SPOTLIGHT ON MISSIONS: Siripong & Jessie Yaebeang • Thailand

• An Outreach — Our whole church went to a community nearby with the goal of meeting new people, telling them about our church’s new location, giving out gospel tracts and presenting the gospel when the opportunity presented itself. We had our service on a Sunday morning, ate lunch at church, spent time in fellowship until the evening and went out together. It was a long day, but what a joy to be able to do this.

While we were out, I met and talked to a man for a while who told me he went to church years ago when he was a college student and had a really positive experience. His name is “A” — please pray for him. He gave me his number, and we hope to reconnect again soon.

As much as we enjoyed reaching out to the community, what was really neat was how our people came together as a church family. Everyone is ready to go out again!

• A Short Trip with Our Church — Last month, our church got to go for a one-night retreat to a nearby town. (It’s a two-hour drive). It was a fast and tiring trip but refreshing in several ways! We enjoyed fellowship with one another through meals, letting the kids play, singing, praying, reading Scripture and listening to the Word of God. After we put all the kids down at night, the guys got together and had a really long visit about some plans and visions for our church, then prayed for God’s blessing and guidance. It is sad that when we do things like this, there is always somebody who can’t come. Nevertheless, it was a blessed time.

• Supporting a Thai church and ministry — Most churches and ministries are packed into two major cities in Thailand, one of them being around where we are. Though we started our first church here, our hope is that one day we will plant another church in a different part of Thailand where there is a great need, instead of remaining only here in the city. Meanwhile, we’ve been looking out for local churches or ministries in other rural locations with which we can partner.

Some time ago, I had gotten to know a Baptist pastor who was starting a church in a rural area about five hours from where we are serving. This past month, we invited him to speak at our church and share about his ministry. Everyone was encouraged and challenged by everything he shared. We are praying for them and discussing the possibility of supporting their ministry.

As you support us, we are always looking for ways to support other ministries. Let us continue to help and pray for one another!

• Baptism — This month, we had a baptism service for a brother in our church, but what made it unusual was that it was his second one. After attending our church, he came to a better understanding of the gospel, repentance, following Christ and the church. He then started to have questions about the state of his understanding when he first got baptized, as well as the church and the person who baptized him.

He asked a long time ago whether or not he should have a second baptism. Since he was already baptized once, I told him it wasn’t “necessary” to do so again. However, it still bothered him after some time, and he indicated the desire to be rebaptized by our church. I had never done this before, so after several conversations with him, prayer and seeking counsel from others, I finally decided to baptize him last month. We are thankful for him and his commitment to the Lord.

• Continuing Ephesians — After taking a break from Ephesians to do a short series on Ecclesiology, we are back in Ephesians! Our aim is to finish this book by the third quarter of this year. We just looked at Eph. 5:15-17 (NASB1995), “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” It’s amazing how often the Lord, by His providence, uses different texts in this amazing book to challenge and bless my soul and our church body at the right time. Please pray as we continue to learn from this living book!

Also, Lord willing, my prayer is that after I am done preaching through this book, I will start working on a commentary on Ephesians, which will be my first commentary. It’s a big task, but I believe it will be a blessing for Thai churches who want to study, teach or preach the book of Ephesians.

• One Week After the Earthquake — Yesterday marked a week since the big earthquake here in our area. We checked our house thoroughly and saw a few cracks and gaps we had never seen before. I still feel dizzy almost every day, just like the day the earthquake happened, and I hope it will go away soon.

The process of rescuing people who are trapped underneath buildings is extremely challenging. It is understandable since it’s a mountain of concrete and steel from 30 stories. They found more bodies, but they haven’t gotten to most of them yet. Not all of them are Thai; some are workers from nearby countries.

The worst damage and devastation is still where the earthquake began in Myanmar. The news about the situation there is limited, even though we are very close to them. A reliable source gave this estimate of the damages in Myanmar: “The earthquake in central Myanmar killed 3,085 people and injured 4,715. There are hundreds more that are missing and the toll is expected to rise.” Please remember those who are suffering in both countries.

• A Devotional Thought — In addition to the videos we post, another thing I do a couple of times a week is to write a short devotional thought on different topics and have our church post it online. Here is one sample about True Worship from last month (translated from Thai):

Worshiping God should not only happen on Sundays but should be a daily part of every Christian’s life.

The question is, how can Christians worship God on weekdays? We can worship privately by doing the things we do on Sundays when believers gather together, such as reading the Bible, praying, singing worship songs or even listening to sound sermons and teaching. Let’s not make these things something we do only once a week on Sundays.

If we don’t worship God privately from Monday to Saturday, it’s very unlikely that we will be able to truly worship Him on Sundays. (John 4:19-26; Col. 3:16; Psa. 150; I Thess. 5:17; Matt. 4:4; Luke 10:38-42)