Dear Friends, May 2019
After exploring ministry options in Cambodia this past year, we believe God is leading us to Banteay Meanchey, the province bordering Thailand in the Northwestern part of Cambodia. The leaders of the Pastors Association of Banteay Meanchey confirmed to me that they urgently need our ministry. They have invited me to return in November to speak to all pastors of this province regarding a potential gospel festival. One female pastor told me how she became a Christian. She had stage 4 cancer and her doctors gave up on her. But God sent a Christian who prayed for her. Of course, God healed her and began to use her to spread the gospel. In that process, she became a pastor herself and planted a church. God worked miracles through this lady and her church once had 600 people in this Buddhist province where Christians represent less than 1% of the population. Church attendance has dwindled since many of the men have moved to Phnom Penh in search of work. This pastor was excited about the possibility of a gospel festival in her region knowing that only intense evangelism and leadership development will strengthen her church and others in the area.
Upon returning from Cambodia, I got a message from Houston that my good friend and coworker Larry Jackson was called home to heaven when the Lord set him free from his cancer. His funeral was a huge celebration of a life well-lived and hundreds of Christians and local pastors attended. Larry had served in the US military as a young man and was honored at his burial with a military protocol and presentation of a flag to his wife Annie.
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness . . .” (2 Tim. 4:7-8). I pray that my funeral will be a huge celebration like Larry’s and I commit my life to the hand of my Master once again. You may enjoy listening to the song, “Well Done” by the Afters which describes what it will be like meeting Jesus in heaven and hearing Him say, “Well Done!”
Serving the Lord Together,
David Chung
