From our Partners - Hands of Hope
Hello!
We received these images and an incredible update from Josh of Hands of Hope. The images above are of Waan and some of the Hands of Hope team. They were able to provide a new guitar to replace a guitar that was being passed between four churches as what they described as a "very sad looking guitar". The guitar is used everyday for services and teaching. We were so moved by Josh's post we wanted to share it with your all. Thank you for your support, without it these type of connections wouldn't happen!
Guitars for Glory - Thailand Report
Greetings,
I wanted to start by saying thank you for your support in our mission! The Hands of Hope Foundation just finished our first church planting project in Pattaya, Thailand. We are partnered with two local non-profits in Thailand, The Tamar Center and Hand to Hand Foundation. The Tamar Center’s mission is to help men and women out of the human trafficking industry and help equip them with an education and skill set that allows them to make a living and sustain their families. Hand to Hand Foundation works primarily in the slums and works to love on the people, educate the children, provide medical care and hygiene, and point them to Christ. These two organizations have seen tremendous success in their missions and have incredible testimonies of lives transformed forever by the gospel. The Hands of Hope Foundation began working with these organizations in 2014 to help them create a more sustainable way to connect people to Christ through prayer, outreach, evangelism, worship, and discipleship. In early 2015, we went to Pattaya to train a core of potential pastors and worship leaders, as well as to evaluate potential sites of churches. June 2015 saw us taking our first full team to plant four churches.
During our three week trip we experienced incredible miracles and breakthroughs. The Tamar Center and Hand to Hand have been preparing the ground for this for years. Because of their hard work and the trust they have earned with locals, we witnessed hundreds of salvations, people being delivered and set free through worship and prayer, and incredible physical healing. There are now four Community of Faith churches that are run by local pastors and worship leaders, and managed by Hands of Hope, Hand to Hand, and Tamar Center. With Thailand being less than 1% Christian, and most of the churches being run by international people for international people, this is a huge opportunity!
Two of the churches are planted in the middle of two of the worst slums in the city. What is happening here is incredible! People are being delivered from drug and alcohol addictions, cycles of abuse are ending, and the communities are being transformed. The chiefs of both slums have given their hearts to Jesus and are leading their communities. This is incredible and completely unheard of. Weekly, we are getting reports of new salvations in these slums. The people are running their own churches and are taking pride and ownership in their new faith. They love worship! The third church is situated in the most intense party street in the city. The fourth is in a bakery and shop run by women that the Tamar Center has freed and provided alternate ways of life for. Both of these venues have become a massive beacon of light and hope for bar girls and locals. The pastors running these venues are former trafficking victims and their testimonies have incredible power and authority in the streets. In the middle of chaos, God is changing lives!
This is where Guitars for Glory comes in. We have four churches in Pattaya that are all connected. Each of these churches has a worship leader working with them. Waan is our worship pastor that oversees all the worship leaders and teams at all four churches. He leads at the venues, and also trains and equips the local worship leaders. He is an incredible blessing and asset to our churches and ministry. The guitar we brought from Guitars for Glory brought smiles, tears, and many thanks from all the worship leaders, especially Waan. Hands of Hope equipped all four venues with sound systems, mics, and everything else to run their churches. They were expecting that. But, when we told them that Guitars for Glory heard their story and wanted to support them, they were in awe. Pi said she was so happy that people who don’t even know her are supporting her ministry. Waan said with tears, “I don’t even know the words in English to explain how I feel right now”.
Currently this guitar is their pride and joy. It replaced what may have been the saddest looking acoustic guitar of all times. I get pictures of all the venues every week. All four churches meet on different days of the week. They pass the guitar from venue to venue and are using it literally every day of the week for services, outreaches, and lessons for worship leaders. Our worship leaders are putting their new guitar to work! Worship is such a big deal in Thailand. Their culture loves music and it connects with them so well. When our team was there, we led worship in so many different venues. We were in the streets, slums, local venues, and even led in bars. In a country where there is virtually no Christian presence, worship was so powerful. We had people dancing and celebrating everywhere we want and we ended up playing for hours at every location. The local ministries told us how unusual this was. All the people we were working with have so much pain and sadness that it is rare to every see them smile. The fact that they were worshipping, laughing, dancing and celebrating was incredible and it broke down walls! Since we have been gone, we are still getting reports of how powerful and celebratory the worship is at the churches and outreaches. Guitars for Glory should take pride in their part in this.
From our friends in Thailand, thank you so much for supporting their ministry and for your generosity. We are grateful for this partnership.
God Bless,
Josh Benitone
Director of Operations
Hands of Hope Foundation
