Easter at The River

Easter 2014 at The River was a true celebration!

The River prepared a beautiful evening service on Good Friday 2014 to remember and honour what the Father gave to us through His Son over 2000 years ago. To a backdrop of a powerful movie clip depicting the Passion story, a freshly translated worship song Calvary was introduced to the tightly packed audience. The solemness of the message of Christ's suffering soon broke out into a triumphant celebration of victory: Our HOPE is in God and His love has been poured out into our hearts....      We are a community, which lives Full Life!



 The conference room was decorated with many creative touches, such as .... the communion table, which adorned fresh flowers and candles, carefully selected and arranged to celebrate the completeness of our Lord's work on our behalf.



 The lighting displays were designed to create a strory of the Calvary and the Empty Tomb...             It was precious to see new believers involved in serving communion....one brother serving another.



After the service, The River Family brought together a feast of drinks, fruits and snacks - so much so that there were lots of left overs for the Resurrection Sunday Celebrations!
Under the starry night, everyone mingled and had no interest in going home!  The atmosphere was warm, joyful and inviting. This is what Full Life is about!



Then came the Resurrecton Easter Sunday - He Is Risen!  Again, a packed house filled the room with  joy and celebration!   Ps Erik brought a message of hope, a visiting team from Centro, Ipswich Australia greeted with a song and a message of encouragement from 1Thess 3.

Our Easter Sunday was a day of particular celebration because one young man was baptised in water as his public declaration to follow the Lord and because a young lady, whom The River has known since her early kids club days - literally ran back to the Father's arms like the prodigal son did in the story found in the gospels.

At The River, no celebration is complete without a feast!

Our River Easter Sunday menu consisted of a delicious noodle soup, Thai-style club sandwiches, water melon and dried sugar-chili tamarind fruit. In addition, we had lots of snacks from the Good Friday feast! As an Eater treat, everyone received a foil-wrapped boiled egg - Thai style!

It was a beautiful, impacting and a forever memorable weekend in the life of The River:

 Full Life Begins!

River Conference 2014 FULL LIFE BEGINS!

The River Conference 2014 - FULL LIFE BEGINS! (April 1-4)

The conference opened with exuberant praise unto God! The room was packed with delegates, some of who had travelled from a restricted country, others from remote areas. FREEDOM and JOY was the resounding theme of the night! Erik Klar delivered a powerful message about the miracle of the "new wine"which we are called to take  into the communities!                                                                                            The new songs of praise and worship lead by The River Worship Band were sung throughout  The River Conference 2014 - FULL LIFE BEGINS!          

 

On the two days that followed, Ps Ross and Di Smith from The Vine in Brisbane taught powerfully about the Grace of God with a special focus on the "Top Button". In Ross' humorous style, the message came through loud and clear: We need to get our "top button" aligned correctly,  i.e. knowing who we are in Christ and who He is in us. We then learn to exercise our spiritual muscles of  ‘Faith’ and ‘No Condemnation’. The seriousness of the message was well received, interspersed with lots of laughter and also tears. Ross and Di are anointed teachers of the Word!

 Ross Smith and translator Suwat

Diane Smith

 For so many, this was a serious time of renewing faith and calling, being equipped, and for some also an opportuntiy to make that first time eternity-changing decision in a safe place....The Lord was present in a tangible way...

As a conference, The River celebrated several "unsung heroes". Words of encouragement...tears... standing ovations from the delegates...."You are valuable and we honour you as a faithful servant of the Lord."

The River did a brilliant job hosting the delegates! The The River Centre looked beautiful. The hospitality team consisted of The River staff and the local believers working together!
 


Each afternoon The River Team facilitated training in Full Life kids, youth, community development, as well as on the culture of our worship team. They did a fantastic job in showcasing their talent and giftings, and even more inportantly in teaching hands-on, how to take these aspects of ministry into the communities.





For some practical conference fun, 2nd-hand clothing stalls offered cheap fashions - one person's trash always someone else's treasure!

We celebrated three decisions at the pool during the conference!  Five more followed on Sunday.

Full Life Begins!

"Thank you for investing in us... Full Life Begins!"

Celebrating the wedding of Funn and Sae!

We would like to introduce you to two lovebirds - two members of our team who have just been married!   This is Funn and Sae, and this is their story so far!

They first met while working in a children's home, not far from Chiang Mai.  Little did they know that they would be married a little over a year later!

Funn’s upbringing is common to girls in the mountains.  She went to school until she was 12 and then stayed at home to help her parents.  When old enough, she moved to the city to get a job as a cook in a restaurant, in order to send money back to her family.

During Funn’s teen years and into her early 20’s, life changed dramatically, which in turn brought terrible injustices into her life.  Injustices which made Funn question her future, and even whether or not she should continue living this life.

Sae made his decision to follow the Lord when he was 13yrs old.  He graduated from high school, and then moved to Chiang Rai where he completed 4yrs of Bible College.

Funn and Sae were friends to begin with, but both individually felt a strong need to pray for one another regularly.   Soon enough, everyone around them were endorsing this relationship – All of their friends and family saw that it was special.  God was in the centre of their budding relationship.

Although only nine days apart in age, Funn and Sae (older) have very different upbringings; yet God works all things for good, and has a great plan for each of their lives!

We have had a special time over the past weeks celebrating their marriage.  First with a pre-wedding photo shoot in the flower gardens of Rajapruek, then the beautiful and unique wedding in the Funn’s village.  Unique because you rarely see such emotion in a Karen wedding!  Marriages are mostly arranged when the couple are quite young.  This wedding was different.  This day was full of joy, hope and love.  Whilst saying their vows, Funn welled up with emotion.  "The old is gone; the new is here" (2Cor 5:17). 

And then came the wedding blessing celebration at The River, where the Hangdong community joined in to witness and celebrate the union of Sae and Funn!

Sae and Funn are much loved members of The River Team and we all look forward to the journey ahead  of serving God together!