I’m about two hours out of Chiang Rai in a Lahu village with Joshua, Solomon, Dan Cammack, and a few other Lahu men. They just played “The Old Rugged Cross,” and now “Amazing Grace” followed by “Oh Come All You Faithful” at a fast beat. There are two base guitars, two classical guitars, and Solomon on the keyboard. The local pastor is singing in Lahu. It is a pretty fun moment. A young couple and their baby just joined us!
We ate a delicious supper at the pastor’s house, which is where we will sleep tonight. But before we sleep we will watch Brazil vs Croatia’s World Cup match in their large multipurpose room (living, dining, sleeping, futbol watching, etc.).
Tomorrow is an area meeting for the TLCC group of Lahu churches Joshua has been serving in leadership. What fun!
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We drove up Wednesday from Chiang Mai where Debby and I participated in EFM’s second Worldwide Gathering. Debby is now flying back home.
On Thursday, Dan Cammack, Stan Leach, and our Lahu The Way Foundation (TWF) leaders met and spoke about their partnership with EFM. On Friday, our Luke 10 Exploration Trip Team, including all of us plus Rusty Savage, Scott Calhoun, and Ben Kibbe met to hear from some local church planting couples and The Way Foundation leadership. They described their vision to take the Good News into unreached Lahu villages in neighboring countries.
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On Sunday Scott Purser arrives on the bus. Scott and I will coach with our Discipling for Development team Monday through Friday. Tuesday will be spent in preparation for our Wednesday lessons with all the Way Foundation staff. They have been studying every Monday, working through the top three subjects in their curriculum list on the priority discipleship subjects for their staff. This came out of our June trip’s example of working through the Mobilization Phase lessons to arrive at their community’s syllabus.
Thursday and Friday our aim is to strengthen Yawsapa’s team leadership with work on the weekly meeting planning cycle, including good delegation and communication. We also want to lead them through the next lessons they will need to facilitate the Mobilization process in their villages.
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Please pray for Yawsapa, Manat, MaoPa, and Jabo, the current Discipling for Development (D4D) team. Pray that they have the grace to be one as Jesus and the Father are one! (That was from a team building mini-lesson Stan Leach gave). Please pray that they are “one in Spirit!” (That was from Ernesto Ramirez on our EFM Luke 10:2 Prayer Gathering call).
Pray for the team to understand the Mobilization process they are in, and help them capture and put into practice the next lessons. The lesson called Appreciative Approach (also called Appreciative Inquiry) is an incredibly valuable tool and I want all of them to capture it this next week.
Pray for good health. Pray for Roy and Joy Lujan to fully recover from COVID-19. Roy was planning on coming with me this trip and had to cancel. Also, pray for David Kibbe to fully recover from his recent bout with COVID-19 here in Thailand.
We are now a couple of hours into this jam session, and the church sanctuary is filling up. I’m tired, and if I was home I’d want to go to bed, but I imagine that time will be hours away! It sure is fun being with these new friends, and especially with Solomon and Joshua.
I am counting on your prayer support for a successful coaching week. Thank you in advance for releasing lots of the Holy Spirit’s grace, favor, wisdom, and blessing over us this week!
David Thomas
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