FCOP Update -- November 2004

Dear Friends and Family,

For all the pictures go to: http://www.missionreports.com/nov2004/

Pastor Peter, our national church president, says, “Two tigers could eat me and there’d still be some left”. Actually, he’s not that heavy, about 170 pounds, 5’-10” tall, but compared to the 125 pounds he was 5 years ago, he’s grown a bit. I say he needed it to contain all the responsibility he’s taken on. Actually, it is indicative of the ‘gospel lift’ that we see when a community comes to the Lord, they just seem to start to prosper, get healthier, work harder and be more content. I am sure you can site all kinds of sociological reasons for this, but I think it is spiritual. The key is “Hope!” There is no substitution for it. Can you imagine being responsible for 1103+ churches with most of your pastors only a couple of years old in the Lord??  With this many churches you always have problems. Last month was a hand wringer, and a heart breaker for us. We had to let a former General Supervisor and a Divisional Superintendent go over morals and corruption issues, and that is never fun.

Anyway, Peter (Petros in Cambodian) is a special guy! Sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide (Hey! I greased the skids on my soapbox so, it comes out of the closet easier) I gotta climb up on this thing. It’s getting more difficult with my 58 year old knees. Ready? Here we go! “About three years ago I wrote a paper, to get out of meeting with some people, regarding factors I saw as significant to our success in Cambodia. I’ve decided I missed a major, if not the primary, point. You’ve got to sort through a few Sauls to find your David. See, I’ve got a big problem. I like to judge things by what I see, feel and hear. I am convinced that 99.99999 percent of all missionaries have the same problem. Given a choice we will always pick a Saul over a David. Saul’s look like leaders, act like leaders, talk like leaders, move like leaders, and always turn out to be self centered glory seekers. We went through two Sauls before we found our David, and you know what? He was there all the time, in the background, killing lions, tending sheep, keeping quiet, doing his thing. Saul, he’s out there being a “KING”. Read your Bible, it is not easy to rid yourself of a Saul, but it is essential. It was costly for us each time. We lost three church facilities, three vehicles and a lot of time and money invested in development. Was it worth it? In a hot second! Would I want to go through it again? Not in this life! At the departure of Saul #1 we had about 30 churches. He was pretty obvious. His departure was messy, but manageable. Saul #2 took us to about 200 churches, but a good number of the pastors he attracted were of a kindred spirit, in it for the money and looking for personal benefit. That one was messy! The two major disciplines we had to administer this month still date back to his leadership flaws and my poor choices.

So, can you avoid the trap?? Knowing human nature, I’d say chances are slim. The real question is: will you have the intestinal fortitude to deal with Saul when he surfaces?? It took prophetic guidance, a minor war with my wife, (BTW always listen to your wife!) and a confrontational nightmare, to deal with the second mess. What is really hard on the ego is that I had no one to blame but myself, I’d invested so much of my time and effort into developing him it was emotionally more painful than an amputation. He’s still out there, being a great Saul, razzel-dazzeling the unsuspecting foreigners, soliciting all kinds of well intentioned money, and building a personal empire. But, I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes. The proof is in the fruit. He has a collection of few, if any, functional churches; goes around passing out free rice, attracting big crowds to impress gullible foreign guests, and in reality does the Kingdom of God more harm than good. Peter just keeps slogging along virtually giving away anything he has to enhance the church. The result? 1103++ churches with more coming on board almost every week. We have leaders who are young and untrained, but committed to the cause of Christ, and a spirit of unity and purpose beyond valuation.

How do you spot the David’s? Well, I’ve got bad news, you won’t notice them, they will never try to impress you, they are usually quiet, maybe not the greatest preachers, they will not seek you out, and they will not tell you how wonderful you are. They may come, very humbly, and offer to help solve a problem, or even meekly correct you, but they will always be pouring themselves into building the church, and asking for nothing more than a chance to serve. They are not vindictive, prefer to forgive and let the Absaloms live, and always seek to restore and build rather than destroy. Outside leaders, Sauls, will look down on them, call your David incompetent, stupid, condescend to him, and feel superior. The thing is, he (David) doesn’t get upset. Never mind the critics! Stick with your David. They are rare! When, if, you find him, he will die for you. He will never betray you, and you can trust your life with him. I can say it is true. There are those that are closer than a brother. Find your David, even if his name is Peter, and pour your life into him. You will never regret it.” Sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide, it’s back in the closet. I’m done. Thank you very much!

The “Royal Flush”: Almost all Cambodians have only known one King, Sihanouk, crowned in 1939 he led the country to independence from France in 1953 and then ran the country as Prime Minister from 1953 to 1970 during the golden days known as the “Sihanouk era”. Deposed to China via a coup-d’e’ta in 1970, returned to the throne by the Vietnamese in 1979, he is both loved and hated by Cambodians, but always respected. He has been diagnosed with cancer, and in failing health abdicated the throne early this month. The one son, that most Cambodian’s wanted to succeed him, is making too much money as boss of a political party. To be king would significantly lower his financial expectations. Thus, the new King, a son who studied ballet in France, and spent a lot of time in North Korea, has unenthusiastically been selected to the throne. The big problem for us is that this whole mess has thrown the whole question of religion to the forefront. All new permits for churches have been either cancelled or put on hold. One denomination even offered a “fee” of $2200 for a permit for a single church and was turned down. Since we have several new construction facilities still awaiting final permits we need your prayers for favor. Several construction projects are on hold. The situation is very fluid. This could turn out to be a serious challenge.

We got it! I couldn’t believe my eyes as I read the email. The day after I sent the last update appealing for a rice mill, a pastor whom had only met me a couple of times, wrote and said that the Lord told him to do it. First, he came to visit, after one look at our purchased site, in the heart of rice country. His congregation backed him and they sent $21,000 for the purchase of the mill within a week, then they also sponsored a church/home and built a cafeteria building. The next problem was an affordable rice mill. I’d been told we could find a used one for $17-18,000. That was very optimistic! We’d checked everywhere and it was not looking good, $25,000+ for a decent used mill, Yikes! Then, out of the blue, we get a call from a miller about 20 miles from the site we’d purchased. He’d built a new mill six months ago, contacted a disease (I think AIDS), needed money fast, his wife was divorcing him, and he’d sell for a fraction of his cost. The price for the mill, which included sewing and bagging equipment, a scale, a piece of land which we could use for a church, and a beat up building was more money than we had. We made an offer of $21,000. After some haggling they took it. Anyway, the whole thing is miraculous. We are building like crazy to beat the harvest. We could still use some money for a generator ($5000) and concrete ($10,000). Somehow, I feel like one of you guys will bless us with that, and we will soon be milling our own rice thus, reducing our orphan food cost by a good 30 percent. PTL! God is good! Any takers???

What have I been doing? Well I made two whirlwind trips to the States this last month, one for four days, and another for eight. I think I have entered a state of permanent jet lag. I spoke in seven churches and probably more than ten services, hopefully picking up several church/home sponsors. This is my greatest need. If you, your church, your business, or district, or whatever can find 10 people to give $150 per month, or 150 to give $10 per month, you can sponsor a home. Thanksgiving and Christmas are great times to do this. I know one large church that asked 500 families to give up Sunday night pizza for one night per year. That raised the $18,000 in one shot, which is the amount needed to fund a home (40-50 children, 10 staff, and a pastor) for a year. This covers the expense of food, clothing, medical, dental, shelter, staff, and education for an entire year (everything). A group of dedicated individuals can do this; a district of churches can do this, as well as a single wealthy individual. Please ask God about it. Check out: http://www.warmblankets.org  or http://www.foursquareorphans.org/

The big challenge before us this next year is this: We have more than 1200 church planters (we call them pastors), they know how to pray, they know how to led someone to Christ, but probably 70-80 percent don’t really know how to capture the heart of God and express it in the form of a message or, if I may be religious, a sermon. I realize that teaching is a gift, an impartation, but it can also be taught to a certain extent, and everyone can improve their communication skills. We must produce more pastors from our crop of church planters without destroying their zeal. The fact is, that right now, if our church were a river, we’d be a mile wide and an inch deep. Personally, I am glad it is that way, but this next year our course is clear. We must dredge the waters. We must train, teach, instruct and impart the ability to lead our people into a deeper relationship with the Lord. It is no small task. Time and resources are our enemies, but God is our strength and help. Some of you have asked for prayer topics. Put this at the top of your list.

Anna Blake (our missions team leader) has been a very busy young woman. We’ve had several teams here from Switzerland, Northwest Medical Missions, Moline, IL (pictures above) as well as the usual church growth stuff. I thought you’d enjoy seeing how we send a new pastor into an un-churched community. The pictures on the web site show how we take care of housing needs and the resulting home group. Life is never dull for us, sometime we wish it could slow down a bit, but this is Cambodia’s time. Please continue to pray for us and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Ted, Sou and Hannah,

Cambodia