Here’s the thing. I absolutely love relational ministry. I know what some of you may be thinking… You? Melissa? You like relational ministry? You do know that has to do with people right? Yes, I really do love it more than I had ever thought I would. The World Race has given me the opportunity to really do all different types of ministry. I have done everything from manual labor, to church planting, to working with kids, and everything in between that you could possibly imagine. I have learned from all of these experiences that my heart is for relational ministry. I love seeing and listening to people. I love connecting with people for no other reason than the Lord wanted us to meet.
These kind of encounters have become my new normal and I forget that they are actually really cool stories that I could share with you guys back home. I have so many stories of the way the Lord has used me through relational ministry on this trip and I thought it would be cool to start telling those stories. I want to start sharing the part of this journey that I have kept to myself for a while. The stories of the people I’ve met along the way. I will label this series of blogs Relational Ministry: People of the World. Today I want to share with you about what I have had the opportunity to do here in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
On Sunday, I went to a church called The River Team Asia. As I was sitting after service, talking to some new friends, one of them made a statement that made me pause. She said how she loved stories like the one we now shared on how we met. It made me stop because stories like ours had become so normal to me now. I have been traveling for 8 months with the same group of people. We are constantly around people who live this same lifestyle with us. So its easy to forget you how cool these stories actually are to people who don’t live this way. That was the moment I realized I needed to be telling these stories. So, I’m starting with the one that inspired this whole thing.
This month we got the opportunity to do ATL ministry. I have talked about this some but for those of you who might not know ATL stands for “Ask The Lord.” Basically we pray and ask God what He wants us to do and then we just go and do it. It takes learning how to discern the voice of the Lord and choosing to follow where He leads you to be able to do this kind of ministry. This month the Lord told me that He wanted me to support others in their pursuits. I had been supported by my team the month before and the Lord was telling me to do that for others this time. I’m not even really sure how it happened but I ended up forming a group with Haley and Anna. They had felt like the Lord wanted them to try and go play worship music at coffee shops here in the city. I joined them as the percussionist. We practiced the first day and the next day we were going to try and find coffee shops that would let us play.
The next morning, another teammate had a coffee date with a person she had met and, since Haley and I were going to look at coffee shops anyway, we decided to walk her to her meeting. We pulled up google maps and off we went to find this coffee shop. After one wrong turn we seemed to be headed in the right direction, or so we thought. We actually ended up taking a right instead of a left and walking over a mile in the wrong direction! Oops…
We turn around and start backtracking as quickly as we can to make it to her meeting. As we are walking back, we pass a coffee shop called Praise Cafe. On the bottom of their sign out front it said “God bless you!” In that moment, I knew that our walking in the wrong direction was not a mistake. God had taken us that way for a reason. We eventually made it to the right cafe, and dropped off our teammate. Then we immediately found a songteow (the cheapest and preferred mode of transportation here in Thailand) and headed back to Praise. After buying a drink and talking for a while, we opened up a conversation with the owner. We asked him if we could play music at his shop sometime and he immediately said yes. We not only had found a cafe that would let us play but they actually wanted us to play worship music! We set up a day to come back and went on our way.
Fast-forward to a couple days later, we return to Praise with guitar and cajon in hand. We also brought a translator and a few friends with us. We played for a while and got to sit down with the owner and hear the story of how the cafe came to be. Translation was difficult and eventually our translator had to leave and go back to work. We were going to play one more song and go when a guy came in to talk with us.
Nick was a friend of the owner and had just recently returned from studying at Hillsong Australia. He also spoke perfect English! He is church planting in Bangkok and told us about his church home here and what they do. As he was talking, it became very apparent that God had crossed our paths for a reason. The church is doing all the things that we have done as ministry here on the race. They teach English, run children’s programs, do outreach with the hill tribes, and so much more. When we arrived here in Chiang Mai our hosts told us that they are needing new ministry contacts and to be praying for doors to open for that here. Nick was a door into a new possible contact. Not only here in Chaing Mai but also in Bangkok. His church here is called The River Asia and is partners with an organization some of you may know called A21. Their mission statement is “The river is a committed team of people empowering others to bring positive change to their families, community, and city.” When I asked if he thought they might be interested in receiving teams in the future, he said he was certain they would love the help. Since he was leaving shortly to head back to Bangkok he put me in touch with Michelle to continue pursuing this contact.
Michelle is an American and just happened to be back in Thailand visiting during the time I was here. She had worked for The River for two years and was willing to meet with me and talk about the possibility of hosting future teams there. We set up a time and day for me to go out to the church and meet her, but, when the time came to go, I realized that to book a grab that far would cost me far too much to be able to go. I contacted her and apologized. I was beyond disappointed. I felt like I had lost any chance at making this connection and wanted to give up trying to make it work, but Michelle responded back. She said she understood and that she could meet me the next day closer to where I lived. I was so excited! I told her the area we were staying in and she recommended meeting in the exact hostel I was staying at. How cool is that?!?
The next day, we are sitting in the coffee shop of the hostel talking about the church and about how God brought us both to Thailand. We realized we both had similar passions for relational ministry. Even more specifically we both had a heart for women who were being abused or trafficked. I was able to tell her about Beauty For Ashes (the women’s program through Adventures) and how it could be used here in Thailand with her community. It was a really cool meeting and I told her that I would like to visit the church before I had to leave for Cambodia. She gave me directions on how to get there cheaper than I had thought was necessary and planned to see me on Sunday.
Fast-forward to Sunday. I wake up and head out for church. I follow directions and take a red songteow to airport plaza and go to the 7/11. From there I hopped on a yellow songteow and headed outside the city into the countryside. Somewhere along the way the driver took a turn into residential areas and I missed my “If you see this you are close” point. I need up riding the songteow about a mile too far and had to walk back. It did not go unseen to me that God made me go mile in the wrong direction again! I ended up eventually finding the church and was only 30 minutes late. I arrived right at the end of worship. The message was great and the worship was phenomenal. The church appears to be a really great possible contact for my hosts and hopefully they will be able to establish some sort of connection in the future.
After church, Michelle took me around and introduced me to people. It was really nice to see the church and how they operate. There was a meal after the service, which I’m finding out is typical in the asian countries I’ve been to. Michelle asked me about my life and what my journey has been like. I was able to answer questions about the race that most people don’t get to answer until they get home. It was a really cool opportunity to share what the journey has been with people outside of this community. During that meal was when she stated how much she loved the story of how I came to be sitting at the table with them that day. I had gotten lost and walked a mile in the wrong direction 2 weeks ago and that is how I need up sitting and eating lunch with this church that could be a future host for World Race teams. The crazy thing is, I didn’t even want to go for a walk that first day. I wanted to stay at the hostel, but the Lord reminded me that I was supposed to be supporting others. So, in obedience, I walked out the door that day. Through that obedience, the Lord chose to open this door that could be an answer to the prayers of my hosts here in Chaing Mai and blessed me with meeting some incredible people.
As I left the church knowing that this was the last time Michelle would see me, she offered to pray over me and my journey for the rest of the race. She prayed over the team changes that are happening in a few days. She prayed for my future after the race, and she prayed for protection for me. I felt so loved in this moment.
This is relational ministry and this is why I love it so much. It is about building relationships with the people. This is ATL ministry and why I love it so much. Choosing to follow the Lord wherever He may lead you. Its about obedience. Its about truly seeing the people around you as the Lord sees them. Its all the things I’ve come to love about ministry. Its about finding out her passions and giving her any tools that I have that might help her in pursuing those passions. Its about her caring for me and my journey as well and lifting me up in prayer. Its about trusting the Lord and following his promptings. Michelle, Nick, and Non (the coffee shop owner) are some of the faces of ministry this month. They are a part of Thailand that I will carry with me as I go into the next part of this journey.
That is the first of many stories to come of God using me in relational ministry on the race. I cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for me in Cambodia. I leave tomorrow to travel to debrief where I will be getting a new team before continuing on for the last 3 months of this journey. Prayers would be appreciated. Until next time….
