The Timeline

A chronological record of milestones, stories, partnerships, and needs from the field. Filter by year or theme, or search for a name or place.

Showing 27 of 27 timeline entries.

  1. 2010

    1. Nong Song Hong, Khon Kaen province (Isaan), ThailandPersonal

      A Calling Takes Shape in Northern Thailand

      Before the Moken, Philip served in Thailand's rural northeast under OMF, learning Thai and Isaan and preparing to move south to a people he had already set his heart on.

      first-contactpersonalprayer
    2. Bronkhorstspruit, South Africa / Ranong, ThailandPersonal

      A Season in South Africa — and a New Mission Partner

      Philip moved south to Ranong, formally left OMF for the mission agency STAMP — a better fit for incarnational, church-connected work — and flew home to South Africa to raise support for the Moken chapter ahead.

      furloughfundraisingprayerpersonal
    3. Bronkhorstspruit / Pretoria, South AfricaPersonal

      Farewell, Taaiboer — Back to Thailand

      After three months of feedback talks across South Africa, Philip's supporters threw him a farewell before he flew back to begin the Moken chapter — not expecting to see him again for perhaps two years.

      furloughprayermilestonepersonal

  2. 2011

    1. Ranong & Koh Phayam, ThailandMilestone

      First Days Among the Moken

      Arriving in Ranong on 14 February 2011, Philip began crossing to the Moken village on Koh Phayam — diving for sea cucumbers under the stars and being welcomed, haltingly, into a sea-nomad world.

      first-contactcommunityprayermilestone
    2. Ranong, Thailand / Penang, MalaysiaPersonal

      Brought to the End of Himself

      Hospitalised with dengue fever and brought to the end of his own strength, Philip describes a turning point at a Penang seminar where God became his Daddy — the theology that colours every later newsletter.

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    3. Koh Phayam, ThailandMilestone

      The First Moken Worship

      Rather than make the Moken Thai or English, Philip put the question to them — how do you want to seek and worship God? — and a fragile, indigenous Moken church began to take shape.

      churchcommunityprayer
    4. Koh Phayam, ThailandStory

      Toilets, a Garden, and a Water Filter

      Philip salvaged the village toilets, coaxed children into a vegetable garden, helped build a water filter, and started the daily motorbike-and-trailer school run that would become a years-long rhythm.

      water-projectschoolcommunitybuilding
    5. Koh Phayam, ThailandMilestone

      A House Among the Moken

      Philip finished building his own home in the Moken style — wood walls, palm-leaf roof — and floated an idea: buy a boat the Moken could use to earn a fairer income.

      communitybuildingfundraisingmilestone

  3. 2012

    1. Koh Phayam, ThailandStory

      Living Full-Time on Koh Phayam

      Now living permanently in the village, Philip became mom and dad to a growing group of boys left behind while parents fished at sea — telling Bible stories nightly and going to school alongside them.

      moken-boysschoolcommunitypersonal
    2. Koh Phayam, ThailandStory

      Racing the Tide

      With more children in his care, Philip enlarged his house — ferrying timber, sand and cement by motorbike and raft through monsoon storms as spring tides broke right into the building.

      buildingcommunity
    3. Koh Phayam, Ranong, ThailandMilestone

      The Special Needs Project — Raising the House Above the Floodwaters

      When monsoon spring tides flooded Philip's ground-level home every new moon, a seven-person South African relief team flew out to rebuild it on stilts — keeping Philip and the Moken children in his care dry.

      special-needscommunitymilestonefundraisingprayermoken-boys
    4. Koh Phayam / Bangkok, ThailandPersonal

      A Hard Decision — and the Cameras Arrive

      After unresolved tensions with STAMP's oversight, Philip and the Kwoks concluded they could not continue under it — even as a Thai media crew filmed a documentary about their life among the Moken.

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  4. 2013

    1. Koh Phayam, Thailand / Bronkhorstspruit, South AfricaStory

      The Moken Story Reaches a Wider Audience

      A prominent Thai magazine came to write up Philip's life among the Moken, and he returned to South Africa for a season of rest and feedback.

      furloughcommunityprayer
    2. Koh Phayam, ThailandStory

      The Day the Village Began to Hear

      When 17-year-old Thoen died of an electric shock, the grief cracked something open — and for the first time the Moken truly heard, with even the spirits they consulted telling them Thoen was at peace.

      churchcommunityprayermilestone

  5. 2015

    1. Koh Phayam, ThailandStory

      Five Weeks on the Front Line — A 2015 Visit

      Paulien and Mark spent five weeks visiting Philip and "his boys" on the island — what the sending cell called a "sacrificial adventure" of joy and unpredictability.

      communityprayer
    2. Koh Phayam, ThailandNeed

      Home in the Moken Village — and a Call for Partners

      Writing from his home in the Moken village, Philip reflected on change and exciting prospects — but a falling Rand and rising costs for the children left his ministry under real financial strain.

      communityfundraisingprayer
    3. Koh Phayam, Thailand / Bronkhorstspruit, South AfricaMilestone

      Leaving the School System

      After his 40th birthday and a five-week furlough, Philip pulled the Moken children out of a school system that was failing and belittling them, and began home-schooling and a learning centre.

      schoolfurloughpersonalmilestone

  6. 2016

    1. Koh Phayam, ThailandMilestone

      Registering the Moken — and a Surfing Champion

      Philip helped register over 100 stateless Moken for Thai citizenship, built rainwater tanks and a chicken coop, and watched a Moken boy, Oden, win his age group at a Phuket surfing competition.

      communitywater-projectschoolmilestone

  7. 2021

    1. Koh Phayam, ThailandStory

      Quarantine on the Island

      A COVID outbreak put the whole Moken village under a 14-day quarantine — and Philip and his helper Chanab absorbed the village's anger for having reported it, even as the little church kept growing.

      medicalcommunityprayer

  8. 2022

    1. South Africa (broadcast) / ThailandStory

      On the Radio — So I Send You

      A two-part interview with Murray Louw on Radio Kansel carried Philip's story of the Moken to a wider South African audience.

      communityprayer

  9. 2023

    1. Koh Phayam, ThailandPartnership

      Five Boys, Five Opportunities — The Moken Guardians

      Philip invites supporters to "step in" for five Moken boys living with him to finish grade 12 — to know each boy's name, pray for him, and help carry his living costs.

      moken-boysschoolcommunityfundraisingprayer
    2. Koh Phayam, Thailand / Chiang MaiMilestone

      Wud Flies for Discipleship Training

      Wud — once the shy drummer boy Khay Dam — sat his final college exam and was set to fly on 1 April for a YWAM Discipleship Training School, the first fruit of more than a decade of investment.

      moken-boyschurchschoolmilestone

  10. 2024

    1. Koh Phayam, ThailandMilestone

      A Bridge to the Village — and a Governor's Thanks

      The treacherous tidal-river raft was finally replaced by a real bridge, and Philip's years of quiet work drew official thanks — visits from Ranong's governor and Thailand's vice-president, and a provincial certificate of appreciation.

      buildingcommunitymilestone
    2. Koh Phayam, ThailandMilestone

      A Whole Group Goes Down Into the Water

      Asked to return to ancestral-spirit worship, almost the whole Moken community refused — we now have a King and a Father in heaven — and a large group was baptised, publicly declaring a new life in Christ.

      churchcommunitymilestoneprayer
    3. Koh Phayam / Chiang Mai, ThailandMilestone

      God's Word in the Moken Tongue

      Wud and a young man from Koh Chang trained as Bible translators, and the team began rendering the Gospel of Luke into Koh Phayam Moken — the first Scripture ever in their own language.

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  11. 2025

    1. Koh Phayam, ThailandMilestone

      Building a Self-Sustaining Future

      Philip began building a water-and-ice factory to generate income that could employ the Moken and fund the work long-term — as a visa change reframed him, technically, from front-line missionary to tentmaker.

      communitybuildingfundraisingmilestone
    2. Koh Phayam, ThailandStory

      A Year of Building — Church, Water Factory, and New Life

      Over Christmas and the new year, Philip hosted visiting families and US work teams, rebuilt the church roof, neared completion on a water-and-ice factory to fund the boys' work, and asked prayer for a critically premature baby, Ta-Tê.

      communitymedicalbuildingmilestonefundraisingprayer