3ABN Today

Salt Ministries

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

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Series Code: TDY

Program Code: TDY190085A


00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people
00:12 I want to spend my life
00:19 Removing pain
00:24 Lord, let my words
00:29 Heal a heart that hurts
00:35 I want to spend my life
00:40 Mending broken people
00:46 I want to spend my life
00:51 Mending broken people
01:09 Hello and welcome to another 3ABN Today program.
01:12 I'm Jason Bradley.
01:13 And I'm excited as we're going to dive
01:16 into what a faith based ministry is all about.
01:22 And here with me to discuss
01:23 this is the Co-Director of Salt Ministries,
01:26 Tim Maddocks.
01:28 It's great to have you here.
01:29 It's blessed to be here, Jason.
01:31 Yes, yes.
01:32 Now, I've had the opportunity to talk to you
01:35 and find out a little bit about Salt,
01:37 and what you've got going on in the world of ministry,
01:43 and how God has grown that ministry exponentially.
01:46 I want to dive into that,
01:48 but we're going to go to song first.
01:50 And we're going to hear from Pastor Wintley Phipps,
01:54 and he's singing Amazing Love.
02:12 Amazing love
02:15 How can it be
02:19 You broke the chains
02:22 and set me free?
02:26 You filled my life
02:29 with joy untold
02:33 You like my spirit
02:35 You feed my soul
02:39 Now I want to let the whole world know
02:46 Of all You've done for me
02:52 I want to praise
02:57 Your name
03:03 Amazing love
03:07 How can it be?
03:10 You sent Your Son to die for me
03:16 He took the blame
03:20 Carried my shame
03:24 All the way to Calvary
03:30 When I thought I was forever lost
03:38 You caught my falling soul
03:44 I want to love You more
03:57 Amazing love
04:10 Amazing
04:15 Amazing love
04:22 Amazing love
04:25 How can it be
04:29 You would give
04:31 Your life for me?
04:35 You bring such comfort to my soul
04:43 You raise me up
04:45 And make me whole
04:49 Now I want to let the whole world know
04:57 Of all You've done for me
05:04 I don't think I could ever
05:11 Ever love You more
05:17 Amazing love
05:32 Amazing love
05:35 How can it be?
05:38 Now I live eternally
05:44 I once was lost
05:48 But I'm found, I was blind,
05:54 but now I see
05:58 And now I'm for every owes
06:05 Soon I'll see Your face
06:11 And I will love You more
06:22 Amazing love
06:45 Amazing love
06:57 Wow, what a powerful song, Amazing love.
07:02 Tim, I wanna find out a little bit
07:04 about your background.
07:06 Where were you raised?
07:08 And were you raised in the church?
07:09 Okay.
07:11 So I was born in England... Okay.
07:14 In the sea town of Portsmouth.
07:17 But my father was in ill health,
07:19 and doctors recommended he moved to a dry climate.
07:21 Okay.
07:23 So he moved our family to Australia, Perth, Australia.
07:26 Okay. So I grew up in Australia.
07:29 County myself as an Australian.
07:30 Okay.
07:33 But at the age of 21,
07:36 just out of university, already married.
07:38 My wife and I moved to Samoa,
07:40 where I taught in an Adventist school for three years.
07:42 Wow.
07:44 And then to Fiji where I taught for two years
07:47 and then ran their school farm two years.
07:49 Wow.
07:51 So you've traveled quite a bit.
07:52 Yes. Yes.
07:53 And where are you now?
07:55 We're based in Cambodia.
07:56 In Cambodia, okay.
07:58 And we've been there for over 27 years.
07:59 Okay. Wow, 27 years.
08:02 For the last 23 years,
08:04 you've been running a supporting ministry
08:06 in Cambodia, correct?
08:07 Yes.
08:08 How did you end up in Cambodia and starting Salt Ministries?
08:12 So originally God called us to Cambodia through ADRA.
08:16 And with ADRA,
08:17 I went there as a project manager.
08:19 And my project was to help rice farmers
08:23 improve their rice yields.
08:25 Okay. Okay.
08:26 So, that was the reason for going.
08:30 But when I got there,
08:31 I realized that God had a different plan,
08:33 I was to help the rice farmers.
08:35 But when I arrived in Siem Reap,
08:38 the town that I live in now.
08:40 I realized that I was probably the only Christian in the town.
08:44 And that my role there
08:47 was more than just helping people grow rice,
08:50 I was helping them to know Christ.
08:51 Amen. Amen.
08:53 Now, so you ended up staying there?
08:57 Yeah, the project I worked on was for three years.
09:00 It ended up being extended to three and a half years.
09:02 Okay.
09:04 And in the last half a year or so,
09:05 God began to speak to me in a,
09:08 like an audible way
09:09 during my worship times in the morning.
09:11 And He began to say some really radical things.
09:14 So He was telling me,
09:16 He wanted me to work full time for Him,
09:19 and to move my family out into the countryside,
09:24 to plant a church where we move,
09:28 to start a layman's training program
09:30 to train new Adventists to be church planters.
09:33 Wow.
09:35 To use all of our life savings about $20,000
09:39 to get that ministry started...
09:42 Wow.
09:44 And not to ask anybody for money.
09:47 There was one more thing,
09:49 He asked us to live like the local people lived
09:52 and the local people out there were poor.
09:54 Really?
09:55 Now, I guess the next natural question for me to ask you is,
09:59 what was your wife thinking about this?
10:02 She...
10:03 When I shared with her
10:06 what I believe God was saying to me.
10:07 Uh-huh.
10:09 Her response was God didn't tell me that.
10:11 Really?
10:14 But...
10:15 She wasn't ready to embrace that yet.
10:17 No, that's a pretty radical move.
10:20 We had two small boys by this time.
10:22 Oh, wow. Yes.
10:23 So to take them out in the countryside,
10:24 the countryside was still not safe.
10:30 The Khmer Rouge weren't completely gone.
10:33 And everybody had guns. Okay.
10:36 So it wasn't really safe,
10:38 and yet to have no financial security.
10:42 Just to take a family out and take your life savings
10:45 and use it to make this happen.
10:47 We weren't trained to do
10:48 what we were being asked to do by God.
10:50 So she really wasn't sure.
10:52 But God reached her heart, gave her a sign.
10:56 She came on board. Praise the Lord.
10:59 We've been doing it ever since. Praise the Lord.
11:00 How did your ministry look when it first began in 1996?
11:04 Well, it was just the two of us,
11:06 and our two boys,
11:08 in a little thatched house on 42 acre piece of land.
11:12 Wow.
11:13 About three miles out of Siem Reap town,
11:16 and we called one other Cambodian family
11:19 that had come to know Christ
11:20 through our ministry in the town,
11:22 to join us and help us.
11:24 And so it was just this little tiny family ministry.
11:27 Wow.
11:29 And so what took place after you started that,
11:31 how did it grow?
11:34 Well, God, in His graciousness,
11:37 didn't tell us all that was going to happen.
11:40 But we began by establishing the training program.
11:44 We started the ministry in 1996.
11:47 We didn't get the training program going until 1998.
11:50 Okay.
11:52 And by this time we build buildings,
11:53 we fenced the compound, build a road into the property.
11:56 Nice.
11:57 And began reaching out to the people in our community.
12:00 So, in 1998, we began our first training program.
12:04 We just ran four months live in training program.
12:08 Wow.
12:09 Encouraged whole families to come and train.
12:12 And we ran 12 programs all together
12:17 between 1998 and 2007.
12:21 About 400 people going through.
12:22 Wow, that was 400 people?
12:24 You said, you started it with your life savings.
12:28 Yes. Right? $20,000.
12:31 All of the things that you just named sound like
12:34 it amounts to more than $20,000 worth of...
12:37 Yes.
12:38 Well, we had to buy the land and build the road,
12:40 do the fencing,
12:42 build the accommodation, etcetera.
12:43 And that 20,000 just shrunk very quickly.
12:47 So where did the rest come from?
12:49 Well, God had given us the promise
12:51 that He would provide all our needs.
12:53 So, Matthew 6:33...
12:56 Oh! I've got that open too.
12:58 You wanna read it? Yeah. I'll read it.
13:00 Sure, absolutely.
13:01 Matthew 6:33, says,
13:03 "But seek first the kingdom of God
13:05 and His righteousness and all these things will be
13:09 or shall be added to you."
13:11 So, we begin resting...
13:13 standing on that promise.
13:15 Uh-huh.
13:17 In 1996, today, we're still standing on that promise,
13:21 and God has never failed.
13:23 So as we needed funds, funds would come.
13:26 And God was leading us into a faith journey
13:29 which meant we were learning to trust Him.
13:34 So it wasn't very long before...
13:36 The vision for what we were there for begin to grow,
13:40 and people started coming to my wife asking her,
13:44 could she help them with medical needs,
13:46 and she had some basic medical training.
13:49 So she began doing what she could to help them.
13:52 And that grew into a clinic
13:54 and the bush hospital type thing.
13:56 And over the next four years,
13:57 she treated 6000 people for all different sicknesses.
14:02 She's self trained to be a midwife,
14:04 delivered over 60 babies.
14:05 Wow.
14:07 But that, then began to open up new opportunities.
14:12 One of the things that the local village
14:15 leader had asked us was to start a school.
14:19 And so,
14:21 we started the school as a literacy school
14:26 for the poorest of the poor in our community.
14:29 One of our local converts,
14:31 we employed her as our first teacher,
14:33 she had grade two education herself,
14:36 and so she was teaching 20 kids on a veranda,
14:38 how to read the Khmer language.
14:40 And she had a second grade education?
14:43 Second grade education. Wow.
14:44 So how did that work?
14:46 It worked well,
14:47 because she knew the difficulty of language.
14:51 Uh-huh.
14:53 And, but the God had a much bigger vision in mind
14:55 to see what He does.
14:57 And we don't limit God's vision, it'll grow.
15:00 And so today that school is a K to 12 bilingual school.
15:06 My first teacher, she still teaches,
15:08 but now she teaches sewing in the school.
15:11 Wow.
15:12 And we have about just under 300 students.
15:15 Wow.
15:17 That's pretty full school out there.
15:20 You know, as a supporting ministry,
15:22 how have you been accepted
15:24 by the Cambodia Adventist Mission?
15:29 This is something that's really a blessing in Cambodia.
15:33 Our Adventist Mission is very cooperative.
15:38 When I first had the vision
15:40 for the ministry that we do and the lay training,
15:42 I went to the Cambodia Adventist Mission president,
15:45 Pastor Daniel Walters,
15:47 and told him what God had put on my heart,
15:50 and he embraced the idea.
15:53 And then as we looked at
15:56 as our ministry started to grow,
15:58 we were training people,
16:00 pastors were selecting who would come to train.
16:04 And then the mission was taking them
16:05 and sending them out to be church planters.
16:08 So we had this very close working relationship.
16:11 Later with the school,
16:13 we needed to register the school,
16:16 we went to the mission and asked,
16:17 could we register under their foundation?
16:20 And they agreed, we would operate it,
16:24 they wouldn't have any saying how it ran.
16:27 But it would be registered as a church entity.
16:30 Wow.
16:32 God also showed us that we would run an orphanage.
16:36 And so in 2003, we began an orphanage.
16:38 And again,
16:40 we registered that under the church foundation.
16:43 And so throughout the years,
16:45 we've had this very close working relationship.
16:48 And our Cambodia Adventist Mission extends
16:51 that relationship to all supporting ministries.
16:54 So there in Cambodia,
16:55 we have this wonderful opportunity to just unite
16:58 and work together as a team.
17:00 So when we have us,
17:02 the Cambodia Adventist Mission
17:04 has a strategic planning session.
17:06 They call all the heads of the supporting ministries
17:09 to come in and contribute.
17:10 And that way we're all on the same page,
17:12 we're all working together, the common goal.
17:15 So our working relationship is excellent.
17:17 Yeah, it sounds like a great working relationship.
17:19 And it's, you know, you can really see
17:22 how God is rewarding that walk of faith
17:25 and the obedience that you had to the calling
17:27 that He's placed on your life.
17:29 I mean, that's exponential growth right there.
17:33 When you think about starting with $20,000 and then,
17:38 you know, He's called you to start a training center,
17:42 then you've got a school, then you've got an orphanage.
17:45 And I mean, there's just so many things that
17:49 and so many different ways that He's grown the ministry.
17:53 Yes.
17:54 Now, I know that you know,
17:56 God has been providing and on time.
18:00 You don't ask for money, do you?
18:03 One of the things God told us was not to ask for money,
18:06 so just to pray.
18:08 And again and again,
18:10 God has stretched our faith
18:13 so that we've learned to trust Him.
18:15 And we've seen miracle after miracle.
18:18 So one of the amazing things
18:21 He's just feeding all these people.
18:24 So, at the peak of the orphanages grows,
18:27 we had 196 children in the orphanage.
18:30 Wow.
18:32 On top of that, our school has a dormitory.
18:35 So we've got kids in the dormitory
18:37 from Seventh-day Adventist families
18:40 out in the countryside, they're too poor to pay,
18:42 or to pay very much.
18:44 So there was a time
18:46 when we were supporting like over 240 kids.
18:51 And we're just depending on God to provide that.
18:54 And He always there on time?
18:55 He always did. Yes.
18:56 Always does. Yes.
18:58 Absolutely. Absolutely.
18:59 Now, do you have any income generating operations?
19:04 We have not had any income generating operations.
19:08 In fact, we added to
19:12 our program a media ministry...
19:16 Inspired partly by 3ABN. Praise the Lord.
19:19 So we have a studio. Uh-huh.
19:20 We have a green screen like your green screen here.
19:22 Okay.
19:24 And we produce videos in the Khmer language.
19:27 Oh, the Khmer language, Cambodian...
19:31 Cambodian. Correct?
19:32 Okay. Yeah.
19:33 So we send them out to the different churches
19:36 through the Cambodia Adventist Mission
19:37 to help support the evangelism they're doing.
19:40 So we're running school, orphanage, and media center.
19:45 Wow.
19:47 And all of that is costing lots of money.
19:49 I believe it.
19:50 And we believe that Ellen White...
19:52 From what Ellen White said that supporting ministries
19:56 should really be self-supporting,
19:59 if possible.
20:00 So we, for years we prayed for God to show us
20:05 how we might become self-supporting.
20:08 And it just seemed impossible.
20:11 Given that Asia,
20:14 it's very cutthroat where everybody works.
20:16 There's not much markup, so it's hard to make money.
20:19 Uh-huh.
20:21 But we live in a tourist town.
20:23 So Siem Reap is the home
20:25 to the Angkor Wat temple complex.
20:26 Okay.
20:28 And we get three million visitors a year.
20:31 And so tourism is the one area that you could make money.
20:35 One day a friend came and he said,
20:37 Tim, why don't you start a butterfly garden
20:39 for tourists?
20:41 Uh-huh. Wow.
20:42 So like, we've got all of these things
20:45 that we're doing and we're trusting God...
20:47 Uh-huh.
20:48 And now we have a potential way of making money,
20:51 but it's gonna cost money to make it happen.
20:53 Wow.
20:54 So I was skeptical.
20:58 But I took it to God,
21:00 and God began to convince me
21:04 this was what He wanted.
21:07 So I sat down and roughed out some plans.
21:10 I'm a biologist by training. Oh, really?
21:12 And I had visited many butterfly gardens
21:15 prior to the idea of being given to me.
21:18 And I roughed out some plans
21:20 and came up with a figure of about $400,000.
21:23 Wow. Wow.
21:26 And it's like, God, we can't do this.
21:29 We are living from day to day, like the Israelites in desert.
21:34 Uh-huh.
21:35 And you want me to do $400,000 project?
21:40 Well, I said to God, you better give me a sign.
21:43 Mm-hmm.
21:44 And so I asked for something very simple.
21:48 I asked to see one particular butterfly,
21:52 laying its eggs on its host plant.
21:54 This is a butterfly project,
21:56 so we're gonna use butterflies as the sign.
21:58 And if God would allow me to crowd source,
22:03 then I should see this butterfly
22:05 laying its eggs.
22:07 Wow.
22:08 Well, that was over four years ago.
22:10 And I have never seen that butterfly lay its eggs.
22:12 Even though I've captured the female butterfly
22:15 and put her in a cage with the host plant.
22:17 Uh-huh. They just die.
22:19 They won't lay eggs. Wow.
22:20 And so, I got a clear sign from God
22:25 that this was not His will for us to ask for funds
22:30 to build this theme park.
22:32 Wow. We had to trust Him.
22:34 This was the next step on our faith journey.
22:37 Wow.
22:38 So, in 2016,
22:42 we have been praying
22:45 that God would send us a donor to help get started.
22:51 We've learned that we don't need all the funds.
22:54 Other projects we've done like building our television studio,
22:58 we just need a donation.
23:00 Television studio, we got a donation for $200,
23:03 so we started.
23:04 Wow.
23:06 Fifteen months later,
23:07 we finished after spending 70,000
23:09 and we never asked anybody for money.
23:10 That is incredible.
23:12 So we learned that's how it works for our ministry.
23:15 Yes.
23:16 And so we began praying
23:18 and God inspired a donor here in the US,
23:22 who we didn't know, but he had heard about
23:25 what we were doing with orphans,
23:27 that he was willing to sell a townhouse
23:30 and give the money
23:31 for long term support of the orphans.
23:33 Wow.
23:35 He sold the townhouse for long term support
23:37 of the orphans?
23:38 So we asked him, well, we told him,
23:41 we've got this project we wanna do
23:42 and it's for the long term support of the orphans,
23:45 would you be willing for us to use part of that money
23:49 toward this project, as well as supporting the orphans?
23:53 And he agreed. Wow.
23:55 So when the money arrived, we began to build.
23:58 Uh-huh.
23:59 And it wasn't long before the money had gone.
24:01 Yeah, I believe it. I believe it.
24:03 And one of the things
24:06 that I've struggled with through my ministry
24:11 is the poor Christian mentality.
24:13 Elaborate on that?
24:15 So, as a Seventh-day Adventist Christian,
24:18 often I feel like, oh, poor me.
24:22 I look at those with lots of money.
24:24 Uh-huh. And I think poor me.
24:26 And I've struggled with this
24:29 and I know it's wrong
24:30 because we haven't got a poor Father,
24:32 we got a rich Father.
24:34 That's right. That's right. And we got a generous Father.
24:36 That's right.
24:37 His problem is that we think, poor me.
24:40 Uh-huh.
24:42 So when I designed the butterfly garden,
24:45 which is one of the largest in the world,
24:49 I decided that
24:50 we were going to go all out for the glory of God.
24:54 It didn't matter what it cost.
24:56 We were gonna do it for the glory of God.
24:58 That's right.
25:00 And so, this new journey of faith began.
25:04 And God has really, really blessed.
25:08 Amen. Amen.
25:10 Again to go back
25:13 to the initial $20,000 investment.
25:17 And then that growth and that growth
25:19 and you know, continuing to listen to the Lord
25:22 and be obedient to what He's calling you
25:25 to do each time.
25:26 And each time it's a walk of faith.
25:27 Yes.
25:29 You don't know where the money's coming from, but...
25:30 No.
25:32 You know that God is going to provide.
25:33 I now have over 80 people working for me.
25:35 Wow.
25:37 We're supporting all these kids
25:38 in the orphanage and in the school.
25:41 So we spend around $20,000 US a month now.
25:45 Wow.
25:47 And we're just waiting on God to provide.
25:50 The miracle that's happen in my heart.
25:54 I don't stress about it.
25:56 In fact, the closer the deadline gets
25:58 to needing the money, the more excited I get.
26:01 Yes.
26:03 Because I know a miracle is about to happen.
26:04 Amen.
26:06 And coming here to the United States,
26:08 we saw miracle after miracle happen.
26:10 How long was your flight coming here to the United States?
26:15 I had four flights,
26:16 with the total traveling time of 44 hours.
26:18 Forty four hours? Yes.
26:20 That is a long, long time.
26:24 Okay, so I wanna go back to the butterfly garden.
26:29 Yes.
26:30 You said, it's one of the largest in the world.
26:32 Yes. Wow.
26:33 We actually have a video of the butterfly garden.
26:36 Let's take a look at that.
26:51 The amazing journey
26:52 here at Butterfly Paradise continues.
26:54 In December of 2018, we opened the doors to the public,
26:59 not yet finished, but the garden, it's beautiful,
27:02 the waterfalls are working,
27:03 there's fish in the pond, there's crocodiles,
27:05 there's turtles, there's rabbits,
27:09 there's birds, and, of course, there's butterflies.
27:12 It's a great place for people to come and visit.
27:15 Just recently, we brought the cinema online,
27:17 so visitors are now able
27:19 to move into the air conditioned cinema
27:21 to get out of the heat.
27:22 And enjoy videos that focus on God as creator.
27:27 Soon the restaurant will be finished,
27:29 the educational area will be finished,
27:31 a small animal house will be finished
27:34 and the souvenir shop
27:35 and will be able to open to the public fully
27:38 and advertise it in a big way.
27:40 And we'll see lots of people
27:42 coming in to enjoy the beauty here
27:44 and to learn about God as their creator.
28:02 A Butterfly Paradise was created
28:05 with three primary goals.
28:07 One of the goals is to raise funds
28:09 to support the orphanage
28:11 and the schools that we operate.
28:13 The second goal is to help people
28:16 experience God through creation,
28:19 through the design in nature.
28:21 And the third goal is to give our young people here
28:24 that are coming out of school, coming out of the orphanage
28:27 with professional work experience
28:31 before they move on to other jobs elsewhere.
28:45 In addition to Butterfly Paradise,
28:47 we are in the process
28:48 of setting up a souvenir workshop
28:50 where our young people can use their hands
28:54 and the creativity that God has given them
28:56 to create little masterpieces
28:58 that we can sell in our souvenir shop.
29:00 And thus generate more income, income for them
29:03 and income for our mission
29:06 of supporting the orphanage and school.
29:08 In addition, we're also building
29:11 and almost finished a tropical plant nursery,
29:15 so that local visitors coming to Butterfly Paradise,
29:19 to see all the beautiful plants in here
29:21 and think they'd like to have them in their garden.
29:23 So they can go to the other end of the car park
29:25 and purchase those plants
29:27 and take them home
29:28 and make a little bit of paradise
29:30 in their garden as well.
29:35 A lot of people have been praying for this project.
29:37 It's a faith based project. It's not quite finished yet.
29:41 But we would invite you to join us in prayer.
29:44 Pray that God will send the funds
29:45 that we need to finish
29:47 and also pray that God will send visitors
29:49 because without them, we can't tell them about Him,
29:52 and without them we won't generate the income
29:54 that we need to support the orphanages
29:56 and the schools.
29:58 You could also promote Butterfly Paradise,
30:01 share the news
30:03 about this wonderful place with your friends,
30:05 and you can like us on Facebook and on TripAdvisor as well.
30:29 That is a beautiful, beautiful place.
30:33 Do you ever have like, devotion there?
30:37 I go there a lot... Uh-huh.
30:39 Just to enjoy the presence of God.
30:43 I sneak in there after everybody's left
30:45 in the evening, go and sit
30:47 next to a pond and feed the fish.
30:48 Nice.
30:50 And just relax knowing that
30:52 God created all this beauty to bring joy to my heart.
30:56 Yes.
30:57 It seems like a very peaceful, peaceful place.
31:01 You've been walking in faith for so long.
31:04 What lessons can you share
31:06 about your walk in faith?
31:11 God is an extravagant God.
31:13 You can see that when we look at nature,
31:17 you look at the butterfly and the colors.
31:21 And God wants to extravagantly
31:25 pour out His love and blessings upon us.
31:29 But often we restrict Him because we don't trust Him.
31:40 We don't ask.
31:41 Is that poor me type of thing?
31:43 The poor me. Yeah.
31:45 If you think of the story of the lost son,
31:48 we usually focus on the lost son in that story,
31:51 but there's the older brother,
31:53 then when the lost son comes home,
31:54 the older brother is all upset and says,
31:59 "Why have you never given me a party?"
32:02 And the father says, "Everything I have is yours."
32:05 Wow. You never asked.
32:07 Yeah, yeah.
32:08 And as God has led us
32:12 on this faith journey,
32:16 we realized that we don't receive
32:19 because we don't ask.
32:22 And often we don't receive very much
32:24 because we don't ask for very much.
32:26 Yes.
32:28 If we will ask for the glory of God,
32:32 He's gonna give it to us. Amen.
32:35 In John Chapter 15, Jesus says, "Ask whatever you desire,
32:41 and I'll give it to you."
32:43 Now, that could be taken the wrong way.
32:44 Yeah, yeah, it could. It could.
32:48 But before that, He says, abide in Me.
32:51 There we go.
32:52 So, if we're abiding in Christ,
32:55 what we're gonna ask for
32:57 would be what Christ would desire.
32:59 Absolutely.
33:00 And so through this faith journey
33:02 we've been learning if we desire what God wants,
33:06 if we ask, He'll give it to us.
33:08 Yes.
33:11 So, He gave us a lay training program.
33:16 And He's given us hundreds,
33:19 maybe thousands of souls as a result,
33:22 as people have gone out and shared the gospel.
33:27 He gave us an orphanage.
33:31 And as a result of that, we've had a lot of kids.
33:34 Yes.
33:36 The orphanage... He gave us the school.
33:39 And again, it's, we've learned to trust Him...
33:46 but it's been growing.
33:48 I like to think of it like a piano,
33:53 the piano is like the faith of Jesus.
33:54 It's a gift that God gives us.
33:57 But I have to learn to play. Yes.
34:00 And the more I practice, the better I get at making
34:03 that piano produce a beautiful sound.
34:05 So the more I practice using the gift of faith
34:09 that Jesus gives us,
34:12 the better I get it using it.
34:14 Yes.
34:15 And God has, He's still teaching us.
34:19 You know, I thought Butterfly Paradise,
34:22 once it was finished, we get a lot of tourists,
34:24 and we would move from being faith
34:26 based to being self-supporting.
34:29 And that worried me
34:31 because I enjoyed living by faith.
34:33 Yes.
34:34 But it hasn't gone there yet.
34:37 Well, it sounds like you're getting a little extension.
34:39 It's still not finished.
34:41 And so God is extending my faith.
34:44 Yes.
34:45 So now on top of everything that we are doing,
34:47 we are also by faith supporting
34:51 the operation of Butterfly Paradise
34:52 and we're establishing these other industries.
34:57 And so God has really stretched us
35:00 to the next level.
35:02 And I appreciate God for doing that.
35:05 Amen.
35:06 Because it's a constant learning and realizing,
35:09 if I would just trust God 100%,
35:12 He would do far greater than He's already done.
35:15 Absolutely.
35:16 Now with the orphanage,
35:18 what happens with the orphans
35:20 is as they continue to grow older?
35:23 I know that I talked to you previously,
35:26 like prior to this interview,
35:28 and we were discussing
35:30 what happens when they get a little bit older.
35:34 When the orphans come in,
35:35 they can stay in the orphanage until they're ready to leave,
35:39 assuming that they're keeping the rules.
35:41 Yes.
35:43 And so we have some orphans that are in their 20s,
35:45 and they're still studying,
35:47 or they still need to be there for various reasons.
35:51 But our goal is to give them an education,
35:55 equip them to serve God
35:58 and then where possible give them work.
36:01 Nice.
36:02 So you provide them with the opportunity
36:03 to serve God too?
36:05 Yeah.
36:06 So, as God has been inspiring us
36:07 to grow the ministry,
36:09 He's been through these young people
36:11 coming out of the orphanage and school,
36:13 supplying us with a workforce of young,
36:17 enthusiastic people.
36:18 Yes.
36:20 And so I said, we have over 80 people working for us.
36:23 The majority of those 80 people
36:25 eventually come through the orphanage and school.
36:27 Wow.
36:28 And so for me, that's really exciting
36:31 because as I invest my life in these young people,
36:35 my reward is to see them growing up
36:38 and using their skills and talents to serve the Lord.
36:41 Yes.
36:42 And I think that a certain level of passion
36:45 comes along with that,
36:47 because, you know,
36:49 they were an orphan at one point,
36:51 they experienced that
36:53 and how much help
36:55 or how much value it added to their life.
36:58 And so now they wanna share that with others
37:00 that are coming through as well.
37:03 How has this journey impacted your family?
37:09 My wife, her name is Wendy.
37:11 And I came to Cambodia
37:14 with a strong faith in God,
37:16 and with two small boys.
37:19 So, we raised our boys to be Cambodian.
37:25 Okay.
37:27 And what do you mean by you raised them to be Cambodian?
37:31 What do you mean by that?
37:32 Well, a lot of missionaries, and this is not wrong,
37:34 but a lot of missionaries
37:37 see their children back in the home country.
37:39 Okay, I got you.
37:41 And having a future in the home country.
37:44 We wanted to see our children as missionaries.
37:47 Okay.
37:48 And we put no timeframe on
37:51 when our service for God
37:53 will end as missionaries, that's up to God.
37:56 That makes sense.
37:57 So we decided that
37:59 what would be great if we're still in the mission field,
38:01 if our children are in the mission field with us
38:03 when they grow up.
38:05 So we raised them to speak
38:06 the Cambodian language to read and write,
38:09 they went to school, they learned that
38:11 and to interact with the local people,
38:14 so that they were their own.
38:17 And so, I guess it was logical
38:19 that eventually our children would fall in love
38:21 with local girls.
38:23 We have two boys.
38:25 And so that's what happened,
38:26 they fell in love and they've married local girls.
38:28 Nice.
38:30 Local girls were on staff,
38:31 and had been through our school
38:33 and one of them through the orphanage.
38:36 So now, they and their spouses
38:40 work together with us in the ministry.
38:43 We also took a young girl seven year old girl
38:47 into our home when her parents had died.
38:50 And so we raised her as our own, a Cambodian girl.
38:54 And so she's grown now,
38:57 married, and her and her husband
38:58 work for us as well.
39:00 So she manages our souvenir industry.
39:03 Okay.
39:04 And her husband manages our plant nursery.
39:07 Okay. Okay.
39:08 And so for us as missionaries, it's an amazing opportunity
39:13 because we have all our children living around us,
39:18 working together with us in the ministry.
39:20 Which is beautiful.
39:22 You know, there are so many things
39:23 that are vying for our attention nowadays,
39:27 and even back a couple years ago,
39:29 and years before that,
39:31 what lessons did you instill in your children?
39:37 I'm not sure that we actually tried to instill them,
39:39 but it just came naturally
39:41 because our lives are based around serving others.
39:46 And so, it was just natural to involve our children
39:49 in serving others as well.
39:52 And so, they've adopted that as their lifestyle practice
39:57 to live their lives in the service of others.
39:59 Amen.
40:01 And God has blessed them with skills
40:05 that complement our skills, match our skills,
40:09 so that we can all work together as a team,
40:12 working in different areas of the ministry,
40:15 but growing the ministry for the glory of God.
40:17 And He's blessed each one of them with a helpmeet?
40:19 Yes. Yes. Yes.
40:21 So now they have a wife,
40:23 they can assist in the ministry as well.
40:24 And my grandchildren live next door.
40:26 Nice. Nice.
40:28 You're a close family.
40:30 Yes. Yes. Wonderful.
40:32 What vision has God given you
40:34 for the future of your ministry?
40:38 So, many years ago,
40:41 while we were on a Pathfinder camp,
40:43 up near what they call a mountain,
40:46 what you would call a hill.
40:47 Okay.
40:49 I felt a strong impression by God
40:52 that we should have a health retreat
40:56 to minister to the rich Cambodian people,
40:59 who were suffering from lifestyle disease.
41:02 And God spoke to me in such a way as to say,
41:06 I want this piece of land for the health retreat.
41:10 But He went beyond that.
41:11 And He said, I want that piece of land for a campground.
41:15 Wow.
41:17 At that time, that didn't seem possible
41:20 for various reasons.
41:22 But God put all the pieces of the jigsaw together.
41:25 So that today we own this.
41:27 Well, I say we own those two properties,
41:30 the Cambodia Adventist Mission owns us two properties.
41:32 Okay.
41:34 And here that's something I'd like to highlight.
41:35 When our ministry buys land,
41:37 we give it to the Cambodia Adventist Mission.
41:39 So they own it, and we develop it for them.
41:42 Nice.
41:43 So we had this property.
41:45 And once the work on Butterfly Paradise
41:48 is completed
41:50 and the other industries are functioning properly.
41:52 Then I hope to turn my attentions
41:55 to developing this health retreat,
41:57 where we can reach out to the rich Khmer people.
42:01 Yes, yes. How do you determine?
42:05 And now I want to shift to church planting.
42:08 How do you determine where to plant a church?
42:11 And what's that process like?
42:17 The church planting that our church planters,
42:20 the ones we trained have done.
42:22 We asked them to pray about it.
42:25 Asked them to pray,
42:27 where would God like to send them?
42:29 And so each of them were praying
42:32 and they submitted to us
42:33 where they felt God would lead them to go,
42:36 and so we sent them.
42:38 And sometimes it seemed crazy.
42:43 One couple, who were barely literate,
42:47 being through our four months training program,
42:49 I said, "Where do you want to go?"
42:50 They told me, a place about 25 miles away,
42:54 which was pretty hard to get to it at that time
42:56 because the roads were so bad.
42:58 This is 1999.
43:00 So, I said okay.
43:02 There's not many people live out there, it's very poor.
43:04 Uh-huh.
43:06 But he had one relative there, so we sent them.
43:10 And they began church planning.
43:13 Now, like I said, they were barely literate.
43:16 But they believed in spiritual gifts.
43:19 And they believed in the gift of healing,
43:21 and in the gift of deliverance.
43:23 Yes.
43:24 And so they ministered to the people
43:26 in those villages there
43:27 by praying over the sick and seeing miracles,
43:30 and by casting out evil spirits.
43:32 Wow.
43:34 So in this rather remote village,
43:37 they planted a church.
43:39 And today we've added to what they've done
43:42 by adding a school.
43:44 So we have a three classrooms school there.
43:46 And they have a nice church building now,
43:50 and the church is growing.
43:53 So back when we asked them, where would they like to go,
43:59 it seem like a foolish place to go,
44:02 but we'd ask them to pray and let God lead them.
44:04 Yeah. So now we have a church there.
44:07 And from that church has grown two more churches.
44:10 Wow.
44:11 So we can see that sometimes the wisdom of God
44:15 is not the wisdom of men.
44:17 Yes.
44:18 Oftentimes, that's the case.
44:21 And it's evident that God was leading
44:23 as they picked that particular location
44:26 to do the church plant.
44:28 Well, we personally benefited from that
44:30 because one of our daughter-in-law's
44:32 came out of that church plant.
44:34 This story gets better and better.
44:37 Wow.
44:38 Okay.
44:41 How many people go out, like for a church plant?
44:45 Initially they would be sent in twos.
44:47 Twos? Okay.
44:48 And the way we were doing was families,
44:49 so husband and wife.
44:51 Okay.
44:52 We're training husband and wife to work together
44:53 as a ministry team.
44:55 Nice.
44:56 What does a day in your life look like?
44:58 Because there's been so many different things,
45:00 school, orphanage, training program,
45:04 butterfly garden,
45:05 what does a day in your life look like?
45:07 There is no typical day. Okay.
45:10 But you know, I would begin the day with my devotions,
45:13 have breakfast with my wife,
45:15 and then be at the school by 7 o'clock in the morning
45:18 for staff worship.
45:19 Okay.
45:20 After staff worship,
45:22 I may remain around the school for a while
45:23 or I may go off to do other things.
45:26 Yes.
45:27 So throughout the day, I would be
45:30 meeting with my staff in different areas,
45:32 making sure they know what they're doing,
45:35 have what they need to make things happen,
45:37 discussing plans together with them.
45:41 Obviously, for the last four years,
45:43 Butterfly Paradise has taken a lot of my time
45:46 working with the builders and working with staff
45:50 and students on planting it, etcetera,
45:54 this time with the media people.
45:56 Yes.
45:58 And I also do the electrical work.
46:01 So any electrical problems I'll fix.
46:03 Wow.
46:05 One of my "hobbies" is extracting teeth.
46:08 So at any point in my day...
46:10 Extracting teeth is one of your hobbies?
46:13 Yeah. Like from humans or what?
46:14 From humans.
46:17 So, I go to day and a half's training for dentist once
46:22 and learn how to do the injections
46:25 and extract the teeth.
46:26 Yeah.
46:28 And so, now village people will show up at any time a day
46:31 with painful teeth and ask me to help them out.
46:33 So usually what I'll do is just lay off whatever I'm doing then
46:36 and go and pull their teeth
46:38 and get back to what I was doing.
46:39 Wow. So my day has a lot of variety.
46:44 I like that. Uh-huh.
46:46 Half way, I mean,
46:48 you just went from church planter
46:50 to tooth extractor.
46:52 So, yeah, there's a lot of variety there for sure.
46:54 Yeah, it could be doing electrical work
46:57 to pulling a teeth.
46:58 Yeah.
47:00 To rushing off to teach a class.
47:03 Yeah. There's never a dull moment?
47:04 No. Never a dull moment.
47:06 I never...
47:07 This list of things to do get any shorter.
47:09 Yes, yes.
47:12 What would you say that you enjoy the most about ministry?
47:21 I think the most rewarding thing
47:24 is to see people
47:27 that we've loved into the kingdom of God.
47:30 Love other people into the kingdom of God.
47:32 Yes.
47:34 And just to see the passion that we have for
47:40 telling people Jesus is coming
47:41 to be passed on
47:44 and see that passion being passed on.
47:47 Yeah, continuing the path forward.
47:49 Yeah. Yes, yes.
47:50 So, you know, I don't get a paycheck,
47:53 so I don't get up every day to go
47:54 and go out and work because I need money.
47:57 Yes.
47:59 I get up every day and go out to work
48:00 because I'm excited about serving the Lord.
48:03 Amen. This is purpose driven.
48:05 Yes. Yes.
48:06 And so when I see the fruit of that, it brings joy.
48:11 Amen.
48:12 What are some of the needs of the ministry?
48:17 Finance is always a need.
48:19 Absolutely. People. People.
48:22 So, we get a lot of,
48:23 we need volunteers to help teach in our school
48:26 and do other things.
48:27 So currently, we have seven volunteers.
48:30 They come from all over the world.
48:31 Most of them are self supporting volunteers as well.
48:34 Oh, wow.
48:35 They may have year 12 education
48:36 or they may have a university degree.
48:38 We don't really mind
48:40 because we believe in spiritual gifts more than degrees.
48:43 Uh-huh. Okay.
48:46 And so, yes, we need people and we need prayer.
48:51 Prayer definitely changes things, for sure.
48:55 What would you say to someone
48:58 who wants to get involved in ministry,
49:00 but kind of on the fence?
49:03 I would say if you hear God speaking,
49:05 please do not say no.
49:07 Just follow the leads that God is giving you,
49:10 because God has got an amazing adventure for your life.
49:14 Yes. I can see that in my own life.
49:16 Yes.
49:18 And if you would just follow God's plan,
49:20 you're gonna have an amazing adventure
49:22 and do things you could never have imagined
49:23 you could be doing.
49:25 Amen.
49:26 And how did you discover your purpose in life?
49:30 By making my life available to God.
49:34 So, both my wife and I, we decided we will go anywhere,
49:39 do anything for any length of time,
49:42 God calls the shots.
49:45 And the purpose of my life I guess,
49:48 the primary purpose has been to be
49:51 where God wants me to be doing what God wants me to be doing.
49:54 Amen.
49:55 Through that I've learned so many other things.
49:57 Yes. Yeah.
49:59 What are some signs that you're walking in your purpose?
50:04 Like how do you recognize once you've arrived in the purpose
50:08 that God has set forth for your life?
50:10 The joy that you feel, the miracles that you see,
50:15 the transformation in other people's lives.
50:18 Yes.
50:20 And your wife,
50:23 she deals with medical missionary?
50:26 She teaches medical missionary work.
50:28 She teaches nutrition, cooking.
50:32 And she does the medical,
50:35 manages the medical side of the ministry,
50:38 patching up the kids in the orphanage
50:41 and doing first aid for the community now, if they needed.
50:43 And she and I work together
50:46 as co-directors of the ministry
50:48 so, whoever says something that goes.
50:51 Nice, yes. Yes.
50:53 Well, you know, we're going to get ready
50:56 to go to a short news break
50:59 and after the new break, we will be right back.


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Revised 2019-12-03