FCOPI Admin Archive

Good Fruit

In these pictures, former FCOP administrative worker, Chomrong, is helping meet the needs of some local children in the small rural village where he lives. Chomrong worked for FCOP’s administrative office for over 10 years, in which time he married, learned valuable trade skills and is now starting to plow a path of being his own business owner. This is one of thousands of examples of how FCOP’s work the last 21 years has always looked towards sustainability models and practices to be situated for the future, as best as possible. This is why, from almost day one, church services …  

Roots

At least two serious attempts have been made to write a book about the FCOP Ministry in Cambodia. The first was in 2008 and for some reason stopped at about 120 pages. The author came to me one day and simply said, “You need to write this book”. Mary Ann Lind is her name and she did a good job of capturing the first three years. I’ve never shared any of this before, except for the end story, and edited it down to the bare essence of about two pages to answer a central question. “Why have you been so …  

Old Habits Die Hard

People often talk about a great global reset that is coming to the world economy, or is possibly already here. Cambodia had it’s own reset in every possible way, as a result of war, genocide and a destabilized government in the 1970s and 80s. One of the results of the reset was property ownership. Cambodia became the wild west, ripe for land-grabbing and squatting as there was not infrastructure enough to write land deeds and determine what belonged to who, even going into the 1990s. Unofficial land deeds and land grabbing has been one of the struggles through out FCOPs …  

Current Challenges

Along with every nation in the world, Cambodia continues to battle against the effects of COVID-19; from shuttered businesses to nation wide lockdowns, mask mandates and no travel zones. During this difficult time, FCOP isn’t only meeting spiritual needs but also the physical by ensuring the health and safety of those in our care. As I write this, two of our refuge centers have been directly affected by COVID-19. Because of contact tracing results, both the Siem Reap and Tumnup refuge centers have been put under 14-day quarantine. We have found that the biggest enemy is and always has been …  

Preserving Fish

As protein is an essential part of a balanced diet and survival, Cambodians have learned to find protein in everything available. There is one protein source that all Cambodians grow up eating and is served thousands of different ways…fish. As part of FCOP’s strategy to become self-sufficient, most of our church refuge centers have developed fish ponds that help to provide the necessary protein for the kids and staff. When it comes to preserving fish, it can be quite a challenge due to there being no refrigeration resulting from a lack of electricity in many areas of the country.  The …  

Rice Farm News

Planting has been the toughest part of the growing season in our 22 years. But, FCOP has had timely rains so far and the rice looks good. At present our concern is keeping it above water. Thanks to our workers’ continuous efforts, our dikes are stronger and higher than ever. Flooding is always a concern in September but we are running more than a month ahead of schedule for all our seasonal changes in 2021. Record rains in China threaten the upper Mekong but thankfully they are mostly east of the Mekong headwaters. We really need a good harvest! Please …  

A History Lesson

According to Carl Von Clausewitz, in his famous 1832 book On War he states, “The political object is the goal, war is the means of reaching it, and means can never be considered in isolation from their purpose.” In that case, it looks like China is winning WW3. Does that sound like insanity? Warfare has evolved from the first cavemen bashing each other with clubs, to Egyptian archers and chariots, to knights in shining armor, to rows of soldiers with muskets blasting away at each other, to the trenches and tactics of WWI, to the atomic bombs of WWII, the guerrilla …  

Warfare Tactics 8.0

We no longer need guns and bombs to achieve political objectives. We have human missiles that carry a virus and that virus has infected the entire world. It is very interesting that the Chinese Vaccine for CV-19 is a traditional attenuated virus, whereas the the two most popular and widely used vaccines in the USA are modified RNA vaccines. These have the potential to alter the genetics of those who take them, making US citizens less resistant to future attacks. The enemy is actually, “Evil”. Although this force involves several allies, it appears as though China, as the Chinese Communist …  

Dead Sea Scrolls

In 2017, Israel launched an intensive hunt for antiquities. Items found included a 10,500 year old basket, a 6,000 year old skeleton of a 12 year old boy and a few coins dating to a Jewish rebellion in AD 132. On March 17th, according to CBS News, Israeli archaeologists announced the discovery of dozens of new Dead Sea Scroll fragments (click to read article). They were found in a desert cave and likely stashed away during a Jewish revolt against Rome nearly 1,900 years ago. Among the recovered texts, which are all in Greek, is Nahum 1:5-6, which says, “The mountains quake because …  

Church Improvements

As Cambodia continues to deal with the effects of it’s first major outbreak of COVID-19, dubbed the “February 20th Incident”, churches (along with many other institutions) are prohibited from meeting. So, as activities are significantly restricted, some of our staff with extra time took it upon themselves to make improvements at our Phnom Penh church refuge center. When FCOP purchased the land nearly 22 years ago for our church refuge center in the capital of Cambodia, we did it in an area where the prices were dirt cheap and we could get the size of land we had a vision …  

FCOP Rice Production

FCOP’s rice production hasn’t seen the results we’ve hoped for, YET. Circumstances completely out of our control have created unimaginable challenges. Still, we continue to develop our land as we strive for self-sustainability. It’s a process we’re committed to that will help resource FCOP to continue doing ministry for decades to come. Even as we continue to focus on development, we are seeing measured results giving us hope for a bright future. FCOP sold and delivered 22.5 tons of milled rice to Home of English in the capital city of Phnom Penh. Steve Billington, the founder of Home of English, …  

In the Hands of God

Sometimes it’s hard to accept reality. We often want circumstances to work out the way we see fit. The issue with that is we still have a fallen nature that can be selfish, and our understanding of reality is finite, whereas God’s is infinite. As Isaiah 57:1 says, “The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil.” Our minds would never want to accept ill-fated circumstances that we would feel are cutting someone’s life short, but the truth is, …