Real Love Radio Program Opens Ears And Eyes To 'Seeing The Cross'

“When I saw the cross,”  Nung said, “I had to come see.”  Sitting on the front row of Bangkok First Church of the Nazarene, this middle-aged man recounted his testimony of how he met Jesus Christ as his personal Savior.  “I had a lot of questions, but Pastor Lamp answered them. I’m so glad I walked by this church.” Pastor Tanongsak, known as “Pastor Lamp” introduced this newest convert to the congregation on August 12, 2007. Nung has been an avid listener of the Real Love radio program sponsored by World Mission Broadcast.

Nung’s testimony, ironically, mirrors Pastor Tanongsak’s journey to Christ, a journey that began with God’s prevenient grace when as a child he was sponsored by World Vision.  “I have been going to church since I was a child,” the pastor said, “but I’ve only been a Christian for 10 years.”  Being a sponsored child, Tanongsak was required to attend a local church in order to receive his sponsorship funds for his school expenses. “My mother told me that if I wanted to receive my scholarship I had to attend church, so I did.”  But after high school he went to church less and less, usually only once or twice a year.  He saw the Jesus Film several times throughout his university years and he learned about the Bible.  He knew the story of Jesus, but it wasn’t until a team of Korean students visited the Bangkok First Church in the early years after the Church of the Nazarene entered Thailand and presented a dramatic reenactment of Jesus on the cross that Tanongsak repented.  “When I saw that cross, it was so big.  I cried and cried because I realized that’s how much God loved me, that’s what God’s grace really means,” he continued.   “That’s when I repented.  Since that day I have gone to church every Sunday.” A couple years later Tanongsak enrolled in the newly opened Southeast Asia Nazarene Bible College (SEANBC).  He was a member of the first graduating class in 2001.  In 2002 he became pastor of Bangkok First Church of the Nazarene where he continues to evangelize neighbors and anyone who asks him to explain the meaning of the Cross. 

Rev. Tanongsak Pong-oodta broadcasts “Real Love,” a program sharing God’s message of love and grace each Saturday and Sunday evening on FM 96.25 to an audience of young adults and university students in the local church area in Bangkok, Thailand.

By Lisa Lehman, Southeast Asia Field Communications Coordinator

this post was filed under Around The Region on Aug 28, 2007