A Renovation of the Heart
The clanking of coffee mugs. The buzz of the blender. The sizzle of steaming milk. These sounds greet my ear as I sit in the Zion Café and Hostel. The peak hours always have this place hopping with Racers and the staff taking orders and serving food. The women here work hard, each coming from a background that most of us cannot imagine. Most of them have been abused someway or another, through being sold for sex, abandoned by their parents, or beaten by a husband/boyfriend. These women are so full of smiles and joy. I love seeing them everyday, even if some of them only speak Thai. A smile is a smile no matter what language you speak.
Lighthouse in Action is an umbrella for three separate ministries. Pi Emmi, the director of Lighthouse in Action is one of the most Christ-filled, joyous people I have ever encountered in my 24 years of life. This blog is to help make the world aware of her heart for ministry and for the need that Lighthouse in Action currently has.
The Zion Café is in need of some updates. Pi Emmi recently had a YWAM group from South Africa come serve with Lighthouse in Action and among those who came was a well-renowned architect. During the 5 weeks they were here, this man drew up plans for a complete makeover for the Zion Café first and second floor. The hostel, which is floors 3-9 is also in need of some renovations, sleeps about 50 people. The café staff also works as the housekeeping for the café. Due to the limited space and the size of the café, Pi Emmi can only hire so many girls to work at one time. Once these renovations are complete, more people will be drawn to the café, and more women will have jobs that no longer want to work in the bars.
Pi Emmi hopes to have these renovations under way by May 2015. In order to do this, she needs to raise $150,000 USD. The work the Lord is doing here is absolutely amazing. This ministry is done well because it’s focus remains Christ Jesus. Pi Emmi has so much love and compassion for the Thai people. She knows the culture and knows how to work in this environment better than any foreigner could. To watch Emmi’s full story, click here.
In addition to the Zion Café, Lighthouse in Action also works with the slum children, participates in monk chats, and loves on prostituted women, men who purchase sex and bar owners. I’m currently working on not saying prostitute or john because that ascribes a label to an individual that is not really who they truly are. The are made in the image of God and fallen due to sin and I want to show them The Way back to God – and his name is Jesus and he hung out with the prostituted and the tax collectors and sinners by the worlds standards. Labels didn’t matter to Jesus and he also didn’t ascribe people labels. Let me be like you Lord.
My team did bar ministry our first week. This ministry involves prayer walks in the mornings and afternoons. In the mornings you focus on interceding for the women who work in the bars, the men who visit the bars, and the men and women who run the bars. One of the really neat visions multiple people from separate teams had was the main boxing arena area(which has about 30 bars around it) will be a church one day. I believe it to be true and I declare it over that space now. The afternoon prayer walks were about building relationships and following the leading of the Holy Spirit. It was through this time that we met a lady near and dear to my heart. At night, teams would go out into the bars and spend time seeing what the red light district looks like in the darkness. They had a chance to continue to love on these men, women and even children.
For this work to continue, Pi Emmi has some ideas for how to revitalize her current staff. She is prayerfully considering closing down the Zion Café and having a Change Training.
“We don’t want to just renovate the building but the inside of the people here as well. That must be done through being in the word and growing in Christ,” said Pi Emmi.
This change training would be a three-month discipleship program that is loosely based of the discipleship training Pi Emmi had in the United States. The mornings would consist of Bible study, mentorship and worship and the afternoons would be fun activities and training for the coffee shop. The long-term goal of this program would be to have the current women living here be able to pour into new ladies that come out of the bars and can help disciple a new generation of faith. Pi Emmi is only one person so having more women who are deeply rooted in the Word will be super beneficial as the ministry continues to grow.
So here is my request: Pray and consider giving to an organization that runs on faith and lives by faith and sees results because of their faith. They are deeply rooted in the red light district here in Chiang Mai and I can see God working in and through them so much. I know it sounds like a lot of money, but if enough people read and share this, our GOD can do awesome things. To find out more information on donating to the renovation project, email Pi Emmi at [email protected]
