Here are a first set of pics from Pattaya Praise. The only thing missing is pics from worshiping in a bar, so I will post those when they get emailed to me.

Prayer over the city of Pattaya

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Pattaya Praise is this week. Initially, I thought I was going to design the poster and sing a few times for the event. However, somewhere in the mix of things I managed to get myself caught in the position of overseeing the event. Once again I’m in a situation where I feel waaaay to small and ill-equipped for this stuff. This is a big deal. Worshiping and praying the walls down in this city is a big task, and I feel a bit small for it all. I keep going back to God to get my feet settled again and again, and every time I feel like God’s telling me that I just need to be me, and be faithful to truly give everything He put in me to serve His kingdom. This morning in my time in the Word, God brought me to Psalm 18. What really stood out to me and spoke to me was this:

(Verse 29-34)

“For by You I can run against a troop, by my God I can leap over a wall. As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him. For who is God, except the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God? It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of the deer, and sets me on my high places. He teaches my hands to make war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.”

I’m facing a lot this week that may make me feel really small, but I’ll offer all of my smallness to God and hope He can make something great out of it. Please pray for me.

Here are a few pictures of Phet and I baptizing another lady from church, an Akha (hilltribe) woman. Some of her friends showed up, and we had an impromptu party on the beach. I was blessed by their generosity and their stunning ability to make a party appear out of nowhere.

This is a response to my friend Lauren’s blog. There’s nothing wrong with still enjoying cartoons. This one has always been my favorite… I can still remember all four of us kids jumping around the house and dancing as we cleaned up, and I’m pretty sure I’ve used this tactic with many kids in my day.

See, cartoons sometimes have a very positive influence!

In The Bag

Today Phet and I baptized Ae, a girl who has been coming to the True Friend Church for a while. She’s the first person I’ve ever baptized, but I know she won’t be the last….

Gif, Ae, and Phet

Shizaaaam, and she's baptized!

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Here are a few pics from my day off at a local island with some friends…. don’t get jealous!

My friend Justin, sleeping. He works with a local skateboarding ministry called The Crossing.

My little man, Bak

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I don’t normally lug a camera around town and take pics of myself doing much of anything, so I thought I’d post a few pics my friend Amy took while we were doing an outreach on Dongtan beach during the Extreme Love conference. Phet and I and others actually do this outreach weekly, so I guess the pics give you and idea of what some of my ongoing ministry looks like. We just keep it simple; guitars and praying and hanging out with anyone who comes our way. Sometimes I take people out to lunch if they want to hang out more….

I love it here. I had a really rough day today, but I still love it here.

“Your eternal Word
Formed the universe
And You speak to me
Whisper I’m Your greatest love
You’re the saving Lord
Beauty in a storm
Everything I need
More than I could ever want

You are my heart’s desire
I have fallen to the point of no return
More than my heart could know
More than in love with You.”

-Hillsong

God keeps taking me back to the book of Mark, where Jesus talks about the light under the basket. I’m in a place where I have to be a light whether I like it or not; that is my purpose here in Thailand. I hate being the center of attention, and hate the fact that so many eyes are on me in this place. God confronted me through this passage that underlying my avoidance of attention is really just selfishness. I don’t want to have attention on me so that I can still get away with being a little bit bad sometimes. God’s calling me (and all of who truly seek Him) to a higher level of refinement and accountability and service. I surrender.

I’ve been so busy I haven’t had the time to post much. I will run through some quick prayer requests, though. The Extreme Love conference led by Patricia King a few weeks ago was insanely wild and fun and I had the blessing (that’s what I’m calling it now, after catching up on sleep) to be asked to lead worship for many of the sessions. We saw tons of bar girls and guys’ lives changed, and many accepted Christ and found healing. I don’t have the time now to go into all the details, but I will say that God was faithful and showed His glory through many miracles and through the outpouring of love that this conference and the outreach teams spread throughout the city.

My biggest prayer request is that myself and my team here in Pattaya would be well-equipped and find enough provision for meeting the long-term needs of all of these new believers and people seeking help getting out of prostitution. God is big enough, so please join with me in prayer that we’d continue to see open doors and miracles. And please pray for more people (Thai and foreigners) to join our team! We need help!

Please also pray for my team (Myself, Tung, Phet, and now Mark and Becky, as well as Randy and Edie in Bangkok), that we would continue to have group unity and each be able to serve and work in the ways that we are best equipped and have a passion for. This week there is a huge occultic festival in Pattaya, and we are all feeling the effects of the festival in terms of opposition and oppression. Please pray that we would all stay strong and healthy.

Pattaya Praise is quickly approaching, and I’ve been handed a huge task (one I’m not sure I’m ready to handle), but I’ll do my best. I will be taking over the coordination of the venues and schedules and bands and all that sort of stuff, because the Thai person who was assigned the task has been too busy to do much with it so far. Please pray that we have tons of open doors for worship venues throughout the city, and that we would make the best use of all of the worship bands coming. Also, pray that my own worship team has time to practice for Pattaya Praise so we can rock this city!

Thanks! Hopefully I’ll have time to post pics soon!