News & Prayer – Feb. – July 2002

July – Pray for Elizabeth as she has returned to LSU to continue her studies.  Thank the Lord for her with us and praise Him for the reunion of Elizabeth and her family.  Pray for her transition back to life as an American collge student, that she would trust Christ as all of her provision during this time of change. 

July – As you can read on our news page, the Lord answered our prayers as the projects drew near to a close by bringing several students to know Him and by providing many more who are not yet at a point of faith, but who want to know more about Christ in their search for the truth.  Praise God with us for His salvation that came to many students during the last several weeks.  Pray that God would save many more students.  Join us in trusting God for His keeping those who place their trust in Him, in spite of the opposition of family and friends.  Pray that these new believers would share their new life with their families and friends and that God would save them as well.

July – Join us in prayer as the summer projects are nearing an end.  We have seen the Lord draw several students to Himself during this time, but we still desire to see many more come to faith in Him.  There are only a limited number of days left before these almost thirty Americans reutrn home.  They have been a tremendous blessing to us as we have seen God’s fatihfulness in many ways through them.  He answered our prayer in bringing them to Thailand and has answered our prayers for them during their time here.  As they prepare to leave, we pray that God would move through them in such a way to save many of the students whom they have become friends with during their month here in Thailand.  Please join us in prayer.  Above all, we desire that everyone here would be captivated by Christ and be brought to know Him in deeper and more intimate ways.

July – Pray for the new Stinters who are raising their financial support and discovering their prayer support team right now.  God has called these six others to minister with us here for one year beginning in August.  Pray that God would keep them constantly looking to Him during this busy time, and pray that these new teammates would give their agreement of faith to rest in Christ – God’s provision for every need.  Please pray for:  Brent, Nicole, Hollie, Emily, Rocky, and Sunnee.

July 23 – This was a bittersweet day as it came time for us to say goodbye to a part of our Stint team from this past year. As Jordan, Laura, and Matt began their second year of ministry in Thailand, it came time for Elizabeth to go back to LSU to continue studying towards her degree. We all know that it is God’s good and perfect will that Elizabeth go back to LSU, but it was a difficult goodbye for our Stint team, and for Elizabeth and her Thai friends. She will still be a huge part of our team this next year as she continues to pray for us and for the people of Thailand. We will miss you Elizabeth!

July 12-16 – Summer Project #1 made their way to debriefing on the beach in southern Thailand before leaving for America on the 17th. They finished the last couple of weeks on campus with some exciting relationships made with students. The gospel was shared many times with many students and we, as the Stint team, had an opportunity to meet with many of these students who wanted to talk more about Jesus after meeting the summer project students. We are so amazed that the Lord brought the summer project and us into contact with so many students who He has been working in to bring them closer to Him. Jordan and I were especially thankful for the great increase in the number of guys who were interested in spiritual things. We pray that we will truly see a breakthrough and see many guys receive Christ in these next few months as we continue the realtionships began by the summer project. After this time on campus, we wrapped up the six weeks with a few days at the beach. The Lord brought good closure to the time and everyone had a lot of fun as well. We are truly thankful for each person in this group, as the Lord taught them so much and used them to glorify His name here by sharing His truth with so many students. Please join us in prayer for the harvest at Kasetsart University during these next few months. 

June 29-July 2 – Both summer project groups came together for this trip to the northeast. Mahasarakham was our destination for a couple of days of showing the Jesus Film and passing out “Who is Jesus” magazines. This was also the site of our Thai student two-week camp in March. During that time, we saturated most of that area with the gospel. These few days continued that effort. There were several new believers after the film showings. Also, we went to two universities in Mahasarakham. The Lord provided this opportunity to blitz the campuses with the gospel as a way to open a brand new campus ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ in this part of Thailand. The Lord moved mightily on this day as 10 students received Christ!

June 21-23 – Summer Project #1 followed up their first two weeks on campus at Kasetsart University with an English Camp. About 70 students came from different universities to a weekend camp in Pattaya, Thailand. The Lord used this time to bring several students into a relationship with Him. It was a huge challenge for the summer project group, but the Lord used this time in glorifying His name by bringing the students to more dependence on Him.

June 13 – Summer Project #2 arrived on the scene! This group was truly a surprise gift from God. These 10 staff and students had planned on going on a six-week mission to India with Student Mobilization, an organization very similar to Campus Crusade for Christ. A few days before we left to come back to Bangkok at the end of May, I (Matt) received a call from my good friend Brent, a staff-guy with StuMo at the U of Arkansas, saying that with all of the problems between India and Pakistan, they were advised not to go there. He asked if they could come to Bangkok and serve together with us in Campus Crusade for Christ in ministering to college students here. There was a virtually instant “YES!” that followed. We sought the Lord on it together for the next few days, and it all came together according to His will. So, everyone prepared frantically over the course of almost three weeks and June 13th saw them make it to Thailand. What a blessing from the Lord for all of us involved!

June 6 – Summer Project #1 arrived in Bangkok just a few days after the Stint team came together again. We spent these few days having fun with our Thai friends who we missed while we were gone. We also made countless last-minute preparations before the arrival of SP1. They arrived safely and we were super-excited to see them. Three staff, ten students from Arkansas, three students from LSU, and one one-year-old daughter and her nanny made the trip.

June 3 – Back to Bangkok! Laura, Jordan, and Matt made their return trip to Bangkok for year #2 and reunited with Elizabeth!

April –   Please pray for the upcoming American summer project and the new Stinters next year.  There are 13 students and 3 staff from Arkansas and Louisiana coming in June to join us at Kasetsart for 6 weeks.  Pray for their preparation for their time in Thailand that is just around the corner and that they would be constantly focused on Christ throughout this busy time.  Also, pray that God would do amazing things at Kasetsart during their time here.  Pray for the salvation of many students.    Please also pray for those six who are beginning to plan for their year in Thailand starting in August.  There is a great deal to do before coming and we pray that they would all stay completely focused on Christ as the pressures of a busy schedule crowd in on them. 

April – Please pray for the Thailand CCC national staff during this time of financial support raising.  Half of them lived last year with a negative account balance, barely having enough money to buy the bare essentials to live on each day.  In a country with so few Christians, it is difficult for them to raise support.  Join us in trusting God in faith because we know that He did not spare us His own Son, but provides every good thing that His children need.  

April – Pray for our return trip to the States in preparation for next year.  Laura, Jordan, and Matt are returning on April 15th, while we also ask you to pray for Elizabeth as she remains in Thailand with the Thai staff to help wthe national leadership in various areas.  Pray that the three of us who are going home would have a great time of fun, rest, and fellowship with family and friends.  Pray for God’s quick leading us into His provision for our financial needs next year.  Pray that Elizabeth would have a great time of continued fellowship with the Thai staff, and that God would use her however He has planned.  

April – Join us in trusting God for His working in the lives of the many new believers at Kasetsart University during the time that the CCC ministry is away from them during the Thai summer.  Our faith is in Him, as He is faithful to perfect the good work He began in each and every believer.  

April – Praise God for His amazing work through the summer project!  His message of grace was shared with many, even though the number was far fewer than the prayer goal, but God sent forth his Word and accomplished His purposes.  Praise Him for the 1,000+ new believers.   

March – Pray for the upcoming summer project to northeastern Thailand.  As you can read on our news page, the spiritual opposition to this venture is great.  Join us in praying for protection, and for AMAZING, AMAZING work by the Lord Jesus.  Thailand CCC has a goal of sharing the gospel with 300,000 people during this 2 week time period using the Jesus film, Jesus mini-magazines, gatherings with gospel presentations, an evangelistic march, and one-on-one sharing.  There will be around 150 staff and students who will take part in this monumental evangelistic push.  This goal is totally impossible for us to do. Thankfully, we do not trust in ourselves.  Jesus affirmed that in Luke 18:27 when He said, “the things that are impossible with people are possible with God.”  God is where we place our trust not in ourselves.  Please agree with us in faith that God will blow us away with His faithfulness and in so doing, sweep across this country with an awakening at the hands of the Holy Spirit.


March – Please praise the Lord with us for His saving of Din’s life last week (Feb. 25th).  Pray for Din’s continued healing at the hand of God.  Pray that God would supernaturally heal his right eye and that he would regain his sight.  Praise the Lord because “we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him, to those who are called according to His purpose,” (Rom. 8:28), and that “even if we are faithless, He abides faithful, for He cannot deny Himself,” (2 Tim. 2:13).

April 15 – Off to America! Jordan, Matt, and Laura make their return trip in preparation for a second year here in Thailand, while Elizabeth stays to help out the TCCC national leadership during a busy summer in Thailand. We will all reunite in June. More to come…

April 1-12 – This time saw our last couple of weeks at Kasetsart University before three of us return to America. Summer school began during this time and we went to meet with students for teaching the Bible and fellowship. We will return to KU in June, when the Thai fall term opens.

March 10-23 – Thailand Summer Project 2002! Wow, what an amazing time! Northeast Thailand was surely impacted by God as He sent out his message of salvation in Christ Jesus to many people. The project began with more than 150 students and staff from all over Thailand meeting together in Mahasrakam, Thailand for three days of praise, prayer, and preparation for the time ahead. The Lord ministered to us in all in this time as we prepared to split into groups of 12-15 to take the gospel to the people of the northeast. Each of the four of us on Stint split into different groups and we were totally seperated for the first time since our coming together in August. The groups then went out sharing the gospel through the Jesus Film, handing out of Jesus magazines, and by one-on-one conversations. We all met together again after one week of sharing to put together a parade through the streets of Mahasrakam. During the parade we had an evangelistic drama, with several bands playing along the way. Several local churches banded together to help pull of this massive undertaking. This was followed by an evangelistic concert starring P’ Buu, a converted Thai superstar. We praise God for His mighty work during this time. The gospel was shared with over 30,000 people and over 1,000 indicated decisions to receive Christ! All the glory is to God as He works mightily through His children. We thank Him for two of our good friends, Pae and Tip, who are students at Kasetsart University. They went along for the trip and received Christ into their hearts during the summer project. Praise the Lord!

February – WOW! – 12 students came to faith in Christ at our main campus, Kasetsart University, during the month of February!  Please pray for their follow-up Bible study times.  Pray that their faith is real, that they understand the meaning of accepting Christ, and praise God knowing that that those who have truly trusted in Him, will be kept and grown and strengthened in faith in Him.  Praise Him – for He does all the work.  Thank Him for His working in their lifes during the university vacation, when we will not be able to spend as much time with them.

February –   We have recently sent a Thailand promotional video back to the States.  It was used at CCC’s Dallas Winter Conference and will be viewed soon at the University of Arkansas, LSU, as well as at Brown University in Rhode Island.  Pray that God would use this and many other things to draw students to Thailand either for a six week mission trip this summer, or a full year beginning next August — ANSWERED! – There are 13 students and 3 staff on the way in June to minister to the students at Kasetsart  for 6 weeks as well as 6 more one-year Stinters on the way on August! Praise Him for the students who are already very excited about coming to minister to the Thai students this summer!

February – There are only about 3 or 4 weeks left in the school year for students in Bangkok.  Their summer vacation starts a little earlier than ours in the States.  Please pray that God would make Himself known to many of the students whom we have been spending our time with up to this point.  Pray that He would save many of them as we share His gospel. ANSWERED! – 

February – Please pray for an upcoming overnight trip with students from 3 universities, (Kasetsart, Phranakorn, and Rangsit), to Kao Yai.  It will be a quick trip, but we pray that God will use this time to bring students to know him.  The Thai staff will accompany our group on Febraury 2nd .  We will spend some fun time together with students and share Christ’s love with them.

February 21-27 – With Kasetsart University beginning final exams, we loaded up the car and left for Chiang Mai, Thailand once again for the annual Thailand Campus Crusade for Christ national staff conference. The fun began with a night honoring the first-year staff trainee-graduates. This was their last official night as staff trainees, and their first night as full-staff. Each staff member goes through a year of training upon joining CCC. The national staff conference began on the following day as we all gathered together at a sports resort area in Chiang Mai. The week was to be a time of prayer, renewed vision, rest, and fun, as everyone gathered there to seek the Lord and to praise Him for the awesome things that He has been doing in Thailand over the past few years. It began just in that way. During this time of great excitement though, we began to meet great spiritual opposition. During this week, Ooo, the Thailand CCC national director’s wife fell down the stairs, but thankfully, went largely uninjured. After that, one of the senior staff was attacked by several dogs during a morning run. He was taken to the hospital, treated and released, and he is currently doing fine. Then, near tragedy. One of the campus directors in Bangkok, Din, was playing badminton in the hotel gym when a massive light fell on his head and nearly crushed him. Those of us who were nearby rushed to him, and I for one, could scarcely tell who he was because of the enormous amount of blood. We were able to rush him to the hospital and the Lord saved his life. It was truly a miracle from God. If the light would have fallen even a few inches to the left or right when it landed on his head, he almost would have surely died. The bars on the light fitted just around his skull, being the only reason it was not completely crushed. The doctors still predicted 3 or 4 days in ICU and severe long-term damage. The accident drove everyone to pray with fervency to the Lord to save his life and restore his health. God moved mightily and everyone rejoiced beyond belief when the phone call came that his life was no longer in danger and that he would make a strong recovery after only 18 or 20 hours in ICU! The only major damage appears to be done to his right eye, as the doctors believe that he will never see again from that eye. JOIN US IN PRAISING GOD FOR HIS WORK IN SAVING DIN’S LIFE AND ASK GOD FOR HIS SIGHT TO BE RESTORED FULLY AS WELL! This situation drove us to pray a great deal and the Lord used it also to strengthen our faith in Him. We saw the great need for prayers for protection in this time. Din was in a supervisor’s role over March’s summer project, in which Thailand CCC will share the gospel with thousands and thousands of Thai people. Many have sensed the great spiritual opposition to this project in many ways, as we will be opening up a new area of the country to Campus Crusade for Christ, and many will hear the gospel who have never before heard clearly about Jesus. This area of the country is steeped in worship of strange spirits and we sense the spiritual conflict that is already occuring pertaining to this time. JOIN US IN PRAYER FOR THIS SUMMER PROJECT.

February 15 – The week mentioned below ended with a CCC Valentine’s party. We invited students with invitations saying, “Are you looking for true love?” All the while, they were unaware that the true love we were referring to is found only in Christ Jesus. The Lord brought this revelation to several students on this evening. We played games, sang songs, ate together, had an evangelistic skit, and finally, one of the senior staff men shared the gospel. Eight students made decisions that night to receive Christ! And finally, we saw our first guys accept Christ at this university! Three of them accepted Jesus! We praise God for His working and we pray earnestly that all of these students truly understood the nature of saving faith, and that their faith in Christ is real. PLEASE PRAY FOR THEM AS WE ATTEMPT TO MEET WITH THEM TO DISCUSS THEIR NEW FAITH. This time will be especially hard to come by as the Thai universities are now moving into summer vacation starting in March. In addition, there were several other female students who also received Christ during our last month of campus ministry before the summer vacation. These girls already began Bible study with Laura and Elizabeth. Praise God with us for answered prayer – for His beginning a movement of His Holy Spirit at this university during this last month!

February 11-15 – We held an English conversation class at our main campus, Kasetsart University, this week. Our intention was to have a big class with many students. We hoped to be able to share the gospel with many during the time. God, as it turned out, had a different plan for this time. There were only a few students who came each day, but the time we spent together was invaluable. There were a few new Christians with whom we had the opportunity to teach the Bible. Also, our student friends had the opportunity to meet some of the Thailand CCC staff for the first time, as normally, only our team of four Americans ministers on that campus. Further, we did have the chance to share the gospel with a few students who came. Our planning was different from God’s plan, but His plan is perfect and good and we praise Him for a fruitful week.

February 3-6 – We were blessed to be able to spend a few days in Pattaya, Thailand at a Campus Crusade for Christ International Conference. Other “fellow-Stinters,” (those on the same one-year program as us), from other countries gathered for a time of fellowship and refreshment. It was great for everyone there, as many were able to taste once again a freedom of public worship that they miss dearly in their country of ministry. We rejoiced in getting to see friends and share triumphs, defeats, highs, and lows, with others whom the Lord is using overseas and back in the States.

February 2 – We had a great trip to the Nakorn Nayok waterfalls. Students and staff from four universities went for this day of fun and fellowship together. We ate together, sang songs, hiked up a mountain, and jumped from a waterfall into a lagoon. It was a lot of fun and proved to be a time of bonding with new friends. Also, several opportunites to share the gospel were taken during the day. We look forward to more fun trips like these whenever we have the chance.