Who or what do you worship?
Today, Kelley and I took a tour of Khon Kaen with Brian Firpo, who is the regional director of Campus Outreach Thailand. He wanted to give us a more intimate feel for the city and the culture. Each city in Thailand has a "holy place" that is revered and cherished by the people, so we visited there first, and later we ventured over to a Buddist temple. It was my first time being in any such place. To be honest the places were very beautiful, as you can see below, but they broke my heart as well. It blew me away to see people bowing down to idols, and offering up cries of hope to gods that cannot hear them, and will never faithfully meet their needs. Sadly, they pay for these prayers as well, hoping to somehow earn merit or good luck.

I began to think that open idol worship was one of the more heart wrenching things I had ever seen, but then God reminded me of my own heart, and I was quickly led to repentance. The Thai people may worship idols for all to see, but I have a tendency to worship idols that I can mask or temporarily hide. My job, success, the approval of others, my wife, my reputation, and financial comfort can all be things that I find life in and/or become more important to me than my worship of God. The Scriptures are very clear in several places like Psalm 115 and Romans 1 that our hearts are "idol factories" (as John Calvin puts it), and the wrath of God is to actually turn people over to their idols; to give them what they really want, which hardens and perverts the heart and mind. I don't know about you, but I want to make sure that I am constantly dismantling the idols of my heart by "putting off" the things that so easily entangle in this world, and "putting on" the character of God by allowing the Word of God to dwell in my heart richly (Col. 3:1-16). I want to encourage you to please examine your heart, as I examine my own, and ask the Lord if there is any grievous ways (idolatry) within our hearts. He has called us to pursue holiness, and constantly dismantling the idols of our hearts, by His grace, is definitely a big part of that. May you and I be a people that are not consumed with anything but the Glory of God!

Swatatdee Krap (Hello from Thailand)

Well, after 43 straight hours of traveling (yes that is right, kind of crazy huh) we have gotten safely to Khon Kaen, Thailand. Things are really different here, but we are enjoying ourselves.

Here are some key differences:
Food in Thailand is good, but very spicy (the red sauce will light you up). Thai's drive on the "other" side of the road, have tons of outdoor food markets, don't have many air conditioned spaces (even though it is more hot than back home), and love to sing karaoke. They have karaoke places everywhere, and they definitely get into it. Of course, this is very fun to watch and you know we have to sing a little as well! They love soccer, have more motorcycles per capita than any other place in the world, and the entire bathroom is a shower (no tub). The culture is very laid back and the people here are extremely nice. It is not a competitive society like ours, which is a breath of fresh air.

We all have ministry partners from the Campus Outreach Thailand staff and have been on campus a couple of days already with them. We are meeting new students, and trying to build relationships with the Thai students that the staff already know. It has been cool to begin dreaming about what God may do in these students lives...especially in a culture that does not have a context for the person of Jesus Christ. Below are some of the pictures that capture our first couple of days here in Thailand:

OUR NEW WEBSITE!!!

Please check out what God has been doing in Raleigh at www.coraleigh.org

Support Update

"And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:19

"Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known." Jeremiah 33:3

Kelley and I wanted to let you know that God has been hearing our prayers, along with yours, and is raising up people and churches to be apart of our lives and what God is doing at NC State. Recently, we had a church here in Raleigh come on our support team for $250 monthly (can you believe that?!) and then we had a IT guy that works in the Research Triangle come on our team for $100 monthly, possibly $200 monthly. Isn't that incredible! God is truly moving despite our struggling faith. Please continue to pray with us as we still have around $850 monthly left to raise.

Our Need

$100 monthly supporters: 1
$50 monthly supporters: 10
$25 monthly supporters: 10

*Also please being praying for us as we try to raise $3,300 for our 2 month trip to Thailand. For more information please contact us or go our new website (www.coraleigh.org) and click on Cross Cultural Project.

To Him be the Glory

'Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,
for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

2 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in the heavens;
he does all that he pleases.' Psalm 115:1-3

I just wanted to share with you the miraculous things that God has done on the campus of NC State this semester. The following are things we have been trusting (or trying to trust) God with since the beginning of the year and how He has answered them by His wonderful grace:

Trust God List

1. We asked God to draw 17 students to Himself this year: 17 students have prayed to receive Christ this year
2. We asked God to bring 20 students to Atlanta for our New Year's Conference: 20 students attended the conference
3. We asked God to bring 15 students to our summer Orlando project: 15 students are attending
4. We asked God for 4 or 5 evangelistic Bible Studies to be happening on campus: 4 Bibles Studies were happening by the end of the year

Isn't it incredible what God has done here...and this is not all that He has done! Man I can't wait to see what He is going to continue to do. To Him be the Glory!

Please pray for the following students:
Tom
Taylor
Demario
Donovan
David
Dan
Grady
Peyton
Chris
Jebb
Jason
Dustin
Travis
Zach
Will
Kaitlyn
Laura
Juliette
Ashley
Beth

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Matthew 9:36-38