Collaboration Between Ministries Births a New TV Studio For Bangkok, Thailand
Dear friends and family,
This has been an unusual new year for me, as I have spent the last few weeks in Bangkok, Thailand. I rarely spend that much time in one place, but this was a special occasion. You see, I’ve prayed for years that we could have a TV studio in Bangkok where the leading pastors of the country are located, but the costs were always too great. Then, a couple of years ago, I expressed my desire to the president of the Thailand Adventist Mission (TAM). He remarked that they planned to tear down their old office building and replace it with a new, modern one and that the whole top floor would be dedicated to media production. I was thrilled!
The New Thailand Adventist Mission Headquarters
The old office building was built the same year I was born—1963. I first visited it in 1969 when I was 5 years old, and my family was returning from serving in Papua, New Guinea. I remember thinking the facade was the coolest thing I’d ever seen! Pictured here is water being poured out of the window during a cleanup from a heavy rain in 2011 due to a leak in the roof.
The president requested JFA to install the sound and video equipment for the third floor of the new building, which consists of a large meeting hall that can seat 300, a control room, and a small production studio.
We have a heart connection with the Thailand Adventist Mission due to the time I spent there filming and editing the TV series “I Want This City” with church planting pastor Doug Venn.
Pastor Niratasai, President of Thailand Adventist Mission (5th from the left with a “thumbs up”) had the vision to invite JFA to install the electronics to begin streaming and production.
We brought some equipment from America (it was about half price) and sourced other equipment locally. We also had to direct, coordinate, and oversee the installation of lights and electrical cables to make everything work.
The hardest part was the studio, which, although soundproofed, had terrible acoustic patterns. We had to spend days installing acoustic foam to make it suitable for filming. Now, however, it’s a beautifully sounding space ready for production.
This last Sabbath was the facility's Grand Opening, and everyone was very pleased with the sound quality and the good, solid streaming video signal that we published.
Some of our team from the Love for Asia Foundaition (LFA) came down to help with the production, as did some of our missionaries. Their help was invaluable.
Through this gift to the TAM, we’ve formed friendships that will last forever. If we steward these new facilities faithfully, they could impact millions.
Doors are opening for effective ministry in Thailand in many exciting ways.
The first livestream from the new facility
Thailand is still a country that is less than 1% Christian. People seem uninterested in the Gospel or in serving Christ. There are so many distractions! But I believe God is not done with Thailand. He still has a plan to reach the teeming millions. I don’t know what it is, but we must pursue that goal, these precious people, with the same intensity and desire as Jesus experienced when He agonized in the garden of Gethsemane for us.
Our team from Love for Asia that came down to help produce the livestream on the day of the Grand Opening.
The team running the livestream in the control room.
We would like to start filming a regular show about the Sabbath School lesson, designed to encourage people to attend Sabbath School and engage in discussion. Tim Maddocks’ studio is producing that type of show in Cambodia, and it has 10,000 viewers per week, while there are only 7,000 Adventists in the whole country.
Please, we covet your prayers and encouragement as we keep stepping on satan’s ground. I won’t be back in Thailand for quite a few months, so please pray for our local production teams to carry on the work and for the few brave missionaries who have come here from America to push back the darkness and fear. They all need your prayers so deeply.
God bless,
Jon Wood
Jesus for Asia President
If God is inspiring you to help support the production of the Thai Sabbath School lesson program or other Jesus for Asia media projects in Thailand, please click the button below.