Bracing Ecumenical Spirit

In Pastor Khamphan (Daeng) we find a leader with a refreshing, bracing, ecumenical spirit—Daeng’s passion is to see the church grow and be expressed within Issaan culture. 

To see that happen, Daeng and the rest of the team are willing to work with anyone who loves Jesus.  Recently a Korean brother-missionary helped fund 2 new church buildings.  Another brother, a Dutch businessman and his Issaan wife, have given hours of time to grade and improve fish ponds on the church property.  As Ruthie and I began showing up at various events, we began to check each other out—“Were they the real thing?  Were we the real thing?”  The Korean brother wondered if I was a believer, he later told me.  We wondered what our Dutch brother was up to—he was going above and beyond, giving himself, and expressing love in actions— because he hardly speaks a word of Thai.    

This was an interesting situation to step into.  We started with a visiting team of Korean acupuncturists going with our Thai and Korean team mates to do acupuncture in new villages while also sharing the gospel.  At one point a Lao-American pastor, Soudinh Penkay, joined us.  Soundinh has been praying for several years about joining the Thai-Lao team–and had come out for an initial visit.  He was well-received in the first message he preached to the church in Roi Et—and when it came to the informal times of sharing the gospel meeting in village homes, he was right at home.

Coming in half-way to this developing scene has called for all the open-mindedness we can muster.  We’re just praying that God will do the work, we will be open to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and that through all of this the church will grow and God receive the glory. 

101 Reasons to Love Roi Et

Last time we wrote we were still smarting from our experiences with Lao and Thai immigration.  Since that time we have been bouncing around from one hotel to the next—first in the border town of Nongkhai, then down to Roi Et, Chiang Mai, and Chiang Rai--touching base with colleagues and friends, both Thai and expat, and seeking out God’s will for this next phase of life and ministry.

Our reception in the northeast city of Roi Et--and our inception into life and ministry with that Thai Covenant team has been at once gratifying and challenging.  

We nearly joined the team in Roi Et more than 20 years ago, fresh out of language school.  Or so we were reminded by Daeng and Thipawan, the Thailand Covenant Church president, and his wife.  But instead Daeng and Thip and two Covenant families—Doug & Carolyn Johnson, Paul & Gretchen DeNeui—pioneered the work.  

Today we find a church that is growing in many ways—both numerically and qualitatively.