Beyond Borders in Thailand

Goodbyes

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:46:00 +0000

Saying goodbye is something I really don't do well. I prefer to just leave and then contact later through letter (yes I still write them) or email, and just keep looking forward to the next meeting rather than lamenting the end of the current one.

The Red Hots weren't having any of that. With a handmade card, a lovely gift of a sketch of two Karen tribal women, long goodbyes and even a video of our time together, we all reminisced until there were no more words and we went our separate ways.

Now I'm watching the full moon come up over a large Banyan tree surrounded by Red Palms. The fragrance of jasmine is lingering in this small outdoor cafe where I just enjoyed the last Thai dinner before I head to the airport at 3AM. I'm thinking of the students of Media Light and particularly the ones who go right back to ministry work.

I'm excited for them because they now have a developing skill set that will enable them to share their stories more effectively. This will mean a lot to them for several reasons; fund raising, youth outreach, credibility building with other ministries, gathering prayer partners for their work. It just makes a lot of sense to be able to show people what you're doing in a timely manner and to use media to reach a group of people that otherwise might not - and actually probably not listen to you speak to them about eternal life or a resurrected savior.

I'm not at all disparaging preaching. It's by far the most effective way to tell the gospel story. But I am looking at today's global media-driven youth and seeing the western paradigm of "no truth is the real truth except the truth you make up in three whole minutes of deep thought" sweeping over every country. Music videos, movies, TV and the internet are way more powerful than us old folks care to admit. It's astounding, really. It's melting the miles away and the languages away and a new Tower of Babylon is certain to push up through the soil of provincial thinking as the new "no god but us" culture absorbs the most resources.

We've got to confront it. We have to. Francis Schaeffer once did a film series called "How Should We Then Live?" that pointed to the arts as the once-Christ-driven domain of believers. He also warned of what was coming and I'm certain he couldn't have imagined how fiercely the wave of media would change just after his death. We've ceded the territory of the arts and we won't gain the upper hand again in this age. But that doesn't mean that we quit. There are millions of people who can still be reached with the call of God through media and media can open the door for preaching, teaching and works of compassion on a more personal level.

This is the kind of thing that Beyond Borders wants to continue to push. Not arguing the truth, simply presenting the truth, teaching others how to do it more effectively and then putting life-blood into our faith through good works.

We'll be working more with Media Light and those students who desire more assistance with their ministries. We'll also be working with our partners in Benevolence and Evangelism all over the world.

I personally appreciate your prayers and the gifts you sent. I wanted to try this blog to see if it would help in keeping our friends up to date with what we were doing on a more "up-to-the-minute" basis. Next stop - Haiti and our partnership with Organisation Rome Haiti cranks up as we work with them to help rebuild some of the infrastructure and a new Christian hospital and radio station.

For more information about any of our efforts or to reach us personally, please email info@beyondborders.com and we'll respond quickly.

Bye Red Hots. Send chilis.

Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:45:00 +0000

The Chicken Temple. Cockfighting leads to freedom for Thai from Myanmar overlord. Temple built in Chicken's honor.

The magnificent Golden Buddha at the Golden Triangle where the Heroin trade is the real gold. Look at the boats in the foreground for perspective.

These statues are spirit warriors based on ancient Thai fighters engaging cobras as assistants.
These warriors who were the inspiration for these statues were active during the time when Siam ruled this part of the world, including several other modern nations.

No matter where you look, you're going to find a Buddhist temple.

They are very beautiful.

And the people are very devout and very warm.

It's a spiritual culture here. Lots of mixtures of things like Hinduism, which had a real foothold on Siam for many years.

This lady is reading palms for cash at the market. Another example of the hunger for truth that these people have.

Here are some of the most gentle people you'll ever meet. They're friendly and they're working a lot harder on finding the truth than most anyone you'll ever meet. What an amazing force for eternal life they could be. Someone has to tell them, though.

When there is a spiritual vacuum, greed comes in and takes advantage of the weakest first and foremost. Here many girls are bought from hill tribe families as early as 11 years old and sold on the open market. Even in a city such as this, the red light district is always busy.

However, God has quietly been moving families here for about a decade now. They're from all over the world. Our class has been working on a presentation for the Family Learning Center which serves as school and community center for the mission families. Their work is critical.

The kids are pretty sharp. Most speak several languages and have a pretty sure idea of what they want to do when they get older.

Like most Christian schools, there's a time of worship and praise. About 10 Buddhist children go here. Many have come through the doors and have become Christians from this natural setting. We're told that most of them become followers of Jesus.

But they're still kids and they like to play. Come to think of it, so do I. That slide looks wide enough even for me.

Speaking of play, here's Aim. He's one of our students here and he's a local guy who has become Christian recently. He's also well known on the Chiang Rai hip-hop dance circuit and here he's showing off some of his... uhhh... def... ummm... moves...? I'm too square for this - but enjoy watching his enthusiasm and witness.

Not bad for people who have been shooting for about 5 weeks. I'm enjoying watching them take up the challenges of production and am really trying to get them to tell stories. I keep comparing them all to Luke, the grand storyteller of the early church, and from what I've seen, they really seem to have taken that mantle on and want to change the world. That's the way they should feel at this age.

HOT

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:23:00 +0000

It's getting hotter here.
Not just the temperature either.

Yesterday I ate at the tarp covered market where you can buy a shrimp, fish and Thai chili (the small hot peppers I enjoy so very much) lunch with a couple of heaping spoonfuls of fried rice for about a dollar. I also had a chance to get a piece of corn on the cob for about a dime at this same market. We sat at wooden tables on worn concrete floors and waved off the flies and enjoyed our meal watching the Thai news which featured the NBA slam dunk contest from America. It's the Thailand that is, but it's not the Thailand that soon will be.

The Thailand that will be is right there next to that market. Just walk out from under the tarp, turn left and take 10 steps and there is a shiny, white 7/11 with everything in cellophane and plastic and sparkling like coins at the bottom of a fountain.

There's another 7/11 less than 200 yards from that one - across the street.

Oh, they're coming. The Starbuckses and the McDonaldses and the Pizza Huts and all of the other multinational trademarks will most certainly stamp their brands onto the hills and towns of Thailand, just as they will throughout all of Southeast Asia.

Already the signs are here. No, I mean the real signs. "Coming Soon." In English, no less. Some of these signs are exclusively in English. Oddly, I found out that most of these were put there by the Chinese people who are flooding here day after day.

Here in Chiang Rai, there are 2 universities. One is a large, venerable and beautiful campus with many thousands of students. The other is brand new and was built by the royal family in order to teach the students - wait for it - in English.

Why? Pretty easy to guess really.
Not only are these mainly American conglomerates making their way here, the Chinese are moving here in droves and bringing their business savvy and love of English speaking dollars with them. There is the "Friendship Highway." It's the road that I travel everyday here on my way to the Media Light school. It's a busy 4 lane stretch of asphalt that is meant to connect openly over the Mekong River straight through Laos and into southern China. China's border is less than a hundred miles away and this nearly completed highway is inevitable as the Chinese system continues its quest for world domination one business and one neighborhood at a time.

So things are heating up in every sense of the word "climate" you can imagine: The climate of business, the climate of change, the climate of climate. It got to about 93 today and I hear that's mild. Hoo boy.

It's also heating up for the gospel. This place reminds me of Cambodia a few years ago. In flows the cash and the government somehow loosens up to allow the "opiate of the masses" to take a small foothold. They think they can contain it in small doses. Maybe it's the scripture "the kindness of God leads to repentance," brought to life. It sure looks to be some sort of beautiful plan unfolding here. As peaceful as Buddhism seems to be and as devout as the followers are - its whole purpose is to be empty. Finding the void leads to fullness. Nothingness begets completeness. It's a concept that has some merit for this life but leads to nowhere. On purpose - it actually leads to nowhere.

So here comes commerce, with all of its benefits and foibles, to fill that void and hot on its trail, but not in sync with it, is the gospel; burning down the barrier between this world and eternal life with the power of God and the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. A radical concept when placed next to any of the eastern religions and certainly a final and legitimate source of hope, joy and love for all eternity. Who wouldn't want that? Sadly, even most people who are from Christian nations don't see it this way. They see a form and function and have lost the completely incredible promise of eternal life. Here it's new and it's going to freak these people out when faith blooms. We have one Burmese girl here as a student who prayed for her brother a few weeks ago and his blinded eyes were opened. God is going to turn this place on its head as the Spirit of God makes His way west to close the circle and complete the call to all the world.

It's a great time to be here and we're busy, working hard everyday to make sure that these young leaders have the skills to be able to speak to their generation before the certain wave of mass merchandising floods every corner of this region and douses the fire of change by drowning everyone in greed.

I named this class "The Red Hots." Red, being the first and fastest light in the spectrum and Hot because of the reasons listed above. I selected the Thai Chili as our symbol because I'm an instructor and can do whatever I want.

Keep praying for us all and for Media Light. We're doing some pretty ground breaking things here and laying a good foundation for the future.

The next blog, coming tomorrow, is all pictures. Enjoy them - they were taken by my students on the school's video cameras.

Taking Shots

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 11:08:00 +0000

Today we leave the classroom and head out to get some establishing shots of some of the countryside and the people of this area in northern Thailand. We'll also be shooting at the market and while there, a few of us will wander over to take some video of some of the seedy side of Thailand. This is the business that takes girls as young as 12 into slavery and peddles them on the streets like cheap factory merchandise.

There is a ministry here that has achieved international recognition for the rescue of hundreds of these girls. The name is New Life Foundation and they've been featured on 60 Minutes (in a good way). One of our goals as a class is to create an informational and inspirational look at this ministry.

In order to make sure that they do the work with interest and effectiveness, we need to take the viewer through the area visually. I divided the class into 3 teams and just told them to drive around and look for shots. Our small group, consisting of Aym, a young Thai gentleman, Lek, also Thai and Dandy, Norvi and Rayna who are Filipino, stumbled across some terrific shots.

Below you can see some of the team getting into the mud of a drying out rice field and shooting the farmer with his cattle. You can also see a Buddhist temple that we were allowed to wander into. Also, we just happened to come across an Akha festival up in the hills. It's Chinese New Year and they were dancing and setting off firecrackers while dressed in traditional clothing.

The other teams did well I hear. When we get back into the class I can wield either the scepter of grace or the rod of correction given their work. Hopefully the former.

Whatever was shot, we'll have the openings for the two presentations that we're creating to raise funds and awareness for two very worthy ministries. And the class will have the growing skills to begin to tell their own stories and create their own presentations to reach their own people with a personal vision and voice. That's the exciting part for me; to think about what they can achieve within the next few years with a skill set base that we've helped set in place. I say we, meaning, all of the partners who have joined with us at Beyond Borders to make sure that this happens and also those at Media Light who have dared to create such an unusual ministry with such forward thinking.

Here is the Buddhist temple. Below that is the field of the old farmer and the students taping. And finally, 2 Akha girls in traditional clothing. All shots taken with my little cell phone camera.

Robin

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 01:31:00 +0000

In the next room I can hear guitar strumming along with drums keeping a loose rhythm. The voice on the microphone is singing "how great is our God." It's the voice of Robin, one of the students who has come here for 3 months to learn all kinds of things, but mostly how to produce media and do it well so that he can go back to his native Myanmar and spread The Word more effectively.

It's not like he's new at spreading The Word. He's had the police come in to his church services and bust the place up and scatter everyone out like they were rats in the pantry. He just opens again somewhere else, 10 people at a time. So far he has planted churches in 4 different parts of Myanmar and wants to do so much more. Each time, the police show up once the church starts growing enough to catch their eye. Each time, he starts it up again.

Currently, they're meeting in the 3rd floor of a building that is a group of empty classrooms. There are already enough people to bring on the police, but since they're meeting in a room with no electricity, no fans, and no open windows lest they catch the attention of the authorities with their songs, no one has caught on yet. No one except the people he's leading to lasting freedom and eternal life. They know all about it and they clamor to get into the frequent services, even though they know that not everyone can be in there at once.

Today though, Robin is singing as loud as he can. Right now, it's "Lord of Heaven of Earth." He's yelling into the microphone with abandonment, knowing that no one is going to shut him down today.

These are the kinds of students that we're teaching here at the inaugural class of Media Light. I'm proud to be associated with Beyond Borders as we do what we've always done by joining with others to achieve their goals in ministry.

We're always looking for people to join us on these trips. To join with us by donating to the kinds of ministries that bear uncountable fruit. More than anything, we're looking for people to keep praying for us as we do these things in increasing fashion.

Today, I'm sending the students into the market and into the streets to do some video shooting for a couple of projects that they're doing as their "exams." I'm gonna seriously make them sweat today and this weekend. I'll probably put up a few blogs this weekend as the pics start rolling in.

From my cellphone, which doesn't work here except as a lousy camera, here's a shot of some of the class from my perch at the front.

That's Robin with the fire extinguisher right behind his head.

Flying in to Bangkok

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:55:00 +0000

Almost anywhere you fly, you pop into the landscape through the clouds over the rows of houses and buildings that all seem familiar, even 12 thousand miles from your home. The roofs are all shaped alike. The grass is green, the dirt is brown, the water glistens and the cars roll over the grey roads with black tires. A voice breaks over the intercom in some language you can't understand but you know what it's saying: "fasten your seat belt, get ready to land."

But this is Southern Asia and it's not the same. Most of these people have never heard the name of Jesus. They don't know about his sacrifice and resurrection. They don't know that God is their heavenly father.

I interviewed a young Chinese seminary student, Lai En, about a decade ago. His father is a Chinese evangelist who was locked away and beaten on a regular basis back when the fires of the gospel were first being fanned in China. Lai said to me "The Chinese people are smart, they are hard working, but they are empty." He looked down a little and repeated that softly. "Empty."

As I was meandering through the poorly conceived labyrinth that is the Bangkok airport, with its endless areas of transition connected by the veins of moving walkways, I took some time to look in the eyes of people who were passing by on the opposite walkway and thought of that interview with Lai En.

I don't think it was cultural what I was witnessing. Although I was jetlagged like some coldwar depravation experiment, I'm pretty sure I could sense that emptiness of a people who basically have a limited vision of life. Born, work, die.

This is the mindset that we're working to change and it will have to be the work of the Holy Spirit. We can tell them what we think and how we believe and how great it is to have hope, but the faith to believe the message comes from one source. They have to hear it first though and that is why I've come here for these few weeks: to train this select group of Asians who have been called apart to tell the story. I don't think they even know how critical their mission is, but if I have my way, they will.

On the way here I spent a day and a night in San Francisco and saw some old friends, one of whom is Dr. Gary Moncher, the ever youthful president of Patten University in Oakland. We're talking about Beyond Borders teaming up with them on a few projects that are pretty exciting. We'll tell you more when we know more.

Here's a shot of Chinatown in San Fran that I took with my cellphone.

Keep praying for me. Or else I'll send you a thousand emails a week.

Preparing for Thailand

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:39:00 +0000

I hate long flights. I really really do. Usually about the 9th hour of a long flight, I've already read all the magazines I brought with me, cleaned out my email box, got up and done some toe touches a few times, planned every move I will make for the next 5 years and eaten enough peanuts to choke an elephant. Then there's the next 8 hours or so; fitful sleep, trying to breathe correctly, shifting and fidgeting about like something trapped. I just don't like them.

However, when I found out that one of the students I'll be teaching rode for 24 hours straight on a bus from the southern part of Thailand - well... I have no right nor desire to complain anymore. Maybe I'll bring some extra magazines this time.

I'm trying to focus on being the kind of teacher that plants concepts and maxims that are so easily recalled that they become second nature almost immediately. I've had teachers like that, and usually it was a sentence or two that would strike the memory region and stick. I'm praying that I am able to communicate in that way, so that each time these students begin an effort to tell an inspiring story or to create some income for themselves that they'll have some ready information that will make them more effective and less frustrated.

As I prep for this trip, I hope you'll put me on your prayer list for communicative skills, favor with the people of Thailand and good health and protection for my family at home. We're in the middle of a lot of changes, as I'm sure many of you are, and this isn't really a good time for this trip for me personally. But whatever awaits, I'll bet it beats 24 hours on a bus.