Amnuay Tapingkae: Born to serve
Subtitle: Born to serve
Publisher: June Ramage Rogers
Published: 2011
Description: Born to serve: Amnuay Tapingkae by  Martha Butt
Table of contents: title: Amnuay Tapingkae : Born to Serve; title: In the late 1940s a Buddhist family in rural, northern Thailand decided to send their son to The Prince Royal's College, a Christian elementary and high school twenty-five kilometers away in Chiang Mai. Before setting off for school, the father told his boy,"Son, we're sending you to this school to get a good education, but not Christianity." The young Amnuay Tapingkae did well in school and attended chapel daily.; title: When Amnuay was thirteen, he became very ill with typhoid fever and was admitted to the nearby McCormick Hospital, the Presbyterian mission hospital, which was know for outstanding care. The boy remembers lying in bed, nearly delirious with fever, and hearing the doctor tell his parents that he was sorry they had no medicine to make their son better. After hearing this news,the boy then overheard his parents say that they feared they were going to lose their only son and that they must, therefore, find a new son to adopt. To his parent's delight, the boy did not die. After several months he was able to return to school. Because of his experience in the hospital, however, he became more interested in Christian. He listened carefully to the message of God's steadfastness. He thought to himself, "God would never give up on me as my parents were about to do." Before graduating from high school, the boy decided to become a Christian. At first his parents were very upset,but in time they respected his decision and new religious faith, although they themselves remained Buddhist.; title: Going on to devote his life to education for which he received numerous advanced degrees and honors, Amnuay Tapingkae completed his distinguished service as president of Payap University, the first Protestant and first private university in Thailand. But that's getting ahead of the story!; title: Given a scholarship to attend Illinois  College in the mid-1950s, Amnuay found an atmosphere of friendship and fellowship that greatly influenced his ideas about education and service. Both in and out of the classroom, Amnuay was involved with professors, classmates, and community people. He was especially influenced by President Caine, a community and church leader who was smiling, calm, and accessible to the students, serving as model for the style of college president that Amnuay would later become.; title: At the same time Amnuay was active in the First Presbyterian Church, where he was elected deacon and chairman of the Christian Student Fellowship and where he experienced the importance of linking service and faith. He also worked as a busboy at the Elm City Cafe. From these experiences he learned that education is a holistic experience in which life and education go hand in hand.; title: During times of uncertainty in these years, Amnuay trusted in God's guidance. He tells of the summer he traveled throughout the United states volunteering as a youth leader at church camps. This experience helped him formulate the theological and spiritual understanding of his ministry. After completing an assignment in Happy Valley, Maryland, a camp leader took him out for a farewell dinner of clam chowder, a favorite dish. While they were eating, she asked not once, but twice, "Tap (as they called him at the camp), where will you go now?" and twice Amnuay replied, "Wherever the Greyhound bus takes me. God will lead me. He never lets me down."  Finally the camp leader said, "I am going to my home in Maryland. I have no sons. Will you come with me and be my "Thainese' son?" Amnuay said there is no such thing as "Thainese," but, yes, he would love to go. Once again his prayers had been answered.; title: At the time of graduation from Illinois Cllege in 1959, President Caine called Amnuay into his office to tell him some good news. Amnuay had been given a Presidential Fellowship to the University of Chicago for graduate study. Amnuay replied honestly, " Thank you for the honor, Mr.President, but I want to go home. I am homesick." The wise president did not insist that Amnuay stay on and provided an airplane ticket for him to return to Thailand.; title: Upon return to Thailand, Amnuay told God he was ready for any assignment. In his calling as lecturer, and then dean of the Faculty of Education at Chiang Mai University, he represented a Christian presence at this secular,government institution during its early years of existence. At that time Amnuay undertook his first effort in Christian leadership development when he helped to establish the Crystal Spring House, a student center for Christian and non-Christian students at the university.; title: The first big challenge of his career came when the president and most leaders of the university were away. Five thousand students staged a protest. The three university deans who were called upon to solve the problem. Of these Amnuay was the youngest and the only Christian. The first two spoke to the students, but few listened. Amnuay prayed to God to help him convince students that the problem could be solved peacefully. He then got up and told the students three things: "First, I am your friend and want to solve the problem with you; second, if you trust me, I will negotiate with the government, but first you must disperse; and third, if I fail to resolve the problem, I will resign from my position as dean." The students accepted his proposal and dispersed. Amnuay negotiated an acceptable solution with the government. Later when he asked the students why they trusted him, they said it was because he was willing to lose his job and position for their sake. Amnuay knew that as a Christian servant he did not need to hang on to his position. God would always take care of him.; title: Another hard decision came later when Amnuay was asked to accept the presidency of Payap University. At the time he had a very important post representing the Royal Thai Government to an inter government organization based in Singapore. He was on his way to becoming one of the highest ranking civil servants in Thailand. He prayed about the request to come back to Chiang Mai and lead the Christian University. twice he declined the invitation and suggested other leaders for the post, but the search committee came back to him a third time and insisted they wanted Amnuay. So he accepted God's call.; title: When Amnuay first arrived at Payap University, the new campus was little more than a swampland. Along with a team of dedicated colleagues, he built a comprehensive Christian university. Amnuay's initial challenges included convincing the already existing nursing and theology school alumni to join Payap. Guided by faith and prayer, he led the staff and raised the necessary funds to establish a truly comprehensive Christian  university.; title: Early on in his Payap presidency, he faced a big challenge from the faculty association, led that year by a  Buddhist instructor. They confronted Amnuay with the fact there was a cross in the chapel at this Thai university where Buddhism is the national religion and demanded that a statue of Buddha be placed on campus. The Buddhist teachers believed they had a  constitutional right to do this and said if the president refused they would go to the highest authorities. After prayer Amnuay went to meet with the faculty committee and explained that Payap University was one of a few Christian institutions in Thailand, that the university's leadership was concerned about the spiritual and moral fiber of students, that the King of Thailand's desire to have responsible and useful citizens was appreciated and taken very  seriously, and that the Christian leadership wanted to teach honesty and responsibility in order to help the country develop. Then he asked the faculty leaders to allow Payap University to perform its task faithfully with both Christian and  non-Christian staff working together. As a Christian, Amnuay told them he could not honor their request to have a Buddha image erected on campus and, further, that he was willing to die for his faith. Then he asked the faculty representatives if they were willing to die for theirs. The issue was never raised again and the subject was put to rest forever.; title: Dr.Amnuay Tapingkae served Payap University as president for nearly twenty years. He led the institution as it grew from 200 students to more than 6,000. Today, in "retirement," Dr.Amnuay Tapingkae works as hard as ever to serve his church and country. The accomplishments of this man over the years have been many. Surely his early training in Christian institutions, both in Thailand and abroad,prompted his belief that the teaching of God's love is fundamental to the idea that "the heart of education is the education of the heart."; title: Martha Butt is  a mission worker, serving in the administration of; title: Payap University in Thailand.