“It’s like deja vu all over again.” I’m sure the old Yogi Berra quote will resonate with most Western pastors, who have stared at empty seats, as they read this. We had 1500 chairs set up for a 7:00 pm Easter evening service. I arrived at 6:55pm and there were 150 people there at best. “What a bust!” I’m thinking as I greet the few faithful attendees. Never before had we over estimated an event in fourteen years of Cambodian church history. [...]
As I watched the Easter evening pageant unfold, I couldn’t hep but think of the alternatives for these 10,000 young people, especially the young women. A few days earlier, Jenny Robinson, (FCOPI Staff Member) called me regarding a response to a potential donor concerning our “War on Trafficking.” She tweaked and transcribed the phone response and put it on her blog. Much better than my rant! It’s a good read. See Jenny’s Blog
I watched the movie, “War Horse” on a recent flight to America. When I saw this horse dragging the entire defensive line of barbed wire and just refusing to quit, in my mind I saw our “War Horses of Cambodia.” Guys like Long Khit, our General Supervisor, and other leaders like Mao Mengheian, Some Adt, Kong Khouch, So Sanit, and others who have sacrificed so much to see the Kingdom of God arise. Toe to toe with the Devil in [...]
We keep running into the fruits of the efforts of our FCOP national church leaders. New churches of several hundred members are popping up that we have never heard mentioned. Two new churches emerged up in the Angkorian Region of the Siem Reap province this month. They are outgrowing their houses and just asking for a shelter from the sun. Several of these are being built with no outside help. One such home church is in Khampong Speu province. Several [...]
The most explosive growth of the year has got to be at Tumnup Island. Mak Sou spent two days touring the region with Pastor El Sim, who has built the work from a few faithful followers to more than 80,000 believers in 38 villages. El Sim is a woman of great faith and gifting. As Mak traveled with her, both blind and deaf people were healed. She’s transmitted the Good News through the use of “Proclaimers” a transmitter that plays [...]
I much prefer “Happy Pigs” over “Angry Birds” and would be delighted to feed our swine on bird eggs, even if it meant being pelted by a bunch of disgruntled fowl. Unfortunately, we have no such source of protein for our porkers and have to rely upon rice bran, which we receive as a by-product from our rice mill. This all revolves around our 400 acres of rice production, half of which is now producing two crops per year. That [...]
This was a month of meetings and celebrations. Cambodia New Year knocks out about half a month in terms of productivity. Mak Sou had some of the orphan kids come for a swim, and they had to first “Bless” her. Fortunately, we kept busy during the lull, with meetings and foreign visitors.
For the first time in history, a sitting Foursquare International President has visited Cambodia. Dr Glenn Burris was here and spoke at the Chom Chao service on April 22nd, after arriving from a meeting of the S.E. Asian Church leaders in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. FCOP was there. That was our month. How was yours?
You’re not going to believe this. I had trouble believing it. In fact I sent our General Supervisor to confirm this. Tumnup Island has seen the most remarkable revival in our fourteen year history. It all began a few years ago when General Supervisor Long Khit went to visit one of the only believers on the Island, Mrs. El Sim, who came to Christ back in 2000 when we were running a boat doing evangelism out of Khampong Chhanang along [...]
Mak Sou couldn’t resist temptation. She’d heard so many testimonies about the “Young Lions Ministry” she had to go with them to Kampong Thom and see for herself. She was not disappointed. This church was close to dead and now it is full of new life. The contagion of the “Holy Spirit” seems to infect young people wherever they go. There are now ninety youth meeting at this church who are filled with the Spirit and leading their community to [...]
Why can’t we get the “Lions” where they are needed? Our vehicle fleet is simply not up to the task. We never trade in vehicles; we just wear them out and sell them for scrap. The roads in Cambodia have greatly improved since the early days of our ministry in 1999, but our “Junkyard on wheels” has paid a price. We keep fixing up everything from broken frames, to blown engines, to stripped out transmissions, to bent fenders. Our average [...]
Mak Sou had so much fun in Khampong Thom she took the “Road show” to Rattanakirri. Since the Young Tigers delivered the Holy Spirit to that province two years ago, several hundred new churches have been planted in the province and every ethnic group has a sizable group of Spirit filled believers. All because a few devils thought they could intimidate some tree worshipers by sucking out their blood. The “Tigers” kicked devil butt and they’re not afraid anymore. Fear [...]
There were over 300 neighborhood kids that showed up at our house for a Christmas afternoon party and about 80 of them received Christ. For the first time since 1998, our entire family was together for Christmas. Last March I managed to buy some cheap tickets and it was sure worth it. We really enjoyed the family and some of our grandchildren saw Cambodia for the first time.
On 11-11-11, bands and fans united to put a stop to human trafficking. Traffic-Jam was the theme of a “Prayer-Concert” we did for the factory girls in Cham Chao. There was a packed house and a great number of the girls in our anti-trafficking dorm participated.
All of us who grew up in the northern parts of the USA heard our fathers tell of having to walk through miles of snow to get to school, we will relate to the Cambodian kids complaining of walking five kilometers under a searing sun in order to attend their classes. Now, bragging rights have been dashed in several locations, as up to three kids pile on a bicycle for a quick ride to and from school. Thanks to all [...]
The cause of all (most) wars? Someone’s pissing in your river! In the old movie, “The Man Who Would Be King,” two British soldiers desert the army in India during the 1870′s and cross the Himalayas into Afghanistan. They find themselves in a city that is fighting a battle with the city upstream, they can’t figure out what is going on, when another deserter, an Indian national, explains, “These guys are pissing in the river before the water gets to [...]
I’d rather be friends. Why can’t UNICEF come alongside those that are actually doing something and say, “What can we do to help you?” Are you thinking of ”Trick or Treating” for UNICEF? Don’t! According to Jesus, the Pharisees “…Bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen by men.” Now, if I can be so bold as to apply that to [...]
We had a couple of visitors come by this month to study our success for being the fastest growing national church movement in the world.They came convinced that it was due to our work with orphans and thus, the way to grow a big church was to help orphans. They felt it went like this 1: Help Orphans 2: Plant a Church 3: Let that be a magnet to draw in the rest of the population. It took us a [...]
We’re reaching out to our communities with all sorts of projects. How do you keep uneducated young women from being trafficked? Introduce them to Jesus, and teach them a viable way to replace the income that they could earn on their backside. That’s not easy, but it is what healthy churches do. So, along with other things, we raise crickets which are sold as a healthy, high protein, snack for about $5.00 per kilogram. With some training and about $700 [...]
The Prime Minister wants Cambodia to become a major exporter of rice. The problem is, that in order to do this the government is giving large land concessions to foreign investors, and this is done by grabbing up large tracts of land from small farmers who cannot afford the “Title Deeds”. Most small farmers cannot pay this fee as it costs about $700 to register half a hectare (a little more than an acre). Land grabbing is also fuel for [...]
It is November, the month for the American Holiday called, “Thanksgiving”. It was set up as a time to thank God for His provision. We would like to say, “Thank You!” You may have seen this before, but it always brings a tear to my eye. We are thankful for you! Be blessed! Ted (Pa Thom) and Sou (Mak Sou) Olbrich And those who do all the work, Our Staff
If you are like me, your heart is so jaded, scarred and emotionally beat up from reacting to this year’s ravages of nature that the last thing we want to hear about is another “Disaster.” Except, this is “My Disaster.” Strange how hardened we can become after being so mentally jerked around, and then when it happens to us, expect everyone else to respond with great sympathy. So, if you are not moved to tears, I understand. It’s just that [...]
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