Colossians 3:16-17 Let
the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and
admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
thanksgiving in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in
the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
Greetings from Thailand where life has been busy but blessed
and we are grateful for the work God is doing in and through our family for His
glory. I can hardly believe it is already July and time seems to be flying by
faster and faster every year. I wanted to take some time to update you on what
our family has been doing over the past few months and the work we have been a
part of through Hearts Redeemed Ministries. I have been meaning to send this
update for some time now, but there always seems to be something that comes up
which prevents me from completing it. I guess Bruce Lee was right when he said,
“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.”
So today, Lord willing, I will complete this update and get it sent out to our
family, friends, and faithful supporters. Thank you for your patience and your
prayers and I hope that you are encouraged by the reports of God’s working in
the hearts of the Thai people through the truths of Scripture and the ministry
of the local church.
Classes:
It is July and for the first time in 3 years I find myself
at home with my family instead of in a classroom in California. It seems
strange to not be preparing for a trip to the States and making sure I have all
my homework ready for my weeks of study. I do miss the fellowship and the
teaching I was blessed to experience during my times on campus, but I am
grateful that my schooling in completed and that I can spend this time with my
family and not have to leave them alone for four weeks every year. Yes, you
read that correctly, I have completed my Master’s degree in Biblical counseling
and am now able to focus full time on ministry and family without having to
worry about homework assignments and test preparations. It was a wonderful experience
and I am so thankful that I was able to take part in the MABC program from the
Master’s College. I was not only able to learn more about the Bible and the
ministry of biblical counseling and discipleship, I was also able to mature in
my spiritual life and become a better husband, father, and follower of Christ.
I highly recommend the SIP program offered through the Master’s College for
anyone who desires to mature in their faith and also minister more effective to
the body of Christ. You can check out more information at http://www.masters.edu/academics/graduate/mabc/
 |
| Gracie, Joy, Hope, and Kyle in their new school uniforms. |
As we are talking on the subject of schooling, there have
been some other changes for our family in this area. This year, after much
prayer and consideration, Mam and I decided to move our kids to a new school
which is located nearby our home. It was a difficult decision mainly because
they would have to move from a Christian Thai school to a Buddhist public
school, and they would have to say goodbye to their friends which they had made
over the past two years at their old school. The reason for the move was
because the cost of the Christian Thai school was getting too expensive and the
cost in finances and time to transport the kids to and from school every day
was also too high. An average day at their old school would include everyone
waking up at 6 AM and then leaving the house at 7 AM so that we could arrive at
school after the 30 to 40 minute drive before they had to line up for classes
at 7:45 AM. Then we would pick them up at 4:30 PM and drive back home arriving
around 5 to 5:30 PM. Following an hour of homework, chores, dinner, and shower,
it was 8:30 and time for everyone to get to bed. This left no time to truly
enjoy activities as a family. Their new school has a more affordable tuition
which we can pay and is located 5 minutes from our home. It also starts classes
at 8:30 and is done by 4:00 so we have plenty of time to do family activities
in the evening and for the kids to play and exercise after their chores and
homework are complete. Their new school is also located on the campus of one of
the universities we are ministering at, and so that makes it convenient for Mam
and I to not only take our kids to school but also connect with college
students who are attending our church. The kids have enjoyed their new school
and are making new friends and for that we are grateful. Please pray especially for Gracie as she has always had a hard time
making friends and talking to new people. She is doing better but still
struggles with this and we are helping her talk more and more with her teachers
and her classmates. Thankfully, her teachers are very patient with her and
her classmates are kind as well. Gracie is making progress and for that we are
thankful but please continue to pray for her to overcome her fear and begin
talking and also for Mam and I to be wise and patient as we help her to be obedient
to us, respectful to teachers and classmates and most importantly glorifying to
God by talking to others. Joy, Hope, and Kyle love their new school and already
are making friends and enjoying the extra time in the evening to play and
exercise.
Counseling:
 |
| Some of the attendees at the introduction to Biblical Counseling Seminar |
Even though I have just completed my biblical counseling
degree in May, since we have been back in Thailand, counseling has been the
main focus of our ministry. I along with the help of Mam have been offering
pre-marriage counseling and discipleship to young college couples who attend
our church here. We have been a part in helping prepare the couple as well as their
wedding for 4 couples already and there are 4 more couples currently getting
ready to begin meeting with us as they are looking at getting married later
this year. We have also been able to help minister to the missionary community
here in Chiang Rai and other cities in Northern Thailand. Our goal was to come
and minister to the Thai families and churches through the ministry of biblical
counseling and discipleship, but over the past year I have found myself
counseling many missionary families who are experiencing difficulties in their
ministries, their families, and even their personal life. It has been a
blessing to be able to help serve fellow missionaries and also local Thai
singles, couples, families, and churches with the truths of God’s Word. But during
my times of counseling I have seen that there is a great need to not only
counsel others, but also to train them how to counsel, mainly since I am not
able physically to meet with everyone who has been seeking out help. So by
God’s grace, Mam and I were able to connect with a local foundation here which
has a heart to counsel others and begin a training session for those in the
community who want to learn about and begin using biblical counseling to help
their friends, family, church, and community. In April we held an introductory
all day seminar on the ministry of biblical counseling and we had close to 30
people attended. Then in May we held our first of 12 one day sessions training
in biblical counseling. There were 27 people who came and during the second
session we held last month there were 23 people. Praise God because these are
men and women who are Thai and Akha who are serving as pastors, pastor wives,
ministry leaders, orphanage staff, and other ministries not only here in
Thailand but also across the border into Myanmar and Laos.
 |
| Some of the students celebrating the completion of their homework from the first training session we had in May. |
 |
| Enjoying lunch together during the seminar. |
Changes and Conclusion:
There is still so much more to share but I will post that
later this month since I am working on trying to keep these posts short. But
before I go I just wanted to update you on some changes which we are trying to
make in regards our contact with our supporters and friends. I am currently
working on a new email way to send out newsletters and so shortly you may be
receiving an invite, so if you would like to receive our updates via email,
then please email me at heartsredeemed@gmail.com
with the current email address you would like us to contact you with. Also if
there are other ways which are more effective in contacting you, then please
let us know so that we can make sure that we are connecting you with our
ministry and family updates. Also I will be posting these updates on our
family’s ministry blog which is http://rutledgereview.blogspot.com/.
You can check it out to find ministry updates, prayer requests, pictures,
praise reports, and also information on how to support our ministry financially
and other ways. This blog will be specifically focused on our family and
ministry here in Thailand through Hearts Redeemed Ministries. I will be
starting another blog soon dealing with biblical counseling and discipleship
topics for those interested in reading. It will be focused on how God’s Word
instructs us on daily living and how God uses the Bible, the Holy Spirit, and
the church to help sanctify us and use our life to glorify His name and grow
His church. So keep an eye out for that new blog which I hope to have started next
month.
Thank you for taking the time to read this update and I pray
that you not only found in informative but also encouraging. God is always
present and always working and we are grateful that He has enabled us to not
only know Him but to also be used by Him to help others come to a saving
knowledge of His goodness and His glory.
Your fellow servants in the Lord
Dan, Mam, Gracie, Joy, Hope, and Kyle Rutledge
Titus 2:11-14
