From Zero to Production in...
Thailand Media Outreach
Editor’s note: Jon Wood, president of JFA, just returned from 2 months in Thailand. I sat down with him to hear why he was so amazed at what God is doing in Television there.
This TV studio in western Thailand went from zero to production in less than one month! God is so good, and we are excited to share the many miracles He has done for this project so far.
In November 2021, we finished building our studio and Love for Asia office in Northern Thailand, a project we had been praying for for years. As we shared the good news with all of you, God brought the project to the attention of some donors. A couple months ago they contacted us to ask: how much would a studio like that cost, and could JFA use another one? The donors wanted to give back to God for all the ways He has blessed them, and offered to give a gift that would cover the costs to open a second studio.
After praying about our options, Jon decided western Thailand was a good location, and asked Travis Sharon if he would be willing to help out. Travis and his family have been working on an ever-growing publishing and literature-distribution project in and around that area.
For this studio, rather than taking 6-12 months to build, we felt it would be better to buy a house and start production right away. Travis started searching for property, and Jon joined Travis in the search a few days later when his quarantine ended.
The First Miracle
In Thailand, most houses are built with 12-foot framing, so no matter how big the house is, there will be a wall or a post every 12 feet. These dimensions might be satisfactory for the average family, but they’re a little small to fit a TV set, cameras, and film crew. On April 28, Jon and Travis were able to tour a house that was built with 15-foot framing. The house had a large family room that could work for a studio room, and several other rooms that could accommodate editing space, an audio recording studio, and housing for future staff. The house also had a large garden that could eventually be turned into a larger, more formal studio space. Next door was a simple house, built by a buddhist monk, that the same owners were also trying to sell.
The garden that will eventually be turned into a larger, more formal studio room
The house built by the Buddhist monk, where two staff families are now living
The new staff, learning a lot about video production and editing
Starting production in the new studio!
The Second Miracle
When Travis started the search for a new studio space, all the houses he found were too small or way out of the project’s budget. A plot of land by itself would have cost around $44,000 USD. The owners of the property Travis and Jon went to look at were asking $116,000 for the larger house, and $44,000 for the smaller one. By the grace of God Jesus for Asia able to purchase both properties for only $130,000.
The Third Miracle
The owners volunteered to move out in fifteen days, so our next task was to find workers. We were excited to have a place to do tv production, but we couldn't do anything without people. Our team in Thailand really prayed and then moved forward in faith, remembering what God had done for the North Studio. One of our Thai leaders called a friend with connections to a prayer group, and they gathered potential candidates. That week Jon hired seven people. He bought new computers for them, and brought down some available cameras from the North Studio. Then we did a week of intense training–probably three semesters worth of college classes in about four days. Then, less than a month after finding the property, our new media team started production.
These seven new workers have been such an amazing blessing, and they are so excited to work for God. One young man from central Thailand (where there are very few Adventists) said when he found out he had the chance to work for God, he couldn’t sleep all night, or even eat the next day.
After the new team had been working for a couple of weeks, Jon spoke with LeRoy Sharon, Travis's father, about how they were doing.
“I’ve been looking for [dedicated] people like these for the last three and a half years,” LeRoy said, “and I couldn’t find them. You know, I’ve found one or two here or there, but you got seven in a week!”
We are so excited at how God is using this media team so far and for what He’s going to do through them!
Now you may be wondering, what is the purpose of opening a second studio in Thailand?
One reason is this: In our North Studio, we are able to create programs in Thai and Hmong. With the new staff we have been able to hire for the West Studio, we will also be able to reach out to people who speak Karen and Burmese, as well as Thai.
But the primary reason? The need is just so great. Nearly 70 million people live in Thailand and only 1.3 percent are Christian (there are 55 million people in neighboring Myanmar, with eight percent being Christian). Many of these people have little-to-no idea who Jesus is. Media is a great tool to share the Gospel with them, and so much content needs to be created; why not have more than one studio creating that content, even for the same channel?
A 24-hour channel requires 168 hours of programming in a week, and nearly 9,000 hours for a whole year. Both of these studios are small studios, but together, God can use them to do great things. If God opens the door, we’d love to see even more open. We’d love to see a studio in Bangkok, where there are a lot of potential speakers and opportunities, as well as other places.
We would like to invite you to pray for this new studio in West Thailand, as well as the North Studio and any future media projects God gives us to work on. Please join us in praying that God will use these studios and the people serving in them to bring many people into the Kingdom.
If you would like to support the multilingual outreach of our Thai media teams, please click the button below.