“It Felt Like Coming Home”
Thailand Studio Update
One of the most quoted verses in missions (for good reason) is Matthew 9:37: “Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.’”
While people may be willing to pray, or even to give money to support the spread of the Gospel, being willing to give themselves to reach the lost is much more challenging. This is one of the reasons we have been so excited about the media teams God has put together for our studios in Thailand.
Last week, we shared a little about how our West Thailand Studio has been doing since it started a couple months ago, and this week we are sharing an update from our North Thailand Studio.
Recap
A few years ago, a missionary couple in Thailand donated some land for a studio. After the Thai government processed the paperwork for property donation (four years later), the people farming the land asked us to wait for one more Lam Yai fruit harvest before we cleared the land. We agreed, and that season, the missionary couple’s land had a bumper crop, while the donated land had no fruit at all. We saw this miracle as confirmation that God had blessed the donation and had great plans for the studio.
(Read the full story here.)
God provided the funds to build the studio, and the building was finished in late 2021.
The next task was to find a media team to run the studio.
Cindy’s story
Our Thai team members shared the job opportunity and several people came to apply. One of those people was Cindy.
JFA President Jon Wood with Cindy
Cindy is one of the team members at our North Studio in Thailand. She grew up Christian, but not Seventh-day Adventist. She had an interest in media, so when she went to college, she studied TV production. After Cindy’s graduation, she had a lot of possible opportunities, but the one that excited her the most was the opportunity to reach people for Jesus through media.
Trained video creators that have a desire to use their talents for God can be hard to find, especially in Thailand where less than 1% of the population is Christian. Jon said he had never met anyone like that in nearly 20 years, and he was thrilled to have Cindy join the team.
Cindy happily accepted the offer, and said that the opportunity she had been given to work for God “felt like coming home.”
She and the other media team members quickly got to work building a set and creating content to share on various media platforms.
A few months later, one of the other team members quit, leaving a job opening available. Our Thai leaders prayed about who to hire, and they thought Cindy’s boyfriend, who was Adventist, would be a good fit.
Cindy’s boyfriend is a world-class singer and guitar player. He had been waiting for his big dream job, and at the same time he was asked to work at our studio, he received an offer from a music company with a high salary and a $1,000 signing bonus. Even though the studio job had a much lower pay, he chose to work for God rather than follow his dream.
We believe this was another miracle, because in Thai culture, people don’t choose the lower-paying job, even if it might be more fulfilling.
On Jon’s most recent visit to Thailand, he was happy to witness Cindy’s baptism, and two weeks later, her wedding, which she and her now-husband chose to have in the studio because that place, where they had been given the opportunity to work for God, was where they felt at home.
Cindy’s baptism
Cindy’s wedding at the studio
On set filming the baptismal preparation series
We are so inspired as we see how miraculously God has worked for this studio to bring Gospel-centered media to the people of Thailand. Currently the team is working on creating a baptismal preparation Bible study TV series with some Thai pastors explaining each of the fundamental beliefs in a way that makes sense to the Thai people. We know this will be a powerful resource for the already-baptized Adventists as well.
Prayer Requests
Please pray for the continuing work the media team is doing on the baptismal preparation series and that God will use it to reach many people.
We have an opportunity to add a small printing office for the small Bible-based booklets the Sharon family have been printing to the back of our studio. Please pray for God to open the way for this printing office according to His will.
Please pray for our media teams at both the North Thailand Studio and the West Thailand Studio to continually grow in their relationships with God.
If you would like to support the continuing work of our media teams in Thailand, please click the button below.