The Crazy Lawson Tribe

Hey everyone, Chris here!

I just wanted to take a minute and fill you in on our latest strategy. One of our current methods that we are using to reach the lost here is by hosting an English-speaking Bible story class. It has been an idea that has been in the back of my head ever since we did a weekend seminar in Pensacola about 2-3 years ago. After getting here, I happened to run into a fellow missionary who has been doing these all over the world and seeing amazing results. I have hesitated on starting these only because we have been busy with language, babies and life here, and I didn’t want to jump into anything other than spending time in the villages. We have been making an effort lately to start as many training groups as possible, but reaching out to local churches has not worked so well.

The idea is that we will start with as many people as possible in a training group, but let’s say 10 take part. Through those 10 people, we will then begin to plant truth into them through God’s Word that will hopefully send a fire of revival and true life change through Jesus all over Isaan and Thailand. Because I haven’t had any headway through existing Chrisitans yet, I figured that I might as well start sharing the Gospel and winning people to Christ and then start these groups through them. Without a full grasp of the language and no paid translator, sharing the Gospel can be very challenging. I needed a way to share the Gospel now.

I was at a physical therapy appointment for my shoulder at the University here, and my doctor mentioned that he has a lot of students who can speak English, but they never have the chance to practice. He casually asked if I would be interested in helping his students practice their English.  As soon as he said this, these training groups came to mind, where I could use Bible stories to teach English. I wasn’t sure if I should start this now, just 3 months before we leave, so I told him not right now. Then the Holy Spirit spoke to me about four different times through multiple people, and I knew that this was something that couldn’t wait.

We start our first group in two days! We have about 100 students that are interested already! Our hope is that we can teach these Bible stories to them every week, ask comprehensive questions, teach them to memorize these stories, and then practice telling them to other people. In turn, they will quickly grow in their ability to speak English, they will learn the heart of God through His Word, and they will inadvertently share the Gospel with those they practice the stories with. As people come to Jesus, then we set aside another day of the week to commence training with them!

This is all very abbreviated, but I really wanted to share this with you guys and keep you updated as this all progresses. I also wanted to say thank you to everybody. You guys are so loving, kind, encouraging, prayerful, understanding, and supportive. Without your love, prayers, and support, none of this would be happening! Your support is how we do big things here, but it is also how we pay our rent, eat food, drive our car, pay for internet, phones, and every other expense you can imagine! It is all because of you! We cannot say thank you enough, and we love you guys so much. Our trip to the States is approaching quickly, and we are so excited to fellowship with all of you guys. We love you!