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Fellowship Bible Church approaches Global Missions a little differently than the norm among American churches, but not through any wisdom of our own. God has given us the connections, the resources, and the vision to partner directly with pastors and church leaders in local churches around the world. So much more than the typical "map and budget" missions program, we invest, equip, and help establish already existing national churches so they can reach their communities for Christ.
In this podcast, you'll hear stories of what God is doing all over the world as Scott and Jim, the Global Missions pastors of Fellowship, discuss recent trips, testimonies of life-change, and updates on how we get to be involved in the world.
If you're a part of Fellowship Bible Church, you are directly involved in what God is doing in the Global Church. Subscribe to discover how!
Welcome to the FBC Global Church podcast. I'm a global missions pastor, Scott
McManigle. And I have the privilege of being on site here with two very special people,
Annette and I, our son and daughter-in-law, Joel and Rachel McManigle. And they were at
home with FBC there for a year or so, about a year ago.
Now you've been back here in Thailand for the last year. So, catch us up on what God's
been doing in your lives and how he's been leading over the last year. Yeah. So, hi
everybody. We miss you. We've been here almost a year now. Today we are recording in a
very special place that we feel like God is calling us to come serve here. But let me back up
and give you some of the history. We are standing at a campus for where currently there is
a Bible program happening. About 30 some years ago, my grandparents were serving here
and they had a vision to equip the local church to send missionaries out into the
surrounding villages and countries. And as they began to train students, they realized that
the church was not really at a point at that time to really be sending their own missionaries.
And what they really needed was to be grounded in the word.
And so at that time, it morphed from sending and equipping missionaries to more of, hey,
let's just give them a good, solid biblical foundation. And so for about the last 30 years, it's
run as a one-year Bible program. But as Joel and I came back this last year, and we'll go
into more detail about that, we just felt the Lord really calling us to be a part of bringing this
campus back to the original vision that my grandparents had over 30 years ago of what if
the church now is ready to be sending those missionaries and can we be a part of
equipping and training them and casting vision for the churches to be sending their own
out into the communities that at this time are still very needy. There are still very many
unreached people groups. There are young churches that need discipleship and we would
really love to see the local churchcatch that vision and send out their own to do the work of
the ministry. So it is a very special place. To my heart, I remember coming here as a child,
visiting my grandparents, their house was just over there. So it's very special to be coming
back to my roots in a way. And Joel's family served very close to this area too. Yeah, so just
back up a little bit, the journey kind of we've been on over the last year. When we were with
you all last year,
We were unsure as to what our full-time ministry would look like. And over this last year,
the Lord has graciously brought a lot of clarity. And so we'll just take you on a little bit of
that journey. When we arrived back, we began investigating different areas of this country,
just different people groups, and just seeing what doors the Lord would open up for us to
work. And one of the areas that we visited was right here and in the surrounding towns and
villages. And there's a people group, very large people group, that number somewhere
between four and eight million between this country and a neighboring country. It's a
people group that there is less than 1 % that are evangelical Christians. And we made a trip
last year in September, visiting a number of the villages. And it was just so eye-opening
because in many of these villages, there was a physical church building. But what we saw
village after village was a physical church building but no believers, or a physical church
building and only one or two believers. So, something that we saw very clearly from that
trip was at some point in time, evangelism has taken place in this people group. And there
was a response to the gospel to some degree, but over the course of time and through the
generations, those churches have faded into nothing, where it's just a church building with
weeds and grass growing up all around, to in many of those places just one believer.
We also visited this training center and just saw the potential of how this training center
could impact that people group. so, last year, towards the end of last year, I began a Shahn
study and learning the Shahn language and culture. And for the purpose of seeing Shahn
people evangelize, but also the few small churches we were able to visit to see them
grow and mature. One of the churches we visited, there was believers there that have been
believers for 10 years. when we talked about Jesus being the creator of all things and
therefore over all things, over the spirit realm, it was so eye-opening because
a simple truth like that just seemed brand new to them. seemed like, yeah, was something
they'd never heard before. And we come to find out that most of the Shahn are illiterate in
their own language. The language of wider communication they can read, they can't
understand God's word in that language. And so just seeing the need for these
small Shan churches to be discipled, to be equipped, and then many of the villages
needing evangelism. And so this training center is very strategic in that the Shan people are
all around this village, are all around this training center. And another place that we were
able to visit back where I grew up with the Poe-Karen, the Poe-Karen are scattered all
throughout here.
And we just see this training center as strategic in being able to help the Poe-Karen
churches as well. And so, we visited this training center where there are two local brothers
currently teaching, and one was a disciple of Rachel's grandfather. And so, as we visited
this training center and just talked with the local brothers here about the idea of shifting
this training center from a one-year program into a three-year program that equips the
churches to go cross-culturally and equip the churches to be the ones to take the gospel to
the unreached. They were very excited. They just got giddy with excitement.sharing this and
they were showing their excitement, the Lord just made it clear that this is where the Lord
would have us serve. We are just thrilled to be able to serve somewhere where we will be
discipled by these faithful believers that have been here since we were kids. And the team
is going to be expanded? Yeah.
Three other families that will be joining us. One has been serving here in this town for 12 or
13 years. The other two arrived in country the same time we did. And so we will be a team
of six families. And we are very, very excited about that. Next to this training center, there is
a children's home. And we got to meet the family that is running that children's home.
Turns out they are... Poe Karen and he has been helping teach here as well. So there's
another couple that we'll be working closely with to some degree. I think another really
cool aspect to this is the, this isn't just a standalone, know, New Tribes Mission or Ethnos
360 Training Center. It's very much attached to the Lawa Church, which is the church of the
people group that your grandparents
focused on and worked with, and your grandfather translated the whole Word of God, the
complete Word of God for them, which was one of 400 and some maybe complete
translations of the whole Bible at that time when he completed it, which is a real
milestone. But that church is very well established and very involved, very attached to that.
So maybe describe a little bit about... just the makeup of the La Waa Church and just the
connection and their interest and just the way that they're involved. Yeah. Yeah. So my
grandparents worked with the La Waa and they came late 40s and started working with
them. At that time there were no believers. And they did, they started with just a handful of
believers. And over the years, there's now 20 La Waa churches scattered through the
villages in these mountains.
They see my grandparents as the founders of their faith. And as my grandparents began to
work here, the church really had a real buy-in for training and equipping. And a lot of the
students that have been here throughout the years have been LaWa, and they've been
equipped as pastors and leaders through these various churches. So they really see the
value. And part of the curriculum here is teaching from creation to Christ and going through
and just building that foundation for them. And they've just really caught that vision and the
importance of that. they also love this campus. They hold a lot of their church conferences
here. They use the different buildings. And they have a conference for the women and for
the men and for the youth. And just throughout the year, they're using these facilities as
well.
There's that sentimental value of this is where my grandparents were as well. But as we
met with them just last month, we were interested in knowing what they thought of this
new vision for the campus. And they were really excited about that as well and saw the
value of shifting the program into this three-year cross-cultural training. Yeah, so the
opportunity to do this, you know, under under the authority or in conjunction with the
already existing local indigenous church, I think is just huge. And just the possibility of it
one day, even just the whole thing being passed on to them, to the church for them to be
doing this work and not even having expat outside missionaries here doing that work for
them, I think is a, mean, just great potential because of what's already set up and the
connection that's already there and the longevity and how established that church is. And
so, the church that you guys have been a part of for the last five years in Chiang Mai, you've
got a great relationship with them, you've considered yourself under their authority even.
So how they've been a part of this whole process and how will they be a part of things going
forward? Yeah, so the pastor of the church we are attending now, he actually is a graduate
from here as well. And many of the people within the church are LWAA. And so they have
very close connections back here. And as we were considering this ministry, we talked with
the church and the pastor about it and... asked what their thoughts were and their advice,
and they were very excited about it. And one of the things they continually pointed to was
just our roots here as well. And just sharing that it would, just the opportunity for influence,
the opportunity to be involved for us because of who Rachel's grandparents were in the Loa
churches. We just are inherit a lot through them, and so they are very excited about that
and just really felt like it was very fitting. We have asked the church pastor there to kind of be our advisors as we step into this ministry. And yeah, they make trips out this way all the time, so they'll continue to be involved. They want me to continue to teach at their church as well. to be on the teaching rotation. yeah, just definitely see a continued relationship and involvement with them. And they're ones that I know that as the program starts, that they will... people that are interested in studying God's Word, this is where they would send them, because of the relationship, and they know what this is about.
And then some of the leaders in that church had connections with people groups in the
Northeast and in Laos. Do you guys see this program being able to impact those locations
as well? Yeah, absolutely. think that's one thing that I am extremely excited about, having a
much larger team being formed here. That opens up opportunities for week or two week
trainings. like FBC does all over the world, but we can do it in other provinces with other
people groups. And in fact, coming in June, we will be doing that in a province northeast of
here where 15 church leaders will be coming across the border for a two and a half week
training. And that's something that we hope that the team here will continue to do. to be
able to take what we are creating as a three-year course, but kind of bring out some of
those core foundational things and apply it to two-week, one-week conferences in different
places, similar to the Knowing God conferences that you're doing in Africa. Just providing
that type of thing for people who are able to come across the border for shorter periods of
time. They are coming from close countries.
You really wouldn't have the access to be able to go in and be on site with them. And yeah,
that's awesome. So just the potential for impact is just huge. just the way that God has
brought together multiple couples at the same time really expands your ability to spread
out the impact. Yeah, and my continued involvement with the Poe-Karen is really
dependent on a larger team being here as well. on weeks that I'm not teaching the students
that are currently here. I'm able to make trips to the Karen. The Karen village is only an hour
and 15 minutes from here. so, yeah, it frees me up to be able to be connected with the
Karen. One of the families that will be joining us that have lived here in this town for 13
years, they work closely with the Poe-Karen in a different area. And so they have lots of
connections all through there. And so that opens up, yeah, opportunity. And you speak the
language. That's a bonus. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, so, you know, just another thing that I
think super exciting is like even when mom and I were still here 20 years ago, I remember
on our leadership team, you know, just looking at all the different tribal groups that there
are in Thailand and realizing even then, 20 years ago, that I don't know that there was any
one, even one group back then that you would say hasn't had work done or hasn't been,
you know, what we would say reached, know, or apparent, or reached, or what looks like
reached. I think you have people from every people group who claim to be Christians, but...
when you would meet, like we would meet many of them in Chiang Mai and find out that
they're tribal and ask them, know, or find out that they're a Christian and ask them, and a
lot of times these are three, four, five generation Christians, and asking them how they
became a Christian, their answer would be, well, I was born in a Christian family. And so it
became very apparent that the existing church and a lot of these people groups really
needs to be evangelized.
And so, you know, you have people that they're not opposed to the Bible, they're not
opposed to the word of God, but the gospel's unclear. And so just, I think just the
opportunity that you guys are gonna have to build relationships even with some of those
other people groups that historically, you know, as a mission, New Tribes Mission, Ethos
360 never worked with, but who desperately need evangelism and discipleship.
And again, because you have a bigger team and you guys are, you you're not doing what we
did. We came in and learned Thai so that we could get to the tribal language and never
became super proficient in Thai. You have a different vision now. You are reaching a high
level of proficiency in Thai. And so that gives you even greater opportunity, I think, to
impact those churches.
Yeah. And so, yeah, it's, there's just, mean, just the potential for impact for this program
and this training center is just huge. Yeah. That's super exciting. So it's hot. My
microphone's getting all sweaty. What would be some of the, so when do you guys plan to
move here and actually kick off the new program?
Yeah, so the new program is projected to start in May of 2027. So that's getting closer all
the time. We're looking at January move dates so can move and get settled in before
classes start up. So Joel's looking to wrap up language study, hopefully by December, and
then we'll make that move. Wrap up Thai language study or Sean? Sean language So
complete? I don't think I will be done by then, but...
Yeah, right now I'm only doing maybe part-time language study. The other chunk of my time
is spent developing curriculum. Okay. So I will, the curriculum I'm currently developing is
for our training in June that will then also be used here as well. But then after that... This
June. This June, yeah. So then after that, there's gonna, yeah, gonna be the curriculum for
the three-year course that we're gonna need to continue to develop along the way.
So yeah, we're looking at moving in January of next year. So between now and then, what
would be some of the main prayer requests that you would appreciate people praying for?
Yeah, we're really excited. But we're trusting the Lord for big things. I mean, we don't know
who our students are going to be. We would love more teachers along the way. We love
more local teachers. Joel's developing curriculum at the moment, but that's not set in
place.
We have some house renovations that need to be done on the house that we're going to
move into. Our coworkers are going to be building a house. So there's a lot of things that
need to come into place before May. So we're trusting the Lord for those things. But then
another big thing is just for our team. We have these six families we're really excited about,
but we know that God's heart is for unity and our enemy's heart is for disunity. And we just
see the potential that this big team could be a really
a really good thing, but we also know that we have a flesh and this unity can happen over
anything really. So, yeah, we have lots of different cultures represented within our team.
So, just that the Lord would give us a real unity as a team and that we would have a real
love for one another. Yeah. Yeah, I think as far as being ready to start in May, there's a lot of
things that need to take place. And like Rachel mentioned, the curriculum has not been
developed for that. And so we're gonna be, to some extent, building the plane as we fly. On
day one, we don't need the curriculum for the third year yet. But all of that needs to take
place along the way. And then, so yeah, those are some big things. Campus-wide, like
Rachel mentioned, there's a lot of...things that need to be developed going from a one-year
course to a two-year. The housing situation for the students needs to be majorly upgraded.
You can see in the background, that's the student housing. Some of the, over the last
couple years, it's been too hot for the students to stay in some of these buildings. there's a-
30 years old. yeah.
And so there's some major projects that we are currently in the process of getting quotes
for, estimates for, and then yeah, we'll just kind of have a priority list. Like Rachel said, one
of the team members, they need to a house. The house that we will be living in was built 30
plus years ago, so there's some major renovations that need to be done. So yeah.
Which if you're watching the video or watching this rather than just listening, that building
on the right, as you're looking at Joel and Rachel, the cement building, that's actually the
house that they're going to be moving into and going to be needing to do some renovations
on. So, yeah. And how the kids doing when you left? know, everybody was praying for Ezra.
And so here we are a year later and how's he doing? He's doing awesome. Yeah, he's
growing all the time. He's been really healthy. We've had no health issues since we came.
He's starting to talk. You can't understand much of what he said yet, but he's super cute
and we're enjoying him. Yeah. Yeah. And the other kids, they're doing well. They're excited
to move here. I mean, they'll have lots of space to run around and.
God has provided a really great homeschool co-op for them this year, which has been
really helpful. And at the moment, they're just loving being with their cousins. So what will
schooling look like for them once you move here? Yeah. So I'll continue to homeschool
Malachi. And then this year I've also been doing some research as to what I can do as the
kids get older and I get less and less capable of meeting their needs academically. There's
a really cool program that they have in place in Chiang Mai, so that's like a four hour drive from here where the kids meet for one week.
It's like a one week intensive. Then they bring their school work home and they're home for
three weeks. They can do their school work at home and then they go back again for one
week. So it's one week on, three weeks off. So we're gonna start that in the fall with Makaya
when we're still on site and try that out and see how that works and if it's a good fit for our
family.
Yeah, I'm just really thankful for the way that God's provided in that way. Amen. All right.
Well, thanks for taking the time to share and thanks for hosting us while we're here It's
been such a blessing for us to be here and be together and bring a couple other grandkids
along and we brought Seth along also and it's been a really special time of reunion and
reunion up in our village and you they... They've seen you guys, but they haven't seen Seth in like 17 years. And so for Seth to come with his oldest son was... It was a huge blessing. When we moved in, he was eight months old. And sorry. Got a lot of pictures of Karen ladies carrying him around the village. so for him to
come back and his oldest son, it was awesome. So anyway, sorry about that ending. Thank
you all for tuning in and we'll.
See you all, we'll be back in a few days and look forward to the next episode. Yeah, thank
you all. Thank you all for praying for us and supporting us and yeah, we love you guys and
yeah, stay tuned for more updates about our move and what's next.
All right, thank you.