My name is Claire and I am 23 years old. I graduated from the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia (about 50 miles south of Washington, DC) with a degree in English and Creative Writing. God allowed me to stay in Fredericksburg after graduating in May 2011 so that I could continue to do ministry with Encounter (the college and singles group at Spotswood Baptist Church) and with the middle schoolers. Before I came to Thailand, I worked at a call center for an ophthalmologist in Fredericksburg and lived in an apartment in downtown Fredericksburg. I was and continue to be incredibly blessed.
In August 2011, my college pastor, Doug, approached me and a few of the other leaders in Encounter about potentially going on a "vision trip"* to Bangkok, Thailand. I was going through the book, Radical, by David Platt at the time with one of the summer small groups and one of the main arguments Platt propositions is that we've traded what Jesus demands from his disciples for comfort, for the American dream. Platt elaborates in this video clip here:
I was faced with the question, do I really believe what the Bible says about Hell? Do I believe what Jesus says about the fate of people enslaved to other belief systems that offer no hope apart from their own efforts to draw them near to an unimaginably holy God? Do I believe this? Intellectually, I am against Universalism but functionally I was living as if I believed in it. While the Holy Spirit worked on showing me how unbiblical my worldview was, my decision to go to Bangkok was also influenced by the nature of the Great Commission in Scripture. God doesn't ask us to go, nor does He need us to go; rather, He requires us to go:
"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."So I went. Here's the team. From left to right: Rose (a former teacher at the BSC), Jared, Liz Swauger, yours truly, and Dylan.
Matthew 28:19-20 ESV
The trip was brief but one of the most meaningful and life changing experiences that I've ever had. We met Thai people who were eager to befriend us but it was frustrating to have such limited time with them. For a city in which the statistics are so staggeringly hopeless (0.7% Christian, the rest Buddhist or Muslim), there is so much hope. God is doing amazing things in Bangkok through His people, His Church burning brightly in the darkness. It was evident through the conversations that I had with the Lifepoint Bangkok team, the BSC employees and volunteers, and Thais at Conversation Corner and elsewhere that God is moving. I knew beyond a shadow of doubt that God was calling me to be a part of His work in Thailand.
I consider it an honor and privilege to be able to serve the Thai people through this ability that I have just because I was born in a certain part of the world to a certain family--the ability to speak English. In addition to teaching English classes, I am serving as a ministry intern for John Lapos, an IMB missionary who is in charge of the BSC ministry with Liz for a year. Liz and I:
I am blessed not only because of my circumstances but because "now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ" Ephesians 2:13. Nothing I can do can bring me to God. What I can do is celebrate the grace God has given me when I deserved Hell and eternal separation from Him. I can worship Him for that awesome expression of love for me and for every person He has set apart for Himself and for the whole world--worship Him side by side with my brothers and sisters in Christ in Thailand and Fredericksburg.
Jesus is Lord over all the nations of the world. That is Truth I will proclaim.
*What is a "vision trip," you ask? It's basically a trip in which a few people scout out a potential partnership and see if it's something that can be reproduced in the future with more people.
