Dr. Larry Dinkins has written a number of blogs and papers for the OMF Thailand website and together with other websites. These articles contain interesting observations and inspiring real world stories about practical ways to share the Good News in Thailand. Below is a collected list of Larry\u2019s blogs and papers. Follow the links and be encouraged \u2026<\/p>\n
Fairways and Faith: A Ministry to Those Who Carry the Clubs<\/strong><\/a> – August 15, 2025 Buddhist Creed?<\/strong><\/a> – November 12, 2024 Riding on the Edge: Safety and Prayer<\/strong><\/a> – November 12, 2024 Floods and Crickets<\/strong><\/a> – November 12, 2024 Anti-Cheating Hats<\/strong><\/a> – November 25, 2022 An A to Z of Missionary Life<\/strong><\/a> – January 19, 2022 Wearing Masks in Thailand<\/strong><\/a> – May 10, 2021 Meeting Together?<\/strong><\/a> – March 18, 2021 An Added Benefit of Missionary Life<\/strong><\/a> – February 22, 2021 Place of the Greek Language in Bible Education in Thailand<\/strong><\/a> – November 12, 2020 Bridges to the Gospel<\/strong><\/a> – November 5, 2020 A Landmark Hymn in CIM\/OMF<\/strong><\/a> – October 29, 2020 Exponential Growth of the Church and the Corona Virus\/strong><\/strong><\/a> – October 22, 2020 Justice For the Vulnerable<\/strong><\/a> – July 16, 2020 Pandemics and Dr. Mo Bradley<\/strong><\/a> – June 3, 2020 Bats, Cats, Rats and COVID-19 ~ a Missionary\u2019s Perspective<\/strong><\/a> – May 18, 2020 Orality Praxis in Discipleship and Church Planting<\/strong><\/a> – April 21, 2020 Resources for Gospel Storytelling<\/strong><\/a> – April 14, 2020<\/p>\n Our World Post Covid \u2013 19<\/strong><\/a> – April 9, 2020 Missionary Fails to Future Minister<\/strong><\/a> – February 10, 2020 Bowing in Thailand<\/strong><\/a> – November 8, 2019 A Lottery and a Call to Missions ?????<\/strong><\/a> – August 1, 2019 Taking Road Measurements<\/strong><\/a> – May 7, 2019 Easter in Thailand<\/strong><\/a> – April 21, 2019 April foolsday in Thailand<\/strong><\/a> – April 10, 2019 Fanning the Flame<\/strong><\/a> – February 26, 2019 Taking a Sabbath at the Pines<\/strong><\/a> – January 31, 2019 Born Once, Die Twice: Born Twice, Die Once<\/strong><\/a> – January 15, 2019 Inherent Risk<\/strong><\/a> – December 18, 2018 Preach Pray or Die<\/strong><\/a> – December 11, 2018 Adventures in Teaching<\/strong><\/a> – November 13, 2018 Thai Cave Rescue \u2013 Adun Samon<\/strong><\/a> – September 11, 2018 Opening the Ears of the Thai<\/strong><\/a> – August 21, 2018 Old Testament Battles and Medieval Battles<\/strong><\/a> – July 19, 2018 Lessons from the Rescue of the Thai Soccer Team<\/strong><\/a> – July 12, 2018 Thai Soccer Team Lost, Found! … and Rescued?<\/strong><\/a> – July 4, 2018 More Women in Thai Church<\/strong><\/a> – May 15, 2018 Walking Through the Bible<\/strong><\/a> – May 1, 2018 Billy Graham and Urbana<\/strong><\/a> – March 20, 2018 The Challenge of Language Learning<\/strong><\/a> – January 29, 2018 Aliens and Strangers in Thailand<\/strong><\/a> – November 27, 2017 600 Words Well Spoken<\/strong><\/a> – October 24, 2017 Missionaries with Tattoos<\/strong><\/a> – September 26, 2017 Treats and the Gospel<\/strong><\/a> – August 1, 2017 Two god Village<\/strong><\/a> – July 4, 2017 Alaska Adventure<\/strong><\/a> – June 30, 2017 Church Members Say the Darndest Things to Their Missionaries<\/strong><\/a> – June 7, 2017 Blood Sacrifice and Strawberry Fanta<\/strong><\/a> – May 24, 2017 Roti with a Side Order of Bible<\/strong><\/a> – February 14, 2017 Thanksgiving\/Harvest Sunday<\/strong><\/a> -December 13, 2016 Everyday Stories<\/strong><\/a> – September 13, 2016 Ben-Hur, a Reflection on the Novel and Upcoming Movie<\/strong><\/a> – August 5, 2016 Operation Auca (January 8, 1956) \u2013 Sixty Years Later<\/strong><\/a> – January 7, 2016 No Bible, No Breakfast!<\/strong><\/a> – December 30, 2015 7 Reasons for Christians to Retire in Thailand<\/strong><\/a> – October 2, 2015 Shattered! Bangkok Explosion<\/strong><\/a> – August 20, 2015 Shattered!<\/strong><\/a> – August 19, 2015 The Power of Story Telling<\/strong><\/a> – June 2, 2015 Once in a Blue Moon Bible<\/strong><\/a> – April 23, 2013 The Power of “Group Think”<\/strong><\/a> – June 6, 2012 The Surprising Power of Bible Narrative with Thai & Tribals<\/strong><\/a> – February 28, 2012 Preaching for Life Change<\/strong><\/a> – August 8, 2011 Towards Contextualized Creeds<\/strong><\/a> Story Telling at Bangkok Bible Seminary<\/strong><\/a> Voting for a Sermon<\/strong><\/a> Four Encounters \u2013 Four Stories<\/strong><\/a> The Power of Oral Bible Story Telling<\/strong><\/a> The Suprising Power of Bible Narrative with Thai and Tribals<\/strong><\/a> Preacing for Life Change<\/strong><\/a> Book Review: \u201cFrom Buddha to Jesus\u201d by Steve Cioccalanti<\/strong><\/a> If I Had To Do It All Over Again<\/strong><\/a> Operation Auca Thirty Years Later (PDF)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Naked and You Clothed Me – J.O. Sanders gives Larry the shirt off his back (PDF)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Timothy Dinkins Boarding School Letter (PDF)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Pinocchio and Sending Your Oldest to Boarding School (PDF)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Layman\u2019s Bible Study Notebook Reviewed (PDF)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Missionary Mythology and Typology (PDF)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dr. Larry Dinkins has written a number of blogs and papers for the OMF Thailand website and together with other websites. These articles contain interesting observations and inspiring real world stories about practical ways to share the Good News in … Continue reading
\nAs a way to interact with Thai in a different social strata from the leprosy patients of the church I was planting, I decided to resurrect my high school golf experience and join in some rounds with the military officers.<\/p>\n
\nOne of the first things our supervisor instructed us to do as church planters in Central Thailand was to glue a card with the Apostles\u2019 Creed into the cover of every hymnal.<\/p>\n
\nIf you ride a motorcycle often, you get used to this question: \u201cHave you ever had to \u2018lay it down\u2019\u201d?<\/p>\n
\nDuring the recent abnormally high floods that hit North Thailand last month there were many encouraging stories of local Thai churches helping out their neighbors.<\/p>\n
\nA university professor in Thailand decided to reduce cheating in her class by requiring all students to wear \u201canti-cheating hats\u201d, affectionately called \u201cblinkers\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n‘A to Z’ of fundamental traits that can contribute to a successful missionary career.<\/p>\n
\nMost all of us have been wearing masks for up to three years and have heard lots of discussion on the relative benefits of mask-wearing as well as the differences in cloth, paper, N-95 and surgical masks.<\/p>\n
\nMyself and millions of other believers around the world experienced unprecedented disruptions to our usual Sunday worship due to Covid. What should our attitude be to meeting together or going online?<\/p>\n
\n\u201cThe average U.S. household has 300,000 things, from paper clips to ironing boards. U.S. children make up 3.7% of the children on the planet but have 47% of all the toys and children\u2019s books.\u201d How should this effect our view of material things?<\/p>\n
\n\u201cStudying the Bible in English is like watching television in black and white. Studying the Bible in the original languages is like watching television in color.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nJesus is our best example of building bridges of love to people.<\/p>\n
\nThere are two hymns that are invariably sung at official OMF functions including our Thailand field conference: Jehovah Jireh is His Name and How good is the God We Adore.<\/p>\n
\nThroughout the covid crisis I was amazed to see the profound increases in some countries. This phenomenon is called exponential growth.<\/p>\n
\nThe corona pandemic and justice issues for the vulnerable are two issues that have taken front stage globally over the past few years.<\/p>\n
\nWe have had similar pandemics in the past, especially the Spanish flu of 1918-20 which infected 500 million people. Dr. Mo Bradley encountered a very early pandemic \u2013 smallpox.<\/p>\n
\nThis blog investigates the Covid pandemic and connections to unclean animals mentioned in Old Testament – Bats, Cats, Rats and Covid.<\/p>\n
\nLarry Dinkins shares a personal journey from use of an analytical, literate text paradigm to an oral approach.<\/p>\n
\nIf you asked people to define \u201cpandemic\u201d a a couple of years ago most all would have struggled, but now everyone seems to understand how a disease can spread quickly to an entire nation and even world. But what will our post covid world look like?<\/p>\n
\nIf you search the word \u201cFail\u201d using Youtube, you will generate literally 100s of clips and millions of hits. If they had Youtube in Bible times they could have videoed numerous fails by some very famous patriarchs, judges, kings and prophets. Today we need a Youtube channel for missionary \u201cFails\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nA few years ago, a group of women on a short-term mission trip from the states came to a Thai temple and to the horror of their host began to hug some of the child novices! This underlines the steep learning curve new missionaries must climb as they navigate the various protocols within Thai culture, especially the \u201cwai\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nImpact of the vietnam lottery for the military draft in Larry Dinkins\u2019 journey to serving the Lord.<\/p>\n
\nIf you ride a motorcycle often, you get used to this question: \u201cHave you ever had to \u2018lay it down\u2019\u201d? Invariably the seasoned biker has had at least one occassion where he or she has had to jettison the bike in a crash.<\/p>\n
\nEach Easter at my Thai church, I give an oral presentation from memory of 11 Gospel stories starting with the Triumphal Entry and ending with the Appearance of Christ on the Emmaus road.<\/p>\n
\nApril 1st\u00a0is a serious day to reflect on King Rama V (Chulalongkorn)\u00a0who on April 1, 1905 freed all of the slaves in Thailand.<\/p>\n
\nRecently I have sat with a number of missionaries who have had to leave their mission station unexpectedly due to persecution by government officials and found a number of implications from this persecution.<\/p>\n
\nMissionaries find it very difficult to get proper rest and relaxing on our mission stations and so need a place to have a sabbath rest.<\/p>\n
\nSpiritual illustration of the process of metamorphosis from a \u201cdead\u201d caterpillar that is transformed and in effect \u201cborn again\u201d compared to a believers conversion process.<\/p>\n
\nMissionary life is taking a calulated risked based on the promises of God.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cYou need to be able to preach, pray or die at a moments notice,\u201d was a phrase I heard while training in seminary and was evident during my missionary career.<\/p>\n
\nLessons I learned through teaching a class on the Psalms to the Thai.<\/p>\n
\nDescription of one the most heroic rescues in recent years as well as a powerful testimony by a teenager who was rescued.<\/p>\n
\nBarbers not only cut your hair in Thailand but may clean your ears!<\/p>\n
\nMy exercise of choice is swimming, which has given me opportunities to speak with fellow swimmers about water related stories from the Bible.<\/p>\n
\nFurther lessons from one of the greatest rescue stories.<\/p>\n
\nThe Thai soccer team was found after 9 days but would they be rescued in time?<\/p>\n
\nWhy are there so many women in Thai churches?<\/p>\n
\nOne Thai leader admitted, \u201cThai Christians are unable to put events in the Bible into any sort of a timeline. This affects negatively their ability to understand both sermons and in their own personal study.\u201d Walk Thru the Bible helps correct this weakness.<\/p>\n
\nUrbana is a tri-annual conference, which has had up to 17,000 young people attend.<\/p>\n
\nThe first thing a new missionary needs to master is language and in turn cultural understanding.<\/p>\n
\nSince my marriage in 1978 I have lived in 30+ houses and have learned that \u201cthis world is not my home.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nReaders Digest material bases on 600 words, so all you need is to use the 600 well!<\/p>\n
\nIn Thailand is the number of missionaries sport a distinct \u201ctattoo\u201d half way up the calf of their leg.<\/p>\n
\nThai are like cows in that they \u201cgraze\u201d all day.<\/p>\n
\nA temple in a Thai village that has two Buddhist images made out of different metals\u00a0 and thus call it \u201cTwo god Village.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nSince I faced 3 flights that started at 8:30am in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and ended at 10:30pm in Anchorage, Alaska, I prayed that I would have a chance to share Jesus with my numerous seat mates.<\/p>\n
\nGrowing up, Larry I enjoyed a TV program called, \u201cKid\u2019s Say the Darndest Things\u201d hosted by Art Linkletter. Now decades later he reflects on things that have been said to missionaries.<\/p>\n
\nThai magazine had an article called, \u201cIn Thailand, blood sacrifice is out, Strawberry Fanta is in.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nConversation in a Roti shop run by a young Muslim man in Phuket.<\/p>\n
\nOn Thanksgiving I decided to preach on Luke 17:11-19, the 10 Lepers Story.<\/p>\n
\nDivine appointments during a significant day of telling Bible stories on the street.<\/p>\n
\nThe original classic version came out in 1959 but a new version has been released.<\/p>\n
\nThe five Auca martyrs have much to teach us.<\/p>\n
\nMy mentor, Dr. Breidenthal (60 years in Thailand) has coined a phrased used by thousands of Thai believers.<\/p>\n
\nReasons to consider retiring in Thailand<\/p>\n
\nThe heart of the tourist district near the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok was rocked by a horrific explosion which killed 20 (including foreign tourists) and injured 125 people.<\/p>\n
\nExperiences of terrorism in Yala, South Thailand.<\/p>\n
\nSurprising story telling opportunities in Mukdahan province of Northeast Thailand.<\/p>\n
\nThere are scores of quiet time books which stress making Bible reading a daily habit: Daily Bread, Daily Light, Daily Guideposts, and a huge variety of other Daily devotional aids for every age group.<\/p>\n
\nLarry reflects on 10 days of silently reading portions of the book of Acts for 30 minutes and then discussing them in a group for another 30 minutes.<\/p>\n
\nThe Surprising Power of Bible Narrative with Thai and Tribals<\/p>\n
\nA group of mission trainers were asked to brain storm concerning the \u201cideal\u201d cross-cultural church planter.<\/p>\n
\nCreeds of the church have been used since the early church and need to be adjusted for use today.<\/p>\n
\nFull model of a Bible story telling session demonstrated at Bangkok Bible Seminary<\/p>\n
\nUnique approach to introducing a sermon \u2013 let the congregation decide what you will preach!<\/p>\n
\nIn one day Larry Dinkins has four divine appointments to tell Bible stories.<\/p>\n
\nJesus was the master oral communicator of all time and used a variety of methods, but emphasized story telling.<\/p>\n
\nHow the Thai are responding to oral Bible story telling in surprising ways.<\/p>\n
\nWhat do you want to see happen in the heart and minds of your listeners after a sermon?<\/p>\n
\nAn insider\u2019s view of Buddhism\u00a0and how to reach the Thai in a contextualized way.<\/p>\n
\nLarry Dinkins looks back on his missionary career and reflects on what could have been done differently.<\/p>\n