Ponta Geet Sampan
(Reconciliation Ministry)
Norman Rideout is the son of a missionary to Thailand, Ken Rideout, and moved to Thailand as a young toddler. He grew up in Bangkok, Thailand and considers Thailand his home. Norman is fluent in English, Thai and Karen dialect. He never intended to be a missionary, but as a young married man he was called into the mission field. He moved his wife, Debbie, to Bangkok from the United States in 1983. Both of their sons, Micah and Matthew, were born in Thailand.
Norman began his work in southern Thailand before returning to Bangkok as an instructor at Christ for Thailand Institute, a ministry of Christ for the Nations. As an instructor he was invited by one of his students to preach in his Karen village in the mountains of Northwest Thailand and his life would never be the same. The Karen people were open to the gospel and received these men well. Norman began to sense the Lord’s leading him to this people group and he moved to Chaing Mai in 1989 to begin what would become Ponta Geet Sampan.
The Karen tribe inhabits the mountainous region on the Thailand/Myanmar (Burma) border. There are approximately 11 million in the Karen nation, but less than one million are in Thailand as of 2004. This tribe, like most, was Animist (dark spirit worship) with very limited exposure to Christianity.
Norman and Somchi, the student who introduced him to the Karen, began with very meager beginnings. They would travel from Chaing Mai up into the mountains on a motorcycle going village to village getting to know these people and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Norman and Somchi began to see demon-worshipping villages respond to the gospel family by family…and sometimes whole villages entirely. In time they would see whole villages transformed and this message began to spread village to village.
They would soon meet a young man named Moses in one of these villages. Moses was rare in that he was raised in a Christian home (less than 50,000 Karen Christians at that time). Moses had a younger brother named Nirand who would lead worship, as Moses would preach. Norman, Somchi and Moses, with Nirand, began to boldly travel from village to village, often on foot, and many would receive their message. They would stay in these villages for a few days at a time discipling and encouraging the new converts as they witnessed to the unbelievers. This simple model, which mirrored the model used by Jesus with His disciples, is still being used today.
Many of the young male converts would attach themselves to one of these men and begin a natural mentoring process. Soon a spiritual maturity began to form in a core group that was expanding outward. Word began to spread that God was up to something special in the mountains of Northwest Thailand. Churches, both in Thailand and the United States, began providing just enough support to keep this young ministry alive.
One of these young men was named Pracha. Pracha was an educated young man who was working for the Thailand government as a public school administrator. Pracha who was fluent in both Thai and Karen dialect would always include himself on the weekly trips into the mountains and it became obvious he was being called by God to join the ministry in a full-time capacity. The core group had grown to five hungry men who were seeing many respond to their message.
Occasionally the group would meet small pockets of Christians. One such encounter happened in 1995 when Norman met a village preacher named Malachi. Malachi’s Karen village was in the Northern most region of Thailand. Norman and Malachi began to travel together and grow in their friendship and respect for one another. The group was now six.
Motorcycles were replaced with four-wheel drive trucks loaded with the team and young disciples wanting to be included. The territory and the team were becoming larger, but the model remained the same. Regular visits were made to each village where the new Christians were encouraged, discipled and prayed over. As this occurred non-Christians would watch and be drawn by the transformed lives of their fellow villagers. Person by person and family by family the number of Christians in each village would grow. The team with new Christians would travel to neighboring villages and so on and so on.
In 2000 an evangelist named Pirod became the final member of today’s core group. Pirod had been an informal member of the team for approximately 11 years when he felt called to become a core-group member. Pirod, like all the other core group members, had a strong calling to travel village to village encouraging and growing the believers while evangelizing the lost. The core group had become Norman Rideout and six mature evangelists who shared a common calling and vision for the Karen nation. This group of men collectively named their informal association Ponta Geet Sam Pan (The Ministry of Reconciliation). Each man has his own unique strength and ministry, but very naturally and intentionally operates under the larger Ponta Geet Sam Pan banner. This core group resides in different cities and communities across Northern Thailand, but stay in constant communication and participate as a team in all major decisions affecting the ministry.
The heart and soul of Ponta Geet Sampan has been and continues to be evangelism. The ministry is broader than just evangelism, mostly out of necessity, but an intentional focus on evangelism is the foundation of every aspect of the ministry.
The average Karen village has approximately 40 families. They live in simple bamboo huts usually raised one meter above the ground. Some of the more developed villages have some prosperous families with teak wood structures. The people farm the mountainsides with rice, cabbage, corn and other vegetables. Unfortunately some of the non-Christian’s illegally farm poppy for heroine and opium. The roads, if any, are treacherous and often impassable during the rainy season. Getting product to market is difficult.
Evangelizing this hard working people group requires spending time with them and helping them through the issues present in a poor farming community. Consequently, the Ponte Geet Sam Pan team cycles through these villages regularly. The team enters a village and stays for at least one day, often more depending on the circumstance. They usually reside with the local pastor, if one exists, or other Christians. Occasionally they’ll stay with unbelievers when no Christians can be found in the village.
A normal day, if there’s such a thing, is to spend time with known Christians encouraging them, spending time learning about their lives, giving advice, praying with them, teaching them, and worshiping God with them. Their presence in a village is always news worthy and curious on-lookers begin showing up. Sometimes the non-Christians are friendly and occasionally they’re hostile. Through the normal course of visiting there is opportunities to share the love of Christ with these non-Christians. It often takes multiple visits to each village before families begin to trust this message of hope. People are usually eager to leave the control of demon-possessed witch doctors, but they’re afraid and need to have confidence that your Jesus is more powerful than the spirits they see regularly.
The Ponta Geet Sampan team has developed a wonderful reputation of being honest, reliable and loving. They enjoy goodwill with all of the local churches crossing many denominational lines. They support and lead several short-term mission trips. In short, on virtually any day of the year you’ll find at least one team in a village, under the leadership and protection of the Holy Spirit, meeting the needs of local villagers and explaining the gospel of Jesus Christ.
An integral part of evangelizing a people group is equipping the saints and identifying leaders. As leaders emerge the team holds periodic leadership conferences aimed at providing practical leadership information, challenging these men to righteous lifestyles, and encouraging them to stay faithful.
Usually several, and at times all, of the team members come together for these conferences. They share in preaching, leading worship, giving updates on the ministry, addressing key issues in the greater Karen church, etc.
These conferences are scheduled during dryer months. The number of those attending these conferences and the location varies. They are held in the larger Christian villages where accommodations are available. It is common to have 300-500 participants which requires virtually every home to host several visitors.
The Thai government educates children through the 6th grade in schools located near the mountain villages. The Thai schools for grades 7-12 are located in the cities. Consequently, Karen families in the central mountain region must send their kids several kilometers away to Mae Chaem for schooling. This presents a major problem for the Karen people since they don’t have money to pay for boarding schools. The Christian community cried out to the Ponta Geet Sam Pan team to establish a hostel for their children.
Moses had started several hostels in the past and was instrumental in establishing the current Ponta Geet Sampan hostel located adjacent to the secondary school in Mae Chaem. Moses and his wife run this facility along with the assistance of their four children. Each member of the family plays a key role in housing and ministering to these children.
The hostel is strategically located just down the hill from the school. Students walk to school in the mornings, return to the hostel for lunch, then return to the school for the afternoon sessions. Currently the hostel is at complete capacity with 120 students.
Moses and Chi Pa take on a father/mother role as they love these children while away from their families. Because of the distances from their villages, students are away from their families for extended periods of time. Students learn to wash their own cloths and keep their rooms neat. There’s a soccer field and volleyball net for recreation. The children have a set routine that includes prayer and Bible study. There is a dynamic worship service every evening where the children sing praises, give testimonies, receive prayer and hear a message from Moses or visiting pastors.
The reputation of this hostel is excellent and several families, both Christian and non-Christian, are pressuring Moses to accept their children. Currently there is one long-house, a small wing and two huts (for over-flow) that are completely filled. There is room to build additional long-houses, but their isn’t enough monthly support to accommodate any additional children.
The Ponta Geet Sampan ministry is beginning to see God raise up the next generation of leaders. As God calls young men and women into the ministry, Ponta Geet Sampan is accepting the challenge of equipping them for a life of ministry. There are currently two Bible Schools operating in the Mae Chaem region. The first is located 30 kilometers north of Mae Chaem in the town of Manichon. Pirod and two part-time assistants operate this school. The school has a set curriculum where the students receive Bible training. There is an emphasis on evangelism in this school so the students take weekly trips into unreached villages to spread the gospel. This hands-on training is an integral part of the student’s education and training.
Another similar school is currently operating an hour further north in the village of Massatop. This school is operated in conjunction with the Karen Baptist Church of Massatop and is located on property donated by the village. The teaching and day to day operations is provided by a Ponta Geet Sampan trained married couple named Asa and Elizabeth. This young couple spent time operating the hostel in Mae Chaem under the mentoring of Moses. They have a wonderful heart for the Lord and play an important role in the Ponta Geet Sampan association. The Massatop pastor and a church administrator assist Asa and Elizabeth with teaching. The Massatop school uses the same curriculum as Pirod’s Manichon school and the schools share a graduation service.
One of the very natural and also intentional aspects of this ministry is training and encouraging pastors. Each Ponta Geet Sampan team members is much better trained in Bible and more mature in their Christian walk than the local pastor. Consequently, every one of the team members spends time with the local pastor, and usually resides in their homes, when visiting a village. Not every village has a pastor, but great care is provided when a pastor is present. The Ponta Geet Sampan team will usually guest preach and lead worship if they pass through a village on Sunday. On other days the team will encourage and equip the pastor in his home and then accompany the pastor door to door through the village to encourage other Christians and evangelize the lost.
In the northern most region, near the city of Pai, the pastoral training is more formal. Malachi travels almost every week with pastors from the neighboring villages. Malachi and these pastors (usually about 6 or 7) will evangelize an unreached village or village that doesn’t have a pastor. Malachi will encourage, teach and train these pastors during those days together on the road. The pastors, in turn, return to their local villages on the weekend to teach their local church what they learned on the road the previous week.