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Notes from PPCOC
Hello Brothers and Sisters,
This year May was not so hot as we observed last year. I got
lot of rain almost every afternoon. Two events took place
during May at about same time. We had Brother Tobego from South Africa
and we learned much more from him about Church Management by
his sermon and Bible class on last Wednesday of the month.
Brother Tobego's visit was sign of concern of South African
brethren for PPCOC and we are looking forward for more
visits from leadership of that mature Church for
administrating tips and to share spiritual growth of our
Church members.
June started with departure of Brother Lynn Nelson and
family from Cambodia back to USA and thanks God that now
they have reached Cameroon safely for coming years.
Brother James Lork was invited by River Road Church of
Christ GA, USA for two weeks and shared news about Church
with them more personally and in detail. He briefed
brethrens and leadership there about current situation and
placed proposals for future cooperation as newly established
Church; Phnom Penh Church of Christ has much to do in coming
time. After his successful visit Brother James got sick and
it was very difficult for him to manage things properly for
coming weeks but he being enthusiast servant of God kept his
jobs and got better later on.
In late August Brother Richard Dolan arrived with family to
serve with CBI as resident Dean. He has spent long years as
Youth Minister and we hope that Lord will use him to mold
CBI students as faithful servants. Brother Rich with his
wife and daughter is learning Khmer now, so our Khmer
services on Wednesday evening and on Sunday morning give
opportunity to hear Word of God in local language. Brother
Jerry Canterall also visited to teach Book of Daniel and
Thessalonians to Bible students there. He also worshipped
with us at Phnom Penh Church of Christ.
Phnom Penh Church of Christ is working continuously to
mature ministries and thanks God that our members are
becoming aware of importance of discipline in Church.
Currently we are requesting to you to pray for our building
problem as owner of current building wants to sell building
and it is difficult to find building with same facilities in
this area even at same fare.
With best wishes for you all.
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PHNOM PENH CHURCH OF CHRIST - Who We
Are-
We hope that you all may have heard about PPCOC but who are
we? This maybe the question in some minds. So Please allow
us to introduce ourselves.
Phnom Penh is capital of Kingdom of Cambodia and most
populated city in heart of country. Several brothers from
other countries visited for evangelical purposes but things
started to move forward around 1999 when Brother James Lork
came back from Singapore after graduating from Four Seas
Bible College. He was joined by Brother Bob Berard until
Brother Bob passed away in road accident in 2003.
Afterwards things started to decline but God chose Brother
Lynn Nelson to join us here and with his expertise in the
mission field we are getting mature in all aspects of Church
life both physical and spiritual. He has conducted a series
of lessons touching several subjects.
Now PPCOC is stepping forward in a more organized way. All
people who are working for Church are volunteers. We admire
efforts of Brothers Lynn and James to encourage new
Christians to come forward and play a role in the Church
because Cambodian youth are shy although they are energetic.
People in attached pictures are Brothers James Lork
(Preacher), Tawn Lork (Preaching Assistant), Sokhon Sam
(Finance Minister), Vanny Sea (Welcome Minister), Sophea
Chab (Youth Minister), (Office Assistant) and Sister
Neing Srey (Children Affairs).
We hope that God will give a chance to most of you to visit this
beautiful country and we will be honored to host you.
Thanks to God and our Lord Jesus Christ that He is using us
for His Great Commission. Phnom Penh Church of Christ has
welcomed two souls into His Kingdom during the past month.
Brother Chheave and Sister Lina. Sister Lina was 'immersed'
in water by some denominational people but after her
marriage with Brother Toul Vessna; God gave her the
opportunity to learn and differentiate between true and
false forms of religion. Brother Chheave has just completed
his study from school and God has given him a chance to hear
The Word which led him to The Truth.
Upcoming event is our annual Youth Retreat
Camp. This time our destination will be Siem Reap. We will
be there for 3 days on weekend of April. We have invited
some brethren from 'surrounding' Churches too for this
fellowship which will give them chance to meet and exchange
ideas with others.
Please keep us in your prayers that by time we become able
to serve Him more better with maturity and self-sufficiency.
"
His grace is greater than my sins.
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PPCOC-
Stepping out in faith: Hand in Hand- Retreat Camp Siem Reap
6-8 April 2007
April can be better described as a month of holidays in
Cambodia.
Cambodian New Year occurs in midst of this month but people
start to celebrate 15 days before. Moreover 1st April,
Sunday was election day too and most of Church members also
went to their home town to cast their votes.
Phnom Penh Church of Christ was planning Retreat Camp
managed by Youth Ministry for months. Siem Reap had been
chosen as destination.
There are two (2) Churches in Siem Reap, one in city and
other is in suburbs. Both are being served by
Brother Chann Lork and his wife
Sophan. Brother Chann conducts free English study classes at
both places which not only attracts younger students but
also literate mature people to know about The Way. We lived
just next door to Siem Reap Church and used Church building
for all meetings. Allow me to add
that we found very good people at both our hotel and
restaurant.
As we have told you before that PPCOC is serving like
nucleus to Churches surrounding Phnom Penh. So Youth
Leadership decided to invite brethren from those Churches to
join us. We were 14 men, 19 women and "future" of Church.
The theme of this Camp can be stated as, "Stepping
out in Faith-Hand in Hand" because we not only refreshed
our souls with Word of God but
also utilized time to encourage brethren in Siem Reap area
and exchange views with other participants beside our own
Church.
We, people from Phnom Penh , Toum Nup Thom, Kassanung
Paayium, Tro Peng La Pek and Tra Pang Krasang (5 Churches)
Churches of Christ
departed from Phnom Penh just before noon on 6th April and
arrived at Siem Reap in evening. That was "no electricity
night" in Siem Reap but we conducted our planned Bible Study
conducted by Brother James Lork in candle light.
Second day, in morning, we had study of "Plan of Salvation"
with Cambodian translation by Brother Tawn
Lork. After Bible Study most visitors went to traditional
pilgrimage of Angkor Wat and enjoyed beauty of nature and
were surprised by amazing work of ancient
men who built those long lasting buildings.
In evening, there was word of encouragement by Brother Lynn
Nelson with translation of his message by Brother James in
Cambodian
language. As an experienced preacher he used simple
illustrations to convey The Word.
Thrid day was Lord's Day and we worshipped at Siem Reap
Church. As almost every Church follows different pattern of
worship, so it was
good experience and chance of observation for some youth who
have never visited any other Church besides their own.
This trip from 6th to 8th April was not only useful by study
of Word, meeting new people or watching beauty of Angkor but
it helped future leaders how to manage people of different
backgrounds by complying with their needs and wishes.
They had challenge to make quota for every Church according
to her membership and ask them to sacrifice their desires
for some brethren.
The four Churches around Phnom Penh with difficult names to
pronounced like Toum Nup Thom, Kassanung Paayium, Tro Penhg
La Pek and Tra Pang Krasang were established during last 5
years. But they also have same problem which was with PPCOC
i.e. to look for some to feed. Toum Nup Thom has done some
good job and now PPCOC leadership is thinking to
export self-reliance policy to other Churches too.
In last words, Please pray for brother Koun Khim who is
Bible student and member of Church as he has some abdominal
disease which forbade
him to join us in Retreat Camp. And also all of us that we
become useful servant of Lord with sacrificing zeal.
We are thankful to all brothers who supported us with
prayers, words of encouragement and financially to have this
wonderful event.
Yours in Christ
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