Home from Thailand

I returned home safely from Thailand on Saturday afternoon...to a very warm day!! Fortunately, things turned Wintery very quickly!! Thank you for your prayers for my trip. It was very rewarding!

After a bit of travel, I am home from Bangkok! The flying was exhausting but very necessary as the meeting was a very encouraging and enriching time. Having the opportunity to meet with 13 other technology leaders from around the world is a humbling experience. As I mentioned in a post to our site, these guys are some of the brightest and innovative people I have met. The term ?getting the job done? describes them very well.

Perhaps some of the best times that we had though were in the hallways, at breakfast and lunch. Our group discussions were informative and were an exercise in unity and teamwork, but the times outside the meetings were inspiring. Details of current projects would emerge, war stories of what the Lord was doing in particular ministries were common and a general sense of encouragement and sharing set the tone for a very full week.

I cannot imagine any of these things happening without constant prayer from you and others from around the world that lifted us and our time up to the Lord. Bangkok is full of idols to various gods and the King of Thailand. By the grace of God I believe we were able to glorify the Lord throughout our time there.

Since returning, I have had a difficult time encapsulating the entire week into a 2 or 3 sentence summary to convey to those that ask about it. I want to tell every detail and relay many stories, but for lack of time and story telling ability, I cannot do that. So, in perhaps more than 2 or 3 sentences, here it is:

We were there to talk about our roles as Global Technology leaders, what that means to us and what that means to the Campus Crusade mission of Building Movements. Technology does not define what we do, we simply use technology to accomplish some tasks of enabling others to reach the world for Christ. In some circumstances, that may be a local leader in Africa reaching an individual and in other cases, it may be the organization of Campus Crusade creating a tool that benefits every missionary, and even missionaries from other organizations.

With any technology, the need for training is key. We need to make sure that everyone can use tools to make their ministry more effective. The difficulty we, as techies, run into, is that we lose our focus. We begin looking at the technology more than the ministry. Keith Seabourn worked very hard to make sure we were very focused on our mission, reaching the world for Christ.

Thank you again for your prayers and encouragement. Please continue to pray for us, so that we may soon move to Germany and begin working full-time there.

Sincerely,
Thad