The Salween-Mekong Project · Our Story
Our Story
How Stephen, a boy from a Lisu village in Northern Thailand, came to Jesus and now takes the gospel to the Lisu along the Salween.
Part 1
His friends asked: “Are you crazy?”
Almost every American friend said it whenever Stephen asked them to pray for him to return to Southeast Asia and make disciples there and in China. While he lived in the States, his heart burned for the lost people of Southeast Asia and China. Like the prophet Isaiah answering the voice of the Lord, he said, “Here am I. Send me!” (Isaiah 6:8, NIV)
Part 2
Growing up in a village that feared spirits
The vision began long before, in a remote Lisu village in Northern Thailand where Stephen grew up. The people practiced animism, the worship of spirits, and lived bound by fear of them. The Lisu wanted nothing to do with the “city folks,” so they lived high on the mountain, far from modern life. No one there had ever heard the gospel or seen a Bible. Stephen’s father was a leader in one of these villages.
Part 3
His father’s vision of two roads
One day God came to Stephen’s father in a vision. He saw a narrow road leading up and a wide road leading down into darkness. Many people walked down into the darkness, and only a few took the small path up toward the light. He wanted to go up. Then God spoke to him in his own language.
He immediately sent his children down to the towns to find out about this Jesus, and the other villagers frowned on it.
To be saved, you must find Jesus and change your heart.
The words Stephen’s father heard in his vision
Part 4
The family searches for Jesus
Not knowing where else to look, Stephen and his older brother became Buddhist monks, hoping to learn about Jesus at a temple. Months passed. Then one day, on his way to visit his sons at the temple, their father met a Western missionary speaking about Jesus Christ in Lisu. Praise the Lord! The whole family believed and was baptized.
Part 5
17 years in America
Stephen went on to study the Bible and eventually went to America, where he earned a doctoral degree with an emphasis on New Testament exegesis. He lived in the States for 17 years, but his heart never left the Lisu villages and the peoples of Southeast Asia and China. More recently, he earned a PhD in the Philippines.
Part 6
Stephen returns to serve in Asia
Then Stephen came back to serve in Asia. The Lord opened doors for him in Western China, and he made evangelistic trips village after village, town after town, among the Lisu there.
In Myanmar he went where many people don’t want to go, or can’t. He passed through battlefields, helping refugees and orphans and setting up classes to make disciples. Many times he taught God’s Word in the middle of gunfire, grenades, mortars, tanks and air strikes.
He even went into the heart of the opium-growing areas, where local people strongly opposed Christian evangelists. Because he shared their background, they accepted him, and the gospel took root. Many people came to Jesus, and several churches were established.
5,000+
people baptized in the past 10 years
Through Stephen’s work over the past 10 years, more than 5,000 people, Lisu, Lahu and Wa, in China, Myanmar and Thailand along the Salween River, have come to Christ and been baptized. Thousands more have studied God’s Word with him.
Part 7
The Lisu church grew 100 years ago, then slowed
More than 100 years ago, the British missionary James O. Fraser brought the gospel to the Lisu in China. He inspired many other Western missionaries to follow, and a great number of Lisu turned from animism to Christ.
In time that work came to a halt because of politics and lost connections. Without discipleship and Bible teaching, many Lisu Christians grew weak in their faith. Today there are about 6,000 Lisu Christians in Thailand, 300,000 in Myanmar and 150,000 in China, and the growth has slowed.
That is why this project trains, sends and supports Lisu workers for the long term. The plan explains how.
More about the project
Read the plan and see the ways to give
Board members, churches and partners can ask for the complete written proposal.
Overview
What the project is, where the two rivers are, and why we start with 25 evangelists.
The Plan
The five kinds of work, the goals for 20 and 30 years after the project starts, and how we report on every gift and worker.
Budget & Giving
Support one of the first 25 evangelists, give a one-time gift, and see the full budget.