Ordination of Pastor

Tha Hser Tun

April 18, 2010

 

Adult Choir

Youth Choir

 

AKBC Leadership




 

Praising God for our Children and Youth

 

 

Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow!

 

The sanctuary of Monte Vista Baptist Church reverberated with the Karen’s harmonious singing.

While the lyrics may sound exotic to others, we hope the familiar tune of “Praise God from Whom

All Blessings Flow” brings all of us the comfort of knowing that we are worshipping the one and

only God no matter what language we speak. The message is clear—all blessings flow from Jesus.

Whom our God uses to channel His blessings through is always a fascinating story to share.

The Arizona Karen Baptist Church with its growing members has been worshipping at the Monte

Vista Baptist Church for several weeks now. The ample space at Monte Vista exceeds our need for

more room. Additionally, volunteers at Monte Vista are providing transportation for the Karen to

attend church. This is tremendously appreciated as some of the Karen live far from the church or

cannot afford bus fare. A few months ago, our Karen youth lost some musical and audio equipment

to theft. It was distressing as replacing these were beyond our means! Then came along Pastor

Angel and the Hispanic congregation! They worship at Monte Vista in the evening and have

graciously let our youth use their musical instruments in the afternoon. Praise God from whom all

blessings flow!

 

Well, God brought us to America where everyone in the world wishes they could be! Not just a few

of us but a whole bunch of us! Every week we see new faces and we lose count of one another as

there are more than 600 Karen residing in the Phoenix area. Everyone would surely assume that

the bountiful blessings we received thus far are truly amazing enough! But God has more in store

for us! Out of the blue, a meeting was arranged for us to meet with the wonderful folks at Bellevue

Heights Church with the help of Paul and Jan Meeden. Their interest in reaching out to the Karen

community flourishes into a ministry that is filled with support and encouragement. Bellevue

Heights family blesses us with much needed items: Sunday School supplies, TVs, CD/VCR/DVD

players, teaching materials, music CDs, a copier machine with toners and paper, books, games, ….

the list goes on and on… Just recently, Bellevue Heights got us an audio mixer, which is much bigger

and better than our previous mixer that was stolen. With the mixer came cordless mics (the mics

we had were not cordless) and even a drum set! Wow! Indeed, we are pleasantly overwhelmed by

their generous gifts. Hsar K’Por, one of the Karen Sunday School teachers, sums it up like this...“It is

much easier to teach now that we have school supplies and audio/visual equipment. We could

never afford what we got. We thank God for them!” Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

 

One could easily imagine how difficult and wasted life was when we were fleeing persecution in the

jungle and trying to survive in the refugee camps. It is only through God’s grace that we made it

here. Yet, our struggles continue. Try as we might, facing a different kind of ordeal in the US makes

it disheartening. But God never fails to provide. He was right there with us and He is right here

with us every step of the way. He allows his blessings to flow through you to us. The warmth of

your support and encouragement is blanketing us and assuring us that we are never meant to be

alone and that we could always draw strength from one another in love. 1 Thessalonians

5:11(NIV) says, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you

are doing.”

It does not matter that we do not look the same, speak the same language or think alike. What

binds us together is love. One wise servant of God, Pastor Glenn Ramey, says love is the language of

God!

Thank you for speaking the language of God to us!

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him

above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Arizona Karen Baptist Church Family

Phoenix, Arizona

 

 

Karen Pastors

 

Laying on of Hands

 

Recieving Cirtificate of Ordination

 

           Rev. Tha Hser Tun          

 Benidiction               

Pastor Angel and Tansy with Karen youth preparing for the Sunday worship service.