August 26, 2018

August 26, 2018

Dear friends,

We had a wonderful weekend of ministry here in Cambodia. Very early Saturday morning Debbie and I traveled to one of the village ministries to serve for the weekend. We normally go to this particular village one weekend a month.

This past December we lost the property that we were renting for the church because the owner wanted to sell it. Since then we have been meeting in a chicken coop. It is not ideal but it helps keep most of the rain and blazing sun off of the folks while they are at church.

We are always encouraged when we have the opportunity to be with the believers who are a part of this village outreach. Many of them have been saved out of Islam and have paid, and are paying, a high price because of their faithfulness to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our hearts were touched Sunday morning as we saw this little girl work her way through the congregation from where her parents were sitting in order to get a hug from her grandmother! I clearly remember the time when her parents were scared to tell Grandma that they had become Christians because they knew that she would be very angry. Now she is a joyful Christian who is living for the Lord and praying for her husband to be saved! Thank God for the power of the gospel.

Several weeks ago we began building a church building on some property just outside of the Muslim village. Most of the project thus far has been funded by the national believers. We are taking it step by step. It is an amazing thing to see the men, women, and even young children each doing their part and laboring in the hot sun in order to have a building where the church can meet. Please help pray for this building project as it is very labor intensive. Everything is being done by hand without the benefit of many of the modern means we might use in the first world.

Here is a short video update I shot in the village this morning. In the video you can see the folks working on the foundation of the building – bucket by bucket. You will notice Binya, who photo-bombed our video 🙂 He is a joyful young man, and who knows, maybe he will become the pastor of this village church one day…

This evening we had a wonderful service in Phnom Penh. It was our last summer Family Night for the year. We were all encouraged through the fellowship, testimonies, singing, and the preaching of the Word of God by one of our national men. This was Jason’s first time to lead the singing for our Sunday night service. He did a great job!

We are blessed by these four young adults who will begin studying in the Bible college in September. Each of them were saved through the soul-winning efforts of our church folks. All four of them are faithfully serving in our various village outreaches, soul-winning, and children’s ministries. I recently met with one of them as they sought counsel regarding their future. My heart was broken as I heard of the stand they are taking for the Lord and the ridicule and pressure they are facing from their unsaved family. I don’t know very many young people (from saved or unsaved families) in America who would joyfully sit in front of their pastor and with tears streaming down their face say that they don’t believe God desires for them to accept the full scholarship they have been offered to study in secular university because they believe He is calling them to attend Bible college so that they can more effectively reach their own people with the gospel. Indeed, our responsibility before God to young people like her is great. We believe that it is the responsibility of the local church to disciple new believers and so it is a responsibility that we gladly bear. We ask you to continue to pray for our team as well as for the students who are being discipled through Pacific Baptist Bible College.

In closing, we are drawing closer to the time when we need to make some decisions regarding whether the Lord would have us to begin a Christian school in order to assist the parents in our ministries in the training of their children. This is a heavy burden on the hearts of many of the young couples who have been saved here at Pacific Baptist Church of Cambodia. There are so many factors involved in making this decision. Please help us pray for the following specific requests that pertain to starting a school:

1) For a qualified national from our church to be called by God to help lead the school

2) Continued desire on the part of the parents to see their young children protected from the evil influences that permeate many of the schools

3) Proper facilities for our Phnom Penh church that will not only accommodate the congregation for public services but will also allow us to start a Christian school that will be licensed and legal to operate in this country

We are presently in the process of looking for land and praying for God’s direction. Whether or not we start a school, we are going to need to make a move in just over a year or so that is well beyond our own capacity to make. Rental prices are going through the roof and we are going to be in trouble when our lease is up this next year. Likewise, land prices are ridiculously high and not within our reach in the city. We are currently looking at some locations on the outskirts of Phnom Penh that would perhaps be a bit more affordable but will still require God’s provision.

Because of God’s grace,

Dave & Debbie