A New Leading

More and more God is giving us a preview for what He has ahead of us. Originally thinking we were moving there to build a children's home, it looks like He must have used that to just get us to Thailand!

Little did we know that by enrolling at Payap University for our MBA degree that God had something bigger on His mind... Payap was founded on Christian principles & now comprises 6000 students. Four percent of students enter as Christian and less than four percent leave knowing Christ. As of Apr '09 there were three students in the Christian Club.

One week after we enrolled, our youth pastor took us aside and told us a very interesting story:
About seven months ago there was an American student wishing to begin a campus ministry at Payap. The pastor and university faculty agreed to meet privately. During the same hour of this meeting, right outside the campus, this student was tragically struck & killed by a car while entering the freeway on his motorbike.

We could be wrong, but this tells us that there is a certain power not wanting anyone to reach the campus of Payap.

Why a campus ministry?

#1- God is calling us.

#2- What better way to reach students then as students ourselves.

#3- "campus ministry targets college students, because it is the decision making time of life: the small window of time where individuals are open to changing their ideas, beliefs and perceptions of the world. This is why roughly 90% of all Christians made their decision for Christ before they reached the age of 21." well stated by Campus Crusade for Christ.

We will defeat this power, in Jesus' name! As Enablers implies, we will enable ministries to make a difference on the campus of Payap and ultimately enable the campus youth to become leaders for Christ!

BBQ & Potluck

In our quest to provide an alternative lifestyle to the college bar life, we held our first event tonight!  Well,  fifty barbequed kabab's, several authentic Thai dishes, crazy blend of Thai & western snacks, eighteen pounds of mango smoothies, twenty bottles of Pepsi, thirty waters, and countless conversations later, we credit God for putting together such a great party!   

Our vision is that through these events, we:

• Create a fun, alternative atmosphere from the college party scene
  
• Make long lasting friendships 
  
• Demonstrate God's love through our lives
  
• Allow the Holy Spirit to stir within those a desire to know our true source of joy 
  
• Then down the road & upon the Holy Spirit's prompting, share God's love!
  

It turned out to be a a great mix of guests from all different walks of life... fellow university students, Thai friends, roommates, professors, Bible study group, fellow teachers, pastors, and friends of friends!

English Teaching

During our research of how to best reach university students, we stumbled across "The Centre", a local organization which teaches English classes and provides exposure to the gospel.

Their staff consists mostly of farang (foreigners) on short term missions trips to Thailand. They hold five to eight classes each day and have a weekly cooking night and party. We attended one to surprising find the Thai's to really enjoy punishing each other with baby powder for losing!

It seems like a very solid program. Located across the street from one of the local universities, it provides a relaxing atmosphere for studying, but sometimes we enter the house to yelling and screaming as the students are battling each other in some card or board game.

We admit we were a bit nervous to teach, as we've never had experience or formal training in that area. Well, what we forgot was that we have the best teacher living inside of us! He's definitely come through AGAIN and the students are really responsive!