Pure Religion in Thailand

James 1:
27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

In the 1980's, when I was administrator of Shiloh Christian School in Sierra Vista, one of the teachers, Ron Miller was restless to do more for Jesus. A veteran of Viet Nam, he remembered with compassion the "thrown away" children he had seen in Southeast Asia during his years there. Eventually God led him to return to the "golden triangle" area of Northern Thailand, near the borders of Laos and Myanmar (Burma). This is an area ripe with drug traffic; the indigenous people there are very poor. Thousands of children end up with fates similar to the story Pastor Allen told in his message of Bo Pa, a child kidnapped and forced into prostitution.

Ron arrived in Chiang Rai, Thailand in 1991 with about $2 in his his pocket, speaking no Thai, and knowing no one. From the beginning, his work there has been an act of faith, relying on God's provision for all his needs. Ron started his first orphanage there with four children who would have inevitably ended up in the sex trade, in a building so dilapidated that eventually the local government required it to be demolished. Undaunted and undismayed by challenges that would have overcome most of us, Ron persevered in his faith that God would enable to rescure more and more children from a life of enslavement and despair. Today all four of those original children are healthy adult Christians, two of them serving as leaders of his current five orphanages.

Here is Ron's update to those humble beginnings, told in his own words:

"Today we have around 120 of us: 22 staff members and one hundred plus children in five orphanages. One of our works is located in Chiang Mai for disabled children. The others are all located in Chiang Rai province. This is a testimony of God’s grace and faithfulness. We have seen over 12,000 Hmong come to faith through our little work here in the 'outer' reaches. We are involved in over 40 Hmong churches in Northern Thailand and Laos. By the way, many of these men working amongst the Hmong are a product of Baan Immanuel.

This year we opened our fifth orphanage in the mountains of Huey Lou (in the Doi Tung Mountain Range) for Red Lahu. Batha, our first boy with the ministry, is the overseer of this work. We have seen around 350 Red Lahu come to faith since the New Year. Last year we opened an orphanage for the Yao children. Ardizone, one of our Yao boys, and his wife are the leaders of this ministry. He arrived at Baan Immanuel with our second group of children.

The work in Chiang Khong for Hmong children is under the care of two young Hmong men, Somsaat and Kraigklay. They arrived at Baan Immanuel with Ardizone’s group...14 years ago! During those 14 years I have experienced many blessings, but of the many blessings I am most grateful for is this: All our orphanages and works are run by our own children, and each is working with the tribal group from which they are a member. It is not that we necessarily planned it this way – it was just the Lord’s will and wisdom. These kids, well, I guess now they are young men and women now, just have a heart for God. My blessing is to see my spiritual children doing the work of ministry. And they are raising their children to do the same."

You can read more about the work of Baan Immanuel here.