The Next Step in the Journey

An Exciting New Step

I am thrilled to write to you and inform you of an exciting new step that God has led us to take in regards to our ministry here in Cambodia. God has led us to take leadership at a church in a city called Ta Khmao, just outside the capital, Phnom Penh. The church has a core group of about 30 believers, and at this point in the church’s life it is in need of pastoral leadership. We have been praying and seeking counsel about this decision for a couple of months now, and God just recently made it clear that this is indeed His will for us.

One of the most exciting aspects of this opportunity is that the church has two Cambodian men who are training to be in full time ministry, so we will be working as a team to continue reaching Ta Khmao with the Gospel as they continue preparing themselves to pastor in the future. But our vision goes beyond Ta Khmao. We are praying that God will allow us to branch out from Ta Khmao to the hundreds of villages in the surrounding areas as well.

An Exciting New Addition

Just a couple of days before I made the decision to step into the leadership role at the church in Ta Khmao, Linda gave me the wonderful news that we are expecting our fourth child! The due date is in mid-May. Please pray for Linda and the precious new life that God has entrusted to us.

An Upcoming Furlough

Because of these recent developments, my pastor, Derik Lawrence, has counseled me to take our furlough earlier than originally scheduled. (Our original furlough was scheduled for November 2013). Our responsibilities at the church will begin in July of 2013. So in order for us to really hit the ground running in July, we will go ahead and take a short furlough beginning this December through July 2013. There are several purposes for this furlough:

·       Report to our supporting churches, and introduce our supporting churches to the work we will be overseeing and the two men with whom we will be working

·       Allow Linda to have the baby in the States

·       Allow us to step into leadership at the church with a full term ahead of us, instead of taking our furlough 4 months after coming into the church

Because we have supporting churches in 19 states, we will be setting our furlough schedule as follows in order to be wise stewards of our time and money:

January- Georgia/Florida

February- South Carolina/North Carolina/Virginia/West Virginia

March- Arkansas/Tennessee/Kentucky

April- Northeast/New England/Midwest

May- Georgia/Alabama

June- Texas/Arizona/California

July-California

If you would like to have us in to report or to present our ministry, just send me an email at caphill910@gmail.com . Or you can call our Magic Jack number at 661.735.2061 (we are 11 hrs ahead of EST).

Thank you for your love, prayers, and support for our family!

In Christ,                                                                                         

Chad Phillips

Email: caphill910@gmail.com

Website: www.phillips4cambodia.blogspot.com

twitter.com/Chad_A_Phillips

July/August 2012 Prayer Letter/Update

 The Benefield Family is Back!

We are so thankful to God that He brought the Benefield family safely back to Cambodia from their furlough. We, along with four men from the church, picked the Benefields up from the airport on July 16. We are looking forward to learning from this faithful family over the next year as I finish my preparations for the new church plant that will take place at the beginning of our second term- most likely June of 2014, after our 7 month furlough which will begin November of 2013. I thank God for the many blessings I received as a result of working in this ministry during the months that Bro. Benefield and his family were on furlough. Because of so many preaching and teaching opportunities, my language ability has definitely increased. I also count it a great blessing to have worked with so many wonderful people in the ministry here- people who just a few years ago did not know God, but now are people who know Him and are serving Him with all of their hearts. We are anticipating great things in the upcoming months as we continue to work with the Benefields.

They Don't Want Him to Preach

Loak Crew To (lit. "Pastor To") has become a friend of mine. He has been working with my friend, missionary Ray Shull, for over five years at their church here in Cambodia. He was led to the Lord by the missionary I am currently working with, Stephen Benefield, several years ago after Ray had already befriended him and showed him the love of Christ. Since Ray was the one whom God used to bring Loak Crew To to church for the first time, they naturally developed a close friendship. A couple of years later, after Ray returned to Cambodia from his first furlough, God led Loak Crew To to become Ray's co-laborer at a brand new church plant. God has used Loak Crew To in an amazing way...so amazing, in fact, that the Buddhist leaders in his home village are vehemently opposed to his freedom to preach Christ in that village. Here's why.

May/June 2012 Prayer Letter/Update

                                                New Christians Growing in Grace

Rhanny, a lady in her early thirties, was invited by Bro. Benefield to come to Good News Baptist Church over a year ago; but she wasn’t interested in the least. But a few months later, one of her friends invited her to a church, and she reluctantly went; but God began doing a work in her heart. About seven months ago she decided to start searching for Good News Baptist Church because of its closeness to her house (the church she was attending with her friend was quite a distance from her house). She remembered the description of the location that Bro. Benefield had given her initially, and she found the church on one Monday morning. I happened to be home that day (we live right next to the church), so I was able to talk to her and answer some questions. She began attending church the following Sunday, and I could see that she was having some serious spiritual struggles. Namely, she was constantly plagued by an intense fear of ghosts and demons, a common struggle for the average Khmer (Cambodian) person. God gave me the opportunity to counsel with her and use her struggle as an opportunity to teach her the Gospel. After many weeks of faithfully coming to the services and listening to the Gospel taught by me and Karona (one of the faithful ladies in the church), she finally received Jesus Christ as her Savior. And she hasn’t missed a beat since!

In Memory of Our Friend, Jana Pham

Dear Jana,

It is still hard for us to wrap our minds around the fact that you are in Heaven at this very moment. It seems like yesterday that we were sitting with you at a Khmer restaurant in Long Beach, California, talking about your dreams of serving the Lord with your life. Linda and I vividly remember observing your life as you made the decision to not just be a nominal Christian, but a committed disciple of Christ. Everyone the Lord brought across your path could tell that you were a person who was not willing to allow this culture to define you or dictate the decisions you made in your life. It was apparent that you were being led by the Good Shepherd; and you were not following Him reluctantly, but willingly and submissively. Although it breaks our hearts to see you leave us, we are confident that your dreams of being used by God are being fulfilled even in your death. We are praying that those in your life who have grown cold spiritually, or have never known the Saviour, will be brought to a place of sweet fellowship with the One Who loved us and gave Himself for us all. We love you, Jana.

In Christ,
Chad and Linda

Jana's Home-going Service will be held Friday, June 8th, at 10:00 a.m. PST at the First Baptist Church of Long Beach, California- her home church in which she faithfully served Her Saviour.

Update About Village Ministry

Hello everyone, I just wanted to give a quick update about what God is doing in the village ministry in Kompong Speu Province. (For those who may not know, this is a ministry that Stephen Benefield, the missionary we are working with, started several years ago. I am currently filling in for him while he is on furlough. He should be back in about two months.)

March/April 2012 Prayer Letter/Update

Dear Pastors and Praying Friends,                                                                                                                         

God is Answering Prayer

You may remember from my last prayer letter that I mentioned a situation that took place in the village where we hold a children’s service every Saturday. The situation I mentioned dealt with the drowning of one of our faithful girls named Srey Bpoe- she drowned in a pond right next to the church. As a result of that tragedy, we lost over half of the faithful children because many parents were afraid to send their children to the church because of its close proximity to the pond where Srey Bpoe drowned. Another reason is because one of the mothers in the village had a dream that the pond was going to take the lives of three more children. I could sense that some of our faithful helpers in the children’s service- all members of Good News Baptist Church- were getting a little bit discouraged after weeks of driving an hour out to the village and only seeing only about 18 children come to the service (we were having almost 40 every Saturday before the death of Srey Bpoe). So I had a prayer meeting with them one Saturday after the service was over; and I also began urging the church in Phnom Penh to pray for this matter fervently. Well, praise the Lord that He is answering our prayers in this situation. For the past month we have seen an increase almost every week- not a drastic increase, but little by little some of the children are starting to return. This past Saturday, April 28, we had a wonderful service with the most children we have had in months. The spirit was great, and the children listened intently as I taught about the events leading to the crucifixion of Christ. Please pray for the parents of Srey Bpoe. This past Saturday I finally had a chance to talk with them about the hope that we have that Srey Bpoe is in Heaven. I asked them, “Do you have any hope for her soul?” The answered plainly, “No, we do not know where she is.” Pray that God will use this to soften their hearts to the Gospel.