Hi, Hope International Ministries. It was an incredible time that we had together with over 400 delegates attending our Global Leadership Conference in Chiang Mai. Our emphasis was “Inside Out”.
Both Pastor Simon and I took the plenary sessions. I unpacked the key leadership insights about Jesus’ inner battles at the Garden of Gethsemane. And then we applied it to the crucial inner battles that we must win. And Pastor Simon, he revealed how the intersection between our convictions about God and our mission will make all the difference to our perception of the challenges that we face. And we also had speakers from many different continents who really brought together topics on leadership, mission on inner heart insights from all over the place in the short and in the breakout sessions. It was a short but truly power packed session together. And then we gathered together with almost 4,000 delegates for the Thai camp at the same venue. The excitement, the faith, the commitment to build God’s kingdom was palpable. And for our Thai brethren, it was really like an annual spiritual pilgrimage together.
Now, just before the Thai camp, we were at Hat Yai in the southern tip of Thailand with our key church there led by Pastor Chaiyapruek. And it was really inspiring to see the church there, to see the commitment that they made to come to the Thai camp. The church arranged buses for the members to make a more than 20-hour trip. It was an immense journey for many of them. And not only that, in fact, the key leader over the international fellowship, a businessman, subsidized the trip for the members of the international fellowship. What a commitment, what a sense of community. It was so exciting to see all of them coming with that level of excitement to get it together in the camp.
The theme was A Chosen People because God has chosen His people for an incredible destiny and it ought to be lived out in our daily lives. So our global and Thai elders, we taught the plenary sessions. I shared about our glorious identity in Christ and what it means to us personally and corporately. I also unpacked what it meant when we face persecution and even suffering just as Jesus did. Jesus is our forerunner. He set the pace. He set the perspectives for us. And so we too can face those challenges like He did.
Now, what was most impacting for me about the Thai camp was the celebrations that they had to celebrate the national and even the international missions. It was fantastic to see their faith, their determination, their focus on multiplying the churches in the past 15 years. And so by the grace of God, they will surely exceed 500 churches by the end of this decade. And I was so blessed as well in just seeing the celebration of the international missions, seeing the spread of the gospel that’s been going throughout many different countries, many different localities, and just to see how we are working together to fulfil our Vision 2030, to see the transformation of lives everywhere.
So I’m certain the camp has left a deep impact upon all its delegates. God has been doing and will continue to do something special in the midst of our family for the sake of the kingdom. And so God bless all of you. Do join us for our coming GLC next year. God bless every one of you.