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July 2009 Cambodia National Day of PrayerJuly 1st was the National Day of Prayer. It's a major event for the churches of Cambodia. Several leading churches hosted an all-day prayer event in a local theater. Among the invited guests were government leaders who graciously allowed the permit for the churches to meet. The day covered the topics from the 18 Pillars of Prayer for Society, a guide book that was given to all who attended.
One extra treat was the performance of a traditional Khmer dance. January 2009 Into the Unknown2009 brings a new uncertainty to ministry here. The USA leadership of the new Converge Worldwide has mutually agreed with Tri Truong to go their separate ways. It is unclear how many things that have existed for several years will work out. Some of this will fall upon us to help sort out. We believe it is in everyone's best interest for the long-term. Pray that we will have wisdom, strength and courage throughout. Pray for new clarity and overall purpose for Converge to minister in Cambodia. We wish Tri many blessings as he carries on his work through World Agape. August 2008 A New Wave of RobberiesJust something to be praying about, there has been a whole slew of robberies the past couple of months. It's strange, when we first arrived everyone we knew had their house robbed. But then it seemed to stop. We didn't hear about any house robberies for 3-4 years. Then all of the sudden we start hearing about all these people whose houses have been robbed - yes, we know some of them. It seems that every week we hear of one or two others that have been robbed. It's a reminder that one cannot become complacent here. The enemy is very active to destroy and discourage those who are here trying to serve Christ. We have been very fortunate that we have not had this problem. But this is one of the reasons we live in an apartment building with 24hr security. July 2008 National Day of PrayerJuly 1st was the annual National Day of Prayer. It was held at the Phnom Penh Bible College and hundreds came from all over Cambodia to join in prayer for their nation, including the elections coming up later this month. It started with a welcome by the secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of Cambodia, a lovely Khmer dance and a time of worship. Then Pastor Barnabas gave a short message to kick off the day-long prayer event.
May 2008 IllnessesPlease pray for our health. A few months ago Paul had a sinus infection that turned into an ear infection. It's still lingering and persistent after 3 months. Mai has what we think is a chalazion on her eye (a lump). It was there for about 3 months and a few days ago got infected. It's not getting better quickly and we think we need to find a doctor. Need a New AssistantToday, my new assistant informed me that he will be accepting an offer from World Vision for more money than I can offer him. He originally applied a long time ago, but they just contacted him. He's only worked for me two months. He's trying to find a replacement for himself. The timing is difficult because Jerry Low is coming in just one month for his summer mission. We are busy making arrangements for that. Thank you for your prayers. I'm not stressed at the moment. December 2007 Back to Cambodia on January 5The past 7 months have flown by. It feels like last week that we just arrived in the USA. Now, we're getting ourselves in order to head back to Asia in just over two weeks. Wow! We are very grateful for everyone of you that we were able to see. It was a blessing to be able to visit our supporting churches. Please pray for the following over the next couple of months.
November 2007 Off To Florida and North CarolinaThis week we're off to the east coast to visit a group of 5 great churches and some of Paul's family. It's been 5 years since we last saw them. We'll be staying with Paul's dad in Florida while visiting churches and making a run up to North Carolina over Thanksgiving to visit Paul's mom and brother. It will be good for Noah and Sonya to see their cousins, Rachel and Rebecca, again. [All of them moved south from the northeast within the last two years.] Please pray for wonderful church and family visits. We'll be gone almost a month. After this trip we have only three weeks to get ready to head back to Cambodia. Wow! August 2007 Pray for Rally/Concert This WeekendThis weekend there is supposed to be a 3-day Christian rally at the stadium in Phnom Penh. The main speaker for the event is Joyce Meyer. Hillsong in Australia has sent one of its main worship teams. Last month, the organizers were told they had permission to go ahead at the stadium, but now that is in question and the event may be moved to a smaller venue - if allowed to go ahead. This event is planned to be the largest Christian rally/concert ever held in Cambodia. It is expected that thousands of folks will travel from all over the country to attend. However, in recent weeks the government has turned quite anti-Christian and very restrictive. They have banned door-to-door evangelism and literature distribution. It's too early to tell if this is a major set-back for the church or just a minor hiccup. Nonetheless, your prayers are needed for God's glory to be revealed in Cambodia. How to Pray for MK'sOMF produces a useful pamphlet to help people to pray more effectively for children who grow up overseas in a third culture. Rather than copy the whole thing here, I'll include a link to the web page for you (How to Pray for MK's). Another one is (Why and How to Pray for M's). June 2007 Leaving On A Jet PlaneThe rainy (monsoon) season is underway here. The days are hot and often broken-up by an afternoon downpour that brings flooding and leaves behind a lot of mud. We'll be missing most of this fairly pleasant season because in a couple of days we'll be leaving for Home Assignment. The last few days have been a whirlwind of activity and packing. And it's not over yet. Please pray for our travels and transition. Adjusting back to life in the USA is usually more challenging than adjusting to life on the field. We'll be at the BGC meetings in Los Angeles in a couple of weeks and hope to see some of you there. Otherwise, Paul will be visiting your church sometime this year. You can see the date of his visit by clicking the Home Assignment Schedule link on the left side. We may be off-line for a while until we can get set-up again. Thank you for your patience. May 2007 It's Coming FastTwo weeks from now we'll be on US soil. It's
been 4 1/2 years and we expect to feel like aliens from another
world. Hopefully, the natives won't treat us like aliens and
shoot-on-sight. Ha ha. So for now, we are in the thick of tying up
some loose ends and preparing for the time warp. So far, plans are falling into place nicely. Paul already has 20 church visits scheduled. You can see the schedule of dates for each visit by clicking the link on the left for "Home Assignment Schedule". He looks forward to seeing many of you in his journeys. The video Paul made turned out quite nice. It's an overview of the past 4 years in 4 minutes, called "Building God's Kingdom in Cambodia" set within the context of a music video of the Khmer version of "My Redeemer Lives" from the worship CD we made. Hopefully, many of you will get a chance to see it. We'll be attending special BGC meetings in Anaheim, CA the last two weeks of June. We may see some of you there. Our home base will be in San Diego. If anyone has any extra guest passes for the San Diego Zoo or other theme park, especially Universal Studios Hollywood, we'd be happy to take them off your hands. If it's easiest for you, just mail them to the Shorts address listed at the bottom of this letter. Some items to pray about:
May 2007 Meeting with Prime MinisterThis morning local time, Pastor Barnabas as well as others Christian leaders from the Evangelical Fellowship of Cambodia met with Prime Minister Hun Sen. It turns out that this was a brief 90-minute interfaith meeting with leaders from Christianity, Buddhism and Islam. The overall tone of the meeting was very positive. The PM encouraged the leaders to work together to educate the people, not just in religious matters. The PM seemed proud of the fact that even though Cambodia lags behind her neighbors economically, she excels beyond them in the area of religious freedom. Though Cambodia is a primarily Buddhist nation, it doesn't need to remain that way forever and that pluralism of religions is good for the country. [The Prime Minister has a son that is a believer.] Let's seize the day and use this spirit of openness for God's glory. May 2007 Pastors Training ConferencePlease pray for the big, 3-day, national pastor training conference August 10-12 here in Phnom Penh. Pastors from all over the country will be attending. One thing of concern is that the guest teacher is Joyce Meyer, a controversial and popular speaker in the USA. The controversy is over her theology not conforming with mainstream Christianity. Anyway, your prayers for God's grace to abound are needed. I'll try to send another reminder in August. Musicianary to CambodiaI've been thinking and praying for some time now about a musicianary coming to Phnom Penh to teach the young worship leaders. Through my work with them on making the CD, I've seen that they really could use some help with their musical skills, skills that I do not have to share with them. However, there are countless people out there with the right sort of skills that could be magnified greatly here in Cambodia. All I'm seeking is for someone willing to come and share those gifts and talents with Cambodia's young worship leaders. "You already know that Cambodia has more than its share of hardships over the past 4 decades, but now God is moving in a powerful way. The church here really is only 15 years old. Cambodia is now the only country in the region poised to really become a great center for Christian training and leadership in the coming decades. Most of her neighboring countries are oppressive to the church, communist or Muslim. There's no telling how long God will keep the door open here. Part of the puzzle for Cambodia to take on a regional leadership role would be to improve it's worship music and this begins with the skills and gifts of those serving in music ministry. However, most of them have no formal training, or access to such training, or simply no one to teach them. I've observed they don't even know how to practice properly. The blessing of someone with such skills willing to spend some time training these worship leaders would be beyond measure." This was an excerpt from a letter I wrote to Street Level Booking Agent who represents many popular Christian artists. But one doesn't have to be a professional to come and serve God in this way. Please pray with me about this need and opportunity for someone to fill it. Please pray that God would move amongst the artists involved with Street Level and that he would call one to come here and share their gift. April 2007 Reflecting Backwards and ForwardsAs our first term in Cambodia draws to a close, it's a natural time to reflect on what's been and what is to come. One of our main goals has been to experiment with different ministries to see where God may be leading for the future. We have both been pleased with how God has led us. Paul has been involved with teaching English and Bible at the Phnom Penh Bible College. He's also produced an awesome praise and worship CD and started a pilot program that teaches poor kids in the province to learn to read/write using Bible based materials. All of these things are great in their own way and do indeed participate in building up God's kingdom in Cambodia. Mai has been involved with teaching Sunday School and worship dance to the kids at our local church. It's been a great fit and we can't see making any big changes, but you never know what God will do next. A few years ago, before we started doing much of anything other than study the language, we had slews of ideas about what might be, most were never followed. As for Paul, he's starting to feel a bit stretched as each of his three areas of involvement pull on him to expand. He may be forced to make some difficult choices to focus on one or two and give up the third. His natural inclination may be to get more involved with the Bible college and cut off the reading program, but whatever God wants is most important. A friend was very encouraging about expanding the reading program into a bunch of one-room school houses around Cambodia in villages that have no school. It's a compelling idea and the need is immeasurable. It's not complicated and a good investment in the long-term. It's not expensive for what you get either. We hear stories about some foreign groups that come to host a two-day seminar for a 1000 people and will spend more than $50,000 USD. We don't doubt that the seminar is high-quality, but it's two days. We could run 5 schools for 10 years with that much money. That's 10 years of kids being exposed to the Bible and learning to read the Bible on their own (and other basic subjects). Anyway, if God wants us to go this direction he'll need to provide the money up front. We'll be available if he provides the resources. It's a good place to be in. It opens us up to God's leading. If he should lead one way - we know to go that way. If he leads another - we go the other way. Sometimes we sit around and swap stories about the kids out in the province. It's really hard to understand how they don't know how to listen to a simple message about God's love. It's even more amazing that they don't even know how to play. They are tiny for their age because of malnutrition. If they eat some rice with soy sauce they are happy. Their little brains go almost completely unused and their lives are little better than farm animals they take care of. What a tragic waste. They have so much potential and virtually no opportunity. If given the chance they are like sponges and will soak up all sorts of new and unimaginable things that most of us take for granted and simply assume that "everyone knows that". If hundreds or thousands of these kids were taught to read and basic math, etc. over a period of years, the impact on the future of Cambodia could be immense. If they were taught about Jesus in school instead of Buddha, they may start to be a transforming force in the culture one day. What a day that would be! P.S. Of course, another praise and worship CD will be forthcoming late in 2008. Preaching This SundayI've been invited to preach this Sunday. As you have time, please pray for my preparation which is normally a strenuous task for me. Although I feel gifted to teach God's word, preaching is a bit of a different animal and I can sometimes feel overwhelmed by the responsibility that goes along with it. My topic is something along the lines of how the church can be involved in the community. Thanks. April 2007 Video UpdateI've been working on my home assignment video for about a week now. I've sifted through the few hours of footage and found a few minutes worth keeping. I'm a bit disappointed in the quality, but I think it will be fine. I started putting it together and had a nice little presentation that was about 12 minutes long. Then I consulted the BGC about the ideal length for such a project and got a response of 3 minutes, but up to 5 minutes would be acceptable. This required me to come up with a whole new concept, which of course came to me as I tried to sleep. As I lay trying to sleep, I worked out the entire new idea before I finally fell asleep. The new concept turned out to be pretty ambitious, but I think it's good. After several days of working on it, I've got it nearly finished at about 4 minutes. Now, I have to put together the additional extra material for the DVD: slide shows and some unused video that I wasn't able to use. The final stage is figuring out how to make it work like a DVD. Thank you for your prayers. They are working. March 2007 Home Assignment VideoRegarding the latest on the progress of my home assignment video, nothing has happened since I last wrote. Given this, I've decided to take all the original footage and do the video myself. The good news is that I've been wanting to learn how to edit video and now I have a great opportunity to do so. I'll do my best and would appreciate your prayers for God to guide me and that I don't get bogged down in excessive creativity. February 2007 Something Good Has HappenedBack in September I wrote an entry called "Something Terrible Has Happened". In it I told of a leading pastor who had fallen into sin and left Cambodia. Well, I now have the opportunity to share some good news. Not long after the incident occurred the pastor returned to California and started counseling and attending church. Repentance was in the making. Wait, it gets better. Just a week ago or so, his wife and two of their children left Cambodia to go be a family again. We are really happy about how this has turned out and only hope that God continues to heal them all. I'm sure that this has even had a positive impact upon the church that he left here and the Christian community throughout Cambodia as they see an encouraging example of sin, repentance and restoration. His oldest son continues to pastor the church that he pastored for many years. The only downside to this is that Noah lost another friend. They left so quickly that Noah didn't get to say "goodbye" to his friend. |
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