ONE Prayer Update: Cambodia

Crew!  See the following update from our ministry partners in Cambodia for the ONE Prayer network.  Enjoy!  -sj

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Fear to Fruitfulness... the story of Pastor Saran

My life before I followed Jesus
I was born in 1965. My early years were shaped during a time of turmoil in SE Asia, including a horrible civil war in Cambodia. I had no respect for public authorities nor did I follow the laws of so

ciety. My life was lonely, full of fear, and panic. There was even one time during the civil war when I was almost killed. I wanted to kill those who were my enemy. I saw no place for forgiveness toward other people, and my life was totally without purpose. I even hated foreign religious beliefs, and I did not want them to be practiced in Cambodia. I followed the traditions of my parents and had been brought up as a Buddhist.

When I heard about JesusDuring those difficult days of my early life, I often questioned within myself whether there even was a “god”, or a place better than the earth. I wanted to know if there really was a heaven or a hell beyond this life. In 1991 a friend, who was not a follower of Jesus, told me about he had heard about someone called, Jesus Christ. I was interested in knowing more about Jesus and how His followers lived. So I looked for their meetings and attended for about three weeks. I did not understand at all what they were talking about, however, I was interested in the nice sound of the songs they sang praising to God. On the forth week of being with these followers of Jesus, I was touched in my heart when I heard them say that “Jesus can save humans from their sins”. This reminded me of a time when I was about seven years old, when I was able to read a little, I read part of a book that was saying that it was this same Jesus who created water, land, fire and wind.

I continued to meet with these people who followed Jesus, but I kept on wondering if Jesus was really a true God, and if God really existed. I also wondered what would happen to me if I became a follower of Christ. I wanted to know if others would hate me or love me. Then one day, I decided to ask a simple prayer of this God by asking Him to help me quit smoking, if he was a true God. On that very day in 1992, I felt that I did not want to smoke a cigarette at all! I was so happy because I had tried to quit smoking by myself many times, but always failed. I decided then and there to trust in Jesus as the true God. 

I made a commitment that I believed in Jesus always no matter whether others might hate me or love me. I started to tell my wife about the importance of following Jesus. I told my cousins and friends about Jesus as I wanted them to follow Jesus too.

The Call of God to Serve
I began to feel that God was calling me to serve him by telling even more people about Him. But I did not feel that I could do anything like that. I enjoyed attending the bible studies and fellowshipping with other believers, but I felt that to become a leader might be a very difficult thing for me to do. I spent all my money to buy a motorbike so I could attend bible study and worship more often. But, three months latter, someone stole it from me! I literally cried because of feeling so sad about the loss, and I wanted to know why there was such a bad thing happening to me. I even felt so ashamed about the bad thing that had happened to me, I no longer had the courage to share with my wife and others about Jesus.

Because of the shame, and sorrow of having the bike stolen, I knelt down and started to pray with tears, that if He gave me another motorbike, I would serve Him. About a week latter, I further prayed that I will serve Him forever, if He provided another motorbike for me. I started to believe that if God wanted me to serve Him, He would fulfill all my needs. Two months latter the wife of the thief who stole my motorbike came and confessed her husband’s crime. She also brought an older motorbike to us to replace the stolen one, so we did not make a complaint to the police. I accepted the old motorbike with joy and forgiveness. I then decided to start sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with other people, and gather with believers at a friend’s house near my house.

I did not want to be the leader of the group, and I just helped to bring the new believers together to study the bible and with all my heart, I helped those who came to me for help. We met together for about six weeks, but there was still not really a leader among the ten believers. So I began leading the worship and visited the homes of the believers. I was hungry for the Word of God and I was curious to know the meaning and the good things the Word of God has for believers. I read and finished the New Testament about two times. But there were still many things I did not understand and wondered if I was really called to lead among the believers. I then met a Cambodian Christian from the US and he helped me discover many truths in God’s Word and I started to read the New Testament again with great joy and understanding. I joined with other believers to plant new churches in seven places by 1996 and as of 2008 we have grown to see churches planted in over 90 places as disciples continue to make disciples.

NOTE: Pastor Saran is a trainer and supervisor in his province for the One Prayer church planting initiative in Cambodia. There are still hundreds of unreached villages in his province without even a single believer. Pray that the Lord will bless them with an additional 25 – 30 new churches as they reach into these needy villages and that a church planting movement can begin that will spread to surrounding villages and provinces.

ONE Prayer Update: Cambodia

Crew!  Bob Craft (our ministry contact for Cambodia) sent this in.  Enjoy! -sj

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Cambodia was country divided by a civil war, a holocaust and then invaded by enemies from a neighboring country. There are far too many stories of war, of refugees and the sheer struggle to survive. But by the grace of God, some have managed to emerge from the pain with amazing testimonies to the love of God.

In 1983, Lim left Phnom Penh city to live in the Rithy Sen, and join the resistance army to fight against the army of the State of Cambodia government. He was commander of 30 soldiers in the resistance movement. He was a cruel person and dictator. He fought in many battles, there was even one time when he was surrounded by the State of Cambodia army, and was almost killed. He lay unconscious for about three days and three nights. And apart from battles with human enemies, he almost died from malaria.  He finally fled across the Thai border to a refugee camp. 

In 1985, he left the army, and lived in City Two, Rithy Sen refugee camp. He became a teacher at a small school in the refugee camp. He had four friends who were teachers, and one of them, Mr. Sothy, was a Christian. Mr. Sothy shared the good news of Jesus Christ with Lim saying that Jesus was the Savior and those who believed in Him would be saved from sins and have eternal life.  He shared about Christ three times, so Lim got very angry with him, and had some students tie Mr. Sothy up to a cross and tickle him, humiliating him by saying “if your God is true and living, let Him help you”. Mr. Sothy was very upset at this treatment, so finally Lim’s students let Mr. Sothy go. Lim had grown up like 90% of his Cambodian peers, he practiced Buddhism and Brahmanism in the tradition of his ancestors. He had no use for Christians and their foreign religion. 

In 1986, he moved to another refugee camp, and got into trouble when he broke the rules of the camp. The Thai soldiers who guarded this new camp always arrested those who broke the law in the K.I.D. camp, and moved them back to the camps nearer the border. Lim often hid himself from the Thai guards in a deep pit from which he could look to the outside only through a small hole. One Saturday in February of 1986, there was a big raid by Thai solders to arrest law breakers in the camps, so Lim and his friends got so frightened that they hid themselves in the pit for the whole night.  Early in the morning on Sunday, Lim heard a voice outside the pit through the small hole saying, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest. Place my yoke on you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” It was the words of God speaking to him to seek God! He left the pit for another friend’s house and took a bath. There he met an English teacher named Chann who was going to church. Chann asked Lim to go to church with him (as he had asked once before) so Lim decided to go with him as he was curious to know about this God who could help humans and “give them rest”. At the church, he sat at the back corner of the meeting so that he could observe, but he criticized and cursed them in his heart. Despite the struggle going on in his heart and mind, he decided to read some small Christian booklets, and then finished reading the New Testament three times in one week! 

Each time he read the New Testament, it spoke deeper and deeper to his heart and life. Lim had come to put his trust in Jesus Christ and opened his life to the Holy Spirit of God. Lim became full of joy, and no longer feared being arrested by the soldiers. He studied the Word of God with the pastor and a group Christians. Lim immediately went out to share the Good News with other people. Many people listened to the words of God as Lim taught them as much as he knew.  Sometimes he felt like he had taught them correctly and sometimes he did not, so when he went back home, he studied even harder. He started going to share the Good News in the hospital and prison. In the villages, they had twenty five bible study groups and there were hundreds of people accepting Jesus Christ. Although Lim never studied at the Bible school, and never had a diploma, God has chosen him to serve Him in church planting ministry.  Lim has dedicated himself to establishing groups of believers in unreached areas of Batambang province. Lim is a leader and trainer in the One Prayer church planting initiative.

ONE Prayer Update: Cambodia...

Received the following from our ministry partner in Cambodia regarding the process of how the efforts are going at moving us toward our goal of planting 500 churches in 4 nations by next June. See below! -sj

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Cambodia is a beautiful country of rivers, mountains, forests, palm trees and rice fields nestled in the heart of Southeast Asia. A relatively small country of 14 million people, most of them live in more than 13,000 villages spread throughout the countryside. It is also the location of the famed Anchor Wat temple ruins from the 9th to 12th century, a world heritage site.

But not everything is so beautiful in Cambodia. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. forces dropped over 2.75 million tons of bombs on Cambodia. In the aftermath of the Vietnam War and the pull out of US troops in 1975 from South Vietnam, revolutionary Cambodian leader, Pol Pot, and the Khmer Rouge army killed over 1.7 million Cambodians. They are buried in mass graves in over 300 locations throughout the country. The genocide took the lives of over 20% of the population at the time. I have never spoken to a Cambodian whose family was not directly affected by the genocide. Cambodia is a country in recovery and still has great social, economic and spiritual need.

Of the 13,000 villages in Cambodia, it is estimated that there are over 11,000 villages that do not have a single follower of Christ. These villages make up the places where over 80% of the population lives. The housing and lifestyle of these Cambodians is simple and predominantly agricultural. The villages are remote and the roads are often impassable. In fact, no one just casually visits one of these villages. Someone must intentionally go to them. That’s where you come in. The One Prayer church planting initiative in Cambodia is going to help train and mobilize Cambodian believers to go into these yet unreached villages with the gospel of peace.
Based on the testimony of a church planter I talked to in May (we’ll call him “Mark”), the journey into most of these villages in his area is not at all easy. He describes trying to find a remote village that he heard about deep in the jungle forest which rises up from the Mekong River that flows through the area. He and his companion were walking deep in the forest as dusk began to make it almost impossible to see. They had hoped to make it to the village before dark, because these particular forests are full of malaria carrying mosquitoes. He and his companion continually prayed about what to do.

Surrounded by the closing darkness of the forest he decided to climb a tree for a better view. In the distance he saw the glow of a fire. He got his bearings and they began to walk in that direction. When they approached the cluster of small bamboo and wood homes, he saw the cooking fire of a woman outside her hut which stood on stilts above her. It was not the village they were looking for, but they were glad to find people, any people.

The strangers had no idea how they would be received by these people who rarely see anyone from outside their village clusters. However, the men were greeted by a woman with a warm smile and the aroma of steaming rice. Almost as if she were expecting them, she invited them near and naturally began to ask them questions. Off to one side, under the house, lay a man. It was her husband who had passed out in a drunken stupor, oblivious to the strangers who had emerged from the forest. Bro Mark and his companion inquired about her life, her husband and family. These men shared their own testimonies of a changed life and the Creator God who loves and seeks the people he created. News about the strangers quickly spread to the other houses and people began to come and listen to them tell stories into the night as they ate with the growing crowd. They prayed for the family and thanked the village for their hospitality. The people wanted to hear more, so the men stayed there in that village, sharing God’s Word with them and seeing many of them come to faith. What seemed like the wrong village was the right village. This “woman of peace”, prepared by God, welcomed the men of God and helped the people in her village receive the gospel and they are growing in His grace.

Thanks to the One Prayer Church planting initiative, Bro. Mark will now have opportunity to train and mobilize at least 8 teams of church planters in his province to seek out more of the 200 to 300 villages he has heard about that have yet to meet a believer and hear the Good News of Christ. Pray for Mark and his teams as they risk malaria on their trek of faith, or even climb trees to seek out those who need the gospel.