Dear Friends and Family,
We were joking about a dedication plaque for our new church/home in Osmat , Cambodia , “Built by a ‘backslidden’ contractor for a ‘backslidden’ pastor”. The “Backsliders” were having dinner with us at the Osmat market, a stone’s through from two very plush, ‘Vegas style’ casinos, with their entrances facing into Thailand . http://www.missionreports.com/osmat_july_2008 Osmat? What a clash of cultures! You wind yourself up a muddy, one lane, washed out, mountain road, and run smack dab into a half mile long, four lane, concrete, super-highway leading from Thailand to the casinos located in Cambodia. Only the very wealthy, and the casino employees, are able to enter from Cambodia . We’d been talking about the ‘old days’ when the pastor took a path that left us for a former leader who wanted to abscond with all our church property. After about a year of disillusionment, he knew he’d made a bad choice and quit the ministry. He drove motorbike taxi for about four years, until the call of God on his life produced such discomfort he came back, swallowed his pride, and asked for forgiveness and a second chance. We gave it to him, and after a couple of years as an assistant, he pioneered the work at Osmat. It took off, and now we’re building a brand new facility for his congregation and orphans. Strangely, the contactor, had been a man who’d built several buildings for us, and when prices started rising, and he could see that material costs would erase any profits. He took the last payment on two buildings and skipped the country for Thailand with a new girlfriend in tow. He also experienced a rough couple of years, came back, and also asked for forgiveness and another chance. We put him to work on some small projects, and then as he proved faithful, moved him up. Now he’s the contractor for the new church/home. ‘Two “backsliders’ back to serve the Lord’, it would make a good ‘country’ song title. Somehow, the contrast of the grass roofed bamboo houses and ‘poverty with peace’, back dropped against the plush, ‘life destroying’, casinos added relevance to the conversation.
“No one else will ever be able to do this”, commented Burt Reed, my thoughtful friend from International Cooperating Ministries, seated across from me. Six of us, Peter and Daniel (our national leaders), the pastor, the contractor, Burt, and me were eating dinner “What?” I inquired. “Sit here and reminisce about the beginning of this movement that has resulted in thousands of churches”, he calmly replied. His comment caught me by surprise. I thought to myself, “We really have been through a lot together!” But, I knew we didn’t do it alone. I told Burt, “We couldn’t have done it without partners like you, Warm Blankets, and all the others. Most of all, it had to be God”. He nodded in agreement. http://www.missionreports.com/6days_46church_homes
We were in the midst of a whirlwind six day visit of forty-six church/homes, overseeing nearly 1000 home churches, traveling more than 3000 kilometers by 4X4 and multiple ferry and boat rides. I visited Church/homes I’d never seen before, as my surgery a year ago had eliminated rough travel for a time. I felt a great sense of confidence in the ability of the Holy Spirit to watch over His church as I saw these very remote churches thriving under their leaders. I don’t know how to describe it other than an emotion of peace with resolve. Not that anything we’ve done has ever been easy. It got me thinking about “Peace”. For most of my nearly 62 years I’ve thought that peace would be the total absence of conflict and struggle. But, when I really contemplated that ‘cabin by the beautiful mountain stream abounding with trout, and not a care in the world’, I decided that it would be great for about a week, and then I’d probably decide it was hell. It is our struggles that define us, make us what we are. What counts is something the Quakers call “Peace in the Center”, that assurance, that if you stay in Christ, it will all work out. As we were bumping along our journey, Burt shared with me that early in his ministry he did a study on the Beatitudes and really ‘dissected’ the word “Blessed”. He found that it means, “Free from daily care or worry”. That’s it! That’s ‘peace in the center’.
We’ve had plenty of “Stuff” to worry about; rising food prices, new homes to open with flat donations, a doctor with typhoid, kids wanting to quit school for the lure of a steady factory job, a foreign contractor trying to extort $120,000 from us, wells that go dry, church/homes hit by lightning, an orphan boy no longer responding to his AIDS “cocktail”, pastors that need training, http://www.missionreports.com/church_growth_june08 Churches growing faster than our ability to support them http://www.missionreports.com/church_growth_june08 buildings over budget, and on and on, but its God’s train and we’re just along for the ride. Bee bees in a boxcar, we rattle around making all kinds of noise, thinking we really amount to something, when all the time we’re on His track and He’s the engineer. Peace in the Center.
We sure love our teams! We had up to three here at one point this month. Peter was worried. One of our newer homes was located on a laterite road (red clay). The grass never grew around the church/home and the iron oxide in the soil was high enough to make barn paint. There were red hand prints and red dust streaks all over the building. “We’ll loose our face Pa”, he pleaded with me. “Don’t take any visitors there!” Fortunately one of our teams saved us. In fact, four church/homes got face lifts and needed repairs this month.
http://www.missionreports.com/srayov_tbong_construction_june08/index.html
http://www.missionreports.com/snule_construction_june08/index.html
http://www.missionreports.com/phnom_thom_paintjob/index.html
http://www.missionreports.com/ksach_laaht_construction_june08/index.html
Teams do a lot of good, and the least important aspect of their presence is the ‘free labor’. They do pay for needed repairs, and that is not to be minimized, but the most lasting benefits lie in other areas. Cambodian orphans pick up a cultural wound that depicts them as the recipients of “bad karma”. They are orphans because they deserve to be orphans, due to a lousy previous life. Even though they know that they are special in God’s eyes, and that this is not a Christian concept, all their playmates at school reflect the culture, and they get hit with an inferiority complex. When a group of foreigners come and make an effort to repair their home, in a village that almost never sees foreign visitors, it does wonders for their self esteem. “Someone cares enough about me to come half way around the world just to help”, is the unstated but loudly heard message. Teams also demonstrate a concept that is a Cambodian oxymoron, “Servant Leadership”. In Cambodia , leaders don’t serve and servants don’t lead. When you are a leader everyone exists to make you look good. Even extensive teaching on the concept does not preach as strongly as a single demonstration of the “rich” foreigners on their knees digging a sewer line. “Gee, maybe I can do that?” They think. Then, there is what the experience does to the team. They will forever be changed as they have become part of a force that is changing a nation. They leave ambassadors for the work here. Emily, Josh, Michelle, and the teams were exceptional. Thanks guys! You did a great job!
Walk into out Training Center these days and you will very likely be greeted by a young Cambodian, “Welcome to our home, may I help you?” The English teachers from all our homes are spending their summer break polishing their English skills under the leadership of Kris Warner. Kris starts early and quits late, and the results are very observable. Not only are the kids becoming proficient in English, they are spending a lot of time in the library put together by Kris, reading some of the 600 books sent from America, with more on the way. “Even publishers are sending us books now”, says Kris. Way to go! http://www.missionreports.com/esl_july_2008
Bob and Christal have been busy installing playgrounds and getting the new Medical Center ready. We have thirteen playgrounds installed, and more on the way. Bob spent three days wallowing in the mud with Paul Mok, our master mechanic, after our 5 ton truck blew a clutch in a middle of a mud hole along side a temple. http://www.missionreports.com/playground_june08
Be blessed and may you find “Peace in the Center”!
Pa Thom (Me, Ted)
And those still do’in all the work,
The Cambodian FCOP Team,
Ma Sou,
Emily Plater
Josh and Michelle Ferguson
Kris Warner
Bob and Christal Hollandsworth
