Reflecting On The Progress In Cambodia...

Happy Khmer New Year to all the Khmers who read this blog! For those who are not of Khmer decent can celebrate with us anyway! For me, as a missionary from the United States, it is a blessing to be able to celebrate two new years because I get to set, renew, and reflect on goals twice in one year. I get to set my goals in January with my American friends and get to set new goals in April with my local friends. I think it's important to share goals and hold each other accountable and encourage one another to achieve such goals, especially if they are goals for Christ! 

As I reflect on the work in Siem Reap, Cambodia and how we first started from nothing to where we are now is truly remarkable. God has truly blessed the work here and I am so thankful to be a part of it. We have an opportunity to change a whole culture from doing what's right in their own eyes to having King Jesus in their lives transforming their whole way of living! 

Five years ago, when we started IBISR, in 2008, we didn’t know that from that first class we would have Christian marriages and families formed, breaking away from the Buddhist cycle of family traditions. We didn’t know that we would have strong faithful leaders to lead and start churches in the villages of Leang Dai and Takam. We didn’t know that we would have loving and compassionate Christians sacrificing and caring for orphans as their own children at Hannah's Hope. We didn’t know that we would send out missionaries of our own to remote places in Cambodia to minister to the poor people who lives on the water in their boats on Tonle Sap, offering clean and safe drinkable water. We didn’t know if people would respond to the gospel genuinely and not for money's sake or make a 'business' out of the gospel as many have in this country. But to this present time, these things have happened to the glory of God! We look forward to seeing much more bountiful fruits being produced in the name of Jesus and we pray that you continue to think of us as you speak to our heavenly Father in prayer. We, like always, will do the same for you on your end.

Brother Vannak (Puen's husband, and one of our 1st year students) and Darat (faculty of IBISR) work part time along with studying and teaching God's word. With this type of mentality and their example, the local church will be autonomous in the very near future. It's one of our many goals that we've set for the local church. We have already started to move in that direction when the local leaders of the church in Siem Reap decided to help fund/support IBISR $100 per month for the rice for our students. If we are able to increase this amount every year, we will hit our goal of being autonomous within 20 years as outlined in our 20 year plan. I am excited to tell you that they came to his decision on their own (as I try not to be in their leader’s meetings so they can make decisions without my influence). I am so happy to see that we share a common goal for the future of the church here in Cambodia. It has been a difficult task to get them to see the vision but it's finally coming together and this just shows how God is working with us and increasing their spiritual maturity! 

Phanat

To see Phanat’s report with pictures, please click here.

Cambodia Coordinator Chronicle

Greetings
It is with great excitement that I am able to report to you the good news from Cambodia and the plans for this next year.

IBISR
We had 8 graduates this past year, 5 men and 3 women. The men have already been teaching and preaching in various parts of the country with success. Each of them now has 2 years of intense Bible study under their belts while maintaining certain benchmarks to pass. We currently have 8 students in their first year of studies.

Church Growth
During 2012 we have seen continued growth in our main congregation of Siem Reap. More male leaders are stepping up and taking leadership roles, with the intent on becoming elders! The membership has increased to about 50 souls. Takam Village continues to be a place of growth and one of our most potential filled sister congregations. We currently have 3 of our past graduates engaged in the work there. This congregation continues to grow and there are plans to start some other congregations in the nearby area. Leang Dai is a place that we have 2 of our graduates working and taking care of those members. This is a farming village and smaller in size but has steady growth. Even though Svay Reng is near the Vietnam border and is small we continue to see maturity and have hope for them.   

New Work 
Two of our recent graduates currently live on a large pontoon boat in the Bos Krolan area on Tonle Sap Lake. These young men will evangelize, study and hold worship services on the boat while also providing purified water with their filtration system to those in the area. This is very exciting and we ask for you prayers in this area.

Future Plans 
In February I will be traveling to Cambodia for 2 weeks to teach a short course for the students.  Another instructor from the Bear Valley Bible Institute will be traveling with me to teach I & 2 Peter as a short course as well. We are already scheduling others to go and teach on the Godhead, Christian Evidence, 1 & 2 Timothy, Evangelism and the Preacher and his family. I am excited to go and report back to you upon my return my personal viewpoint how things are going. Plans also include working to make the students self sufficient, marketing the school locally and establishing a solid Saturday Bible Study program. I will bring more details to these in the next report.

Thank You

2 Thessalonians 1: 3-5
I cannot stress enough how grateful I am to each of you for your support and faith in this work. I believe that training preachers in their native culture is the best way yet to further the spreading of God’s Word. Your actions have brought many to salvation and honor to the Lord by your giving character.

Wes Autrey
Cambodia Coordinator for IBISR
Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver Extension Program

Expansion Considerations In Siem Reap...

Dear brethren,

It is such a great honor for me that I can get to know you all as a godly man and woman who is working hard for Christ's sake. We want to be like you all as mature, faithful, and strong in your faith.

The church in Siem Reap is doing fine. We still keep teaching and preaching what Christ wants us to do and we always want to do that.

We have more people coming to join the worship with us so that our building is filled with people. I discussed with our brothers last week trying to get their suggestions on how to enlarge our building so it will not be too tight for our people who come to worship.

With our building paper work, it's still on the way and I think it will be done very soon, as long as a man that is responsible for measuring the building comes and measures our building to make sure it's right. Then he will bring our document papers for a final man to approve and sign it, then we have all our paper work.

I'll keep you update more about that.  

Thank you so much for your support to the work in Siem Reap. May God bless you all.

In Him
Chann

The Greatest Challenge In Cambodia...

Greetings brethren in Christ!

Welcome to my blog on the work of Christ and my ministry in Siem Reap, Cambodia. It's always a joy to be able to reflect on the work here from month to month and share with my supporters and encouragers about what's going on in my life in this part of the world. Some see it as a chore to report of these things, but I count it as a blessing because it keeps me focused, accountable, and energized! I was recently asked a question pertaining to my ministry about what is the greatest challenge that I am currently facing. It's not the first time I have been asked this question. In the past five years my answers to that same question varied based on my experience. In the beginning it was adapting to the Cambodian culture, its food, way of life, etc. Then as I progressed my biggest challenge was how do I get the lost in this part of the world to recognize that they need Jesus and what's the best way to evangelize to them. Finally, my answer to that question has become, how do I get the saved to trust and depend upon God completely in all aspects of their life. I, myself, struggle with this but am progressing slowly in totally and completely trusting in Him to provide for all things physical and spiritual. Also, as the director of IBISR, the major concern that I have pertaining to IBISR is how do we get our students, after they graduate, to have the mentality of the apostle Paul with respect to his ministry. Meaning do they understand principles like: 

Philippians 4:11-12 (to be content in whatever state, whether it's in lacking of things or in prosperity; handling it correctly as they live their life and serve God)

1 Corinthians 9:1-18 (to know their rights; as laborers for God, they have a choice in receiving support from the local church or not and doing whatever necessary to further the gospel even if it requires sacrifices on their part) 

Acts 20:33-35; 18:3 (the principle of hard work to not only support themselves but help the weak and poor; to understand the blessing of giving!)

These three principles, if developed in our graduates, we won't have to worry much about their high salary or lack there of. We won't have to worry about their incentives and motives for doing Gods work. Hopefully the work study program of IBISR, along with the current curriculum, will get us moving in that direction. We will find out in the next few years as we are still in our developing stages. Please keep us in your prayers.

This month we had four Christians (Ravy and Chealin, Piseth and Rotana) committing to one another in marriage. We pray God's blessing upon them as they embark on  their journey together as Christian husbands and wives!

Phanat

If you would like to see Phanat’s report with pictures, please click here.

Returning With News From Cambodia...

Dear Supporters,

I just returned from a 2 week trip to Cambodia Friday the 8th of March. As always it was a wonderful experience to teach and preach the word of God to these young Christians. The photo tries to show that there are 10 students currently enrolled, 6 men will hopefully become preachers and teachers of the word. I taught for 8 days on a course entitled “Old Testament Lessons for New Testament Christians”. Michael Hite, an instructor from the Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver accompanied me and taught a course on 1 & 2 Peter.

Vietnamese
While visiting we had one Saturday free to go and visit one of the villages on the large Ton Le Sap Lake where many Vietnamese refugees have made their home. We have two graduates living on a boat outfitted with a water purification system. Word is getting out that free fresh water is available through this system where they evangelize to the Vietnamese and Cambodians while they load up on fresh water. It is an outreach that has lots of potential and we are hopeful that it has many good returns in the future.

Orphans
I always spend time at the Hannah’s Hope Orphanage to renew my energy and see what these young children are learning from the Bible. Although the orphanage is not affiliated per se with the Bible school, there is a close connection as many of our past graduates have found work running a nearby orphanage. This could very well be a big part of God’s plan for the church in Cambodia.

Thoughts
Over the course of two weeks many things take place. I continue to try and learn more about the culture so that I can relate to the people. Most of our church members are young and have a very good sense of respect for an older American teacher. I am trying to use that to my best advantage while teaching, preaching and bringing lessons. However, I believe one of the best ways to take advantages is by way of an “active encouragement”. Since the “kids” (as I call them) are new Christians, have had no role models, no teaching experience and are shy in nature, I sense a strong reason to “be a Barnabas” and encourage growth in wisdom and maturity in the Word through love. I cannot stress enough how important this is in the growth of the church there.

I should also mention meeting with the staff and church leaders about goals and plans for the school and the church in Siem Reap. We currently are working on plans for a “Saturday School” to take to the villages and also the city where locals can come and learn the basics about the Bible and Christianity. Obviously this has many benefits to the lost, but also will give us a slightly deeper foundation for those wishing to enroll at our Bible school.

We currently have 3 staff members teaching at the school, two of which graduated in our first class 3 years ago and are teaching without any support but for the love of God and His Word.

Other Highlights

• 2 Baptisms within 3 days of each other of our arrival 
• Witnessed a Christian wedding (this makes 7 Christian married couples in a land where that is not approved of ). This is another example of a foundation that is being built for the Lord’s church in Cambodia. 
• One Sunday’s Worship Service had many denominations and Buddhist in attendance for the weeding including one families province Baptist pastor. My lesson was about the characteristics of a Christian and Michael’s sermon was about the church. So, needless to say we gave them a lot of God’s word to think about. 
• Conducted a skype-devotional between the students at IBISR and the teens at the Bear Valley church of Christ - very enlightening for both sides of the world and it went very well. I would recommend that experience to your congregation, especially for the young folks. 

Akun (thanks)
As always I continue to thank God for your support and belief that the seed is being planted and watered in the Siem Reap, Cambodia area. My family here and my family in Cambodia thank you for your support and prayers. You demonstrate the love that Christ has shown and commanded that we actively provide for one another. 

Wes Autrey 

To see Wes’ report with pictures, please click here.