January 20, 2013

January 20, 2013

Dear friends,

Our hearts are rejoicing to be able to be a part of what God desires to do here in the Kingdom of Cambodia. His name is being made known in a mighty way through this ministry as well as other churches of like faith. Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and support for the work here. There is fruit that is remaining to your account. We are so grateful to report that there was a total of 763 different folks in the various ministries of our church this past week. To God be the glory great things He hath done! Several children and adults made professions of faith this past week as well. Please continue to uphold these new believers in prayer as they continue to grow in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The persecution has begun to intensify once again in one of the village churches. I thank the Lord for the encouraging update that Brother Keo shared with the church this evening about the solid stand that the believers are taking there in that Muslim village.

We had wonderful services this morning here in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Several of our young men sang a special. This was their first time to sing on a Sunday morning and they did a wonderful job of lifting up the name of Christ. Some of the teen girls and ladies also sang a special number. The leaders are doing a fantastic job of mentoring the various music groups that have been started. We now have 6 different music groups that serve in the church. Very soon Debbie will, Lord willing, begin teaching piano to four or five of the young people. None of them will be able to afford a keyboard so I’m sure our family will be blessed by hearing them all practice on our keyboard throughout the week. : )

This morning I began a series entitled “The Transformed Life.” The emphasis this morning was two-fold: 1) It’s only as we read, memorize, and meditate upon God’s Word that we will have our lives transformed – John 15:3, “Now are ye clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” 2) As we allow God’s Word to transform our lives, our friends in the world will begin to wonder why we are so different – 1 Peter 4:4, “Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess or riot, speaking evil of you.”  Over the next several weeks we will be touching upon various changes that are evident in the life of a growing Christian. As a church we will be memorizing the book of 2 Peter together this year. It was a blessing to see that several of the folks can already quote the first few verses. Each week during our Wednesday evening service we have a short time that we review our Scripture memory together.

We had a great turnout for the 11:00 Children’s Ministry as well with 191 children in attendance. We are in the process of training more workers who are able to preach for the various Children’s Ministries that are operating in several villages throughout the week. As any children’s program in the States would do, we have singing and game time with the children each week. However, the Children’s Ministry is built upon the teaching and preaching of the Word of God. It is a blessing to see the young children respond to the working of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Today Brother Kosal preached for our teen service on the roof. Kosal has taken some serious steps of spiritual growth over the past 9 months. Please uphold Kosal in prayer as he maintains a very busy schedule teaching English in a local university as well as volunteering here at the church many hours each week. I believe that, as he remains yielded to the Lord, God will use him in a mighty to reach more of his people.

Our church theme for this new year is ” Watch Ye.”  This week we will have this graphic printed as a large banner and it will hang in the auditorium as a reminder of the theme. Many of the messages this year will be geared around this theme as well. We are grateful for Missionary Sara Vong’s help in laying out the graphics for this year’s theme.

It was a blessing to be able to purchase our fourth Tuk Tuk this past week. The Tuk Tuks are very helpful to transport folks to and from the village ministries during the week. Though they are a bumpy and windy ride and often break down due to the inferior parts that are used here in Cambodia, we are thankful not to be riding on horse and buggy! We are grateful for some godly people in Costa Rica who are friends of our ministry and who have a heart for world missions. They made it possible for us to purchase this Tuk Tuk.

This evening, as is our custom, we took a special time during the service to share blessings. Many people shared how God has been working in their lives and of their joy in serving Him. After sharing blessings we had a short Bible Sword Drill. They always enjoy this time of competition.

Here is the link to a 6 minute video that we shot this evening after the service. In this video you will meet Brother Adrian Torres. Adrian is a new missionary from our home church and he will be working with our team here in Phnom Penh. https://vimeo.com/57786153

Because of God’s grace,

Dave, Debbie, Joshua, Jeremy, and Jason