In July 2026, we, along with ACGC’s Asia Pacific area director (APAD), visited Thailand with the intent of laying the groundwork for a possible church plant in the Naratchakhwai Village in Nakhon Phanom.
Before leaving our home in Florida, we planned a public outreach event in the Naratchakhwai Village for July 21, and our goal was to invite 100 people to hear the gospel. We knew that practically all who would attend were Buddhists with no Judeo-Christian background, and nearly all would be subsistence farmers.
During our first week, we spent our days visiting acquanitances of my wife’s family in three adjacent villages. We invited people to join our event, prayed for them and gathered information cards.
Over the past year, my mother-in-law, Yai Mang, a recent convert, rode her bicycle selling Vietnamese baked goods to people in the villages. She would also give baked goods to those who had little or no money, as there are people there who live at the absolute poverty level.
As a result, she developed many relationships and is respected by the locals. Although she knows little about the content of the Bible, she did her best to evangelize on her own. She even helped bring a family friend, Bua, to the Lord. Bua is the mother of Lita, who had been a member of John Middlewood’s church, the former Christian Mission Ban Naratchakhwai. I’ve stayed in touch with Lita over the years and she told me she was tearful when she heard of her mother’s conversion. Yai Mang also invited people to the outreach event. Before we arrived in Thailand, she had invited more than 30 interested people.
During the planning stages of the event, Pohn reached out to many of her online contacts from her Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) group for assistance. The group consists of Thai women from all over the world, the majority of whom are from Thailand. A large church in Bangkok agreed to help by sending a team of nine to the event. Another team from Sakhon Nakhon, which is about two hours away from Naratchakhwai, also agreed to join us. They would bring with them a pastor who would deliver the sermon in Isan (their local dialect) during the event as well as their praise team.
During week three, we continued to speak with people in the villages and invite them to our event. One of our friends, Ning, also from BSF, flew in from Singapore a few days before the event to help us with evangelizing efforts. Within a few days, we reached our goal of inviting 100 people.
On the Sunday just before the event, we attended a worship service at a church in the city commons. This church was recommended by the group from Sakhon Nakhon. There we met an American missionary from Florida, David England, who, after living in Thailand for eight years, gained fluency in the Thai language. He preached the sermon in Thai. According to Pohn, his teaching was very clear, and he came across as a very humble man.
Since many in the villages have no means of transportation, we chose a community center used for public elections as our venue, within walking distance for most. The building hadn’t been used for at least two years, and the electricity was shut off because of unpaid bills. Pohn had the power restored, repaired some overhead lighting and we gave the building a thorough cleaning.
The day of the event finally arrived and 108 people attended! Assuming that most would be late, we planned to begin at 10 am, but by 8 am people were already lining up. We gave out 100 blankets embroidered with “Jesus Loves You” and a cross as gifts for our guests. The praise team from the Bangkok team and the Sakhon Nakhon praise team played worship music and facilitated some fun games. Several of us shared our testimonies (APAD and I had translators). We passed out faith-based literature such as Our Daily Bread, Four Spiritual Laws and Manna, translated into Thai. We also provided a catered lunch.
I wrote a sermon outline for the event using God’s wonders of creation and nature to establish common ground, followed by an overview of the Gospel of John. We had the outline translated to Isan, and the sermon was delivered by the pastor from the Sakhon Nakhon team.
After his sermon, the Isan pastor invited the attendees to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, much like Billy Graham did during his crusades. Fifty people raised their hands and stated on their information cards that they want to learn more about the gospel and attend church.
Since Thai people are always intrigued by foreigners, we asked APAD to conduct four baptisms — which included Pohn’s mother and father. What’s amazing is that three years ago when Pohn’s mother became a Christian, she asked us not to baptize her because she feared persecution from her own family. Today, Pohn’s father is allowing us to use their home to begin worship and Bible study. It was amazing to see God at work through everyone.
Just as all activities were coming to an end, we laid hands on and prayed for a woman named Pah whom we met in the village. Pah was demon-possessed for 43 years and lost her ability to speak, although she could still hear. While we prayed for her, Ning moved her jaw, and shortly after, she spoke. She said “amen” and “hallelujah.” Everyone was astonished to witness this miracle. In the week following the event, Pohn followed up with Pah a few times. She told me that her speech became stronger with each visit.
After Pohn shared this story with her BSF group, several of the ladies indicated they want to join us in Naratchakhwai during future visits. Pohn encouraged them to continue to pray, give or join us. Those who supported us were a huge blessing. The Bangkok group made many of the arrangements, including ordering food and even negotiating the price of our rental car (Americans often pay two to three times more for goods and services).
Thai is a family friend who raised funds to provide the blankets we gave out as gifts and arranged for groups from Bangkok and Sakhon Nakhon to support us at the event. Since she has Thai bank accounts and many connections in Thailand, we were able to order everything we needed through her and reimburse those expenses in U.S. dollars.
Ning raised funds for audiovisual equipment that the home church will use for online study meetings through BSF. The equipment will also allow us to participate in worship services with the people in Thailand from the U.S.
Several of the elderly women have been asking Yai Mang when we will start our church, because they want to see this happen before they pass away. We will begin as a home church, and our goal, Lord willing, is to build our home and church on a vacant lot in the village that we own. Pohn has been working in food services at the Advent Christian Village, and for the past five years has saved all her earnings to build this church. In the meantime, David England has agreed to fill in as pastor for our temporary home church and work initially with four ladies to teach them basic Bible study skills and how to evangelize so our church can continue to grow.
It is incredible how God provided every resource we needed for this outreach event. He put the right people in the right places at the right time. He provided us with model roles to follow. He touched the hearts of many. He even allowed a group of mostly non-believers to witness a miracle. We were in Thailand during monsoon season when rainfall is heaviest. We prayed for just a few hours of good weather during the time of the event and were blessed with great weather all day. The rain didn’t arrive until after we finished the final baptism. We know that none of this occurred by happenstance.
Thank you for not giving up on us. There were significant delays in starting this ministry, but we know it’s God who tells us when to stop, go, or wait. Clearly, he gave us the yellow light for a reason, but that light has since turned green. We’d like to thank the Advent Christian Village for allowing us to live here, providing Pohn with work, and all the pastors, missionaries and dear friends who continue to teach, pray, encourage and support us. May the Lord richly bless all of you.
Please pray for the continued growth of our ministry, for a permanent pastor and that one day soon Ban Naratchakhwai Village Ministry will become Ban Naratchakhwai Village AC Church. We are honored that God would use unexpected people like us to do his work for his glory.
Russell and Pohn Yoon serve the Advent Christian denomination as volunteer missionaries. They hope to plant an indigenous, self-supporting church in Thailand and regularly travel there to build relationships and lay the groundwork for future ministry.
