Faith-With-You Christian Ministries

NEWSLETTER FOR SEEDLINGS AND AHAVA EMET

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 14:26:00 +0800

GOD'S MIRACLE

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 14:20:00 +0800

Shalom All,

Greetings in the Lord!

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts ~ Isaiah 55 : 8 - 9.

Since November 2018, my wife discovered that she had a headache and migraine the whole day. She underwent the magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) and computed tomography angiogram (CTA) for a few times. In mid of July 2019, the neurosurgeon concludes that she was diagnosed with Moyamoya disease. It is a rare disease and one out of a million people will have Moyamoya disease. Therefore, she decided to do a bypass brain surgery on the right side on 22 August 2019 and it was a very success operation.

However, on her left side of her brain still under observation whether she still needs to do another bypass brain surgery. But then, it is already passed one year and her health condition is still excellent. Praying that she don’t need to do the second surgery and our God is great.

Two days before my wife go for the brain surgery, we decided to end our refugee ministry after serving them for the past 6 1/2 years. It is because she couldn’t be our the translator for both sides, as well, I need to do take care of her.

Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security ~ Jeremiah 33 : 6 (ESV). Now she is fully heal and let us give Glory to the Lord.

The Thailand Bible Society (TBS) invited my wife to share her powerful testimony on 20 September 2019 and her testimony was published throughout Thailand. We really appreciate TBS for giving us the opportunity to encourage others to walk closely with the Lord. In His Name, everything is possible.

The Covid-19 pandemic started in February 2020 and we hardly can do anything. Therefore, I decided to start the Church Service using ZOOM platform. There are many people joined the service from the different part of the world … from Australia till Europe. And we still running the service till today. Praise the Lord!

Good News! Finally, our Seedlings of Hope Foundation were approved by the Thailand Ministry of Interior on 31 July 2020 and we received the Foundation Certificate from the government on 7 August 2020. It is a non-profit Christian organisation that focus on helping the needy ones (students, widows and orphans) and vocational training (skills, languages and Bible training). We are looking forward on how to work together with the local and abroad organisation to reach the lost. (Facebook Page : https://www.facebook.com/sohthailand).

For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them ~ Ephesians 2 : 10 (ESV).

All Praise to the Lord, as we seek His will! Do uphold us in prayers.

Blessings,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

THE END OF THE YEAR AND NEW HOPE FOR 2019

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Tue, 1 Jan 2019 00:28:00 +0800

Shalom All,

Greetings in the name of our gracious Lord!

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come " - 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV).

As the clock ticks towards the NEW YEAR, leaving 2018, it is good for us to take a moment to reflect.

Have we walked with faith and steadfastness with our Lord.

Love Him as much as He loves us.

In tune and in step with Him,

Obedient to His Will.

And so will say to Him,

A Big "Thank You, Almighty God !"

And so Goodbye 2018!

And Welcome 2019, your new year for us!

So let us see what God has planned for us in the coming year.

Just as the Lord has faithfully delivered His people out of Egypt into a new promised land, Israel, He will bring to you a New Year, filled with the abundant life to come with the New Year!

My walk with God the past 5 years … my wife, Jenny, and I have been serving the Vietnamese Christian Refugees ministry for the past 5 years. It is a challenging ministry. We have faced many ups and downs, but in all situations, we give glory to God for giving us strength to continue serving Him, but then I am a person who has the persistence to continue to rebuild. We have witnessed the growth in the faith of the refugees we have served and helped build.

It is time to let them grow in their faith, as we can see their spiritual growth and they are blessed from God. And we will diligently pray for them to be able to resettle in a third country, as the Will of the Lord meets each individual's needs.

Our next mission for 2019 ...

We plan to start a Christian NGO known as Seedlings XXX Foundation in Thailand.

Our main focus is to help children from poor homes to be given a better education than they are receiving now, to facilitate the schools we serve with better teaching materials and to strengthen their Christian faith.

It is our long term goal to achieve this end, we have set up an initial committees. To first seek registration with the Ministry of Interior, the Government of Thailand as a NGO, that will be more accountable to the government, the public and your tithes/offerings.

We are in this journey together and with God’s help, we will be prepared for whatever 2019 may bring us together, in His service.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2019!

Sharing in His goodness,

Steve Peter H S Kok (Rev)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 14:51:00 +0800

MISSION REPORT FOR AUGUST 2017 AND 10TH MISSION FIELD

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Tue, 29 Aug 2017 12:19:00 +0800

Shalom all,

Greetings in the name of the Lord!

Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and Yes, establish the work of our hands - Psalm 90 verse 17.

I would like to thank all for your contribution and prayer support, as we continue to serve the Lord with great passion and love.

This is the 10th Year of our Mission Field work.

We have gone through many challenges and obstacles. But our Lord is faithful. He strengthens and guards us all the time. We have travelled far and wide seeking to serve Him in different places in Thailand, India, Cambodia, Vietnam, Macau, China, Turkey and England to share the Good News, with people who need to receive Him. The task is daunting, but we persevere, because we believe in Him and will continue to serve Him faithfully.

For some time now, I have not updated my mission report on the Vietnamese Christian Refugees we tried to reach out in 2015, due to safety and security reasons. Thank God that some of them have by now received the necessary "Refugee Status” and are waiting for a third country government to accept them. Two families have already left for the US and New Zealand for the resettlement programme under UNHCR.

I am also thankful and appreciative of your prayer support for my wife, Jenny Ruth Kok. She has just completed her Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood Education) at the Ramkhamhaeng University in March 2017, with a 3.59 GPA (highest score in the Early Childhood Department, and equivalent to First Class Honours).

In June 2017, the oncologist informed my wife she is free from cancer after her 4 years follow-up medical treatment. It has not been easy for her undergoing so many stresses these past years serving the Lord, doing her degree program and receiving medical treatment at the same time, but at last, she managed through it all. Thank God for giving her strength and pulling her through!

She has the intention to further her studies to the next higher level, Master of Early Childhood Education.

We are seeking friends and family to support her education. With her Master’s degree, she can become an university lecturer and train local Church leaders in their children's ministry.

Early this year, we have started a ministry in the Condo Lumpini Township, Pathum Thani, Thailand.

I am teaching English in the community centre and have also tarted a Life Christian Group there .

The beginning effort is not always easy, but we continue to press on till we make a break through.

I will also be conducting English classes for nearby local Churches as part of our extension work. We want to see more souls saved.

Here the ground is hard but we are praying that the ground will soften, with merciful rain from the Lord, so that the harvests in this land of the free will be plentiful.

Our funding is limited and very low, we will update our financial report shortly. Based on the current balance, it is about THB 40,000 (RM 5,100/USD 1,203).

In obedience to the GREAT COMMISSION, we would like to update you with our renewed outreach ministry-mission-church planting, which we will feature in our new setup page "http://www.facebook.com/seedlingsministries", where we will also brief you with our mission report.

This is our effort to revamp and to re-energise our old ministry, known as Faith-With-You Christian Ministries, which has been passive for a few years.

But we will boldly and steadfastly continue to press on to fulfil the Great Commission.

Please keep us in your prayer.

Blessings,

Seedlings Ministries

Mission Contribution
Thai Version : http://faithwithyou-thai-blogspot.com

BLESSED CHRISTMAS

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Wed, 7 Dec 2016 11:33:00 +0800

BLESSED CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Fri, 18 Dec 2015 09:43:00 +0800

GOD'S MISSION IS AMAZING 2014

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Fri, 23 Jan 2015 16:32:00 +0800

Shalom All,

Greetings in the name of the Lord!

Let me quote from Paul;-

"But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” - Acts 20 verse 24.

Most of us fall short of this calling, don't we?

We often feel the other way round ... life is a failure, unless we get a lot out of it, such as recognition, money and earthly success!

Reflect.

Is that truly the mark of success and happiness?

No, dear brethren, but reflect again what Paul has said for himself and for you, as quoted in Acts 20 verse 24.

For truly our life is worth nothing unless it is used for the glory of God. Indeed, our most important goal in life is to tell others about Jesus Christ.

This should be a man's greatest mission in his entire life.

God is looking for more people who will focus on that one great task given by God .

Will you respond to that call?

Yes, I would like now to share with you some very happy news.

My wife, Jenny Ruth is fully free from cancer after her last treatment on August 19, 2014. However, she still feels weak because her body is adjusting to the hormone treatment given her. Almost every day, she needs to take the hormone medication after her parathyroid was removed. Thank you everyone for covering her in your prayers and supporting her medical bills.

She continues to pursue her Early Childhood Education degree with Ramkhamhaeng University begun since 2013. She expects to complete it by the end 2015. After that, she needs to complete one year practical training before getting her bachelor’s degree.

We praise God for helping Jenny pass her examinations. She did very well in her examinations with many “A" grades. Here is an encouraging quote for all of us sitting for exams.

"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach and it will be given to him” - James 1 verse 5. Thank God for that blessing!

Recently, both of us were admitted to hospital with high fever. Jenny was admitted first, towards the end of July 2014 and then I was admitted early November 2014. The doctors were unable to find the cause of our fever but they suspected it is a bacteria infection. Praise God for His healing, as both of us became well and were discharged.

Of late, we are thinking and considering whether we should aim to establish a "foundation" (for religious and charity causes) where donors will be enabled to get tax exemptions for their donations from the foundation. Such a foundation will have to be strictly in compliance with local laws for transparency and accountability. This type of set up will also make it easier for foreign Christian volunteers of the foundation to get their social work visas. However, we need to raise a minimum of THB 250,000 (RM 27,000/USD 7,600) to satisfy the Ministry of Interior that our operating expenses are adequate, in support of our application. Do pray with us for this plan to be realized.

The final report for the year 2014.

In the middle of July 2014, our Church Committee decided to cease operating the Basketball Mission.

During the past 6 months, we have been very busy with other Church activities, particularly giving assistance and praying for the asylum seekers worshipping with us and also participating in an extension activity with 'cycling' evangelism.

Our Sunday Church Service in the early October 2014 has rapidly grown since we begin this church in 2013. We started having only 3 attendees in June 2013 and now we have 64+ attendees up to December 2014. At times, the Church was somewhat packed given the limited space we have in our shop lot. As such, we have downsized the Church stage so that we can accommodate more people during our Sunday Church Service.

Last year, our Church became known as an AEC Church (ASEAN Economic Community-AEC) because we have worshippers from diverse nationalities attending our Church Service such as from Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia and United Kingdom. The majority of our regular worshippers are refugees or asylum seekers.

You can read more about our Church activities from the many pictures and videos we post from time to time.

May you pray with us for a fuller harvest in 2015. And may God's abundant blessings be upon you and your loved ones.

In Him,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

BLESSED CHRISTMAS

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Wed, 24 Dec 2014 10:14:00 +0800

1ST YEAR SPRING VALLEY COMMUNITY CHURCH

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Fri, 13 Jun 2014 23:35:00 +0800

Shalom all,

Greetings in the name of our Lord!

Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heaven! Praise him for his mighty works; praise his unequaled greatness! Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn; praise him with the lyre and harp! Praise him with the tambourine and dancing; praise him with strings and flutes! Praise him with a clash of cymbals; praise him with loud clanging cymbals. Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord! - Psalms 150 verses 1 - 6.

It is our first anniversary of the Spring Valley Community Church since we started on 2 June 2013 in Saphan Mai, Bangkok. God has worked amazingly in our Church, as it is a blessing Church, equipping Church and community Church. Our Church started with 3 worshippers and now we have more than 60 congregation members.

For the past few months, we were extremely busy with visitors (local and abroad) visiting our Church.

Many of them expressed “thanks to the Lord” for the work we are doing, knowing it is not an easy task. When they saw the Christian refugees, they were moved and even shed tears seeing their impoverished condition and their children obedient and cheerful despite religious prosecution and poverty. The visitors so touched often will share their story with their friends, finding ways to help them.

On 22 May 2014, the Thai military declared martial law and imposed curfew in the whole Thailand, following the political deadlock over the past 7 months. There are many restrictions such as the media, internet and communication access. Since then, the situation in Bangkok looks better and the people feel safer moving around than before. Do continue to pray for peace and stability to return to Thailand and for a peaceful resolution to the political situation.

Next week, Jenny will be going to the Chulabhorn Hospital to do a bone scan (finding cancer cells) after 7 months respite from radiotherapy. The following week, she also needs to go to the Thammasat University Hospital to follow up with doctors after 9 months' thyroid surgery. Do continue to pray for her full recovery.

The report.

Our Church Schedule of Services and activities have been changed starting 1 June 2014.

• Tuesday (5.30pm - 7.30pm) - Teaching Thai Bible for Children

• Wednesday (5.30pm - 6.30pm) - Teaching English Class

• Thursday (7.30pm - 9.30pm) - Teaching Diploma in Theological Studies

• Saturday (7.30pm - 8.30pm) - Prayer Meeting

• Sunday (9.30am - 11.30am) - First Church Service (Thai)

• Sunday (2.30pm - 4.30pm) - Second Church Service (Refugees)

The latest update, The Basketball Mission Church’s activities will cease and will instead be integrated with the general activities of the Spring Valley Community Church, starting 1 June 2014. They will no longer use another house for worship but move to our premises for worship from 9.30am - 11.30am every Sunday. The Basketball Mission’s activity is a sports evangelism outreach but it will now come directly under Spring Valley Community Church.

Originally, we planned to hold a Church Camp from 24 - 25 May 2014 in Pattaya and to conduct water baptism for teenagers and adults, there as well. However, we have decided to postpone the Church Camp date, due to the present political situation. The new date will be 11 - 12 July 2014.

On 18 April 2014 we started a Refugee Fund to help meet some of the needs of Christian refugees, with the help of Sister Kathleen Mak and others. The Fund helps supply food (5 - 10 kg rice, cooking oil, eggs), hygiene needs (toothpaste, body soap, shampoo, powder) to those who attend our Church regularly. We also help with their basic medical needs(less than THB 500) and materials for Children’s Education (books, transportation allowance, uniform, and stationery).

We have earlier proposed to start a mini “handicrafts training project”. However due to poor response from sponsors for the project, we have to delay this project for the time being. Meantime, most of the refugees are able to secure some temporary jobs in car wash, sewing shop and construction site since last April 2014.

We welcome all visitors to our place. There is a lot that can be explored and done together for the Lord.

With love and thanks, for your wonderful partnership in Christ Jesus!

Blessings,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

HAPPY PASSOVER

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Sun, 13 Apr 2014 01:34:00 +0800

OUR LIFE IS A MISSION

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Tue, 18 Mar 2014 10:44:00 +0800

Shalom All,

Greetings in the name of our Lord!

"Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done" - Philippians 4 verse 6.

When faced with a tragedy or a storm of any kind, it can be a trying experienced, as well as extremely difficult for us to understand why such happenings have struck us. We may even feel apprehensive, frightened and lost. We may even be angry and try to play the blame game. In moments like this, a consoling voice will be very helpful and much needed. But from where? But our God works in mysterious ways, ways we may never know!

In the midst of our deepest heartache and pain, we will find hope and courage to carry on with our brokenness. And find Him, our eventual source of hope and strength. With God's help and the help of our caring Family of Christ and the encouragement through his Word and much prayer, we will surely receive the necessary strength to be an overcomer. And be blessed by Him!

Yes, one may be thinking, "I don't know how I could ever get through this." Or one may be battling powerful feelings of despair, suffering, confusion, fear, worry, and even anger. These are all normal responses to tragedy. But as difficult as the life storm maybe you and I in the Lord are not walking alone. God is with us always. He loves us and cares about what is going on in our life.

We must keep our faith and rebuild our lives after a tragedy or difficult situation.

In life we will encounter many challenges including some that may shake our faith to its core and leave us hurting. However, the most important thing when facing those times is to rise up with courage and strength!

The same challenges are faced in starting and building up a church. It is not easy at all to run a Church. We face many challenges. But we must press on even during difficult, or very difficult times.

Let me here share our burden with you so that you can continue to pray for us, as we pray for you too.

For the past 3 months, we received not much offering from abroad compared with last year and our Church receives tithes less than THB 300/per week (RM 32/USD 10) from congregations, mostly Christian refugees. This is just enough to cover fellowship meals on Saturday Church Service.

But we have so many expenditure needs to cover, such as for rental, property tax and other expenses related to the Church. My wife and I are not paid any salary as we commit to serve as volunteers in His service as we surrender our lives to serve our Great God. We pray that we can continue to sustain the Church and keep on serving our Mighty God.

On 7th February 2014, we started the Diploma in Theological Studies program in our Church that is affiliated to Evangelical Seminary, Canada. Many students have enrolled and are attending the course. Among them are Christian refugees as well as one local Thai pastor. The reasons why they are taking the course are;

They want to know more about the Bible.
To improve their English.

To help them in their progress, I appoint a leader among them who is ahead of the class to explain to the rest of the class in their own language what I have taught. We hold the classes every Thursday and Friday from 7.00pm to 10.00pm. By helping the refugees in this way, we hope that when they migrate to a third country with the paper qualifications and basic English, they will be able to work for a Church or start a Church planting to serve their own community later on. This is one way to expand the Kingdom of God.

Let me briefly describe here the plight of the refugees I have come to know being in contact with them.

They are not allowed to work by law but many did work illegally to survive.
If they are caught for this, they will be imprisoned and then sent back to their home country.
Visiting them, I saw them eating rice only without meat, sauce and salt.
So I decided to buy them some nicer food in my next visiting trip, treating them a meal once a week.
During the school holidays, their children will find work and they work very hard to earn more money so that they will have money to study.
One orphan has to work very hard to support himself.

We hope to start a 'handicrafts and bags' projects next 2 months and have had discussion with a few Malaysia Christians last 2 weeks ago in regard to seed funding and marketing. On seed funding, we still need to raise more funds to start the project. For sales, we are able to secure a few Christian friends to help out on the marketing. Praise the Lord!

The Christian refugees will do the production side and our team will focus on the logistics of sales. On design, we welcome suggestions.

How do we pay the Christian refugees for work done?

An example to illustrates.

If we sell a bag at THB 200 and we will pay the worker THB 70 for his bag and THB 100 for the other expenses (materials, logistics and administration) while the balance of THB 30 will go into a pool fund. We will use the pool fund to help the Christian refugees needing financial assistance such as for medical treatment, shortage of food, children's education and etc. In this way, we teach them how to fish instead of giving them fish. Also, there is less need to raise funds to help them for the long term.

Dubbed "Basketball Mission" Church, we launched this on 2^nd February 2014 attended by many enthusiasts, many of whom would otherwise spend their time on computer games, social chatting and watching movies. Our ideas are to teach and train the young to be more active in sports activities. It is good for their physical health and mental health also. Many parents allow their children to come and learn basketball. This gives us an opportunity to share the gospel with them. Even the older ones are drawn to watch the game. We have a professional coach to train them for free. Every Sunday evening, we have inter-district Basketball tournament and I was given an opportunity to share 10 minutes of the Gospel to the Basketball teams and crowd. Many of them have taken the first step to accept Jesus Christ as their personal saviour. Thus, God has opened the door, but it takes time to let the seed grow towards maturity.

In God, we trust His mighty hand in the spread of His Kingdom.

Many blessings to all in the Lord.

Blessings,
Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

GOD"S PLAN FOR OUR CHURCH

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 05:31:00 +0800

Shalom All,

Greetings in the Lord!

But you are near, O LORD and all your commands are true - Psalm 119 verse 151.

I believe that one of the areas in which God is calling us the Church to do today is to set our hearts firmly and finally in the right direction, that is, to get ever closer or nearer to Him! Friend, I believe God desires to share an intimate relationship with you and He will go to any length to attain that closeness with you! However, there is a barrier called sin that separates us from Him. He must deal with this! For you must understand that God cannot and will not tolerate sin! That’s why He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross! He who is sinless suffers and bears your sins so that you and I will be made righteous before GOD.

Towards New Year Eve, my Notebook failed me and so I could not type my reports nor do any work on it. However, I want to give thanks to God that some big hearted brothers and sisters came to my aid with some funds for me to buy a new Notebook.

On 26 December 2013, I sent out a video clip on Jenny’s testimony. Currently, her health is still weak due to radium treatment and she lacks hormone in her body. She will see her doctor again this coming mid February 2014. The radium treatment weakens her physically and she often feels cold. With the weather in Bangkok getting colder, she feels the cold more than ever before.

As most of you who follow the daily news are aware, the political tensions in Bangkok and even the south of Thailand are not getting better and now a state of emergency has been declared. The curfew imposed on Bangkok and surrounding provinces. Our area is not affected, however, even though it is quite close to the protest area, 5km - 6km away. Do continue to pray for sobriety and reconciliation to return to Thailand again.

It is difficult for us to do God's work without a car. Thank God for a Christian brother who helped us with a down payment to purchase a new pick-up truck, Mazda BT-50 Pro 2.2 Hi-Racer. We took up a hire purchase for 6 years, servicing the loan at THB 8,091 (RM 890/US 275) per month.

In January 2014, we have so far received less than half in mission contribution compared with the same period last year 2013. In 2013, we received THB 25,000 - 35,000 (RM 2,740 - RM 3,840/USD 847 - USD 1,186) per month. We decided to transfer from Jenny’s medical fund of THB 64,206 (RM7,055/USD 2,176) for use by the Church after getting the approval from the majority contributors on 9 January 2014. You can read this in our financial report.

In my previous report, I have hoped to offer some help to the Christian refugees in our Church. However, it is not easy to raise funds to help them. So instead, I tried to find a way to start a handicraft project to support them. The refugees will make the handicrafts and we will help to sell for them. A cell group from Malaysia will help start the handicraft project and buy some of the handicrafts for sale in Malaysia. This is one way to help the refugees. We would appreciate any support you can give to make this project viable. Share each other’s burdens, in this way we obey the law of Christ - Galatians 6 verse 2.

The slideshow shows our Church activities between December 2013 till January 2014 with the captions.

On the 5 January 2014, I was appointed Church Pastor of Basketball Mission Church in Bueng Kum District, Bangkok by their Church committee. The Church is growing rapidly and is almost always full worshippers are mostly Thai.

Two independent Churches (Minburi, Bangkok and Nakhon Luang, Ayutthuya) are affiliated with our Church since December 2013.

Let me close with a quote from Mathew 28 verses 18 - 20. “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age”

Blessings,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

A VIDEO OF SPRING VALLEY COMMUNITY CHURCH - CHRISTMAS EVENT 2013

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Thu, 26 Dec 2013 09:16:00 +0800

Blessings,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

BLESS ONE ANOTHER

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 20:01:00 +0800

Shalom All,

Greetings in the Lord!

In the Gospel of Mathew 25 verses 35 - 40 are the following words from Jesus:

“.... I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me”. Then the righteous replied, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King replied, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’

These indeed are touching words from Jesus, reminding us to extend a helping hand to those that need our help that they may be led to the Kingdom of God.

Some Christian refugees from a neighboring country have come to our Church since July 2013, We empathized with the suffering they have gone through in their homeland the past few years, Unfortunately, it is quite a sensitive issue for us to share about their plight here but if you want to know more, please drop me an email at faithwithyou@gmail.com.

In my previous reports, I did mention that we have offered them, as well as the local Thais, free language courses in English and Thai. This is a small step to begin with.

Our Church has been approved by an Evangelical Seminary from Canada to conduct a Diploma certificate course in Theological Studies. We plan to start this course in mid January or early February 2014. The Seminary will provide the materials for teaching and the marking of examination papers and the awarding of certificates.

However, there will be some conditions for those wishing to take up the course. They need to attend our Church for more than 3 months, have volunteered to serve in our Church in an area of work and are aged 21 years or older. If they don't meet these conditions, they need to pay a minimum fee for the course. With this training, we hope the trained can use the qualification to find a job or serve the Lord. This is one way to build and equip them with the Word of God.

This course will be conducted in English. We hope the Thai Christians will also avail themselves of this opportunity to take up the course to learn English, as well as the Word of God.

We now have two volunteer teachers and would like to invite more volunteer teachers to come and teach the course.

Next, we plan in a limited way to employ a few refugees ... hiring a lady to clean up the Church twice a week and pay her THB 200/per day (RM 20/USD 6.30) and also some men to help with painting the 3 - 5 floors of the Church, as well as doing some minor repairing jobs. If they do well in the job, we will recommend them to other people who need cleaning or painting. This is one little way to help them.

Thirdly, we plan to teach some of them to do handicraft work, such as cross stitches, souvenir items made from beads and beans, plastic flowers, paintings and etc . However, we need talented volunteers to come and teach various types of handicrafts, as well do the marketing for completed handicrafts.

Lastly, I need to apply for my Thai Visa extension for one year this December 2013 and I pray that there will be funds for the Church to support my application for the visa.

Thank you all for your concern and prayers.

We will have an early Christmas celebration on 14^th December 2013. If you are in Bangkok, please do come and join us in the celebration.

Below is a slideshow with captions of our Church activities in recent months.

Let us know your thoughts if these will help us improve our work for the Lord.

With blessings and love,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

SURGERY WAS SUCCESSFUL

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Fri, 8 Nov 2013 15:08:00 +0800

Shalom All,

Greetings in the name of our Lord!

Truly, God has heard and answered our prayers. All praise to our mighty God, who did not ignore our prayers or withdraw his unfailing love from us - Psalm 66 verses 19 - 20.

Here, let me also thank all of you for your prayers for my wife, Jenny, your prayers are a great testimony of God 's work in your life. Praise the Lord!

On the 3rd November 2013, the children from our Church accompanied Jenny to the hospital. Jenny was admitted to the same ward of 20 beds but a different bed from her first surgery.

The surgery was scheduled for the following day. She went to the operating room at 9.00am (+7 GMT) and came out around 1.15pm (+7 GMT). She looked much better after the second surgery compared with the first surgery.

“Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!" - Psalm 103 verses 1 - 5.

During the surgery, I prayed and petitioned the Lord.

“Lord, please send your angels to assist the doctors in the surgery and sustain Jenny in the healing process, so that she will be healthy and made whole again. Amen" Praise the Lord, He is faithful to our petition and He heals.

It is truly a miracle that Jenny did not lose her voice and felt no pain at all. She was able to walk to the restroom to do her body cleaning after 6 hours' surgery. The following day, she asked me to accompany her to walk to the market inside the compound of the hospital and she was able to walk half a kilometer!

The doctor checked her calcium level on 6 November 2013 and noted that the calcium level at 8.0 was low. A day before, the calcium measurement was 8.1. The stable calcium level is 8.5. The surgeon did not remove the parathyroid gland (right side) during the surgery. Pray that her parathyroid will start producing the hormone (calcium for the body). Since then, there has been a slight improvement in the calcium level to 8.3 on 7 November 2013.

With this improvement, the doctor discharged her on 7 November 2013.

In the following month, Jenny still needs to go to the Chulabhorn Research Institute for cancer treatment.

Her schedules is as follows;

- 9 December 2013 - Medical test

- 13 to 17 December 2013 - Medical check-up

- 18 December 2013 - Admit to the Chulabhorn Research Institute and to undergo Iodine 131 (nuclear treatment) radiotherapy

- 22/23 December 2013 - Discharge Hospital

- 22/23 to 30/31 December 2013 - Stay alone in the room

For the Iodine 131, treatment she must follow the procedures as follows;

- Keep a distance of 2m from human and animal

- Flush the toilet twice

- Separate plates/spoons/forks/cups/clothes

- Drink a lot of water

- No iodine/salt/seafood

- No travelling abroad for 90 days

This journey will put us on another step of faith.

Again, the Lord is sovereign and so we will have complete trust in our Lord, who is in complete charge and control over everything. But we know that the Lord is with us … in every way and all the time.

In Him we trust and obey. Amen

Thank you dear brothers and sisters in Christ, for all your prayers

God bless all of you.

Blessings,
Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

CHURCH SERVICE SCHEDULE CHANGE

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 23:29:00 +0800

Shalom All,

Greetings in the Lord!

It is announced the Church Service schedule change.

- Every Friday evening (7.00pm - 8.00pm) will be Prayer Evening Watch - effective in early 2014.

- Every Saturday evening (5.00pm - 7.00pm) will be our Worship and Church Service – effective on the first week of November 2013.

- Every Sunday morning (10.00am - 11.00am) will be the Bible Study - effective in early 2014.

- Every Sunday evening (4.00pm - 6.00pm) will be Family Sports Activities - effective in early 2014.

There are a few reasons why we needs change our Church’s activities;

- Due to my wife’s surgery and radiotherapy treatment, we need to change Church schedule.

- The homeless Christians could not attend the Sunday Church Service because they are being forced to attend Sunday group meeting.

- It is more easy to invite local Thai preachers to share the Word of God on Saturday evening.

We would like to invite the volunteer pastors or preachers to come and share the Word of God on Saturday evening. Should you be interested, we welcome you to write us.

For the lay Christians, there is a lot that can be explored and done together for the Lord with the local community, training in language learning ministry, healing ministry and etc. Also do write to us.

May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love.

Blessings,
Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

	Mission Contribution

UPDATE THE SECOND SURGERY AND MOVING CHURCH REPORT

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 10:22:00 +0800

Shalom All,

Greetings in the Lord!

Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to Him forever and ever! Amen - 1 Peter 4 verse 11.

We are given gifts to use in God's Kingdom for two reasons; firstly, it is to bring glory to God and secondly, it is to bless others. Whether we serve or speak, we are to do so with these two goals in mind, knowing that God will supply the strength to do what he has gifted us to do.

In regards to Jenny’s second surgery, we went to meet up with the doctor on 30^th September 2013 at the Thammasat University Hospital and the surgery will take place on 4^th November 2013. She required to stay in the hospital for 5 - 6 days till the blood stop bleeding on the neck. The doctor told us that there is no guarantee whether she will have the voice or not after the operation because it is the second round surgery. The doctor also told us that if they can find the parathyroid, then they will not take it out, otherwise Jenny require to take calcium pills forever.

On the 8^th October 2013, she went to do all the basic medical check-up before surgery. The doctor discovered a few dots in her chest through the X-ray. Therefore we need to go back to consult the doctor next week.

Six weeks after the surgery, they will need to perform the Iodine-131 nuclear radiotherapy at Princess Chulabhorn Research Institute for 4 - 5 days and we need to make an appointment for this with the doctor next week. As the treatment will fall during Christmas week, therefore it will be necessary to find a replacement Pastor or Bible College student to help out our Church between November 2013 - January 2014.

During this October 2013, Jenny is busy preparing for her first semester, second year examination of Early Childhood Education in Ramkhahaeng University. She is trying her best to complete the degree programme within 2 ½ years and then she needs to have one year practical teaching experience in the school before the Ministry of Education will issue the Teacher’s License. With the license, she can start a pre-school for the Church and another opportunity to share the gospel.

My Thailand Visa will be expired on 16th October 2013 and the last stamp exit fall on the third week of December 2013. I have been using a Non-Immigrant O (dependent spouse) visa. The Royal Thai Embassy in Kuala Lumpur has had to change the requirement recently. Last time, when I applied for the Thai Visa, I just need to show my bank statement of THB 100,000 but now the Embassy requires me to show THB 400,000. If I apply at the Immigration Division in Bangkok, I need to maintain THB 400,000 for two months, then only the one-year Thai Visa will be issued. Now, we are trying to figure out how to solve this visa issue as I do not have the required funds in hand.

Turning to the weather, parts of north, northeast and eastern Thailand have been facing heavy flooding several weeks now. Sakeow province is flooding around 1.3m - 1.4m. There have been many great monsoons hitting Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar recently. Most dams in the vicinity are full and they need to release the water. The floodwater from the north and northeast is now heading towards Bangkok again. It is uncertain whether the floodwater will pass through our place again and so we pray that it will not be a repeat of the 2011 Bangkok floods..

Church activities (Caption at the slideshow);

Should you be interested, we welcome you to write us and even visit us in our new place. There is a lot that can be explored and done together for the Lord with the local community, training in language learning ministry, healing ministry and etc.

Attached is the financial report for September 2013 for your reference.

All Praise to the Lord, as we seek His will ... Do uphold us in prayers.

God bless all of you.

Blessings,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

http://www.facebook.com/springvalleychurch

	Mission Contribution

CHURCH GROWTH

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 21:00:00 +0800

Shalom All,

Greetings in the Lord!

Here is the promise of Jesus in John 14 verses 13 - 14, "You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

Isn't that assuring and comforting?

God is always awesome ... we know that He is always there for us when we need him, However we must show our obedience and faith, then we will see our prayer is answered.

Jenny and I would like to thank all of you who have prayed for her during her illness, as we relied on the Lord's use of professional medical doctors to heal her. Praise the Lord for prayers answered and for His great love and mercy. Amen!

We recently saw the doctor on 30^th August 2013. She said the second surgery can be done in two months time but not later than 6 months since the first surgery was on 7^th August 2013. The next appointment with her is on 27^th September 2013 and she will fix the second surgery between early to mid November 2013. Six weeks after the second surgery, Jenny will undergo the Iodine I-131 treatment for a week.

Church activities.

We started the Spring Valley Community Church in early June 2013 with 3 worshipers. Today, the Church is about 3 months old and we have 40+ worshipers attending the Sunday Church Service. Many of them are Christians from other countries who have faced persecution in their homeland because of their belief. We are trying our best, with the limited resources we have, to help them by providing them with basic needs such as food and clothing. The collections and offerings from worshipers is around 300 - 400 baht/per week. We provide light lunch after Sunday Church Service.

To elicit greater participation and commitment to serve the Lord in the Church, two other members were elected become our temporary Church Elders. Praise the Lord for their willingness to serve.

At times, when we have a full house, we do not have enough chairs and tables to conduct classes in English, Thai or Malay. There is great interest among the local Thai people to learn English in particular. Our 10am - 12pm Saturday class is almost always full, with about 25 - 30 students. We will be opening a new class at 4pm - 6pm on Saturday and estimate to have 10 - 15 students. Our Thai and Malay classes are on Saturday, 12.30pm - 1.30pm. We are thankful to be used by God to extend a helping hand to serve the local community in this area too, because God loves them. Praise the Lord!

On 23rd August 2013, our Church received the official Church License affiliated to Bangkok Evangelistic Center under Thailand Assemblies of God.

Should you be interested, we welcome you to write us and even visit us in our new place. There is a lot that can be explored and done together for the Lord with the local community, training in language learning ministry, healing ministry and etc.

Below is the financial report for August 2013 and left column is the mission support information for your reference.

May God bless each one of you in your journey with Him!

Blessings,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

Spring Valley Community Church

Email : faithwithyou@gmail.com

	Mission Contribution

JENNY'S CONDITION AFTER SURGERY

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 13:01:00 +0800

Shalom All,

Greetings in the Lord.

And many thanks to all who have prayed for my wife Jenny.

It is indeed a blessing to have brothers and sisters in Christ on our side in prayer. God is good always and He has a great plan for us. We just need to seek Him and be obedient to Him. Praise His Glorious Name!

Jenny's surgery on August 7 was successful. The doctor removed the tumor (2cm) and half of her thyroid (3cm) cutting across the neck (10cm). The doctor had said that she might lose her voice after the operation. However, the surgery went well and Jenny's voice was not affected. Praise the Lord!

The pathology report on August 20 shows that Jenny has follicular carcinoma thyroid cancer. She requires a second surgery to remove the balance of the thyroid and parathyroid ( which produces hormone in our body). After that, she needs to go for further treatment-radioactive iodine therapy with I-131 (uranium, plutonium fission etc) to kill all the cancer cells in the thyroid area. Many opinions from different doctors and ex-patients told us not to wait and get it out immediately before the cancer cells start to spread to lymph (tissues to the bloodstream) and it will be high risks.

For now, she needs time to wait for the wound to recover and soften (1 - 2 months) before the second surgery. For the second surgery, the doctor had said that she will lose her voice for weeks, months, years or forever.

The overall treatment is going to be expensive (estimated cost to the max THB 130,000) especially the radioactive iodine, therefore I need to start planning. I will sell our Toyota Corolla 1.3MT (1994) next week and use the money for Jenny’s treatment. Sources say second hand car prices will drop in the next 2 weeks, and if I don’t sell before next week, I will not get much money back. A dealer is willing to buy now at THB 100,000 but after next 2 weeks, it will be THB 40,000 - 70,000. We will use public transportation for the time being until we have enough funds to buy another car.

I will update the Church’s report soon ... lots of great things are happening. All for His Glory!

Blessings,
Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

	Mission Contribution

TRUSTING GOD

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Wed, 7 Aug 2013 11:01:00 +0800

Shalom All,

Greetings in the name of Lord, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving Psalm 28 verse 7.

Going over this verse reminds me of the day when Jenny and I were in India in 2008, We had intended to visit the State of Orissa to encourage the Christians there, as well as give a helping hand to an orphanage there. However, the Lord spoke to Jenny to return to Bangkok. So we returned to Bangkok in obedience to God’s plan. Ten days after our return, violence broke out in the State of Orissa and thousands were killed in that violence.

In China in 2009, Jenny and I visited a city in Central China. I was given an opportunity to preach in a House Church to uplift their spirit and encourage them to worship the Lord with greater vigor. We spent one month with the local people there, and then we left for Hong Kong to re-stamp our passports with the intention of returning to the city in Central China to continue to train and equip the people there but then, Jenny asked me to go back to Kuala Lumpur instead, saying God wanted us to get out from China. So we left for Kuala Lumpur. Later, a brother in Christ from that city told me the police were looking for me and they planned to arrest me.

We strongly feel that in these two instances God has intervened in changing the plan for us at the right time to steer us away from trouble. He indeed is a God who is always faithful to us when we surrender ourselves to serve Him, for He will rescue us at the right time ,or chosen time, before greater trouble comes. Hallelujah!

Tomorrow morning, Jenny will be in Thammasat University Hospital for a surgery to remove a tumor growth from her neck (near the thyroid and voice fold area). She is expected to remain for observation for 3 days. We appreciate and thank you for your prayer support.

I have been offered a full scholarship to do a Masters Course majoring in Bible and Theology by an Evangelical Seminary. The course will take 1 - 1½ years to complete it.

God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble - Psalm 46 verse 1.

During the past month, a number of Christians from abroad Asia neighboring countries Vietnam and Pakistan have visited us, as well as attended our Sunday Church Service. Some of our visitors have suffered persecution for their faith. However, I can’t reveal much about them here but if you want to know more, please drop me a personal email These visitors are also in need of material support to sustain them in these trying times and so your interest and support in any form will be most welcome.

We will be starting 2 more cell groups soon, so with the existing one, it means we will have 3 cell groups. Our Church is growing step by step as the Lord leads. Praise the Lord!

We walk by faith and are always obedient to Him, with constant prayers and supplication to Him for all our needs.

In God we completely surrender and trust.

May God bless you all in your love and trust as well.

To Him be the glory

Blessings,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

	Mission Contribution

PRAY FOR JENNY'S SURGERY AND THE CHURCH

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Fri, 19 Jul 2013 15:40:00 +0800

Shalom All,

Greetings in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ of Nazareth!

Let none of us have a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But instead, let us encourage one another daily, while it is still “Today”, when Grace is still available, so that none of us will be deceived by sin and hardened against God - Hebrews 3 verses 12 and 13.

Words like “Don't give up. Keep on believing. God is still in control. I'm still praying for you” as we will bring much encouragement and help build up one another to continue trusting God to work in difficult situations. Spoken or written words of encouragement are also bridges that strengthen relationships and bonding, as members of the same family of Christ.

So here we want to praise the Lord our Provider, as all of you have in one way and another brought great joy and encouragement to us, even though we don’t have enough funds to do all the desired and necessary renovations for the Church just yet. However we continue to have and to build up our faith, knowing that the Lord, our God is always in control.

My wife, Jenny Ruth will be going for neck surgery soon, as there is a tumor close to the thyroid and voice fold, diagnosis the presence of benign follicular cells with focal and negative for malignancy. The doctors have conducted various tests including ultrasound, thyroid hormone and blood checks.The ultrasound confirmed it is thyroid but from the other tests they were still unable to tell exactly what kind of tumor. Hence, the doctors suggested for her to have the tumor removed and sent to the laboratory in Thammasat University Hospital for further analysis. She will be warded in the hospital for 4 days. The operation and ward costs will be around THB 15,000 - 20,000 (RM 1,541 - RM 2,054/USD 483 - 644). Do continue to uphold her in your prayers.

With the limited funds we have received so far, as can be read from our Church financial report, we can’t do much to complete today our intended plans, so we will proceed step by step. As you can see from the picture above, our “Spring Valley Christian Café” on the ground floor has a rather attractive counter, with some tables and chairs in the layout, but we are still unable to operate the café because we don’t have a commercial coffee machine, bubble tea machine and a mixed fruits maker, as well as miscellaneous things like glass cups/ plastic cups etc. The reason we plan to start this café is because many Thais love coffee and it is a cultural trend. Through this, we hope to create a better environment for evangelism and fellowshipping with the university students and the general community, as our Church is situated in a strategic location.

Since the first week of Saturday of July 2013, our Church has started free language learning courses to bless the community. Currently, we are providing free English and Thai language lessons and soon Chinese language as well.

Alone, we can only do that much, but together much more can be done!

Do drop us a line to encourage us in our plans for the extension of His Kingdom and do drop in in case you happen to be in Bangkok.

Blessings,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

Email : faithwithyou@gmail.com

SPRING VALLEY COMMUNITY CHURCH, BANGKOK

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 11:01:00 +0800

A Letter to fellow Churches and concerned Christians

Dear Church Pastors and beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

It is with great pleasure and joy for me to introduce our newly established and relocated Independent Pentecostal Church, known as the Spring Valley Community Church, Bangkok, which was first set up in January 2013.

This Church is now relocated from a rented bungalow house in Lam Luk Ka to this new rented 5 storey shop-lot at Saphan Mai, located in a busier suburb just north of metropolitan Bangkok.

I am the pastor for this Church, serving together with my wife, Jenny Ruth Kok. I am a Malaysian. Before coming to Thailand in September 2007, I have been serving as an independent voluntary missionary in several places in Asia, including India, China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Turkey. I was single then serving the Lord as a missionary for couple of months. Then I met Jenny, a Thai national in January 2008. We were married in April 2008 and together we have since served the Lord, first in India, then China and finally opting to serve in Thailand since 2010.

Our Church is presently located at a very busy, strategic and prime location, as it is near a bus stop (50m away), food stalls (10m), a private hospital (350m),a hypermarket (400m) and day/night market (1km). There are 5 large universities quite close to our Church; namely, North Bangkok University (2.5km), Krirk University (2.9km), Phranakhon Rajabhat University (3.2km), Sripatum University (5km) and Kasertsart University (6.8km). It is also close to the Don Mueang International Airport (5km) and behind our building are some 10 blocks of Apartment dwellings.

By now, we have done some basic touch up and facelift renovations to the rented 5 story shop lot premises, giving it a new life as a welcoming church.

In our planning, we intend to use the Ground Floor as a coffee/tea cafeteria for Christian Fellowship. The Church and worship sanctuary will be located on the 1st floor, the ministry training room on the 2nd floor, the pasonage on the 3rd floor, and a place for visiting missionaries on the 4rd floor, even the rooftop on the 5th floor could be used too (such as for getting a panoramic view of the surrounding).

Of course our main mission focus is to reach out to the local community (who are yet to know the Lord) and more so the university students close to us to get them to know Jesus Christ our Lord to place tracts and testimonies for them to read, to read the Gospel and His Word far and wide as He has commanded us to do.

Since establishing the Church, our Sunday Church Service in the previous house church has an attendance of between 3 - 12 members with most of them living quite far away from the church. We have also started a Cell Group every Wednesday evening with an attendance of between 5 - 10 members.

We hope with this better location, we will be able to reach out to a greater number and eventually to welcome more into the Kingdom of God and in time, with suitable resources to provide free tuition in language learning such as English, Malay and Chinese and other equipping to serve the Lord's purpose.

These are some of of our visions for God's work waiting to be done. Alone and with limited resources, we can only do so much to realise what God will entrust us.

We sincerely feel that the present new premises which God has favored us with could be more extensively used, So with this in mind, I am writing to you, Brothers and Sisters in Christ, particularly Pastors of Churches, to look into the opportunity and possibilty of working together with us in this vision to do God’s work in this corner of Bangkok.

Should you be interested, we welcome you to write us and even visit us in our new place. There is a lot that can be explored and done together for the Lord such as outreach to the students, evangelism with the local community, training in language learning ministry, healing ministry and etc.

You can visit our blog at http://faithwithyou.blogspot.com for more information.

I hope to hear from you soon, please do not hesitate to contact us for your ideas, assistance and etc, anything in furtherance of the Lord's work will be most welcome.

Blessings,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

Email : faithwithyou@gmail.com

CHURCH RENOVATION APPEAL

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 00:59:00 +0800

Shalom All,

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth!

Of late, Jenny and I have worked hard every day in trying to spruce up the new premises of the 5-storeyed building we plan to turn into our new church. Back breaking painting of walls and ceilings, getting help to fix up the minimum plumbing, throwing away accumulated unwanted broken pieces of furniture and things and cleaning up the place to make it look more welcoming as a place of worship.

Work in progress with what funds we have and more awaits to be done, when donations are in support of our efforts are available and coming in.

These are the encouraging words from our Lord Jesus: “It is more blessed to give than to receive” - Book of Acts 20 verse 35.

To many, those words make no sense. They love to receive. Yet the Lord is not saying that receiving has no pleasure. Many of us have experienced the joy of having someone care for us. Yes, there is pleasure in receiving; yet there is even more pleasure in giving. Jesus is saying that the pleasure of knowing that we have been used by God to help someone, exceeds the pleasure of being the one who was helped.

If that is so, then whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone, especially to those we love the most. Doing good may include a monetary gift, but it may also include a word of kindness or encouragement. To do good may involve us sending a card with a special note inside. It may include a carefully baked dish. Or, it may involve a helping hand to get a job done. It may be something as simple as a smile and a few moments of our time.

As reported earlier, our initial target was to raise some THB 300,000 (RM 33,334/USD 10,600) principally to enable necessary simple renovations to be done to set up a look able fellowship/ worship center to cater to the needs of this neighborhood of Bangkok.

For the past one month, we have collected almost THB 36,800 (RM 4,000/USD 1,300) to help us kick off the necessary renovation work for our new church. The money has come from a number of sources - from those who have been extraordinarily generous with private donations and from those social/charity welfare.

Given below are some snapshots of "work in progress"

Our floor plan and future renovation works needed are set out here:

Attached with this report is our appeal for funds for the setting up of our new church.

Should you need further information or clarification, please write us.

We will be more than pleased to update you with your queries.

Blessings,
Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

MOVING AND RENOVATE THE NEW PREMISE

faithwithyou@gmail.com (Steve Peter H S Kok) — Sat, 11 May 2013 08:32:00 +0800

Shalom All,

Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth!

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope - Jeremiah 29 verse 11.

We would like, first of all, to thank everyone for your encouraging emails, and for covering us with your prayers. Very sincere thanks, too, especially to pastors Rev. Dr. David Yonggi Cho, Pastor Rick Warren, Pastor John Burton and many others for praying for our mission work. God is truly working in an amazing way through our extended family of God, encouraging and upholding us in the building of His church.

I firmly believe our God will bless us all the way whenever we walk by faith in obedience to Him.

Last Sunday, we went to see the landlord of the shop lot and were surprised to be told he would bless our Church with one month free rental from 15 May till 14 June 2013. Praise the Lord! So we will be moving to the new premises starting on 18 May 2013 (next Saturday).

As for the old premises, the landlord has refunded us in full the two months' rental deposit we had with them. That settles nicely our move from one place to a new one.

But we need to plan and think through how best to utilize the 5 floors of the shop lot we now have. Our thoughts:

Ground Floor - Coffee/Tea Fellowship Center and Christian bookshop (i.e.a convenient ground level contact point or center for evangelism ).
1^st Floor - Congregation Sanctuary Hall, Training Hall and Bible Study Hall.
2^nd Floor - Still thinking and planning
3^rd Floor - Parsonage.
4^th Floor - Rooms for Missionaries and Visitors.
5^th Floor - Rooftop view with deck chairs for rest and relaxation, particularly during breezy evenings for worshippers and visitors.

Our rationale for a coffee/tea fellowship center: to provide a convenient way for local people to get to know who we are and what we do, as well as to provide a convenient meeting place for them to spend time relaxing, reading, chatting or even doing their computer work. We can use in-house piped Christian music, recorded testimonies and sermons as well as making available photocopies of Christian quotable quotes from Proverbs and other well known passages from the Bible, etc ... anything light and easy that will help in spreading God's message. Not only that, we will have regular worship and sharing regularly and daily, if necessary. These activities will provide more opportunities for non-believers to know Jesus Christ and open new doors for them into the Kingdom of God.

We truly want to thank God for opening doors for us to do His work in the first place ... by providing us with such marvelous premises in a prime location, accessible from and to many busy, crowded people centers and at an affordable low rental too, for a 5 storey shop lot and so far, it is truly an amazing act of God that is only explainable and made possible by His grace, through the prayers and petitions of His saints! Surely also all according to His great plan.! And for His glory!

We need to raise funds to do the moving in and for some necessary renovation for the new premises. We estimate a launching initial budget of THB 300,000 (RM 34,090/USD 10,714).

I pray that with your support, the new Center and Church will take off as planned and set out above. Please pray with us for the realization of this project. In God we truly depend and trust "One Faith, One Hope, One Love".

May God be with you and bless you for His Glory.

Blessings,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok