New Life Abounds in Southeast Asia
– Mission Update for Equipping Leaders International
Author:Pastor David D. Lee
Date: 04/25/2026
Category: Mission Beyond Borders
We celebrated Easter as we celebrate the new life that God has given us through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ. What a glorious message that God has not only saved us from sin and death but saved us for new life and experiencing His love for us! Many of us take time during Lent and during Passion Week to reflect on the sacrifice of Christ for us: He suffered greatly because our sin and guilt really do deserve the penalty of death. Through His suffering we have been set free from the insidious power of sin, and through His resurrection He leads us into a new life experiencing His Spirit’s comfort, counsel, and encouragement as we walk with Him today!
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:4-5)
Latest Short-Term Training Trips
I see this new life when I travel to Southeast Asia. In March I met my Thai partner, Pastor Isara, as we spun off one of his pastor training groups as a separate ELI training site in a country adjacent to Thailand. I had traveled there two years before, but I was unable to do much training because of government surveillance. This time, in a secure location, we were able to do two days of training, and the eighteen pastors who participated were all challenged by our Gospel Preaching course, encouraged by the Gospel, and equipped for their work. The big hug I got from our pastor-host was an encouragement to me at how God is bringing new life to a historically war-torn, under-resourced, and hostile area through these church leaders.
After my time near Thailand, I proceeded to the Philippines to connect with two ministries there. In the Manila area, I met with a pastor whom I had visited when he was a missionary in Cambodia. Now back in his home country, he pastors a campus of a multisite.
Pentecostal church and serves as their missions mobilizer. I preached at three of their six Sunday services and taught at their Tuesday men’s group, taking the opportunity to infuse their community with strong Bible interpretation principles and to teach about Gospel-centrality. While I have an open invitation to return, and though our ELI curriculum does not quite fit completely with their leadership development system, I enjoyed the fellowship and the opportunity to teach.
The second ministry I visited in the Philippines is led by missionaries from my denomination’s global missions agency. Their work in Occidental Mindoro builds on the wife’s father’s original mission work when he arrived with his family from Korea in 1996. The needs in Occidental Mindoro include spiritual, material, economic, physical and mental health, and more. I helped Jerry from our sister organization, Equipping Farmers International, teach our five-day conservation-based agriculture certification course, which was well-received, since the food insecurity on that island is devastating. The Gospel-infused course brought technical knowledge, practical skills, and spiritual hope. The mission leader, James Lee, and I discussed further training needs that ELI can help with in the future, and I will keep praying about how God may work through our relationship going forward.
XLT and Curriculum
The next few months will include a gathering with some of ELI’s partnership coordinators, surveying our ELI faculty, and working on curriculum review. ELI has been undergoing major changes to ensure that administrative processes are fluid and that organizational culture is cohesive. In my role as Director of Curriculum, over the next few months I am hoping to review and edit two or three courses to relaunch them in formats that are more interactive (less lecture, more discussion) and more culturally adaptive. An example of the cultural bridges we have to cross is how Western cultures start with theological concepts and then give practical examples, but many other cultures start with concrete examples and build toward establishing the concepts. Additionally, I have been helping to bring in a new team that will build out our division for equipping leaders in the education sector (Christian schools connected to churches in areas where public education is not available, not consistent, or not faith-friendly). On the horizon is the need to give some attention to our curriculum for equipping leaders in the marketplace or business sector. The month of May will be filled with graduation activities as our son finishes high school! In June I will be representing ELI at PCA General Assembly in Louisville; I also hope to visit cities in the Midwest. I may head to Thailand or to Africa sometime this summer, but those plans are still developing.
Prayer and Thanksgiving
My special prayer for my partners far and near is that each of you would be strengthened by the Holy Spirit as we reflect on Jesus Christ’s birth, life, death, resurrection, and continued ministry to us. In our Doctrine of Christ course, we teach about Christ’s ongoing ministry of intercession and advocacy for us, His Church. Because of what Christ has done and because of God’s holiness and faithfulness, we can count on His presence and His promises. He is leading us every day to experience the new life He gives us!
I am so thankful for all the churches, families, and individuals who support this work through prayer and financial giving. If you are interested in receiving my bi-monthly email newsletters or in partnering financially to support the work of developing leaders for the growing church in areas of great Gospel need, you can email me at DLee@EquipLeaders.org. Thank you!
May God bless you every day!
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