God on the Move in Cambodia

Update from Christa in Cambodia:

Today began a 4-day conference (Asian Christian Conference) hosted by New Life Fellowship. The conference is expected to have nearly 4,000 attendees and this morning the church took the opportunity to hold a vision casting meeting for the 400+ pastors, leaders, and families from the village church plants of New Life that traveled to the city for the conference.

Village Pastors sharing with the congregation

You can see in one of the photos a boy wearing a PFK shirt – he and his family came all the way from the village of Roloch, which is 6-7 hours away from the city of Phnom Penh. This is one of the 8 villages that have a PFK program.

During the meeting, the missions pastor at New Life shared about the church’s goal of planting 500 new house churches in the next 5 years, affecting every province in Cambodia.

The 7 provinces that were represented in that meeting each set a goal of how many churches they want to see started in their province in 2016. The numbers ranged from 6-30. It was emboldening and exciting to see this church step out in faith with a goal like this, along with strategies and plans for how to accomplish this.

Missions Pastor sharing further details on vision for 500 church plants in 5 years

They talked about what a great burden and concern it is for them to see the economy and development of Cambodia advancing and growing at a faster rate than Christianity in Cambodia. For so many of us, we look at statistics like those as “normal” and “unchangeable”.

This church in Cambodia refuses to see that as normal, and trusts God for the impossible as they seek to follow Christ in such a way that constantly invites others to and spreads the gospel like wildfire. Over the next 10 years, they hope to see the percentage of Christianity in Cambodia increase from 2% to 10%.

IGNITE interns Kaitlin and Shelby preparing to help with Child Care, including face painting for the kids

 

 

A Light in the Darkness

Our media director at Potter’s Field Ministries is Pastor Steve Miller, Senior Pastor of Calvary Chapel Blue Island for 16 years, and long-time friend of Pastor Michael and Pam.

Pastor Steve’s wife Janice is part of the Chickasaw tribe, and was raised from youth on and around Indian Reservations in the Southwest. Having this history, Pastor Steve and Jan have always had a heart for the American Indians. Pastor Marty Balk and his wife Dena have been living on the Blackfeet reservation in Browning, MT for 19 years. They have a church, Glacier View Baptist Chapel, and are able to minister to those they live in the midst of.

This past April, we caravanned with staff and our IGNITE Class 7 interns, and made the hour and a half drive from Whitefish to Browning to do a church takeover, where we had a teaching, testimonials, food, and put on a Kid’s Club. We had another VBS-style Kid’s Club in June like we do in different locations all around the world, and last night Pastor Michael and Pam were able to do their Potter’s Field presentation in the Methodist annex building in the middle of town.

 

Please keep Potter’s Field and Browning, MT in your prayers as we continue to move forward in our relationship with Pastor Marty and further explore how we can help minister to those in the Blackfeet Nation.

‘Til the Whole World Hears!

A Missionary’s Perspective

Matt and Brooke McClain, along with their three beautiful children, have been serving with our ministry for over five years, originally in Costa Rica, but residing at our Center in Guatemala for the last two years. Matt wrote this post for us about witnessing lives transform over the years…including their own.

“The Lord’s hand was surely upon our lives in orchestrating the way Brooke and I began serving with Potter’s Field Ministries over five years ago. “Transforming lives forever” is the vision the Lord gave us when He called us to the mission field in 2007. Although we were initially called to the field to serve in a discipleship ministry in the capital of Costa Rica, the vision the Lord gave Pastor Mike Rozell over twenty years ago is something we are still passionate about in our every day lives today. Over the past eight years serving on the mission field and working with children, teenagers, young adults, and also adults- both from Latin America as well as our own culture,

we truly have seen the Lord transform lives.

We also have seen the Lord transform each of us more into His image over these years. I’ve always wondered, “Did the Lord call me to the mission field to ‘transform the lives’ of others by sharing the saving power of His gospel with them or did He call me to the mission field to be transformed myself?” I believe the answer is “yes” and “yes.” Without a doubt the Lord has placed me in a position, now serving with PFM in Guatemala, to be a living sacrifice that is poured out on the altar for Him and for His glory as I serve others. I believe a big part of serving Jesus and living in a culture not my own is for the work the Lord desires to do not only in me but in my family as well that will carry over for generations to come.

 

The staff of PFM and the people that serve in the ministry are ordinary people. We’ve all got a story to tell and every story is different. But the one thing that is extraordinary about this ministry is the God we serve. He has taken willing vessels yielded to His purpose and guided by His Spirit and He is using them around the world in the rice fields of Cambodia and in the slums of Kenya and amongst the ruins of Antigua and in the big sky country of Montana. As we look to their lives and see that their lives make much of Jesus, it’s our desire that our lives, too, make much of Him – ’Til the Whole World Hears!'”