2 Months in Thailand

We are coming up on the 2 month mark of our time in Bangkok. It is hard to believe how quickly time has gone. A lot of you have asked me if Bangkok feels like home yet. I'm not sure if it will ever fell like home, but it is definitely starting to feel normal. We have daily and weekly rhythms and patterns in place, we pretty much know how to navigate the city, and we are really enjoying our new way of life! That being said, we are still making a lot of adjustements too.

I said to many of you before we came here that Bangkok is one of the darkest places on earth and that I could not think of a more spiritually lost place in the world to move my family to. Well it is one thing to say, it is an entirely different thing to live in it. In many ways it is downright depressing. There have been days where it overwhelms me. I look around and all I see is lostness, idolatry, and sin. It breaks our hearts, but it is also a daily reminder of why we are here. I am more motivated to see the gospel break through this darkness each and every day. We will continue to trust God's heart and will for this nation and its people. The other major adjustment for us has been dealing with loneliness. We miss our family and friends back in Florida. Again, we are not surprised by this. We knew this would be difficult. We are developing new friendships here in Bangkok and seeking satisfaction in the Lord, but we would appreciate your prayers as well.

We are now 3 weeks into this church/vision plant and there is much to be excited about. We have had some great times of worship, teaching and prayer; we had 22 kids, 15 of whom were unchurched, come to a youth gathering on a Saturday night, and we are making friends with other ministries, churches, and Christians all around the city. So attendance on Sundays isn't really growing yet, but we still feel as if we are making a lot of progress towards the vision of having gospel representation in all 51 districts of Bangkok. We are going to have to be patient, but the potential that we see in this city is really exciting. Please pray that God would continue to bring us people; specifically Christians who are disconnected and isolated, church and ministry partners, and lost people who are open to the Gospel and want to learn more about Jesus.

Well, this week I am off to Sri Lanka for a week to meet some of our partners and friends there. While we are there we will be sharing the vision to reach every man, woman and child with groups of pastors in 2 different cities. This will be my first trip since we moved, so I know Leeza would appreciate your prayers. She is going to do great, but it is never easy when one of us is traveling. I also ask for you to pray that the trip is an effective and productive one and that God would give us wisdom and safety.

Thank you for following our journey, for praying for us, and for you support. We are so blessed by you all. Don't hesitate to drop us a facebook message or an email. We miss you all and would love to hear how you are doing and how we can pray for you as well.

God bless you,

Carl, Leeza, and Tripp Belcher

3,2,1, LAUNCH!!!

Hello everyone,

I hope life stateside is going well for you. We miss being home with our family and friends, but we are more excited than ever to see what God is going to do here in Bangkok. This week I invited many of you to like the SCP Bangkok page, so I want to take this opportunity to share with you all a little more about who/what SCP Bangkok is. 

SCP Bangkok is an international church, but more than that it is a vision to reach every man, woman, and child in Bangkok, Thailand, and Asia. The international community in Bangkok is comprised of over 3 million people from all over the world. We believe that by starting with an international church we will have the opportunity to provide facilitation for an easily multiplied, decentralized church model to the indigenous Thai church and the other 23 nationalities represented in Bangkok. We are asking and believing in God in the next 20 years for strategic gospel presence in all 298 sub districts of Bangkok, in all 76 provinces in Thailand, and in 1 pivot nation in each of Asia's 5 divisions.

We are launching the vision on September 6^th (just a couple more days!!!) with our first Sunday Gathering, where we will worship together with the 30+ families and individuals who are already committed to joining us in this effort. We will simultaneously be launching 3 Church Fellowships, 3 Women’s Fellowships, and a Youth Fellowship. These Fellowships will serve as the primary vehicle for discipleship and mission; modeled after the New Testament church we see in the book of Acts.

Church planting is quite the experience so far. We have a small team (4 families) so it is all hands on deck. There's is lots to do and we don't have specialists on our team or the resources to pay someone else to do it. From web design, to creating Info Guides and Conncection Cards, to even leading worship (I only know how to play 3 songs on the guitar, so picking the music set was easy!!! LOL); I am being asked to do things that I never thought I would be doing. But God is growing me and stretching me in ways I couldn't have ever imagined. I knew I would be getting pushed out of my comfort zone, but WOW! Leeza is stepping up and leading the children's ministry too, so needless to say she will have her hands full as well.

Our First Church experience in Thailand

Thank you so much to those of you who have been faithfully praying for us. It means the world to us and we really can't say thank you enough.

• Please pray for the launch of SCP Bangkok. For God's favor, for open doors, and for His Spirit to show up and move in the lives of the people there so that they can go and be salt and light in this dark city.
• The closing of our house had to be pushed back to September 9th, so please pray that we will finally close and have that burden lifted.
• Pray for our health. Living in a foreign country and especially in a big city means being introduced to lots of new germs. Tripp has been sick again and now Leeza and I are fighting off some infections of our own. 

So many of you have already sacrificed so much to support Leeza and I that I hesitate to even ask, but although we are confident that as God builds this fellowship it will not only be able to provide for itself but will be a blessing for this whole area of the world, right now we need a team of people who believe in what we are doing to help get this off the ground. If you are interested in learning more about SCP or even possible becoming a financial partner please go to www.scpglobal.org. 

Grace and Peace,

Carl, Leeza and Tripp Belcher