chambersburg, Pa. — Utilizing partnerships with like-minded Christian organizations, The Tide® ministry (www.thetide.org), which for 75 years has spread the gospel worldwide in listeners’ native languages, is expanding its gospel footprint in Thailand by delivering “Walking with God,” a short daily devotional, on social media.
The Tide ministry continues to partner with New Zealand Baptists in an initiative to deliver 7- to 10-minute daily devotionals via LINE, a popular social media app in Thailand. The arrangement does more than just steward financial resources as each ministry shares expenses; it allows the ministries to analyze demographical data of the daily gospel messages.
“The majority of our followers (70%) are located in the northeast (Isaan) region of Thailand,” the analytics revealed. “Approximately 23% are located in Bangkok, the capital city (where many Isaan people work). The location of the remaining 7% are listed as ‘unknown,’ although we know that some are living abroad (the more specific location descriptions only include areas of Thailand). The majority of the followers (75%) are female, which is true of the demographics of the church at large in Thailand.”
While early data revealed 126 people are faithfully using “Walking with God,” the data understates the bigger impact of the initiative. The Tide ministry believes that among the 126 users are pastors who forward the daily devotional to others, expanding the outreach to groups of 18 to 30 people per pastor, pushing the numbers of recipients well over 200.
The point, however, is not social media data insights but getting the gospel message to the lost sheep of Thailand, says The Tide ministry Director Don Shenk.
“Having data to analyze can be helpful, but we don’t look to numbers on a spreadsheet as our indicator of success in ministry,” Shenk said. “The Tide mission is fulfilled one person at a time as individual people choose to embrace Jesus as their Lord and Savior who seeks out, loves and interacts with each one personally, regardless of where they live or what language they speak.”
The analytics also revealed that “Walking with God” is being received in five provinces in the Isaan region of Thailand, as well as in Bangkok and even in some neighboring countries. In addition to partnering with New Zealand Baptists, The Tide ministry is working with Isaan Christian/YWAM Mahasarakham to produce and record a new set of 365 daily devotions ready for use in 2021.
For nearly 75 years, The Tide ministry has recorded and broadcast gospel programming in nine countries on three continents in 27 heart languages spoken by millions of people in multiple regions, including Albania, Bhutan, India, Kosovo, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Thailand and Zimbabwe. With more than 7,000 languages spoken worldwide and more than 2,000 people groups yet unreached with the Good News of Jesus, the opportunities are tremendous.
For more information about The Tide ministry broadcast projects, history, radio programs around the world, special yearlong campaigns, the weekly Global Update radio features or other news, visit its website at www.thetide.org or its Facebook page. Read more about The Tide ministry and Director Don Shenk here.
The Tide ministry is actively looking for people godly and manly enough to take up the 2021 Year Beard® challenge. Visit www.YearBeard.org for background and to meet some of the participants who are growing out their facial hair to raise awareness and financial support to help The Tide ministry reach an additional 1 million people with the name of Jesus next year.
To schedule interviews with Don Shenk, director of The Tide global radio ministry, contactMedia@HamiltonStrategies.com, Jeff Tolson, 610.584.1096, ext. 108, or ext. 102.