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CAMBODIA
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Update -- June 2007Dear Friends and Family, There is nothing more disgusting than an ‘old man’ taking about his ailments. So, to spare you, here is the short version: Humpty Dumpty sat in his Jeep. Humpty Dumpty got smashed to a heap. (That was ten years ago!) All the king’s doctors and all the king’s crew finally made Humpty feel anew. (That’s me now). Anyway, I actually did have the King of Thailand’s surgeon perform my operation. Now, for those who want the gory details read the next paragraph, otherwise jump over it. I promise I’ll never bring it up again. I was all messed up inside. Evidently my diaphragm ruptured in the Jeep accident ten years ago, and was never discovered, or ignored, due to fear of lack of payment. (Workers Comp. did eventually pay, but at the time of my treatment my claim was denied) Anyway, thanks to a chest X-ray, prior to the removal of plaque build up in my groin, this past March (My pelvis was broken in the same accident causing this complication.), the good doctors discovered what they thought was an aneurism on my aorta. Further investigation with a C.A.T. scan determined it was, of all things, my stomach! On May 5th they opened me up from the back, like a refrigerator, and found that my stomach had been damaged, same accident, and grown up through the open diaphragm, through my lung, which fortunately formed a sack around it, going clear up behind my aorta. Unfortunately, my spleen had decided to attach to my lung, and had to be cut away and stuffed back to the south side of the diaphragm, along with my stomach. The diaphragm was repaired and then the problem was my esophagus was too short to reach my relocated stomach, so the doc took the extra part of the stomach that had grown up to my heart, sewed it on to the opening of my stomach, and then stretched my esophagus and sewed the m a ll together. Three weeks later I am still sore, but all systems seem to function, and my shortness of breath and ‘heartburn’ seem to have disappeared. Anyway, I am forced into six weeks of recovery, and six months of no heavy lifting. So, I’m ‘ornery’. Sou says, “Some things never change!” Last month many of you missed seeing the pictures of the Warm Blankets Orphan Care, Int. sponsored ‘Baptism Trip’ for 3212 children to the South China Sea . This is one of our major annual events and only represents about 1/3 of the church/homes. The rest will wait for another year. Our web server went down and didn’t load the photos. Sorry about that! You can see them now at: http://www.missionreports.com/baptism_apr07/index.htm http://www.missionreports.com/baptism_wb07 It seems as though my comment last month about, “Slimy Rats”, started a ‘rat fight’. I’ve always heard they were the most vicious, so I’ll just watch. Our Cambodian religious rats are tearing each other apart over the spoils of their imported “American Superstar”. You see, rats don’t like to share. They want it all for themselves, and then spoil what they can’t have. The problem with religious rats is that they start out sincerely, but then fall in love with themselves, the things of this world, and miss the challenges around them. They actually start to believe that financial gain is a sign of godliness, and completely miss the whole point of Jesus’ message. Who was the poorest guy on earth? Probably a beaten, naked, friendless, thirsty, Jew on a cross, being crucified, about 33AD in Jerusalem . Who are we supposed to emulate? Required reading for all ‘slimy rats’ should be: 1Timothy 6:3-10. I’ll just take the advice in verse 5 and “withdraw myself”. Spud (my dog) is barking up a storm. He’s discovered the old ‘soap box’, which got re-exposed after our recent office move. I hid it because I always stirred up so much trouble with it, but since I’m in an ornery mood, and Spud won’t shut up, well….. “So, quit yapping and drag it out here you lazy mutt!” Screeeeeeeeeeeech! “I’m going to need some help. Go on, give me a little boost. That’a boy!” Ready? “Why do so many missions’ efforts fail? True, it’s hard work, you have spiritual opposition, moral failure, etc, but God is bigger than all that. So, why? My answer? We have ignored the Biblical pattern for missions. Many mission’s organizations are going to self funding missionaries. Not that I disagree with missionaries raising funds, if I did that I’d have to go throw myself off a cliff. (That would make the rats happy) It has to do with structure and authority, but most of all with vision. I believe that effective, church planting, missions work takes apostolic leadership. This is not a job you train for, or get appointed to. It is a calling of God, and it can’t be faked. It took the Prophet, Bill Norton , to show me that. I hate titles. I never call myself one, but when the shoe fits?? The Apostle sees the big picture, the potential of a work, where the next efforts should be applied, the prophetic gift breaks things open, identifies giftedness, releases anointing, and that can’t be faked either. Then we need the evangelists to plant churches under the apostolic direction and pastors and teachers to build up the church. The point is that all this needs to happen in order, and under God’s ordained authority. The worst thing a mission’s organization can do is just let anyone who feels ‘called’ go raise their own money, and send them out to do their own thing, without divinely appointed apostolic leadership in place. How do you tell if someone is apostolic? How many apples are in the basket? Independent appointment may work out in a few cases, where their gift matches the assignment, but usually, frustration, conflict, and fruitless activity result. Why? They need the modern day Peter’s, Paul’s and Timothy’s anointing, appointing and directing a national vision. And, that person may not happen to be the foreign missionary. Others, with supportive gifting should then come along side the apostolic led team to build the work, but it should be done under authority, with direction. One failure of denominations is they fall into political appointment rather divine anointing. For example, I believe that, if church planting is desired, then District Supervisors within a denomination should have apostolic gifting. It’s not that this is new, just ignored. What should be done? Mission organizations should identify apostolic leaders within nations, or regions, and release them to direct the work, and then bring in the supportive personnel as needed. At least these lead people should be supported by the sending organization. That’s it! Push it back spud.”
If you have ever wondered what we
do all day long, you may enjoy reading this. Emily Plater, our
Christian Ed counterpart to Sokea Em, wrote this in response to some
questions posed her by a US based ministry. Vindication is always nice, even if it is three years late. About that time ago a highly touted book about rescuing sexually exploited children from Cambodian brothels was published. A lot of good people got caught up in the cause, and it may be working in some countries, but the story told about Cambodia, even though it read like an Ian Fleming novel, was really a story of a bunch of well intentioned Americans getting caught up in the web of Cambodian corruption (“Fat Rats”) thinking they were saving the world. They wound up probably getting more people beaten, and even killed, than rescued. Of course this is not mentioned in the book. They have raised millions of dollars and continue to suck money out of churches. Now, I a m a ll for them seeking justice through God ordained government, and raising money from secular sources (they got 50 million from Bill Gates. Hurray!), and even individuals who believe in what they are doing, but, not the church! Read my lips, THE CHURCH HAS NO BUSINE3SS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT. That is the role of government. That is why we need to pray for the government, influence the government, and support good government, but if you don’t believe me, answer this question. How many criminals did Jesus prosecute? We will never win Cambodia to Christ by raiding brothels. The government needs to change, and for that to happen values need to change. One of our best Church/Home managers used to recruit prostitutes for her corrupt (general) husband. If this ‘justice first group’ had gotten to her, she’d be in jail, not helping dozens of sexually exploited children escape the horrors of their past, as she is now, because no one understands the dynamics of what’s happening here better than she. The church is about forgiveness, reconciliation and redemption, not prosecution! Anyway, last week someone from the organization finally admitted how they’d been bamboozled. I pass it on as I am sure you won’t see it in “Charisma”, or “Ministries Today”: http://www.missionreports.com/child_trade We got some needed help from Foursquare Foundation: 1) Since 40% of our population is under 12 years old, we will be building 25 strategically place playgrounds around Cambodia on our most “Child Friendly” church properties. These playgrounds will be staffed and include treatment for scabies and worms as well as an introduction to the gospel. 2) At the most recent ‘Training All Pastors’ meeting 132 trainers of trainers selected 50 of our most productive pastors, out of close to 3000 on staff, who will each select 10 of our most dedicated youth from the 100 church/orphan homes we operate. They will then spend the next year in a specifically designed discipleship program under the supervision of our General Supervisor Daniel Em. This should give us 500 newly trained pastors by this time next year. http://www.missionreports.com/pastoral_training_may07 3) We will be enhancing 13 existing micro-enterprises and church building programs to increase our ability to self support orphan homes. Things like our hog enterprises, vegetable production, tractor factory, furniture construction; scabies shampoo manufacturing, rice mill expansion, improved septic systems, water well testing and filtration, etc. Hint: We could still use some cost sharing on some of these, so if you can help contact Warm Blankets: advisor@warmblankets.org Tabea Schaller, Swiss optician, tested the 132 pastors at out Training all Pastors program this month. Almost all the pastors needed at least reading glasses and several were almost legally blind. Eye examination is a new program for us and with Tabea’a help we will soon be on the road seeing our 3500 kids and staff and the 3000 pastors and leaders. http://www.missionreports.com/eyesglassesproject/ A number of teams and guests came through during May. A medical team form Medical Teams international treated over 900 people in two weeks, handling some serious cases and resulting in the salvation of several hundred new believers. http://www.missionreports.com/medical_toulserey_may07/index.htm Dental work is never fun but, when your mouth hurts, and you’ve never been to a dentist, the patients are very grateful. Almost all of the 210 children and staff that went through the 10 days of clinic in the Poipet area stopped to bow and thank the doctors. Thanks to Medical Teams International for their help! http://www.missionreports.com/dental_tuolpongro_may07/index.htm In addition Joe Wainer of Foursquare Foundation paid us a visit, along with Fritz and Thomas of the Swiss Warm Blankets organization, who came to assist on the plumbing design of the Garment Factory Worker’s Dorm. Construction proceeded at a slow pace due to a torrential beginning to the wet season. May looked more like October (Never ending rain). Almost all of Cambodia received substantial rainfall on a consistent basis, some have actually had some early flooding, and road travel in some areas is very difficult. http://www.missionreports.com/building_progress_june07/
Have a great June! May God bless
you richly!
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