YOUTH CAMP AT THE BORDER OF MYANMAR

Over 200 young people came for the 3-day camp organised in partnership with the local leadership of believers in Mae Hongson province. The River Team provided the music and teaching for the entire program. The message on “The True Way to Real Life” was presented clearly and received in an amazing way! 

Let the Camp begin.... 

This guy knows how to rap...  A great opening for the camp!

Thailand's best worship leader!

Our very own Num and Da, shared about their newly tranformed lives... 

.....following their testimonies, 95% of the youth recommitted their lives to God, and expressed their desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit. 

This opened the third and final day with expectation and celebration.  

The singing got louder, the grins got wider, the jumping got higher, the tears flowed easier, and that was when God truly turned up!  The hall was filled with willing hearts and miracles took place.  Lives were set free. Chains were broken. Forgiveness was established and peace entered many young minds and hearts.

It truly was something incredible.  Ps Erik proclaimed Truth, the team served tirelessly and with excellence - and God moved mountains!  

This generation is responding to the call... 

Living for God is everything...

The sound of this new generation is....

This is revival.

SONKRAN WEEKEND @THE RIVER

It is "Sonkran"time. Songkran falls in the hottest time of the year in Thailand, at the end of the dry season. The Festival has traditionally been celebrated as the New Year for many centuries. It is observed nationwide, and includes religious rituals relating to "cleansing". Sonkran has also become the craziest water-throwing, drinking and merrymaking time of the year. Serious accidents and fatalities are inevitable.

The River Team youth and our entire band with all our sound equipment went to minister at a youth camp close Myanmar border.

At The River CREATIVITY stepped in big time!

The meeting room was transformed into a "Spiritual Journey of Faith". In groups, each person participated in discovering the foundations of our faith. Creative props helped in the porcess of thinking things through. The groups then reported their finding to the others.

The River loves eating togther... Today's menu was sticky rice, grilled chicken and papaya salad... followed by The River Cafe cakes and ice cream.

THE RIVER CONFERENCE 2013

The River Conference plays a strategically important part in building a common vision, heart and purpose for bringing healing and wholeness to the broken... 

Our life of Grace starts at His finished work on the cross...

Praise and Worship was exuberant, with several young people making a first-time decision to believe.

"It is Finished" by Ps Ross Smith - hot off the press - in English and in Thai - launched and signed personally by the author and teacher at The River Conference 2013! The books are going fast!

The River Team members facilitated powerful sessions for women, called  "Shine" - Value, Power of Choice and Purpose... 

... and for men, called "Strength" - Being strong and courageous

16 people made the following decision...

Our band draws in young people who are discovering their value and purpose in God and now want to live for His purpose!

Celebrating the "unsung heroes", who faithfully build His House in the most difficult of places. "The New Shoes" presented in the gift bags to "Bai" and "Daeng" remind them of their new Walk of Grace.

I have decided... and my friends are so excited!

We are many, but one in Him.

EASTER WEEKEND 2013 @ THE RIVER

Our very own worship band with a new sound - excelling in leading people to exhalt God - full of faith and excitement about His plan and purpose for this generation! Young people, some rescued from very deep - now living confidently to fulfil His Cause to bring healing and wholeness to this nation!

Building His House, brick by brick....

 I have decided...

Welcome home....

We are many, but one in Him

Celebrating around the table...



Tears of joy... We are truly brothers...with the same Father!

THE FLOODS

From the beginning of the year unitl mid-March, the weather in the South of Thailand included rain, rain and more rain!  As the town is situated on the Kolok River which separates Thailand from Malaysia, flooding is inevitable.  This means that some of the low-lying communities either become stranded or must be evacuated.  This time, evacuation was in order, and a refugee-style camp was set up in a local school which is visible from our team house.  The government asked us to organise activities for the people, while they waited to return to their homes.   Our team went in, and started teaching how to make bags and boxes out of recycled plastic.  This is a skill our team has perfected and already trained hundreds of people.  We train to empower people with new skills, which will provide them income and a sense of worth.  This kind of interaction with the local people also helps the government and the local to see that we are serious about our commitment to bring healing and wholeness to the South.

VALENTINE'S DAY 2013

The River Team spent Valentine's Day 2013 delivering lovingly prepared baskets of roses in the city of Hangdong. The sense of unity and excitement amongst the team members was contagious! The surprise and delight on the faces of the police, hospital staff, postal workers, municipal council officers, school teachers, bank officers, just to name a few... made all the hard work worth it!

JOY MEETS JOY!

Recently a couple from Australia, along with their teenage kids came to visit The River. During a conversation with The River Team member, the wife called Elise,  inquired about a Thai lady called Joy. She wanted to meet her.  Elise said that she has been praying for Joy since she received a River prayer card about six months earlier in Australia. One of the reasons Elise picked Joy's card was because her own middle name is Joy! Elise had no idea of the life and struggles this Thai lady, called Joy, had endured. She did not know that Joy is a single mother of two and a breast cancer survivor, who is trusting in God as her Almighty Provider and Healer. Elise was overjoyed in hearing Joy's story, because she herself had been healed of cancer! 

The day we phoned Joy, she had been asking God to send her encouragement.  It was an unusually difficult day at the bakery she works in and she felt tired and alone. 

The meeting of the two women at our River Café was truly joyful! The two discovered how much more than their names they shared in common. For almost an hour, these two daughters of the Father chatted about their families, children, and about how Jesus had individually impacted them and cared, loved and healed them and changed their lives for the Glory of God.

God brought these two beautiful women together through a simple River prayer card. Today they are praying for each other and giving praises to God in their homes thousands of miles apart.