Nopaluck Cable’s father, Phaitoon Hathamart, had a special treat for her when she was about 7 years old: You get to stay up late tonight, he told her, to watch a good movie on TV.
She lived in Bangkok until her dad enrolled at the University of Minnesota, thanks to a Rockefeller scholarship. After moving to the United States, he earned a degree in agricultural economics.
The message of the movie Nopaluck watched that night with her dad changed the Buddhist family’s entire identity.
“As I sat and watched King of Kings with my dad, I just cried through the whole movie of Christ,” she said. “I wanted to follow Jesus because he rose from the dead.”
What she saw in Christ’s life, death and resurrection had far more power, beauty and love than the Buddha idol she’d been wearing around her neck.
“God had us here for a reason,” she added.
Knowing Christ and making him known was that reason. In fact, her father’s heart changed so entirely that he abandoned his progress toward a Ph.D. The family left America in the 1970s.
People from Central Baptist Church, a Converge congregation near the University of Minnesota, became friends with Nopaluck’s dad. Then her family connected to the church. Those years together discipled the family to follow the King of Kings who rose from the dead.
“His heart was burning for the Lord,” she said of her dad. “He wanted to go back to Thailand to tell his relatives and people about Jesus.”
Related: The heart of Converge is the same: make Jesus known among least-reached peoples in our generation.
Evangelism, church planting and short-term servants impacting Thais
Nopaluck and Steve have been in Thailand since June 1990. Their primary ministry has two angles. First, they doevangelism with a “wide net” through Bible-based English classes that have influenced more than 20,000 students. Secondly, the Cables plant churches.
The Santisuk English School includes Friday night worship services and Sunday morning cell groups for Thai people. Plus, more than 1000 short-term global workers have joined the Cables on the front lines of evangelism to accomplish Christ’s mission.
They started a church with Kevin and Cynthia Walton in 1995. Then the Cables started Peace Fellowship Church in 2002. Believers from Peace have converted and discipled others who then started churches.
Related: Kevin Walton continues cross-cultural ministry by pastoring a diverse church.
The Cables prayerfully hope to see a gospel movement among the least-reached Thai gain significant momentum by December 31, 2025. Less than one-half of 1% of the Thai people know Christ as their Savior.
Yet, the Cables have seen how effective the English school and cell church model can be. As a result, Thais have become Christ followers and leaders who start new churches through that ministry.
They are asking God for several more missionaries who will focus on evangelism and church planting. These new global workers would deploy the Santisuk English School/cell church model in more places near Bangkok.
A simple call years before a shocking realization
Steve Cable wanted to be a missionary doctor at 3 years old when Converge missionary Herb Skoglund came to his church.
“That was all I thought about and all I was planning for,” he added. Cable thought he’d be going to Japan.
In ninth grade biology, Cable stopped wanting to be a doctor. Then, four years later, Cable lost his desire to be a missionary.
Several weeks after his freshman year of college ended, Cable, the son of a pastor, ended up at a Jesus Movement festival. At that event, God reversed the passion and priorities steering Cable’s life.
“I really felt like God got a hold of my life and turned me around,” he explained.
He went back to the University of Pittsburgh for his second year. On the first day of class, he met a volunteer of a ministry to college students. They invited him to an event, and he became a regular participant. His devotion to God and engagement with Christ’s followers increased.
He went to Lake Tahoe on a summer ministry project and heard a presentation from Ralph Winter about least-reached peoples.
Related: Ralph Winter’s message about unreached people groups redirected Larry and Mary Caldwell’s life.
“I was shocked to hear there were so many people that had never heard of Jesus Christ,” he said. “I determined I would go on a summer project somewhere overseas that next summer.”
Marriage makes the ministry location a no-brainer
He went to Poland and had an outstanding experience, he said. Then, he finished his math education degree and started working as a teacher. Still, God kept nudging Steve through a mind that sensed frequent urges to go to seminary.
Therefore, he stopped pursuing a teaching job in Nigeria. Instead, he went to Bethel Seminary, where he met his future wife, Nopaluck. They decided their mission work would be in Thailand, Nopaluck’s homeland.
Their love for one another perfectly complements their desire to help the Thai people. Moreover, Nopaluck knows her culture, and through her father’s life, she saw how Thai people come to worship Christ alone as Lord and follow him.
Despite gospel resistance, disciples are growing in Thailand
Resistance to the gospel takes many forms in Thailand, the Cables explained. In a nation where 93-95% of its people are Buddhist, there is almost no knowledge of Jesus nor understanding of God’s identity and work or the Scriptures. Spiritual warfare is rampant.
But proven strategic activities have made, and are making, disciples.
For example, the Santisuk English School offers Thai people a quality experience learning English at a professional, tuition-based school. From the beginning, the Cables have operated the school to create a beneficial academic experience for students that goes along with excellence in witnessing.
The Santisuk team leads students to read and discuss miracles and teachings of Jesus every day in class because the school’s priority is winning students to Christ.
“Everything that we do, we want to do that with excellence,” he said. “That reflects on our testimony and how Jesus will be perceived.”
Steve said conversion requires many interactions, which Santisuk has grown to offer. Besides the English classes, worship services happen on Friday nights and cell groups meet Sunday mornings.
Plus, the Cables started partnering with short-term teams in the 1990s so there would be more frontline workers in Christ’s mission. He said the believers who come build relationships by teaching English and doing fun things before or after class. As a result, Thai people hear about Christ in English classes and within those relationships and participate in worship services and cell groups.
“That’s where we see people coming to Christ,” he said of relationships. “That’s where lives are changed.”
More than 1000 short-term trips to Thailand have occurred where those individuals join evangelistic ministry by forming genuine relationships, not just professional connections to Thai students of English.
“Come over for a month and see what it’s like,” Steve said. “You’ll be on the front lines; you’ll be ministering to people who are without Christ. And you’ll be able to share the gospel with them.”
Who’s going to make merit — you, me or Christ?
Thai people, the Cables explained, often make merit for dead relatives. This spiritual practice means the person spends less time in hell for bad things they’ve done before they reincarnate. Similarly, merit made for a dead relative might lengthen their time in heaven before reincarnation.
Such beliefs mean Thai people need investment to realize Christianity’s differences. Unlike the Jews at Pentecost, the Thai people don’t have thousands of years of history and all of God’s teaching leading up to the salvation of thousands. But the Cables have seen Thais come to understand how Christ made perfect merit for imperfect people.
Related: ‘I knew I was a failure’: Santisuk student’s life changes when he learns about Jesus
“We have to invest the time to give people a chance to learn about who Jesus is,” he said, “before they make a decision to trust him as their Savior.”
Christ is still powerful, and Thai people continue to long for him
Christ’s power as the King of Kings captivated a young Nopaluck as she watched a movie with her dad. Staying up late started the surrender of her life to a Christ who rose from the dead.
No more would the Buddha stone around her neck hold her heart. In its place, her father’s heart and her life’s passion continue to be sharing the gospel among the least-reached Thai people.
“The Thai people are hungry,” she said. “The stories of Jesus’ power over disease, demons and death touch them. They also want to hear about love, that there is a God who loves them.”
Converge is asking God for a gospel movement among every least-reached people group – in our generation. Learn how we are playing a role in accomplishing the Great Commission and how you can be involved.