About Us
Tonya comes from a family of missionaries. Her grandparents and great-grandparents served as missionaries in Africa, South America, and South-East Asia. Tonya grew up hearing stories about far away jungles and the wild frontiers of frontline mission work. Tonya and Jared met in Micronesia while serving as student missionaries at the mission school on the island of Yap in 2002 and 2003. After returning to the US and marrying, Tonya and Jared were sponsored by their church in Lincoln, Nebraska, Allon Chapel, to travel to Rwanda in the summer of 2005 for evangelistic outreach. In 2006, after they both graduated from Union College, they made the decision to join Adventist Frontier Missions, having a deep desire in their hearts to go and reach the unreached.
Late in 2007, Jared and Tonya joined the Gorkha Project in Darjeeling, India. They worked alongside Jonathan and Karen Lovitt until 2012, helping to establish a church and English language school. After that, they served briefly among the Nepali people of Nepal in 2012 and 2013, helping to encourage and strengthen the believers in that region.
In 2014, Jared and Tonya moved to Thailand where they served with AFM in partnership with the Thai Adventist Mission as administrators and teachers at the mission school in Ubon Ratchathani for two years. In 2016, they transitioned to a new target community about 20 kilometers outside of the city of Ubon to start a children’s and youth ministry in the village of Baan Krasop. In September of 2018, they completed construction of the Little Explorers Creative Learning Center, which serves as a center of influence for reaching the unreached Isan people of north-east Thailand.
Tonya & Jared Wright - Nilubon Srisai
We previously lived and worked with the Gorkha people of India and Nepal from 2007 to 2013. Now we serve the Isan Buddhists of Thailand along with our sons, Justus and Jon Marc. Our vision is to develop and mentor local Isan Thai church planting leaders who are committed to fulfilling the Great Commission and forming healing communities in every province and every district of northeast Thailand so that all 23 million Isan Thai people will have an opportunity to know Jesus as a real person who cares about their lives.
Our good friend and fellow AFM colleague, Nilubon Srisai, coordinates all of our programs and outreach activities in the community. She is a certified facilitator for trauma healing groups and is working to help families heal and grow. She also has years of experience in mentoring new disciples and training local leaders to lead worship groups.
In 2024, fellow AFM colleagues, Pastor Claudette and Rene Aleman, joined the Isan Thai project. They live about a four hour drive away from Ubon Ratchathani province in Khon Kaen province. They are also certified facilitators for trauma healing groups, and we are working closely with them to train local church planting leaders who are inspired and equipped to catalyze a church planting movement.
Frontier Stories
Enough and Loved
Like a ship hoisting full sails, yet without a rudder, every gust of wind blows them in a chaotic course with no discernible destination. Yet, we believe that as we work to establish emotionally healthy spiritual family groups here in northeast Thailand, these children and adults will find a place of healing and hope.
By:
Jared Wright
September 01 2023, 12:51 pm | Comments 0
Engaging the Bible
We invite you to partner with us and pledge your support to help us catalyze a disciple-making movement here in Thailand that will transform lives and reveal the depth of God’s love for the Isan Thai people.
By:
Jared Wright
August 01 2023, 1:29 pm | Comments 0
Walls and Stumbling Blocks
As we walked on in the sweltering heat, the incident caused me to reflect on how, as Christians, we may also have traditions, rituals, beliefs, or even just opinions that keep us from serving people and connecting with them when they need us most, or when we need them.
By:
Jared Wright
July 01 2023, 3:19 pm | Comments 0
Fighting with Love
When any of His hurting children, young or old, experiences the healing power of God’s love through us and is able to connect without fear, then the power of darkness is broken. This is the war I want to fight.
By:
Jared Wright
May 01 2023, 2:14 pm | Comments 0
Checking for Understanding
Transmission of knowledge is only a small part of the process of teaching and, thus, only a small part of the process of making disciples.
By:
Jared Wright
April 01 2023, 6:25 pm | Comments 0