missionary
LORI'S GOING TO THE NATIONS!
BUT WHY THAILAND?
DID YOU KNOW THERE ARE 500 MILLION BUDDHISTS WORLDWIDE BUT ONLY 2,000 TOTAL MISSIONARIES WORKING AMONG THEM? THAT'S ONE LABORER FOR EVERY 260,000 BUDDHISTS!
Thailand’s population is 71 million. One person dies EVERY minute in Thailand without ever hearing about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In the 192 years since the Gospel came to Thailand only 6% of the villages have been reached with the Gospel.
-E-Star-
Of the estimated 400,000 Christian missionaries worldwide, only about 13,000—just 3.3%—serve among unreached people groups, even though these groups represent approximately 42% of the global population.
-The Traveling Team-
"Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth." 3 John 1:8
"Also, I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: 'Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?'
Then I said, "Here I am! Send me."
Isaiah 6:8
Thailand has 114 people groups, 74 of which are considered unreached with the Gospel. Out of a population of 71 million, only .75% not even 1% ! are Evangelical Christians. My AMAZING mission agency, Global Frontier Missions (GFM), has been training and sending laborers to since 2000.. However, in 2021, GFM finally felt led to establish a hub in Southeast Asia to strategically minister to the Buddhist world within the 10/40 Window. I’m privileged to be part of that launch team, spearheading mobilization efforts for this great harvest.
WHAT IS A FRONTIER UNREACHED PEOPLE GROUPS?
A Frontier People Group (FPG) is:
-An Unreached People Group (UPG)
-With virtually NO followers of Jesus and
-NO known movements to Jesus,
-Still needing pioneer cross-cultural workers.
In Frontier People Groups, pioneer workers are generally limited to starting with non-believers. 60% of Unreached People Groups are still Frontier People Groups. In the other 40% of Unreached Groups it is often possible to partner with same-culture believers.
-Joshua Project-
Here's our whiteboard video to explain more...
MY LIFE VERSE:
"But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned by the Lord Jesus Christ--the work of
telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God."
Acts 20:24
WHAT IS A UPG OR AN UNREACHED PEOPLE GROUP?
It is estimated that of the 8 billion people alive in the world today, 3.4 billion of them live in unreached people groups with little or no access to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. According to Joshua Project, there are approximately 17,259 unique people groups in the world with 7,220 of them considered unreached (over 42% of the world’s population!). The vast majority (85%) of these least reached groups exist in the 10/40 window and LESS THAN 10% of missionary work is done among these people!
SOBERING STATISTICS OF GLOBAL MISSIONS
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76% of US churchgoers either have not heard of the "Great Commission" or do not know what it means.
(Joshua Project)
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42% of the world population is in Unreached people groups consisting of 3.4 billion people and 7,220 people groups. (Joshua Project)
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5 out of every 6 Unreached People Groups/UPGs are in the 10/40 window which consists of 67 countries. (Joshua Project)
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The 10/40 Window is a region between 10 and 40 degrees north latitude that includes North Africa, the Middle East, China, India, and Southeast Asia. It’s often called the “Resistance Belt” because most of the world’s major religions—Islam, Hinduism, tribal beliefs, and Buddhism—are found here. This area is a key focus for missionary work, as five out of six Unreached People Groups live here.
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Only 3% of the world's missionaries go to the 15% of the world's population where 0.1% to 5% identify with Jesus armed with only 1% of foreign missions giving. (Joshua Project)
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The Church has roughly 3,000 times the financial resources and 9,000 times the manpower needed to finish the Great Commission. If every evangelical gave 10% of their income to missions we could easily support 2 million new missionaries. (The Traveling Team)
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Evangelical Christians could provide all the funds needed to plant a church in each of the 7,220 unreached people groups with only 0.03% of their income. (The Traveling Team)
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There are 57,053 Evangelical Christians for every one unreached people group. (The Traveling Team)
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Only 1% of foreign missions giving goes to missions work among UPGs. For every $100,000 that Christians make, they give $1.70 to the unreached. (The Traveling Team)
Background photo: Pasting gold leafs onto statues at pagodas honors the Buddha's teachings. It’s seen as an act of kindness and a way to “transfer good merits.” Gold symbolizes the sun, purity, knowledge, and enlightenment. The Buddhist ONLY hope for true loving kindness is Jesus Christ.***
"Assemble yourselves and come; Draw near together, You who have escaped from the nations. They have no knowledge, Who carry the wood of their carved image, And pray to a god that cannot save."
Isaiah 45:20
GLOBAL FRONTIER MISSION'S BANGKOK HUB'S FOCUS:
(1) MOBILIZING I have the amazing privilege of serving as the Director of Mobilization. My desire is to be a catalyst—motivating, inspiring, and walking alongside God’s people on the beautiful journey of discovering their role in the Great Commission that Christ Jesus has called them to. This includes planning and overseeing vision trips, short-term mission experiences, conducting educational teachings on lostness, building relationships with other ministries, missionaries, churches, and mission agency partnerships, all in the hopes of raising up more long-term, cross-cultural missionaries to reach Unreached communities.
(2) TRAINING Did you know 47% of missionaries leave the field before their first term is up? 71% of them for potentially preventable reasons. We want to change that. Since 2000, GFM has trained over 500 people to be long -term, cross-cultural missionaries.
(3) MULTIPLY GFM began with church planters reaching Unreached in Oaxaca, Mexico. We excel in mobilizing Christians and training missionaries, but at our core, we seek to glorify God through disciple-making. We’re committed to making multiplying disciples—and to planting biblically sound, healthy, and easily reproducible home church communities among the Unreached in Thailand.
THE POWER OF MULTIPLICATION IN DISCIPLE MAKING
“MISSIONS IS NOT THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF THE CHURCH. WORSHIP IS. MISSIONS EXISTS BECAUSE WORSHIP DOESN’T.”
-PASTOR JOHN PIPER-
GO THEREFORE AND MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL THE NATIONS, BAPTIZING THEM IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE ALL THINGS THAT I HAVE COMMANDED YOU; AND LO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS, EVEN TO THE END OF THE AGE.” AMEN.
MATTHEW 28:19-20
THE STATE OF THE WORLD & THE TASK REMAINING
Curious about Global Christianity? Despite Jesus' command to make disciples of all nations, only 2.4% of our missionaries are reaching the nearly 3.4 billion people who have never heard the Good News. PLEASE WATCH this four-minute video on the true task remaining.
WOULD YOU PRAY FOR THE UNREACHED OF THE DAY?
You can visit: >>JoshuaProject.net<<
daily to pray for the Unreached. Each day, a new Unreached People Group is featured, providing insights into their unique challenges, ministry obstacles, outreach strategies, and focused prayer points. You can also see how many
other saints are praying globally in real-time!
"When we work, we work, but when we pray, God works."
-Hudson Taylor, British missionary-
Founder of the China Inland Mission
PRAY THE WORD PODCAST
WITH DAVID PLATT
Listen and pray daily with David Platt's"Pray the Word" devotional series—a short, impactful podcast guiding you through scripture and focused prayer. Each episode invites you to reflect on God’s Word while interceding for the world, including daily opportunities to pray for the Unreached.
LISTEN NOW
All photos on my site were personally taken by me during my April 2022 vision trip. They depict why Buddhists in Thailand so desperately need the Gospel.
In this background image, I sadly watched this woman meticulously drop a coin into EVERY SINGLE bowl—to ensure that her merit was being accounted for which broke my heart. THIS is why the Lord has burdened me to labor among them and to diligently mobilize more long-term workers for this Great Commission mission.
“DO YOU NOT SAY, ‘THERE ARE STILL FOUR MONTHS AND THEN COMES THE HARVEST’? BEHOLD, I SAY TO YOU, LIFT UP YOUR EYES AND LOOK AT THE FIELDS, FOR THEY ARE ALREADY WHITE FOR HARVEST!”
JOHN 4:35
Merit is believed to improve one’s rebirth and ultimately help escape the cycle altogether. It can also be transferred to deceased loved ones to aid them in their next life. Common merit offerings include candles, incense, gold leaf, flowers, food, and beverages—acts meant to cultivate purity, virtue, and goodness, as seen in many of the photos I personally captured.
In Thailand, Theravāda Buddhism teaches that life is a cycle of suffering and rebirth that can only be broken through enlightenment (nirvana). This goal is pursued by gaining merit through good deeds—such as giving offerings, ethical living, meditation, gaining wisdom through studying the Dhamma, and monastic discipline.