SPRING VALLEY COMMUNITY CHURCH, BANGKOK

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

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

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

CHURCH ACTIVITIES AND MOVING CHURCH REPORT 2013

Shalom All,

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

Do you not know?
Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God

The Creator of the ends of the earth
He will not grow tired or weary,
And His understanding no one can fathom.

He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. - Isaiah 40 verses 29 - 31.

I would like thank everyone for praying for my wife, Jenny Ruth during her recent illness. The Lord has now healed her through the prayers of our extended Christian family. Praise the Lord!

In my last email, I have explained that she was diagnosed to have Ménière's disease (Disorder of the inner ear) that can affect hearing and balance to varying degrees. I have brought her first to a government hospital, and then a private hospital (to get a second opinion). However, the Lord soon healed her thoroughly without the need to do MRI or CT Scan. Praise the Lord!

Subsequently, Jenny felt a small  growth in her left throat area. The doctor who examined this ruled out thyroid. Jenny is scheduled to have an ultra-sound  and tissue examination on 4 June 2013. The result will be available only on 25 June 2013 to determine whether surgery is necessary.

Thank God for a kind and generous brother who has offered RM 2,000 (THB 18,000/USD 630) for her surgery. We continue to find strength and comfort from the Lord and pray for His total healing  upon Jenny, awaiting His deliverance, His mercies and His miraculous power. So together we request your prayers as we look up to Him and pray for His deliverance!

As you have been informed, we recently rented a beautiful bungalow house in the outskirts of Bangkok, to turn it into our Church. A Christian brother has pledged to give a big and generous offering to the Church to buy over this property for the use of the Church within 6 - 8 months. However, we encountered flood water reaching the toilet area, also at the car park compound and access road to the house during heavy rains … three times within 6 months. We informed the owner about the flooding noted by us and that we might not consider the purchase option as originally indicated. The owner has now found a willing buyer on the 1 May 2013 and  requires us to vacate before 30 May 2013.

We then urgently went about looking for new premises for our Church. We found a suitable shop lot at  Saphan Mai, Bangkok. The rental for one shop lot floor is THB 10,000 (RM 1,052/USD 340) per month. This shop has 5 usable or let able floors that is, it is a 6 storey high, with the 6th floor serving as its open rooftop. It is located near a bus stop (70m away), a Central General Hospital (350m away), a Big C Hypermarket (400m away), a 24 hour open market (1.1km away) and the back lane have more than 10 apartments. All in all, it is located in a busy and bubbly part of a corner of greater Bangkok metropolis.

At the rooftop, we can see a clear sky, planes landing and take-off, and quite a wide girth and vista of the north part of Bangkok. The shop lot owner says he chooses not to rent at a high price because he wants a good tenant who will take care of the shop lot.

Praise the Lord for leading us to this new building suitable for our Church.

However, we need to do a fair bit of facelift and renovation, such as: painting, repair of water pipes, fixing the lighting/electrical wiring, repair of PABX telephone line, cleaning and repairing partition walls. We also need to buy a big cross with neon light to put on the rooftop, and church signboard, cabinets, tables, chairs, beds etc.

The Church needs a budget of about  THB 300,000 (RM 34,090/USD 10,714) to do all these things, as well moving cost. Please pray with us for the realization of this project unexpectedly thrust upon us.

The contract will be for an initial 3 years with option of  renewable at the end of this period.

Below is an update of our Church and mission activities report;

Attached is the financial report for March and April 2013 for your reference.

Thank you for your prayer and giving.

May God bless you all.

With Love and Blessings in His name,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

PLEASE UPHOLD MY WIFE IN YOUR PRAYER

Shalom All,

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

Jesus our Healer.

In Mark Chapter 9 verses 14 onwards, we are told a boy was sick with an evil spirit and he was brought to Jesus. “How long was he sick like this?”, Jesus asked. “From childhood ... but if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us”, replied the boy's father. “If you can?” said Jesus in retort, “Everything is possible for him who believes”. Jesus reproached the boy's father. Then the boy’s father quickly replied’, I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief”.

Then Jesus delivered the boy from the evil spirit and the crowd was overawed by the spectacular recovery of the boy from a zombie to a healthy boy again. Amazed, the disciples asked Jesus, “Why couldn't we drive it out?”. Jesus replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer”. Isn’t that a wonderful story for us to know?

That Jesus heals and there are other healing miracles recorded elsewhere in the Bible, such as He healed the blind, the lame and He even brought Lazarus from death to life again! And He promises salvation to all who believe in Him … all kinds of sinners, including the “worst” kinds of sinners that humanly speaking are beyond salvation!

Not possible and impossible? “With man this is impossible but not with God, all things are possible with God”, said Jesus, the Son of God, God incarnate, now with God. And Jesus our Lord, the same yesterday, today and forever more!

And He will heal and save in circumstances beyond the comprehension of man ... today, as in the days gone before, as recorded in the Bible. So in God we trust and in His ways we shall walk in faith that will be the rock and walk of our faith. With daily prayer and supplication to Him. Amen.

A testimony of faith.

My wife, Jenny was recently down with an unexplainable illness. She has had severe headache, dizziness, migraine and eye vision problem for the past few weeks. These symptoms appear more serious than what she has had in the past couple of years. Like anyone of us, it is normal for us to seek medical opinion from qualified doctors, so to the hospital we went. The doctor at the hospital ran series of tests: blood test, urine test, eye test and walking test. Nothing seriously the matter from these tests, it seems. Next, she will undergo her ear test in the hospital again in 2 weeks' time. And so we will do as advised. Meantime, we seek the Lord daily for healing mercies for my wife, Jenny.

We pray daily for her healing and we will value your prayers for her, too.

Jenny has had thyroid problem some years before, but Jesus healed her when she became a Christian. We believe strongly Jesus will heal her of her present medical problems through the prayers and supplications of all who pray for her healing. All praise to our God, the Healer and in Jesus name we pray.

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

Blessings,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

UP-COMING EVENTS AND REQUEST FOR PRAYER

Shalom All,

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

And may the Lord our God approve all our doings and our coming and going and crown our efforts with His glory. Yes, make our efforts successful! - Psalm 90 verse 17.

For the past 6 years in the mission field, my life is fully devoted to serving God because He has given me the true meaning of life and I know His plan for me. This makes me love God more than anything else. Walking with the Lord, I can sense His Peace, His Protection and His Presence. So recently I chose not to return to my hometown in Malaysia to celebrate the Chinese New Year since God wants me to serve Him here in Thailand even though I very much missed the celebration for 6 years. But serving Him is more important

I sense some great events will happen this coming April 2013.

The Spring Valley Community Church has organized and supported an event for Bro. HT Long (The Golden Voice of Elvis Presley and a Music Awards Winner) in Thailand. Two years ago, I have also helped organise HT to come to Bangkok to sing in churches. These have turned out to be very popular and successful events too. Many lives have been touched and have received salvation and healing. All Glory to the Lord!

On April 6th, 2013, Bro. HT Long will be singing at the Night Bazaar Market at Klong 4, Lam Luk Ka District, Pathum Thani (GPS Coordinator: 13.96037769375891, 100.68500943481922) from 5.00pm to 7.00pm. This event will be hosted by Spring Valley Community Church and partnering with a number of Churches working together to make this event a success. It will be a great opportunity to share the gospel.

The following day, Bro. HT Long will be sharing and singing at the morning Sunday Service at Spring Valley Community Church, Lam Luk Ka District, Pathum Thani (GPS Coordinator : 13.941902274310971, 100.65155290067196) from 10.00am to 12.00pm.

In the evening, he will be singing and sharing at the Second Samyan Church, Bangkok at 4.00pm.

On April 19th - 20th, 2013, Spring Valley Community Church has invited Mrs. Sherina Timms to speak in our church. A speaker and trainer of international gospel events, she has a special heart for Jews to know Jesus Christ. She will share her knowledge and understanding about the history of Israel, the Torah, passover, and the 12 tribes of Israel and etc.

For friends in Thailand, wherever you are, you are most welcome to our church to attend the events. Please contact or email me for contact details, please see info below.

We are still waiting for confirmation from the 10 medical doctors from Philippines on their coming to our Spring Valley Community Church to serve the local community for short term mission. It is an opportunity to do medical evangelism by giving free medical treatment and sharing the gospel and the love of Jesus with the people in our community. Please pray along with us even as the doctors seek the Lord’s provision.

We continue to look forward to seek the Lord’s direction for us in our area of work. We intend to persevere and persist with passion and patience and not give up.

Here is a story about a church we visited last week … a church run by a Korean missionary. This missionary shared with us that when she started this church, no one came to her church for 7 months. However, she kept her persistence and passion even though she was struggling and alone in the church she hoped to build. Today, she still continues to find strength in building this church, conducting Sunday Church Service and Bible Class. Now the Church is entering its 7th year and has 40 members, young and old. Isn’t that an amazing story of church building effort?

One can only give one's utmost passion and leave the rest to the Lord. All for His Glory!

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

Thank you for your prayer and giving.

May God bless you all.

With Love and Blessings in His name,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok

END AND BEGINNING OF THE NEW MISSION 2013

Shalom All,

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

Hebrews 13 verse 21 says: "May He equip you with all you need for doing His Will. May He produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to Him. All glory to Him forever and ever! Amen!”

It has never been easy to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Thailand. The number of Christians in Thailand is only about 200,000 out of a total population of 68 million. Yet is it not a surprise that the Mormons are faring better than the Christians in Thailand due to their zeal and persistence in reaching out to the people they evangelize to. Most of the Christian missionaries are quite successful in reaching out to the hill tribal people in northern Thailand, as well as neighboring border areas such as Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia but few Christians focus on the bulk of the Thais themselves.

Just like what Jesus says “The harvest is great, but the workers are few” - Matthew 9 verse 37. Yes, it is true that Thailand has been a challenging ground for the past 190 years and it still is, but I trust in the power of Jesus Christ that the day has come for changing the mindset and hearts of these dear brothers and sisters of ours, to bring the Gospel of peace, love and salvation to these wonderful people of Thailand! But we need to seek God’s wisdom on how to mold and transform them.

Let us not think this will be an easy walk of faith. We will certainly encounter many problems ahead of us, for it is never easy to start a Church in this or any new community. I can sense that some supporters are expecting short and quick results. I certainly hope this will be the case, but short of a miracle, a breakthrough like that is difficult if not impossible. We need to build a strong base of trust, caring and love, as much as our Lord has shown and taught us, plus His mercy of healing and bonding and relationships with Him in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

With that in mind, we will begin to teach English and Malay languages every Saturday. The idea of teaching Malay language was mooted when I met a Thai Christian leader who shares with me his vision of a longer term vision about the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) 2015. In ASEAN, there are 4 countries (Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei) and Malay is the official language in each of the country. In addition, it is also a commonly spoken or understood language in southern Thailand and parts of the Philippines. There is therefore a high possibility that Malay language will be an official language for ASEAN. Using this common language is therefore one way we can get close together and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In distributing gospel tracts in multi-languages learning, it find great interests by some wanting to learn other languages, including Malay. Praise the Lord!

During the past 2 months, we had some visitors from Vietnam, Macau and Malaysia as well the local Thai Christians. We have started the Sunday Church Service since early January 2013. A friend from Malaysia also came to help the Church. Since last 2 weeks ago, Pakping Christian Cafe from Nonthaburi joined the Sunday Service with us.

On December 16th, 2012, the elder of Jaisamarn Full Gospel Bang-Pa In invited us to join the Christmas event in Nakorn Luang, Ayutthuya. A few hundred from the village turned up for the event. Jenny helped in handling the children ministry.

The team from the Bangkok Christian International Library (BCIL) invited us to join the Christmas party on December 18th, 2012 in fellowship with the Christian brothers and sisters there.

The Mayan prophesy about doomsday on December 21st, 2012 had even spread to this corner of Thailand! A young girl told her mother … ", we are going to dead soon and I am not sure that you can enter Heaven because you have not received water baptism. The mother told us what her daughter has said and she is willing to accept Jesus Christ as her Savior. We did as she wished, giving her the water baptism that day. Hallelujah and thank you Lord!

In early October 2012, the pastor of Manebnoprat AG Church invited me to preach on Christmas Day. We went to Chiang Mai and joined the church members for Christmas caroling on December 22nd, 2012. On the following day, I preached on the topic, " The Meaning of Christmas” and then I made an alter call. One lady stood up. Praise the Lord for opening Heaven doors to receive her. Another two ladies also came forward for healing.

After Chiang Mai, we went to Mae Sot, Chiang Rai on December 26th, 2012 to meet up with Bro. Tee who serves his own Akha Hill Tribe there with his Japanese wife. We had a great fellowship there. Please pray for the wife to know Jesus Christ. Bro. Tee taught us about how to make straw brick and how to remove rice husks and explained to us how bees communicate. We also visited some local pastors and shared with them the Word of God. They are so encouraged that they asked me to return to lead them in Bible Study this year. All Glory to the Lord!

Before returning to Bangkok, we visited the Noah Church in Chiang Rai on December 29th, 2012. This is under the care of the Taiwanese Presbyterian Church. Praise the Lord for this church.

As my Thai visa is about to expire, I decided to go to the nearest border town of Aranyaprathet (Thailand) and Poipet (Cambodia) to renew my visa for another 3 months. I travelled there together with Bro. Steven Wong from Malaysia visiting me at the time. I have been invited by the pastor in Poipet to visit their new Church and so we dropped by the Church to fellowship and pray together. May God continue to bless the servant of God there.

I have had some gout pain from November 2012 till December 2012 then fungus on the toe from December 2012. I had surgery on the toe on 18 January 2013. Resting now and trusting the Lord for healing very soon to enable me to be on the go again!

“Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property - along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life. But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then - Mark 10 verses 29 - 31. We have surrender everything to the Lord and follow Jesus Christ to reach out the needs. Do pray along with us for His provision, protection and spiritual guidance.

In God we completely place our trust. May the God we love be also with you, in your toil, in your joys, wherever you are.

God bless you all.

Blessings,

Rev. Steve Peter H S Kok