Go Beyond

   We left Siem Reap early this morning. After a quick breakfast, we loaded our bags into our Mitsubishi transport and made our way to Highway 6. As we slowly bisected the green fields toward the southeast, Barnabas shared a little more of his story about how he lost his father and six siblings, all Buddhists, to Pol Pot’s killing fields. Barnabas, who was the only Christian in his family, gives God the credit for sustaining and helping him to survive two brutal years of imprisonment. I hope to write more about his inspiring story later.

   Soon after entering Kompong Thom province, we met our escort who led us down the erosion-scarred back-roads to the village of Skun. When we arrived, Pisat, a slender and strong woman, approached our vehicle. Piseth had served as a commander in the Peoples Republic of Kampuchea army, which is now a part of the Royal Khmer Army. She is a Christ-follower who had heard about Barnabas’ church-planting initiatives. She enrolled in Barnabas’ training course for church-planters and has since used her administrative gifts to plant three churches. Pisat is committed to planting churches among Cambodia’s twenty-eight unreached people groups. She does not pastor these churches but instead gives oversight to their work. God recently led her to plant a church among the Kuay people who live in and around the village of Skun. This growing church is in the process of constructing a building that will also serve as a Christian school.

   Piseth did an excellent job of preparing for our arrival. Since Malcolm and I are westerners, she had to arrange for policemen to be present to provide for our security. She also had encouraged the members of the Skun church to invite their families, friends, and neighbors to attend our meeting. And, they did! People from other villages in the area had walked several kilometers to Skun to hear the gospel. When we arrived the people were sitting patiently under awnings flapping gently up and down in the breeze. As we approached, they welcomed us with applause. Barnabas invited me to preach the first message and then he followed-up with the second. At the end of the morning 152 of those present had placed their faith in Christ for salvation.

   Piseth and her team of church-planting pastors interviewed those who professed faith in Christ and noted their home villages. Several village leaders were in attendance and asked that someone plant a church in their villages. The immediate plan is to start new churches in two of the villages that had large numbers of people profess faith in Christ. Piseth wasted no time in talking with the village leaders about the next steps. She and her team have already assigned responsibility to those who will start these new works.

   Before we left Skun, a mother holding her infant daughter approached us. The two-month old girl named Huat was laboring to breathe. Her mother said that her child’s breathing has not been normal since birth. It hurt just to hear Huat struggle to draw a breath. The people of Skun are far from medical care, so the mother asked that we pray for her daughter, which we did. We took the time to talk with the mother and to pray for her baby girl. When I assured her that I would ask the people of Kingsland and other Christ-followers to pray for Huat, peace chased away the anxious look on her face.

   We spent the afternoon in the village of Tnal Bek where I had the privilege of speaking to a gathering of pastors from throughout Kompong Thom province. We met under a tin-roofed shed that serves as the building for the church there. I love meetings like this because they remind me of how vast the kingdom of God is. The kingdom of God is advancing in remote places because of the commitment, faithfulness, and determination of people like those assembled at Tnal Bek. Jesus said that “the kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough” (Matt. 13:33). God’s work is growing here through the leavening work of transformed lives – as one transformed life touches another and then those in turn touch others and so on. I am encouraged to learn about and to see how God’s kingdom is growing in Cambodia one person and one village church at a time.