Something I really like is seeing people do something that they think they can’t do, or trying something; Facing a challenge and then pushing through and continuing to try.

It gives me courage to see that people can be willing to do something. We’ve seen people who have never climbed before, they’re terrified of it, they’re scared of heights, and we say, “No, you can do it.” We give them encouragement and we try to help give them some kind of motivation. They go for it and do it and at the end they’re so excited they did it. That’s really fulfilling to me.

My wife, Jessica, and I most recently lived in Washington state in the USA. We felt like God was calling us somewhere else. We prayed about it and through prayer and study, God brought us to this place.

Bangkok is a giant city. I think there’s 12 million people who live here. They say there are 2 million people who commute into work every day. It’s very modern, it’s got a lot of high tech things.

Neither of us really like urban settings or the city. We much more prefer nature and being outdoors, but sometimes you have to give up your desires for what God has for you. He brought us here and it wouldn’t have been our first choice but it’s His choice so that’s what we wanted to do.

Brian and Jessica moved to Bangkok and opened the F5 Challenge Center

The F5 Challenge Center is a health focused center of influence in Bangkok, Thailand where we’re trying to connect with people and minister to felt needs through the avenue of health and fitness.

F5 is actually an acronym, there’s 5 F’s. It’s faith, fellowship, fitness, fortitude, and fun. Those correlate with the five aspects of health. The spiritual, the mental, the physical, the emotional, and the social. It’s a wholistic encompassing message of health to try and connect with every aspect.

Depression and suicide rates are really high and so meeting those social and emotional needs is really important. Climbing is a very good thing for that. Climbing has been shown in studies to help with depression and things like that.

We have the climbing gym here where people can come and can try out climbing, but also during times when the weather is good we lead weekly outdoor trips. We take people out of this giant city where they can go climb on real rock. To be able to see God’s creation, to be able to see and interact with them in nature.

Basically, you’re spending 8 hours with a group of people. It really gives opportunities in a social setting to interact with each other, to learn about one another, and to really build those connections that build trust. When you’re hanging off the side of a cliff, 26 meters up in the air, and the only thing keeping you from falling to death is the person below holding onto the rope, it really builds trust and community. So when they come back down and they’re so excited, you give them a high five and say, “That was great!” They sit down and wait for the next few people. You get to talk and interact with them. You’re building that relationship in a social setting.

We’ve had people talk to us about very personal challenges they’re facing. Maybe when they come into the gym and they’re one on one, they say, “This is something that’s going on.” We’ve found that it helps build a solid relationship rather than something where you see them every once in a while.

The majority of people are living in cities. When we first thinking about becoming missionaries, we were thinking about the jungle adventures. We were reading Eric B. Hare stories, and fighting tigers, and rogue elephants. When God called us to Bangkok we thought, “That’s not really a mission field, that’s a city.”

But as we thought about it, we knew this is a huge mission field. It’s where people don’t know and often times don’t care. They don’t really feel a need. They don’t feel like they need anything physical, but what they fail to understand is that they do emotional needs, they do have social needs. Often times we don’t even know. They feel like, “Well, I’ve got an Audi and I’ve got a nice house, and I’ve got a girlfriend. I don’t need anything else.”

But when we connect with them and we’re able to share with them and build those relationships, you come to understand that. You can help share that there is a need that you have. You think that you’re filling it with all these things that you have, but it’s not actually filling it. That hole that you feel can actually be filled with God, and He’s seeking you and actively looking to connect with you. Working with a group that has everything...it takes more to the heart.