Hey, !  Make sure to click "Display images below" if you don't see any.  The Snapshot: 

News:

• We are back from the Thailand vision trip.  During the trip, we got to introduce trip participants to churches and ministries in both Bangkok and Cha-am, the cities where we both served.

• Family Promise week is over, and now we are exploring ways to continue partnering with this organization.

• We hosted a second wedding reception this past weekend for friends and family in California.

• We are up to 20 monthly ministry partners!

• “Bi-vocational ministry” is doing what you love, with the gifts you have, in a “life on life” approach to sharing about Jesus with others.  We want to know how we can all do this in our own lives.

Pray:

• Thailand vision trip:  Please pray that God continues to remind us all of the people we came to know and love, the cultural and spiritual experiences that moved us to pray, and the lessons we felt convicted to apply in our lives back home.  Please pray that each of us is open to God’s next steps for us.

• Family Promise:  Please pray for God to give us opportunities to share about Him with both families and volunteers.

• “Round 2” wedding reception:  Praise God that we got to celebrate the start of our marriage with more family and friends!  

• Ministry partnership:  Please pray for God to continue providing us with more ministry partners.  (And ask Him if you are one of them!)

• Missionary-ish:  Pray and ask God to show you how to use your gifts and talents to share about Him with people in your life.  Please pray that for us as well!

The Story:

(Reagan speaking)

Thailand Vision Trip:

David and I have been back from Thailand for a few weeks now!  Now that we are well over jet lag and heat strokes, we are excited to share about the vision trip.  

Most of our days were spent in Thailand’s capital city, connecting with the church David partnered with, Grace City Bangkok.  The church is focusing heavily on what they call “bi-vocational ministry,” or ways we can each live missionally while working our normal jobs, exercising the gifts and talents with which God has equipped us.  We heard from a panel of men and women in the church who are actively seeking ways to bring Jesus into their workplaces (i.e., have meaningful spiritual conversations with co-workers), and we discussed how vision trip participants could do the same if God called them to live and work in Bangkok.  This is an approach that’s much different from traditional missions, in which people leave their jobs to go into full-time ministry.  This “bi-vocational” practice just a call for any Christian – not just the pastors and missionaries – to live intentionally, no matter where they are or what kind of job they are doing.  

We also introduced the team to a few other ministries in Bangkok, including Napada, which employs Thai women from low-income communities; Samaritan Creations, which gives opportunities to men and women coming out of prostitution and sex trafficking; and Bible studies and small groups started by David and others in the church.  We also visited some refugees who are currently being held in the Immigration Detention Center, and we were able to pray with them and bring them food and other necessities.

I took a couple that had supported me while I was in Thailand down to Cha-am to visit my former team and ministry there.  For them to take part in the life of the ministry they had been supporting – that was basically living the dream for me.  It was so encouraging to have them experience what life looked like for me and be a part of the Sunday worship service with the Thai believers.  

We missionaries call our prayer and financial supporters “ministry partners” for a reason: it’s not just us behind the work out there. We are enabled and empowered by the prayers, encouragement, and especially presence of our partnering families and churches. It’s a huge deal to us to give them the real-life picture of what we do everyday so that they know specifically how to pray, encourage, and further support both the missionaries and the ministry. This is the Body of Christ in action. 

(Check out this post for more on why churches should visit their missionaries.)

For all who prayed for the trip, thank you so much! We don’t want this to be a one-and-done experience for any of us who went. Please pray that God continues to remind us all of the people we came to know and love, the cultural and spiritual experiences that moved us to pray, and the lessons we felt convicted to apply in our lives back home. Of course, our desire is that God calls people from the group back to serve in Thailand. Please pray that each of them is open to God’s call, wherever that is.

David is currently working on a video, in which we will share more stories and experiences from the vision trip. Stay tuned!

Family Promise:

Right after we got back to California, we jumped right into volunteer coordinating for Family Promise week. Trinity (our church) partnered with another local church to provide meals, activities, and a place to stay for three families in the Family Promise program. Thanks for your prayers - God provided all the volunteers we needed to pull it off!

David and I really enjoyed having dinner and hanging out with some of the moms and kids who stayed at the church that week. For a lot of us, it’s easy to feel intimidated by people dealing with hardships we haven’t ever experienced ourselves. But, at the end of the day, we all deal with a lot of the same things, like worrying we’ll mess up at our jobs and trying to parent hyperactive kids and working hard to make life better for our families. So having a normal conversation wasn’t so hard after all.

We are exploring ways to continue partnering with this organization. We are curious about how our church can take a sort of “bi-vocational ministry” approach to this by not only focusing on serving and embodying the Gospel to the families in the program, but the non-Christian volunteers as well. Please pray for God to give us opportunities to share about Him with both families and volunteers with Family Promise.

Other Stuff:

In non-ministry related news, we also officially wrapped up all things wedding this past weekend by throwing a “Round 2: West Coast-Style” wedding reception. We loved celebrating, worshiping, and eating more doughnuts with David’s friends and family members, many of whom weren’t able to make it to the wedding. My parents and one of my best friends even came out for the occasion! #alwaysreadytoparty

Photo cred: Enoch Chao. View the whole album here.Speaking of photos… Our wedding photos are in! You can view them here. Photo cred: Caroline Eliza.  And our video by Reagan Lynn Films can be viewed here. 

Ministry Partnership:

We are up to 20 monthly ministry partners! Thank you so much to all who are joining with us in “How to Be Missionary-ish”. We want a bunch of people to be a part of this effort, regardless of whether they can give a penny or $1000, which is why we are measuring our support by number of ministry partners rather than number of dollars. No matter how much a person contributes, the point is that they are choosing to invest in kingdom work beyond their own sphere of workplace and neighborhood life, and that’s cool!

We are still looking for 180 more partners to join our team. Would you please pray and ask God if He is calling you to be a part of what He is doing through this ministry at Trinity Presbyterian Church in OC? Read here if you’d like to know more about what that is. If you would like to learn more about how to be part, click here to read the FAQ or sign up to join the team.

Missionary-ish:

Kim, one of the vision trip participants (and a veteran Thailand missionary) described the idea of “bi-vocational ministry” this way:

Bi-vocation: this was special. I personally loved hearing all the ways that simple ministry is the approach being taken. My time in Thailand was more of a program approach where an idea for a program was presented and then we had to figure out manning it and keeping it going vs. the organic approach of doing what you love, with the gifts you have in a life on life approach. I feel that is a sustainable ministry practice that will bear fruit. I love the way Grace City is utilizing people from all sorts of ministries and vocations to work together for the good of the city. It’s beautiful. I think this also helps us participants see how we can do the same thing where we are. It challenges us to intentionality. This was all presented to us simply and beautifully. No songs and dance routines to grow the kingdom. Just simple life on life. 

What could this look like for you, in your home and workplace? How can you do what you love, with the gifts you have, in a “life on life” approach to sharing about Jesus with others? Think about it, pray about it, and let us know.