A thunderous explosion cut through the night, followed instantly by glittering starbursts of color crackling down to the lake surface below.
Trevor Amack touched the lighter to the fuse of another firework, questioning the decisions that had led him to conclude a village outreach celebration from a narrow wooden canoe assailed by a cascade of sparks.
Trevor, his wife Hayley, and their family had traveled to the Tonlé Sap, Southeast Asia’s largest lake, to disciple church leaders and conduct an evangelistic event with a local pastor, Rottha, in his community of floating homes.
They had met Rottha one year prior, when he attended their Train the Trainer program in a nearby city. Discouraged and on the precipice of leaving the ministry, Rottha had searched in vain for biblically grounded training and partnership before his wife learned of the event and implored him to attend. Begrudgingly, he agreed—and was so impressed with the training on personal Bible study, sermon preparation, and interactive teaching that he jumped in the car with Trevor’s ministry partner, Sitha, and barraged him with questions throughout the six-hour trip back to the Amacks’ home in Phnom Penh. Trevor and Sitha began discipling Rottha, traveling frequently between their cities, and a close friendship formed.
One month later, Rottha invited Trevor and Sitha to lead his congregation through “The Story of Hope,” ABWE’s chronological Bible teaching resource. Located in a floating village, Rottha’s church of 100 members serves one of the most unreached people groups in Cambodia.
In the 1970s, the brutal Khmer Rouge regime devastated the ethnic groups of this region, executing and deporting villagers and stripping those who remained of their citizenship and the ability to attend school or purchase property—a condition that remains to the present. Adapting to this reality, the survivors constructed new villages on the lake, where generations have lived in wooden homes floating on bamboo rafts or plastic barrels. Rottha, burdened for this often-neglected population, began his church on a houseboat.
Trevor and Hayley visited the floating village three times over the next year, undergoing the arduous journey in a narrow longboat tossed in monsoon-driven waves. Their teaching quickly bore fruit not only in the young congregation but also in its pastor.
“Rottha shared how God had used ‘The Story of Hope’ and the Train the Trainer events to rekindle his love for ministry,” conveyed Trevor.
“Rottha shared how God had used ‘The Story of Hope’ and the Train the Trainer events to rekindle his love for ministry.”
TREVOR AMACK
With renewed zeal, Rottha and the Amacks planned a holiday evangelistic event culminating with fireworks. Over 25 individuals professed faith in Christ during the gospel message. Later that day, Trevor taught on baptism, after which he and Rottha baptized 30 believing church members.
“The church has grown so much that they have made plans to plant two churches in neighboring floating villages,” said Hayley. “Many families are traveling over an hour by boat to reach the church.”
To lay the foundation for these church plants, the Amacks and Rottha are training future leaders and providing audio Bibles and resources to disciple new believers, many of whom are illiterate.
“God is at work,” shared Trevor. “His Word is spreading, and he is using nationals to reach other nationals. Praise the Lord!”
