via RSS to the site so you will be notified whenever there is an update. Prayer Requests: Please continue to pray for our family and the members of New Life Baptist Church (Chiang Mai and Wang Mai). Spiritual growth for: Bhun, Dtom, Kwanchai, and Tdom. Tom and Matthew as they study in the Bible Institute. Mae who has serious personal issues. Pray for the recent attendee’s to join the church and become active. Please pray diligently for our college ministry that it will grow and reach many with the gospel. Please pray for our building fund (we are still at only about $5000 $7000). Also pray for the new missionaries attending our church who are in language school: Dong & Bell, Michael & Maureen, and Brian & Evelyn. Also pray for a revival we will have on the 24th-26th of July. Lastly, please pray about our annual family camp as we start preparations for October. I know these are difficult times financially and spiritually, and we appreciate your faithful prayers and support. God is doing a work in the hearts of the Thai people; and someday you will see the fruit that is abounding to your account! We pray the Lord’s leading and blessing for you. For Christ in Thailand, Mike & Francis Frederick BWMOM, Thailand

	Greetings from the hornets nest, I want to assure everyone that our family is safe and sound (for the time being at least).  The situation in Bangkok has spread to the outlying provinces as of Wednesday.  Chiang Mai, being the second largest city and the home of the former Prime Minister, is having some demonstrations and riots.  There have been some reported gunfire near the train station and buildings set on fire.  Most of the incidents are isolated to the area near the governor house and the train station, both of which are at least 10 KM from our home.  There is a curfew out for the city which will hopefully be lifted soon.  Only the Lord knows what is going to happen, but for the time being we are just going to sit tight and continue with the work here.  Please pray for safety, wisdom and especially for the country.  This has been simmering for some time and has apparently reached the boiling point.  I will notify you if there is a serious change in the situation or anything significant changes.  As for news sources, there is really nothing I can recommend as the state pretty much controls the news outlets and there are a lot of rumors and misinformation on other “neutral” sites.  God is in control.  Thanks for your concern and prayers. Sincerely in Christ,   Mike Frederick Chiang Mai, Thailand

It is with great joy that we heard the news of a new missionary starting deputation to join is the church planting effort in Chiang Mai.  Atalie Habal is a young single lady that is just graduating college.  After a missions trip with her family in June 2009 she felt the Lord leading her to return to Thailand to help our ministry full time.  She will be working primarily with children which is one area that our church can really use help.  We have the opportunity to teach Bible in many schools but have lacked laborers.  Atalie will be a tremendous asset in this part of the ministry.  She will be setting up a web page http://atalie.org/ and making contacts as she starts deputation. If you would like to contact her and/or learn more about her ministry feel free to contact us until she graduates.

April 2010

 

Happy Thai New Year!  April 13-15 is the time to celebrate the Thai New Year.  If you’ve never celebrated it, you don’t know what you’re missing.  It is literally the world’s largest water fight.  People are lined up along the road or driving around with a load of people in the bed of their truck throwing water at each other.  It is one of those events that has to be experienced to be believed.  It is a pretty refreshing way to break the 100+ degree heat of mid-summer.  Apart from fun and games, we have been busy and want to share some of the events of the last 2-3 months.

Salvation: Dtom was saved in February after having come to church and events off and on for the last five years.  She has been under conviction for a long time and finally realized that only Christ is the answer.  It was with real joy that our whole church made the short trip to the river to see her baptized.  Pray that she will continue to grow in the Lord!

Bible Institute: Sakhorn graduated Bible Institute in March after about four long years of studying.  He has been a faithful student and has grown tremendously.  He will now enter a period of internship as he continues to mature (he’s only 23 years old) and learn more about the practical aspects of the ministry.  He has shared his desire to start a church in another province which is about 3-4 hours from us.  Our institute has shifted gears a bit as I am now teaching classes in English to my son Matthew and an English member, Tom, who are beginning their studies in preparation for future ministry.

Land Purchase: No, we haven’t bought anything as yet.  We actually have two projects going simultaneously.  The first is in the Lisu village of Wang Mai.  The property we were hoping to acquire fell through, so we are looking for another lot.  We have the cash in hand to purchase the property and build a minimal building, but nothing is available.  Right now we have a facility that we are able to use rent free, so time is on our side.  Our second and more ambitious project is to purchase land for our city church.  Land prices continue their upward trend, especially in prime locations.  We inquired about a property along the main road in our area, and it was about 10 million Baht ($300,000+) for less than ½ acre.  Needless to say, that is a little outside the realm of feasibility.  We did find an approximately ½ acre lot for about 2.2 million Baht ($68,000) which is about ½ mile off the main road on a well marked road.  It is undeveloped and looks like a good site in a well established area.  Right now we have raised about $7000 for this, and our church has saved about $8,000 for the future building.  We will just have to watch and pray.

College Ministry: After the chimes missions group opened the door at one of our local universities, we have been trying to establish contacts to begin a college ministry.  So far things have been slow, but we are hoping to start the new school year with a bang (school starts in May).  We are a bit short of quality ideas and would like to know what has worked for you in the past.  If you know or anyone you know is involved in college ministry, I would welcome some ideas.  You can send any suggestions or ideas to me at mike@thaimissions.org.

Prayer Requests: Please continue to pray for our family and the members of New Life Baptist Church (Chiang Mai and Wang Mai).  Spiritual growth for: Bhun, Dtom (she was baptized in March), Kwanchai, Kham, Aye (Serious personal issues), Mai, and Phorn.  Pray for Tom and Matthew as they study in the Bible Institute and Sakhorn as he interns.  For salvation, please remember the following:  Yhun, Torm (made a profession, but unstable right now), Eek, Mee (now in a combat zone in Southern Thailand), Kankaew’s family, Luu, Ingon, Pranii, Supot, and Nalongchai, Tui, Gung, and the children in the village.  Please pray for our building fund (we are still at only about $7000).  I know these are difficult times financially and spiritually.  We know that the Lord is still on the throne, and it is a privilege to be serving Him in Thailand.  May the Lord bless you abundantly!

 

For Christ in Thailand,

 

Mike & Francis Frederick

BWMOM, Thailand

Greetings from Thailand, Our 5th anniversary celebration is complete and was a great success. We had 32 at camp this year (down from 48 last year) but the Lord used this as a time to revive our hearts. The preaching by missionary Dan Gardner (Missionary for 32 years in Japan) were spot on and stirred almost everyone’s heart. We only had one lost person this year and he didn’t get saved, but he was left with much to think about. Please continue to pray for Bens that he will be saved soon. Mike will begin English classes again at the church on Friday evenings and will hopefully begin teaching English at Chiang Mai North University in a week or two when classes resume. Please pray of students to come and for their salvation. Typically our English classes at church have not done very well, but we are willing to keep trying and see what the Lord is going to do. We thank you for your faithful prayers for this ministry and the Thai people. May the Lord find us all faithful. For Christ in Thailand, Mike Frederick Hang Dong, Thailand

We have recently had a large influx of missionaries to Thailand which is a blessing. Three families have decided to study language in Chiang Mai and have started coming to our church.  This has increased our attendance significantly.  it is very difficult coming to a new country with your family and you cannot understand the songs, the preaching, the prayers, nothing.  In order to help encourage these new families (and ourselves) we have started Sunday evening services in English.  Our first service was this evening (January 17th(.  We had a good time singing in English and listening to the Word preached by a new missionary form the Philippines.  Please pray for these new families about their language studies and that they would not be discouraged in their transition.

January 2010

Happy New Year!  Since Camp in October the Lord has been working.  Let me share some of the highlights:

5^th Anniversary Camp: We were down numbers wise, but there was a good spirit, and the speaker (missionary Dan Gardner from Japan) had timely messages; it was an encouraging time.  The Lord convicted many hearts, and Lord willing, this will prove to be a spring board for the future.

Chimes Group: Our home church, Grace Baptist, Panama City, Florida, sent a 13 member chimes group to play and help with the opening of doors for further evangelistic activity.  They played in five different schools, one university, five churches (two of which are our ministries), and an outdoor market - all in one week.  They were a great encouragement and as a result, many doors were opened.  I am now teaching English at North Chiang Mai University as a result of their presence, and several other schools have invited me to come.  Unfortunately, we are still short of workers to go through all of the open doors.

Christmas: Our Chiang Mai Christmas party was a great success this year.  We celebrated at a local resort instead of the church.  We had a large number of lost from the community come (65 was the total).  Lord willing, we will see some of them at church in the coming weeks.

Answered Prayer: We have been praying for some time that the Lord would provide more laborers to help us in the ministry in Chiang Mai.  The Lord has answered in a twofold way.  First, He has sent 2 (maybe 3 or 4) missionary families to us that are studying the language.  Lord willing, they will be active in evangelism while with us for a short period of time.  One family has a desire to help us with a college ministry in the newly opened opportunity at North Chiang Mai University.  Secondly, a young lady, Atalie Habal, who was with us last summer, has surrendered to return to Thailand as a full time missionary to help us in the work.  A second young couple who will be graduating are coming for a missions trip this summer with the possibility of returning full time as well.  This has been our desire -  that the Lord would send people to complement the ministry in Chiang Mai so we can all work together to effectively reach Thailand with the Gospel.

MP-3 Sermons:  Since placing our church sermons (and those of other Independent Baptist Churches) on the internet, I have had two responses from Thai people in different parts of the country who have been listening but do not have access to a church home.  This is very encouraging, and we pray that God will use this simple tool to encourage and lead others to the Lord Jesus. 

Bible Institute: Sakhorn is finishing his studies and will begin a short internship with a Thai pastor in another province.  He will then begin a period of internship/practice while finishing his formal schooling (High School) and gaining experience in various aspects of the ministry.  He is a very dedicated young man, and we are looking forward to what the Lord will do for him.  As Sakhorn winds down, we have two more students enrolling: Tom and our son Matthew.   Tom feels the Lord calling him to Britain, and Matthew feels the Lord’s leading to Turkey. One Thai man (saved in January 2009) is considering enrolling in the institute for night classes.

Prayer Requests: Please continue to pray for our family and the members of New Life Baptist Church (Chiang Mai and Wang Mai).  Spiritual growth for: Bhun, Dtom, Kwanchai (enrolling in Bible Institute), Kham, Aye (serious personal issues), Mai, and Phorn.  Pray for Tom and Matthew as they start Bible Institute and Sakhorn as he finishes.  For salvation, please remember the following:  Torm (made a profession, but unstable right now), Eek, Mee (now in a combat zone in Southern Thailand), Kankaew’s family, Luu, Ingon, Pranii, Supot, and Nalongchai, Tui, Gung, and the children in the village.  Please pray for our building fund (we are still at only about $5000).  I know these are difficult times financially and spiritually.  We know that the Lord is still on the throne, and it is a privilege to be serving Him in Thailand.  May the Lord bless you abundantly in the coming year!

 

For Christ in Thailand,

 

Mike & Francis Frederick

BWMOM, Thailand

It is always an exciting time to have a missions team come, even more so when it is your home church. Grace Baptist Church sent a 13 member chimes musical team to minister and open doors for us in Hang Dong. In total they played in five schools, one university, one outdoor market, and four churches. It was a busy week, but a real encouragement to our church and us. the results? Well that won;t be known for a while. But we have more opportunities in our local schools than we can possibly handle at present. We pray that the lord will guide more people to serve in Thailand.

September 2009

 

Camp!  As I write this letter, we are preparing for our annual family camp in October.  This camp will be special because it is our church’s 5^th anniversary celebration also.  It is hard to believe how fast the time has gone.  Although I have never been much of a number counter, we are hoping to have 40-50 in camp this year (our high was about 50 two years ago).  Please pray that God would enable people to get off work and that friends who have been invited will come.

New Life Baptist Church, Chiang Mai: As soon as I started recording our sermons and posting them to the internet, almost our entire church bought MP-3 players (made available at a reduced cost, due to generous gifts).  It has been very encouraging that each sermon gets listened to 2-3 times per week.  Many of our members are common laborers, so they are able to listen to the players while working which has helped them focus on the Lord and get the most out of each hour of teaching.  Church attendance has been steady, and we have had several new people (already Christians) visiting that are new to the area.  Lord willing, they will join with us soon.  We have started trying to reach out into our communities by holding home Bible studies.  So far we meet in one lady’s home (she is a member) once a week.  So far we have had a few curious visitors, and one lady (her name is Khow) even came back a second time.  She had many questions and promised to come again.  We are hoping to start more home meetings in the hope of reaching people that are curious but do not have the courage to come to church.  God has been working in another area in our church.  God has called our one foreign member, Tom to the ministry.  Tom has just started Bible Institute and feels the Lord may be leading him back to England in the future.  How exciting to think that in the next few years our small church could be sending out two missionaries (Sakhorn and Tom).

Wang Mai (Lisu Village): Praise the Lord for a young man (about 28 years old) who was recently saved.  Kham used to attend occasionally while drunk to argue with me about Christianity.  He and his friends would have a good laugh while I tried to answer their questions.  He started coming sober about 6 weeks ago and has since gotten saved.  He has started bringing his brother and another friend, both of whom seem interested.  Additionally, a young lady has started attending services in this village.  This is a very spiritually dark village, and although I don’t think we have broken through yet, we are seeing the Lord work.  Actually, moving into a ‘real” building has helped a lot.  I am not exactly sure why, but maybe it has something to do with feeling obligated to the family in whose house we used to meet.  Whatever the reason, we continue to preach the word in this village.  In addition to our regular church ministry, one of the ladies in our Chiang Mai Church and Francis teach Bible to the children of the village and English. Since Francis started English, parents have been allowing their children to attend again.  It is frustrating that the parents won’t let the children come unless they see some “extra” benefit, but thank God that the Lord is opening a way to teach these precious ones the truth of God’s Word.

Prayer Requests: Please continue to pray for our family and the members of New Life Baptist Church (Chiang Mai and Wang Mai).  Spiritual growth for: Bhun, Tom, Kwanchai, Kham, Aye, Mai, and Phorn.  Pray for Tom as he starts Bible Institute and Sakhorn as he finishes (should graduate in January 2010).  Sakhorn as he continues to intern at the village church.  For salvation, please remember the following:  Torm, Eek, Mee (now in a combat zone in Southern Thailand), Kankaew’s family, Luu, Ingon, Pranii, Supot, and Nalongchai, Tui, Gung, and the children in the village. Pray for camp plans and attendance.  Also please pray for our building fund.  We haven’t had much growth lately, but know the Lord is working.  We are thankful that even in these difficult times that so many of you still faithfully give to support this ministry. We are faithfully trying to work so there will be fruit that abounds to your account.

 

For Christ in Thailand,

 

Mike & Francis Frederick

BWMOM, Thailand

Wang Mai as you might know is our church plant in a Lisu tribal village.  About 6 months ago we found a small lot to purchase for our church there.  Our home church's Men for Missions group donated money for the land and most of the building construction costs.  We were ready to close the deal when we found out the owner doesn't have a title.  He assured us the government would do a survey quickly (government, quickly; get it??)  and we would be able to purchse the land in no time (six months and still counting).  We continued to meet in a members small bamboo home.  Then the Lord opened an opportunity for us to start using an abandonded concrete home for meetings.  The ladies cleaned it up and the church bought some paint to spuruce it up a bit.  Our first week we had an almost all time low in attendance since we started going there a few years ago.  I was ready to hang up the work there and see about other possibilities.  The next week we had an all time high.  Many people saw what we were doing and were curious.  For the last month we have had good attendance and even have had some young adult men start attending regualrly!  it is amazing what the Lord can do with an abndonded house.  We are still praying that the Lord will open the way for us to purchase a lot.  Until then we praise the Lord for his provision.