Heather Thompson leads the children's ministry 'Powerpack'. Jenny has known and worked with Heather since the start of Heather's ministry over 20 years ago. In recent years the Oliver family has renewed their connection with Powerpack and others from ACC have also become involved including the May and Wong families. The ethos of Powerpack includes the involvement of families in ministry as well as the involvement of children and families in mission. Heather came to visit us to see some of the things we are involved in. Heather also agreed to do some children's workers training.

Ban San Faan:

We visited Ban San Faan where we had a worship time with the children. They sang some Powerpack songs.

Heather spoke to the children and all of them stood to indicate that they want to be 'God Chasers' and 'Nation Shakers'. We asked the staff to join us to pray for the children.

Village Children's Day:

On the first Saturday we visited a mountain village with a team doing activities with the children on Thailand's 'Children's Day'. This led to an interesting discussion with the Pastor's wife about the need for children's resources in the Thai language. We are going to look into the possibility of translating and refining some of the Powerpack resources for use in Thailand.

Children's Home in the North:

We took some plasticine and encouraged the children to make little models of something that they wanted to thank God for. We weren't sure how the children would respond to such an open ended task and were impressed that they spent ages making very detailed models. They then took turns to explain their models and to pray. We had a time of worship and prayer.

Bible Students Training:

Heather did a morning training on children's work for the students in a Bible School in the North. By morning break, Heather was invited to return next year to teach a wider team. We felt privileged to be able to bring Heather to provide valuable training and look forward to what might develop in the future.

Hoay Maw:

It was very encouraging to enjoy warm fellowship with Paul and Rattanaporn and to see them happy and confident in their new role. It is still very early days of course but an encouraging start. Paul and Rattanaporn have expressed a desire to visit Chiang Mai in order to see Ban San Faan and also to visit the training centre for sewing and other vocational projects (contact in COC church). We would like to discuss reorganisation of the home in order to categorise the children into true orphans, underprivileged and those able to provide some level of support. At the time of visiting they had run out of food (apart from rice). We showed Heather around the home and pig farm.

COC Training Day:

On the second Saturday Heather led a children's workers training day based at our COC church. Workers from international and Thai churches and children's homes were invited. About 50 people attended. Heather's teaching had a big impact and was extremely well received. We feel that there will be an ongoing impact from this. There was talk of forming a national network for children's workers and a real sense that God is wanting to work in and through the children of Thailand (and of other nations).

Transformers:

On the last Sunday, Heather shared at COC in the children's group – Transformers. That was a powerful time as the children soaked in God's presence and responded to become 'God Chasers'. Below: The junior band led the worship.

Summary:

We had hoped that Heather's visit would be significant as well as enjoyable. The opportunities that arose and the response to Heather's teaching exceeded our expectations. We look forward to further developments in training and networking for children's workers.