HISTORY WORK FROM 1970-2005

1963-1970

• Virgilio de los Santos was Associate Minister of Cruzada Church of Christ, the only “mega” church at that time, in Manila , Philippines

1967

• Laverne Morse went to Cruzada Church of Christ in Manila , Philippines to recruit Virgilio and Esther de los Santos to be Asian missionaries to Asians.

1970

• Virgilio & Esther and went to Thailand for their first term with Southeast Asia Evangelizing Mission.

• Virgilio and Esther studied the Thai language for 14 months

• Virgilio and Esther administered the property purchase for Chiangmai Bible Institue (CBI).

• Visited Lisu tribe villages

• Pioneered and planted a Christian Church among the urban Thai people. The church met in our home. Virgilio & Esther were the first Christian Church missionaries to work among the urban Thais.

1972

• Virgilio taught at short term training in Bible in Nan province.

1973-74

• Started a small Bible training school with David Filbeck in Chiangmai with 3 Thais and 4 Burmese as students

1974-75

• First furlough

1975-76

• Ministered in Nan province to take care of a hostel project of a fellow missionary who went on furlough with 27 Hmong tribe elementary and high school students

• Attended to the needs of the Hmong tribe refugees fleeing from Laos during the Vietnam war. We were the only missionaries in that area.

• Ministered to four Thai churches that our pioneers founded in Nan province

• Started 3 more churches - Starting on Saturdays, we ministered to one church and on Sundays, four churches starting at 7:00 am , 10:00 am , 3:00 p.m. , 6:00 pm

• Held a convention among the Thai and tribal churches

1976-77

• Through the invitation of Laverne , we went back to Chiangmai and taught at CBI.

• Recruited 3 Thai students to study at CBI

• Virgilio taught Matthew and Rawang Peter and 20 more Burmese students.

• Gave our mission a name: Thailand Mission Churches of Christ

1977-79

• Opened the Chiangmai Gospel Center in the heart of Chiangmai city where people can read newspapers, gospel tracts, books and even drink a cup of coffee

• Held church at the center where the young people were trained in music

• Held evangelistic rallies involving Christian Church missionaries and their workers

• Trained youth in short term Bible school

• Trained adult leaders from Lahu, Akha, Lisu Tribes and Northern Thais

1978-80

• 2 nd furlough

1981

• Started training young people in Bible during the mornings and went to vocational/adult school in the afternoons

• Held numerous training sessions for the northern Thais and tribal adult leaders

• Founded Ponsawan Church of Christ in Maekajan village, Chiangrai province

• Founded a church in Pongdin, Doi Saket, Chiangmai province (house church)

• Started an orphanage in Maekajan with 7 kids - Provided education, food, clothing - Taught Bible to the kids until all but one was baptized

• Opened a youth center where English tutoring was offered as outreach

1982

• Gave name to training school as CCLD- Christian Center for Life Development

1983

• Virgilio & Esther, together with David Filbeck, formalized the school and gave the name IBS- Institute of Biblical Studies with 10 students and 5 teachers. - Virgilio & Esther taught full time and sponsored Thai students

• Relocated IBS and church (new name: Christ’s Church in Chiangmai)

• Continued to hold school and church and both grew in number

1984

• Survived a bombing, which destroyed our rented house and other houses- It was part of a war between drug lords.

1985

• Founded Maewan village Christian Church, Chiangmai province

1986

• 1 st graduation was held- 6 students finished with a 3 year course in Bible

1987

• 2nd IBS graduation - Sponsored many students to vocational school

• 1 st attempt on church merger- CBI (Burmese) Lisu church of Eugene Morse and Christ’s Church (Thai) - All three churches ended up worshipping in CBI facility

1988-90

• Furlough (8 years since last one)

1990

• Changed mission’s name to S.A.L.T. Ministries

• Started Dawn of Life Christian Church (DLCC) in the city of Chiangmai - It’s main purpose was the evangelism of urban, lower middle to upper class Thais. The church met in our house.

1991

• DLCC moved and met in a hotel auditorium for a year

1992

• DLCC moved back to ground floor of our house

1993

• DLCC moved to a rented commercial building - “Yummy Corner”, an outreach restaurant, was established as an evangelistic center. Ground floor was the restaurant, 2 nd floor was the worship hall, and 3 rd floor was the sleeping quarters for those who needed lodging

• Trained many young people in camps and seminars and held VBSes\

1994

• Survived a hit and run accident- Virgilio and Esther were incapacitated for almost a year, and made Esther a bionic woman

• 2 nd attempt on church merger- Karen church, Burmese Rawang tribe church, village Thai church and city Thai church (DLCC)\

1995

• Trained a group of professional Thais in Bible

1996

• James, after graduating from Ozark Christian College , joined the mission with music ministry as his emphasis

• Formal merger of churches- Chiangmai Community Church (CCC)- rented an auditorium at McGilvary Theological Seminary

1997

• The four churches, which merged, went their separate ways due to cultural differences

• Started a day care center in Maekajan village

1998-99

• Furlough (8 years since last one)

2000

• DLCC (known as Roong Aroon Church ) moved to a one story, renovated auto repair shop. The staff of Roong Aroon Church ministered to 3 churches.

• Held family and youth camps and rallies continually

• Started a day care center in Nan province for poor children

• Held outreach programs at local schools, youth meeting revivals and during Thai national festivals

2001

• SALT Ministries and David Filbeck co-founded the Thailand National Convention of the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ. The first was held in January. Missionaries of SALT laid the ground work for the convention.

• Nerissa Enriquez, married to James, joined SALT Ministries as missionary with main emphasis in English ministries

• Virgilio & Esther taught at CBS, where they sponsored 2 Thai students

2002

• Virgilio, together with 5 more missionaries, met regularly for a year about merging CBI and CBS

• 2 nd National Convention of the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ in Thailand- Virgilio served as president

2003

• CBI and CBS(formerly IBS) merged and renamed Lanna Christian College

• SALT opened a children’s home, Roong Aroon Children’s Home, on May 7 with the initial 16 students- 8 elementary and 8 high school students

• Evangelized in Omkoi area and church was started with 4 baptisms- SALT installed a coworker and a pastor to work with 4 nearby villages and meet in Omkoi church. Helped the community with free medicine, staple food, blankets, second hand clothes for every household and goodies for children

2004

• SALT Ministries Foundation was approved by the Ministry of Culture of the Thai Government. The board consisted of 4 Thai preachers and a Thai physician. Virgilio is director of the executive committee.

The foundation will:

• provide legal status for spiritual, social, educational and developmental work in Thailland
• be allowed to request visas and work permits from the Thai government for foreigners who desire to assist orphanages, children’s homes, day care centers and educational programs
• provide safeguards of all properties bought in the name of the foundation from misappropriation

• Held 1 st Children’s Home camp, managed by Esther, resulted in 13 baptisms

• Hannah, after graduating from university in March, moved back to Chiangmai and began working as the youth and young adults leader at DLCC- Held weekly church programs, regular small groups, and visitation teams- Held many forms of outreach programs in the church, schools, other outdoor places and during Thai festivals. She was involved in music, worship ministries and English ministries.

• Accepted 4 more students in the Children’s Home - From the original 16 students, one left for home. Presently there are 19 children- 10 elementary and 9 high school

• Sponsored one more Thai student to Bible school

• First graduation of Lanna Christian college- 40 students accepted their diplomas

• 3 rd National Convention of the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ in Thailand with DLCC pastor acting as president

• Construction of Omkoi church building began

2005

• Christmas outreach in Omkoi village resulted in six baptisms

• Held 2 nd Children’s Home camp (joint with DLCC’s youth group) managed by Hannah and youth committee

• Furlough- beginning of February

• Relocation of Children’s Home in April

 
Baptized hundreds and trained new Christians throughout the years as well as outreach/evangelistic programs held. Men, women, youth and young adults from all walks of life were continually trained to serve. Benevolence and hospitality ministries were extended to urban, village, and tribal Thais.