Learning from a Veteran: Manistry Month Part 2a

Another overnight bus ride, and the 15 of us guys were back in Chiang Mai ready to head out for the second half of our ministry for the month, but this time in a different location. The second half of the month we were working with a man named Veerapong, who has an amazing vision for reconciling his city to God. Vee started coaching soccer teams as an opportunity to evangelize his community, and now he is coaching countless teams at all of the local schools as well as putting on sports camps and soccer tournaments. Through this he has built relationships with everyone. I’m fairly certain everyone in town knows who he is. At one point we were in a village two hours away, and people knew who he was. 

 

Because he coaches the soccer teams at all of the schools they allow him to come in and lead worship and preach to the kids, even in the Buddhist schools! Running soccer tournaments through the local churches has allowed him the opportunity to have voice with the churches. And hosting free soccer camps for the community has now got him an in with some of the Buddhist government officials in the city who now consider him a friend. Now Vee is working on running a community center that is a safe place for kids to come and recreate, as well as giving a home to many children whose families live too far from a public school to give their kids an education. Vee already has two such children living with him that come from Buddhist families, that are now hearing the Gospel and seeing it lived out by a man of God.

We would be staying at Vee’s new community center and working to help him with all of his various ministries. While staying with Vee we were able to visit four different schools, where the staff allowed us to have assemblies where we played with the children, did dramas that taught about Christ, sang Christian songs, prayed for the children, preached, and allowed Vee to say a few things. It was absolutely incredible. Even in America where almost everyone seems to profess Christ, we would never have the opportunity to preach Christ in a public school, but by a miracle of God, we were able to do so in a Buddhist country where less than 2% of the population is Christian! I believe these meetings will prove to be unbelievably fruitful one day, when it is clearly seen how, just loving on these kids in Jesus’ name and proclaiming truth will change their lives.

One day we went to a local church to help Vee run one of the children’s soccer tournaments. We spent time just hanging out with the kid’s and each other, while some of the guys refereed.  We were invited back to the church for a Christmas service later that night. Nearly 150 people were there, with only half of them being Christian, and we were given the chance to bring some songs, skits, and to preach.