The other day, we were showing our directors of Foursquare Missions International, Jim and Melinda Scott around Bangkok when we walked into a classy mall, Terminal 21, themed in travel with every floor decorated to look like an exotic city around the world. When we entered off of the Sky train platform, we heard ear piercing screeches from 100s of teenage girls. Why? Well, this occasion for the enthusiastic crowd came as a Korean singer was performing in the middle of the mall.
In Bangkok, fan club takes fanatic to new heights. They change their dress, vocabulary, manners and more to express their adoration of the latest pop star or pop group.
Teenage girls are the same around the world
This picture jumped out to me when we were talking to some of the people in our church here in Bangkok. We were talking about what does a disciple look like in Thai understandings. How are disciples thought of from the Thai perspective?
They answered first with the idea of sticking close to Jesus, following him and similar descriptive language. As they explained a little more, they blurted out like his fan club. At first, I wanted to discard this comment as flippant. But I came back to fan club again in the conversation and they agreed wholeheartedly.
That is when I started to remember how passionate a person gets as a member of someone’s fan club. They go all out in following their celebrity. Isn’t that what we should do in following Jesus?
Can I be a groupie for Jesus? Can you be a groupie for Jesus? How do you define disciple?
ASK THE BLIND PASTOR 