Cambodia Snapshot

Monthly E-Mail Update from the Tabor Family for August, 2009

Dear Friends and Family,

Hello from Cambodia! I hope and pray this message finds you all doing well. It has been a crazy summer, and the fall doesn't look much calmer, but it has been entirely too long since I last contacted you.

Cambodia Community Bible Institute (CCBI) is Moving Ahead and Falling Behind

One thing that everyone working here agrees on is the need for leadership training and discipleship. The church has grown incredibly over the past 15 years, from about 150 churches to over 2500! But with that growth comes a very real need for leadership training. CCBI was set up to try to help meet this need. In partnership with three local Bible schools we set up a distance based education program to give Pastors and lay-leaders the training they need right in their own communities.

About a year ago we sat down and said "what do we want CCBI to look like this time next year?" We said we wanted the program to grow from 140 students meeting in 10 groups, to about 250 students in more than 20 groups; to almost double the program in one year! There were a lot of challenges that came with this goal, but we wanted to give God the opportunity to do something exciting!

Today we have over 250 students in more than 20 groups across the country! God is doing great things and we are moving ahead! Unfortunately we are also falling behind. The increased load has meant an increase in expenses. In addition, with the current world economic situation and a few unforeseen circumstances, we are short on our budget to finish the year. We are able to train the students for about $100 per student per year, so our costs are low, but we still need your help. Please consider what you might be able to do to help us train the Cambodian Church leaders of tomorrow. By committing to helping cover the costs of even two or three students for the year, you would be making a real impact on CCBI's future. If you would like to partner with us in this endeavor, please send me an e-mail and let me know

More Changes and More Responsibility!

Part of the crazy summer we have been having has been a significant increase in our responsibilities here. In June Troy became a part of the Cambodia field leadership committee for US Assemblies of God Missions Fellowship. On a day to day basis that doesn't amount to much, but rather it means he is a part of making the decisions that set the course and policy for the Assemblies of God's work here. In addition to this, in July we were asked to serve as mentors for a new missionary couple preparing to come to Cambodia next year. Again, it isn't a huge change in the day to day work we do, but does add to the overall load.

Our day to day work has been more impacted by a number of short term projects we received. Troy was asked to write, shoot and edit a number of videos highlighting the Assemblies of God's work in Vietnam. As a part of this Troy was able to be present at the opening of the first "above ground" Assemblies of God Bible School since before the Vietnam war. After finishing 3 videos for Vietnam, Troy was assigned another 5 videos that cover Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, that need to be completed by the end of the year. This gives us the opportunity to be a part of what God is doing throughout the region!

Please pray that God would give us wisdom in the various projects we are working on.

Prayer Requests