Texas Baptists urged not to grow weary in doing good

MCALLEN—Using examples of how Texas Baptists have impacted his life and his native country, Pastor Thong Lun encouraged participants at Texas Baptists’ Family Gathering to follow Paul’s words in Galatians 6:9-10 to “not grow weary in doing good.”

Thong told how he came to the United States from Burma—also called Myanmar—in 1996 to pursue Clinical Pastoral Education through Baptist Health System in San Antonio.

That decision set a course that eventually led to his current role as senior pastor of Greater Houston Burmese Christian Fellowship, a congregation of 400 that he leads bivocationally.

“I wanted to share a message of hope and express who we are and what we are as Texas Baptists. To me, Texas Baptists is my family and my world,” he said. “We don’t need to go to the world today, because the world has come to us with all the nationalities.”

“Doing good” in the Galatians passage is “not the same thing as doing no harm,” he said. Doing good is active, not passive, takes effort for individuals and may even be costly. But it can help believers find God’s purpose for their lives, as his example bore out.

God had other plans

“My purpose (in coming to the United States) was to get CPE, training designed for those wanting to do chaplaincy ministry at hospitals, with military or in other places. I thought it could be a way to reach out to Hindus, Muslims and others with the gospel of Jesus Christ,” Lun recalled.

“I called it my Pauline Plan, but that did not happen right away. It may look like a failure, but my Macedonian Plan kicked in.”

In 2005, Tallowood Baptist Church in Houston helped plant Greater Houston Burmese Christian Fellowship to reach the large population of Burmese in the area.

With a dozen members initially, the church grew to around 400 within seven years and has planted six other churches in the Houston area.

“Today, I come to understand why God brought me to Houston, Texas, and helped me start a Burmese church. He had the reason I did not know,” Thong said, noting his church is mission-minded and supports refugees and students.

“I am happy that God put me in the right place to do the right thing. I thank God that he enabled me to reach out to all the Burmese community. Now I know my mission field is right here in Texas, especially in Houston, and I should not be weary of doing good things for this community.”

Making an impact among the Burmese people

Noting his gratitude for the partnership with Texas Baptists and their mission-mindedness, Thong said the convention has helped his church find aid that supported Myanmar when a 2015 flood and landslide wreaked havoc there.

Texas Baptists also enabled his congregation to help in the aftermath of a 2021 military coup in Myanmar that sparked continuing violence and religious persecution.

With support from Texas Baptists, Thong’s church has ministered to refugees who fled from Myanmar into India—including some who now are suffering persecution in India’s northeastern state of Manipur.

“Brothers and sisters, you may not know what Texas Baptists are doing and how much BGCT support for Burma has changed the lives of people, but those that have felt our love will never forget. They said, ‘We thought western Christians were trying to destroy our culture, but we understand they truly have compassion,’” he said.

“And unbelievers have started learning and studying about Jesus and becoming Christians. We are bringing in the sheaves from the harvest. So we must not get weary.”

Thong urged Texas Baptists to be “a reminder of Christ’s presence whenever and wherever Christ calls.”

“Our Pauline plan may fail, but God never fails,” he said. “Don’t give up. Everything we do in Jesus’ name is not in vain. In its own time, it will reap a harvest.”