Life Devotion

Dear Ministry and Prayer Partners,
Jesus Christ’s Great Commission is Christian’s utmost concern. Men and women of all eras since the Early Church period, generations next generations, devote their life to fulfill the Father’s desire, “not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance” (II Peter 3:9). It’s also the devotion of your life and ours. We believe no reason has been important and powerful than that which causes you to invest a lot of your love, prayer, care, time, financial support and so many other great things in our ministry to reach Vietnam for Christ in the process of fulfilling our Lord’s Great Commission. Thank you for doing that for Him, for His glory, and for His kingdom through us!


During the Luna New Year, we came back to Thuan’s hometown. Just as usual, my father-in-law made coffee and expected me (Esther) to share with him both coffee and many long stories that he had experienced in sharing his faith from the day Thuan and I were away from home. I noticed since I first came to Thuan’s house as his girl-friend that my father-in-law just put a little bit coffee into the cup and he would stir his coffee strongly for long time. He said the more we stir coffee as we make, the sweeter it is when we drink.

Almost 10 years Thuan and I have been together, we have built a good custom that whenever we return home, we would visit the new converts that our father brought to church. As a young woman pursuing God’s call, I have learned so much from my father-in-law and I can tell you that just like his way of making and drinking coffee: the more he sows the gospel seed as he faithfully does, the sweeter the fruit is when he reaps. You all know that our greatest passion is for evangelism and I always encourage Thuan when he dreams of the future of Vietnam: “You have the faith heritage.” And it is Thuan’s parents who asked him and his brother to kneel down every night on their rough ground as they offered their sons to God for the mission field. Never demanding from us anything, especially finance, our parents farm and live their content lives, and demonstrate an excellent example of ordinary Christians who love God and love the lost. Besides, they keep encouraging, cheering us up, and praying for us to give our best to the Lord.

Thuan and I are forever grateful for such godly and faithful parents who run the race not only for the prize but also run in a way to leave to us the fire of their devotion. We want to put into this letter some testimonies of God’s amazing works through our parents’ ministry. Our father is neither a pastor nor a church leader, he is just a Christ’s follower. We pray that may the footprints that they leave lead us to believe and the lives they live inspire us to obey so that all who come behind us will also find us faithful! (Find us faithful - Steve Green).

My father-in-law met Mrs. Son in the first week of February, 2005 when he was looking for someone to sell coconut leaves. Mrs. Son showed her special interest to my father’s Gospel presentation and a week after that, she and her husband who had been suffered serious spinal column pain received Christ when they came to our house to take the coconut leaves. In that same week, Thuan and I came home. As we visited them, Thuan shared God’s promise of healing and prayed for Mr. Thang, Mrs. Son’s husband in their poor wooden cottage. After a week, we received a phone call from our parents saying that the husband got healed miraculously and could return to work after many years laying down on his sick bed.

Mrs.Son's Family in their house
In April, 2006, we came back from the Philippines and to our surprise, they had built a big and beautiful house. Their three children had grown up, loving God. The husband was a prayer team leader and the wife was an active member in women’s church ministry.
We visited them last February and I had a chance to share the Gospel with Mr. Thang’s brother. And that man said: “Your dad evangelized all of my brothers and sisters already but we are still thinking about it!”:)
Thuong's Family

In a day of July, 2008, my father-in-law attended a funeral service where he met Thuong, a teenager who received Christ in Ho Chi Minh City. She asked my father-in-law if he could come to her house and evangelize her family members. My father-in-law took the opportunity and came to her house when the funeral service was over. On the way back home, he called me telling that Thuong’s mother and brother received Christ. I could not believe that an oldest member and eldest son of the family in our culture became Christian! However, I had to confess my unbelief with God’s work when I heard that 8 others in Thuong’s family were converted after 2 months. Because of the new believers in the area, a daughter church was soon planted and started the Sunday worship in a Christian’s house. I felt so blessed when my father-in-law was honored in church service the morning we attended because of his contribution in planting that daughter church and because most of new believers added to the church this year are fruit of his labor. To God be all gloried!

The daughter church

Back to Thuong’s family, they neither had a land to build house for living nor had jobs for survival but now God granted them a land and the children have jobs. We have been praying to help them in their house building projects.


Yes, we have the faith heritage! And we thank God for good examples of evangelistic Christians in our families, not just my father-in-law but our families both sides. Therefore, our life devotion is not laid on our theological training in seminary but on eye-witnessing of many life transformations in my parents’ ministry and through Thuan’s parents’ evangelistic heart.

As you all know we have been pursuing to establish an evangelistic organization in Vietnam. On the way of finding God’s directions for that, we have discovered Evangelism Explosion fulfills our expectations for a workable and practical approach to reach the Vietnamese. After praying and asking God’s will on that, we now have decided to join Evangelism Explosion. Thuan will be full-time with EE and I have been helping their field workers in reporting and somehow coaching. Besides, we started implementing Evangelism Explosion Method into our church planting and we have seen God added more converts into our church. We absolutely need your prayers in this critical stage of our ministry. God is opening doors for us in an amazing way. We are looking forward to declaring God’s works through our ministry in the next newsletter.

Thank you for standing besides us by your prayer and support. It’s Him who caused us to live for the call and to live confidently and boldly everyday with your strong and committed partnership. May God bless you, your home, ministry, work abundantly for you have given to Him generously and faithfully!

Yours in reaching Vietnam for Christ,

Thuan, Esther & Kairos Phan

Not just a house but a Lighthouse

Dear Friend,

Warm greeting in our Lord Jesus Christ!
We thank God for your friendship Christ and partnership in His kingdom throughout the year. It has been always a great encouragement when we think about you and your heart for God and for us in the Lord’s harvest. We praise God for you and we pray that He will bring the joy and peace to your heart as you read this letter written from our own heart.

We give thanks and praises to our Heavenly Father who has saved us, made us His own, and called us into His service. As you know, after finishing our theological trainings, we returned home to settle our family and start our ministry here in our homeland despite of many offers which may distract us from His call to be ministers for our people. Truly, you and I have a great God and a loving Father! We cannot count all of His blessings for us throughout the year; especially Kairos, our first child is a precious God-given gift to us. We welcomed him with our tremendous joy and gratitude to God’s awesome work though we had to experience some unexpected situations. He is now nearly two-month old. With all that God has done, we have set our hearts to be true to Him and His ministry all the more.

In a mission trip thru medical care for kids & charity house in a Southern province.

Understanding God’s purposes and dreams for our lives, we stepped our feet in Ho Chi Minh City, doing little things He has entrusted. God is the One who makes things happened for His honor and glory. When Thuan was joyfully serving as an assistant pastor in preaching, teaching, and music ministry; Esther was exposing into translation ministry. We were both encouraged and inspired to move forward when we see life-changing in leaders and church members.

At the beginning of this year, we sensed that God was leading us to a new stage of our ministry, moving us toward a direction which will accomplish our vision to be evangelists for our people, establishing an evangelistic band (I Kings 18:36-37). We felt that we should move to another place to start Bible study and eventually plant a church as a home base for that long-term vision.

We are fully convinced of God’s prompting to take the move not just by seeing a bright picture of future revival in Vietnam, but also by our broken hearts when we realize the spiritual environment of Vietnamese churches at the present. Many church leaders today in this most developed city of our country do not appreciate the privilege of being trained and sent for God as those who have to experience persecutions and hardships for the sake of the gospel in the other parts of the country. Thuan has been feeling heavy-hearted in opportunities to work with leaders and pastors. Believing God for a turning point of our ministry, we also trust that a new house in a new community will be God’s tool for us to reach that community, building His church, and sending godly workers to the harvest.

Back to June of 2008, as a new couple we trusted God to rent a house in this city to live and it has been nearly one year. God has been so faithful and good in providing for us financially for the rental, which is nearly $2000 per year.

Esther's birthday Celebration in our current rental house, Sept 8, 2008

However, the desire for years of having a house for our own has been growing more strongly every day. During this New Year Eve, we made it as a very special prayer to God for this year, trusting Him to grant us a house by the end of 2009. Together with our two extended families, we have been praying, keeping our eyes on houses on sales, and as well as keeping our spirits sensitive with the Spirit’s revelation about His timing. However, with both of our parents serving God, depending on Him financially for their daily needs, we know we are to look for a miracle.

April, 2008, Thuan's parents with the family who were wholly saved through their evangelism ministry

June, 2008, Esther's father was giving testimonies of God's call to each of them into His service

And it happens that on this March 4, the house owner suddenly informed that he wanted the house back by May for his own use. The news surprised us and flashed in our minds the picture of looking for a renting house, and moving things with our baby who will be only four-month old then. After praying to God, we are convinced that it is time for us to trust Him to buy a house. We pray that it will not be just a house but a lighthouse.

Kairos, 6 week-old with Meo, our sister in Christ

We looked for houses on sales and found a house with the price $22.000 (64 square meters) in a suburb of Ho Chi Minh City. We have been praying to buy this house. However, we have too little faith to believe that He will give us totally $22.000 from someone who is willing to help us either for free or loan. And yet after praying, this is what we can trust God and we are convinced by His Spirit to do. Please do pray and take our honest sharing as a chance to bless us and contribute to our service in Vietnam.

At the beginning, adding the amount our families’ help to what we have, we have now $2000. So we still need $20.000 more. As we calculated, this $20.000 would be the payment of 10 years if we continue renting house. Meaning if we live in renting house for 10 more years, the payment for it can afford a house! With that, we are now asking for your help. Among our circle of relationship in God’s family, we are asking you, who are in our Lord’s service and understand very well our situation, and who also can identify with our desire of having a house for our own. As we do the same with other 19 friends, we are asking if you can lend us $1000. We pray and plan to pay back to you with the other 19 within 10 years from the rental that we would have to pay if we continue renting. With that plan, we will pay for you from our rental of 6 months. If your heart is moved to help us, time of payment is decided by you because we know you have your own plan to use your money. By this way, together with the other 19, you are helping us to have a house, just by saving from the rental!

It sounds and may seem funny but we are praying if the Spirit will work in you. We do not have anything to give you as a pledge for the loan except God’s leading in your heart that brings conviction to you to extend your kindness to us. We shared this project to some of friends and two committed to help, one gives freely and we will pay for another in the first six months Praise the Lord!, And it was so encouraging when Esther shared with her friend, who is now a student and that friend committed to pray and ask her 50 friends to help us because she is moved to be a part of our faith-stretching journey.

We are now looking for 18 more people within 2 months in looking upon God for His amazing work. Please pray whether God leads you to join us in the journey of faith and of friends in Christ! May God bless your heart as you always find a way to bless His people!

Yours in reaching Vietnam for Christ,

Thuan, Esther & Kairos Phan.

**************************************************************************

Updates: In April 3, we have three committed, praise God! Be praying for the other 17.