Regional Report: Asia and Oceania

Since April this year, Garrett Robert is the new lead pastor at All Nations Church Phuket. He is the third lead pastor since the church was planted about nine years ago. Garrett and his wife Claire came to Thailand in 2019, where their daughter Amelia was born last year. Martin Hofmann, MICN’s regional coordinator for Asia and Oceania, interviewed the 27- year-old Californian.

Garrett, being an IC pastor is great and pushes our boundaries. What do you find most exciting about your new job?

I have come to love the many cultures and backgrounds of the people in an IC. It excites me to see God using our different backgrounds as a way to shape and mold us into the image of Christ in unique ways. Our differences could be what drives us apart, yet in Christ, sealed with the spirit, our differences become a means of uniquely building each other up as the church.

You are relatively young to be a lead pastor. What do you see as special challenges? What are you struggling with?

That’s a great question. I have been camping in 1 & 2 Timothy since April. I think one of the challenges and struggles has been doubt. I sometimes doubt, feeling as if God picked the wrong guy for the job. I am very blessed to have a team around me that God uses to remind me that God called me to this task, and he will equip me for it. One of the challenges I face is learning how to lead and shepherd a church where the majority of individuals are older than me. I can often feel that my lack of life experience keeps me from effectively counseling, teaching, or discipling those older than me. So, I do my best not to rely on my life experience but instead on God’s inherent and infallible scriptures as the source of truth and wisdom. I trust that God’s word and his spirit can and will be infinitely more effective in helping me shepherd than my life experience ever could.

Thailand handled the pandemic very well for over a year and was highly praised by the WHO for its great crisis management. Then, the “Land of Smiles” was hit by the third wave of COVID – and everything changed. Exactly at this time you took over responsibility at ANCP. How is the crisis affecting you and your church?

This pandemic has been so difficult for churches here in Thailand and around the world. We are very fortunate to be blessed with the technology to continue to provide our church with online services. Covid has kept our congregation from meeting altogether since Easter Sunday. By God’s grace we have found a way to continue to meet and fellowship in small numbers. We have five homes spread throughout Phuket where people can meet to fellowship and watch our online service together on a Sunday morning in small numbers. God continues to show his faithfulness in this pandemic, and we praise him for that.

How do you address the special needs of people inside and outside ANCP at the moment?

I have been very blessed to have a great leadership team around me here in Phuket. So, when a need arises in our congregation, we do our best to meet that need personally with a member of our leadership team.

For the international community outside the church, Phuket is nothing more than a playground. Most expats coming to Phuket come trying to escape their past and fill their lives with beaches, booze, and the infamous Phuket sex industry. We, as a church, have found a program called Alpha, a very effective outreach tool. We run this program a few times a year, and God has used it tremendously to get the Gospel to those in Phuket searching for satisfaction.

What can we pray for specifically, personally and for the congregation?

Thank you for asking! Please pray for me that God would help me lead and shepherd his people faithfully. Please pray for our congregation that we would be committed to honor God with our entire lives and boldly share the Gospel of Jesus in our community. Thank you!

Thank you for this interview. All the best to you, Claire and Amelia, God bless you!