A YWAM Thailand team regularly ministers to male sex tourists in the red-light districts of Bangkok. They conduct non-intrusive surveys of male tourists to find out if they’re open to reading an “outreach pack” once they return to their hotel rooms. Many men seeking sex in Thailand are also seeking something much more profound… which is why Chris Lenty and his teams reach out to them on a regular basis. We check in with Chris now and then to find out what God is doing in Bangkok’s red-light districts. Here is a recent story written by one of his team members that depicts the challenges of reaching out to male sex tourists– Editor, YWAM International Communications Network.
There are some nights we go out to do ministry and we can see how the Lord is using us to reach out to the men. He gives us divine appointments and we have deep conversations with the men we come in contact with. Unfortunately, last night was not one of those nights.

Last night as we did our ministry on the sidewalks of Nana Plaza in Bangkok, almost everyone we talked to was defensive and abrasive. We asked men to participate in our anonymous survey and then they asked who we were and what we wanted. As soon as they heard we were Christians, our presence was not well received and neither was the survey.

Earlier that night, our leader gave us a word on persevering and being faithful even when we encounter spiritual roadblocks. So even though we couldn’t see the impact of what we were doing, we wanted to be faithful and obedient to what the Lord had called us to. We continued to approach the men, waiting expectantly to see who the Lord would bring to speak with us.

We approached two young men leaving the Plaza. We asked one of them if they would be willing to spare a few minutes to take a survey. Immediately we regretted our decision to approach them. They were extremely agitated, and frustrated that we stopped them. In sensing this, we thanked them for stopping, but we did not want to take their time and then told them to have a good night. They then responded, quite loudly and passionately, that we had already stopped them and that therefore they wanted to take our survey. So we quickly gave it to them and then thanked them and hoped they would go on their way.
This was not the case.

They continued to question us, asking us who we were and why we felt the need to be there. We explained that we were with the MST Project, and we were there to reach out to the men. We had a packet with information about prostitution as well as information on HIV and AIDS. The conversation went even further downhill from there. One of the men started yelling saying we were wasting our time, and if we truly wanted to make a difference we would be in Africa where there was a real AIDS epidemic. He began yelling and growing more and more agitated as he talked.

However, while he was ranting at another team member, I was able to speak with the younger man he was with. I was able to explain more of what we were doing there and our mission. He then asked me questions about where I was from and why I was there. I explained to him I was from America and just a few months before I had been waiting tables, but because of the Lord I was now in Bangkok reaching out to male sex tourists. We talked about his home country of England, and many other different things. To be honest, I was really nervous the entire time we were talking.

I felt that I was continually diffusing bombs throughout the conversation. I kept praying that the Holy Spirit would either provide us with a polite way to cut it off or somehow use this, because it didn't seem we were accomplishing anything by talking to them. Somehow God worked through it all. The longer we talked, the more he calmed down. Still, he insisted that we were wasting our time. If we truly cared about making a difference there were places with greater need, he said. The men who came to Nana Plaza wanted to be there, and while the sex trade may be morally wrong, we would not stop it by conducting surveys and striking up friendships with these men. He kept ranting and I just sat and listened. Finally he finished, looking at me and waiting for some kind of response. While some of his points were reasonable, he was looking at the problem of the sex trade logically and systematically. There was something he was lacking that my team had to offer: HOPE.

I told him that I agreed with some of what he was saying, but also that I believed that what we were doing was making a difference. And while he or anyone else could look at what we were doing and insist it was a waste of time, I told him I would rather be there in Nana Plaza, standing on a street corner asking men to fill out a survey than doing nothing and be back in America waiting on tables. He looked at me for a moment, and I think for the first time he believed that we actually cared. We weren't there to condemn anyone and we didn't expect to eliminate the sex trade all in one night. But we believed in the work we were doing. We wanted to reach the men there and we believed that through every conversation and every survey, we were one step closer to eliminating the hunger for prostitution on the streets of Bangkok.

Shortly after, the conversation came to a close. But before he left, he gave us his e-mail address and asked us to contact him if we would be interested in teaching about HIV or STDs in the school that he worked for. Then he left. While he still believed the same things he did before we met him, I believed this one conversation made a difference in his life. Isaiah 55 says that the word of the Lord will not return void, and will accomplish the purpose for which it was sent. Even during evenings when it may not seem we aren’t making a difference, we’re still being faithful to the work He has called us to do. I will continue to carry the hope I am given in Jesus Christ to the desperate men roaming the streets of Nana Plaza.

The MST Project

“Be one of the few who will go and offer them HOPE”

Website - www.mstproject.com
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