CHURCH GROWTH

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

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

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

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

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