Tsunami relief efforts

Thirteen years ago my church founded the Mekong Evangelical Mission in Thailand which has been headed by Thai people who were once members of my church. Its entire staff is comprised of indigenous Thai citizens, and one of its primary goals has been to construct buildings in various places in Thailand to serve as preaching points to the various people groups in that nation.

Immediately following the tsunami that hit the coastal areas of Thailand, the Thai government approved our mission's plan to rebuild homes that were destroyed. Since all of the people were native Thai folks, the officials knew that they would be in this for the long haul.

One coastal town had been almost totally destroyed, several surviving children had been made orphans, and by the time our team had arrived on the scene the townsfolk there were already facing starvation due to lack of food (and equipment to prepare it).

This town had been taken over by a radical Islamic group, yet these folks were so deeply moved to see these Christians willing to come to their rescue that they asked our group why they had come. What an opportunity to spread the Gospel of Christ to these folks!

They are still in the process of re-building their homes. One thing our group sought was to also build a building to serve as a preaching point there as well. Since these folks were so grateful for the help our group gave them, they willingly permitted such a building to be erected.

This was in an area where, as best as anyone could determine, there had never been a Christian witness--much less a Christian worship service. Each week a few curious Islamic folks would attend these meetings to find out more about this Jesus who had called our group to come to this town's rescue.

And you know what happens when the Gospel of Christ is preached to lost souls! Many of these folks have received Christ as their savior.

The work continues, and funds are needed to reach these people.

To find out more about this, and to see pictures of the work that is being done there, visit

http://www.lighthouseministries.org

and click on the link to tsunami rebuild project.

 

ORH (Operation Renewed Hope), an independent Baptist mission agency, is involved in Tsunami relief efforts. Some water-filtration plants were shipped to and set up in Tsunami-hit areas
in Thailand and in Indonesia. Also one construction team was sent to Thailand and they built several homes in a Tsunami-hit area with plans for a second team to go later. In addition, plans are being made to attempt to establish a medical clinic in Thailand.

Operation Renewed Hope was established by Cornerstone Baptist Church, but it will become
a separate mission agency in July. Here is a link to its web site although information about the Thailand trips has not yet been posted:

www.cbcfaync.com/operation_renewed_hope