Cambodia Business as Mission Trip 2018 - Reflections by Peter Quek
Peter Quek is part of the Tenth East Van community and returned recently from a Cambodia Justice Journey. Peter's focus is mentoring business leaders and professionals to re-imagine their engagement and influence in the marketplace for the ultimate good of God's Kingdom on earth. Peter is an Ambassador with LeaderImpact.
2018 has been an extraordinary year of divine appointments. In April, I met Sopheak Chhay, owner of MotorCafe in Phnom Penh, at a training conference in Singapore. Later in July, I was introduced to Teong-Hoon Ong, managing director of Phillips Bank in Phnom Penh, at an international symposium in Singapore. Both leaders invited me to visit Cambodia. Then in August, Pastor Patrick suggested the possibility of joining the team for Business as Mission trip to Cambodia. As it turned out, I was planning a LeaderImpact Vision Trip to Taipei in November which was perfectly lined up to take place immediately after the Cambodia trip.
Indeed, by divine appointment, I was asked to serve as a pastoral mentor to the Tenth team. For two weeks, I was honoured to lead prayers and devotions. Our journey through Cambodia included meetings with DOVE leaders in Phnom Penh; Shalom Valley Centre of Alongsiders in Kep; Sokreaksa Himm in Siem Reap, Manna4Life in Oudong; Shalom Anna DOVE water business, Hannes Schmid of Smiling Gecko in Kampong Chhnang; Precious Women, Jared and Emily of Asian Outreach and Sola Gratia cooking school in Phnom Penh. Apart from a short plane ride to Siem Reap, most of our travels were by road in a 12-seater van driven by Mono, an exceptionally skilled local driver.
There are more than 420 NGOs in Cambodia. Over the past 20 years, billions of dollars have poured into the country through economic aid, social development and education. Today, we still see the people struggling with poverty, social injustice, food insecurity, mental health issues, addictions to drugs and alcohol, and corruption. Yet, we also observe elements of spiritual transformation and hope among the Christian leaders of social enterprises which have partnered with Tenth. I am particularly impressed by the emerging leaders of DOVE including Sarady, Virak, Lay, and Minea. They embody youthful passion, tender compassion and spiritual resilience. Sopheak Chhay, bandleader of September’s End at MotorCafe has a Spirit-driven vision to reach the millennial generation through music, art and food.
It was an honour to have personal conversations with veteran leaders like Seila Non of DOVE, Mart-jan van der Maas of Shalom Valley Centre, Sokreaksa Himm of Family Countryside Guesthouse in Siem Reap, Solida Seng of Precious Women and Teong-Hoon Ong of Phillips Bank in Phnom Penh. I was inspired by their deep love for Jesus and for the people of Cambodia. They are investing in Kingdom mission so that many will discover their identity and destiny in Christ, one soul at a time.
In my final devotion with the team, I focused on the words of Jesus in Luke 16:8-9 “For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.” We are challenged to be smarter than the people of this world in stewarding worldly resources for the ultimate good of God’s Kingdom. I believe our investment in the Christian leaders of Cambodia will have Kingdom outcomes because we are raising leaders and transforming lives through the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit. For each member of the team, it has been a Kingdom journey on business as mission in Cambodia. As an ambassador of LeaderImpact, I am honoured to mentor leaders in Kingdom mission by divine appointments in Vancouver, Singapore, Cambodia, or Taiwan.
If you would like to consider being part of a LeaderImpact group, contact peterq@leaderimpact.com.