A tract was placed on the wooden stairs leading up to his house. Who put it there was never known, but it got Kamsorn thinking about eternity. Some months later a Christian radio program advertised a Bible study program. Kamsorn, working in the paddy fields, memorised half of the address, and his brother the other half. From these small beginnings, God later started Nongbon New Life Church in the rice farming village of Nongbon, North East Thailand, with Kamsorn as pastor.
Many years later, God is continuing to reach out to others, setting them free from the bondage of evil spirits. Puong, rubber tapper and mother of two, traveled to many shrines, temples and witch doctors to seek relief from a horrible curse put on her. Unable to eat or sleep and too afraid to be left alone, Puong and her husband were willing to pay for the evil spirits to be cast out. Each time they were disappointed and would return home to save money to try elsewhere. Their brother-in-law told them that God could help them and took the couple to church. The demons were cast out – the whole extended family experienced God’s almighty power and believed. For four years now, Puong’s extended family have been traveling fifty kilometres to come to Nongbon church from the Peace village on the Cambodian border.
Sometimes God has used unlikely people as evangelists. Granny Ung was a lady in her seventies, beaten by her husband and despised by her children, but faithfully caring for her grandchildren.
“Let me go to church too,” was her request.
“Sure, see you on Sunday,” I replied.
Slow grumbling gave place to peace. Still hardworking, Granny Ung would push her cart around her village collecting recyclable items to sell. People would ask how she could still push this cart at her age.
“Oh, I go to church every Sunday,” she would tell them.
“Can I go too?” was the next question often asked.
Granny Ung has now died, but others continue to spread the gospel. In this past year more locals have been coming to the faith. A blind lady, Nuan, leads the group and prays for her village. They chatter happily in the van on the way to Nongbon church. Each brings food to share.
Toerng and his brothers used to visit their Aunty Sa in the holidays, and she would bring them to Nongbon church. Their father, a deaf man, died, and their mother, an alcoholic, remarried. The new husband would fight often, argue, and drink, so Toerng’s older brothers left home when they were old enough. Toerng, overwhelmed, dropped out of school during Covid. Everything was just too difficult. One day he found himself on the phone calling his Aunty.
“Aunty Sa, can I come and live with you?”
“Sure,” she replied.
Aunty Sa brought Toerng to church weekly. Toerng accepted Christ as his own personal Savior and returned to school. He was just accepted at a university to be a math teacher.
With more people coming along to Nongbon church, we need a new, larger meeting room. Our current church building is two stories with the top floor and structural beams made of wood. The structure is probably only usable for another year or so due to a significant termite problem. Our plan is to build a larger meeting room to the side of the original meeting room so we can continue using the original building meanwhile. The new church building will be a single-storey building, as several of our members struggle with climbing stairs. Please pray for us as we raise funds for this new building and pray for our church members as they help to build the new meeting room.
