Dear Family and Friends,

We wanted to give you a brief update on our progress towards returning to the mission field.

We are still planning to leave at the end of September and are planning accordingly.

One Million Forms

The OMF Thailand office has started the visa application process for us which should be approved by the time we fly from the U.S. In terms of official documents, we are also still waiting to receive from the U.S. government a couple of renewed passports for the kids, and from the Thai Embassy in Washington D.C. a couple of identity documents legalized for use in Thailand. There is so much paperwork involved in moving overseas. Please pray that all necessary documents will come in a timely manner. Nothing in life is guaranteed.

Connecting with Mission Partners

At the recent General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America in June, I (Karl) had the chance to connect with leaders from both long-term and new partner churches, sharing meals and fellowship together. Also, in early July, I preached at a Reformed Baptist church in our local area and we all enjoyed visiting with the leaders and members there. We have been encouraged to see their interest in partnering with us in mission.

OMF has given us financial clearance to return to Thailand, though we could really use some more regular monthly support, for which we ask you to pray. We are really thankful for all of you who pray for and support our ministry in various ways. Without God’s grace through you, there is no way we could return to Thailand or do what we do.

Dear Family and Friends,

Thank you for your prayers, support, and encouragement for us as we look toward returning to Thailand. A lot of people have been asking where we are at in that process. Here’s the scoop.

Financial Support Update

We are really thankful to have gained a new church partner within the past month and are hoping to hear something from a few other churches who have indicated strong potential interest in partnering with us but have not been in touch in some time. It would really help to shore up our financial position if we had an additional $1000/month or so by the time we leave for the field. Though more support is needed, we got really good news from OMF U.S. that our financial position is good enough for the OMF Thailand field office to start processing our visas. Woo hoo! Countdown to departure can begin!

Visa Applications and Departure Date

OMF Thailand is beginning the process of applying for a religious affairs (or “missionary”) visa for Karl which takes about 5 months. That feels like a long time, but then again there is a LOT of running paperwork between different government offices and other entities for signatures, stamps, approvals, etc. I won’t bore you with all the gory details of visa paperwork, but here is the plan.

Visa Extension Stamp for Thailand Missionary Visa in a Passport

Dear Family and Friends,

I want to share with you the good news that we are making progress getting back to the mission field.

Financial Support News

In the past few months, we’ve seen an increase of financial support of +/- $500/month through a handful of new mission partners as well as a number of kind year-end donations in December (thank you!). I’ve been busy reaching out to churches and I think we have a few promising leads for new church partners, but nothing firm yet. I do have, however, a couple of verbal commitments from people who want to start giving regularly when we leave for the field. For planning purposes, that is really helpful for us because we can say to OMF how much will be coming in towards our budget and thus get the thumbs up to depart for Thailand. Please continue to pray for us that full support may be reached (or at least pledged) in the near future so that we can return to Thailand this coming summer.

Chiang Mai Theological Seminary 

We have been in communication with OMF Thailand field leadership and are pleased to share that we have been officially designated to NorthernThailand where I will teach at Chiang Mai Theological Seminary (CTS). CTS was started about 20 years ago by OMF missionary Larry Dinkins and now has a small faculty of Thai and missionary professors and about 150 students. I am excited about the opportunity to jump back into teaching and training Thai Christians who will serving as pastors, evangelists, Sunday school teachers, missionaries, and more. My exact responsibilities and course assignments will be worked out later but it is likely that I will get to teach church history and historical theology. I love church history. This spring at our church in Florida, the associate pastor and I are tag team teaching a Sunday school series on church history (listen here). And I am also writing an article on 20^th century Thai evangelist Boon Mark Gittisarn that will be published later this year. There is so much to learn from the past when we view it through the lens of Scripture. I am thankful that the Lord seems to be opening an opportunity to be in the classroom with Thai believers once again to see what we can learn from the past to apply to serving the Lord today.