26 Aug Braving the Challenges
Dr Harmeling and his wife are a teaching team. Dr Harmeling’s wife teaches women on contentment, while Dr Harmeling teaches the men on how to craft an expository sermon; using Titus as a sample text. He teaches them the 12 steps of sermon preparation, which spans from preparing your heart before reading the passage to ending with evaluation. As he teaches, he continues to weave important theological truths into each of the 12 steps.
The duo faced many challenges during their training week this past quarter. Firstly, there was uncertainty. They scheduled to hold the training on a public holiday (which lasted for a week), which made the attendance of several pastors uncertain. However, God allowed many other pastors to attend.
Secondly, there was sickness. Pastor Chhinho’s daughter contracted dengue on the second day of training. Furthermore, Dr Harmeling contracted laryngitis the day before training began, forcing him to strain his voice to speak audibly. He overcame this by taking an afternoon off to rest and used a microphone that allowed him to speak softly. His voice was well on the mend a few days later and the training was successfully completed.
Lastly, there were distractions. The location where training was held experienced a power outage during a rainstorm, which forced the class to relocate to a covered area outside. Thankfully the area stayed dry and the microphone’s battery allowed Dr Harmeling to be heard over the roar of the rain. Not even the discovery of a leaky roof dampened the students’ enthusiasm to learn or fellowship with each other.
God still brings about His plans in His time. On Easter Sunday, both God’s desire and Pastor Chhinho’s dream was fulfilled at the official opening of Shalom Dream Center in Lao Ka Village, Sen Monorom.
Ps Chhinho is our CoMP based in Cambodia, overseeing home churches planted by the Shalom Mission Cambodia (SMC) in seventeen provinces throughout Cambodia. For more info on Ps Chhinho, please visit his profile: https://www.asiacms.net/connect/