Greetings from Ekballo University!
As we reflect on the faithful work of our teams during the month of August, we are once again in awe of the greater picture of God’s work and His great compassion for the nations of the earth!
During this month’s newsletter, we are excited to introduce you to our Thailand evangelism partners as well as to share a few updates from the nation of Myanmar.
THAILAND
Acceleration for the Gospel
We have been blessed to connect and begin working with faithful missionaries and evangelists in the nation of Thailand. Many of these individuals have been serving the Lord in this region for many years, and their seasoned experience in sharing the gospel with Thai people has taught them the importance of patience and perseverance. It is common for a person to need 7-10 personal interactions with the message of the gospel before being ready to consider attending a church or making any commitment toward considering the message of Christ themselves. As these same ministers of the gospel have begun to utilize digital evangelism to augment their in-person ministry, they have found that it now takes only 2-4 encounters in an online chat or call for these same people to become open-minded to invitations to church! This is a huge encouragement and a powerful accelerator of their ongoing ministry to the people of Thailand!
This online ministry aspect has also extended the reach of the Thailand team beyond the borders of the nation. Campaigns have been run over the last few months in Europe, yielding many responses and interactions from the Thai diaspora! This has allowed our team to connect many individuals with an online Bible study and online church for this scattered community of believers.
Fruit that Lasts
While it might be easy to imagine Digital Evangelism as a simple “drive-by” Gospel campaign, it is one of Ekballo University’s core values that the goal of online interactions is always long term fruit — fruit in the form of ongoing relationships, longterm discipleship, and Christian community.
Our Thai Team has upheld this goal, and we rejoice in these two (of many) uplifting stories, as they give us a window into the ongoing work of these faithful partners in the gospel:
- A girl responded to a Facebook campaign. She was so excited about her decision for Christ that she brought her friend to the Lord as well. Knowing that the Ekballo follow-up team was still connected with her online, she reached out and asked for ongoing ministry, because they both earnestly wanted to learn how to pray!
- A young man who was struggling in deep hopelessness met a team member through the Facebook campaign. He received prayer and ministry, but eventually stopped responding and disappeared. When circumstances in his life caused pressures to build again, he remembered the encouragement he had received from the Digital Evangelist. He unexpectedly revived the conversation online, and stated that he truly wanted to study the Bible and learn more about Jesus!
The message is much more than:
“Go in peace; keep warm and well fed.”
Though Thailand is an incredible place for tourists to experience the cooking expertise of the local people, the financial realities behind the creative, beautiful displays of rich flavor can actually be quite sinister.
Most of the population in Thailand lives on the edge of financial ruin, living precariously just one unexpected crisis away from insurmountable debt — in fact, the people of Thailand have the highest financial debts in the world. While debt in many nations can be supported by government supervised agencies, held accountable to a somewhat ethical standard, the loans available in Thailand are often, informal, community-based, and potentially predatory in nature.
During a recent Digital campaign, one of our evangelists began conversing with a Thai lady who had been saddled with such enormous debt that even her husband had left her, refusing to carry the financial burden with her. The situation had left her feeling stuck, helpless, and without hope. The invitation for prayer that popped up on her phone as a simple Facebook ad caught her attention, and she eagerly contacted the Digital Evangelist team to ask for prayer. One of our team members, talked and prayed with her over Messenger, and ultimately connected her with his local church, hoping to provide more personal encouragement and community .
Believers from this local church traveled an hour away to visit the Thai woman in her village. They arrived with money which they had generously collected to help pay off her incredible load of debt, gifting her with genuine financial freedom! They were able to help the woman set up a fruit stand with sustainable income, so that she would not find herself in the same scenario again.
Praise God for the healing that can happen both through prayer and through the powerful testimony of genuine Christian community and love for our neighbors!
TABLE DETAILS: This table shows the Thailand campaign results by geographic region. To see the full version of this report, please click on the table.
In August 2022, five people came to Christ in Thailand through the Digital Evangelist FB page, and additional follow up continues.
Please keep this ongoing ministry and growth in your prayers!
MYANMAR
Updates from our Team
Updates from our Team
For the month of August, campaigns in Myanmar focused primarily on offering prayer in Jesus’ Name for healing and provision in the midst of the ongoing war in this nation. Though news about the war has slowly faded from headlines around the world, the destruction and uncertainty caused by the aggressive military rule are still painfully real to the people of Myanmar.
The Digital Evangelism team in Myanmar has been flooded with prayer requests for physical and emotional healing — for hope in the midst of deep loneliness, for jobs in the midst of economic instability, and for restored relationships in the midst of much conflict.
Among these many incoming messages, one of our team members was contacted by a local soldier who had seen the Facebook Ad offering prayer in Jesus’ Name. He urgently desired prayer for freedom from the role he is being forced to play in this vicious civil war. His story shows the pain from a less obvious side of war: the pain of being held hostage in a conflict that is hurting your own people. The soldier was connected with our trusted Digital Evangelist, the young woman (who you were introduced to in our prior newsletter). In a powerful extension of the mercy of God, she shared the Gospel with this man and prayed with him. Please pray for ongoing ministry to this man, that he would truly know the grace and freedom of following Jesus.
Please pray…
As you may recall from last month’s newsletter, our main team has cultivated meaningful relationships and ministry with refugees who have settled in their area due to the ongoing war. Recently, the local refugee center was inspected by soldiers, and a few families were told that they would no longer be allowed to remain at this location. They are currently being forced to go back to their original villages, despite the fact that their homes have burned and their communities destroyed through military action.
Please pray with us that God will go before them with provision and kindness, that they will have a favor to rebuild their lives and communities, and that they will continue to grow in the knowledge of God.
