Have you met AnnieBuckles? I can remember the first day that I did.
It was February of 2018,and Annie came into our office in Oakmont, PA, with her resume in hand andpassion in her eyes. On that day, Annie and I had scheduled to meet for onehour to talk about her future and her potential working with SEAPC. In thoseyears, I was shocked that people would show up wanting to work for a prayer andmissions ministry as wild as this one. God was expanding and blessing the ministry.We had received a vision from Him to witness a world connected through prayerthat brings Christ-based change to those in need.
In true fashion to anyorganization submitted to prayer-birthed vision, God was packing our lives withnew friends, resources, and genuine enthusiasm. SEAPC was growing fast, and weneeded workers in every aspect of our vision and calling. The internationalleadership of the ministry, including our US team, was jumping on airplanesevery week to follow hard after the leading of the Lord. A buzz of hope andpromise was filling our tank each day to see the impossible come to pass amongthe nations.
Annie walked in on thatday as the embodiment of a prayer answered.
"Lord of theharvest, please send workers!"
She did not say much.She did not need to. The resume read of a life of service among the least, aheart to see people come to know Jesus Christ, and a track record ofexcellence. But her eyes spoke of much more. They welled up with tears (as theydo still today) when she spoke about what Jesus had done in her life. Annie had prayed and was called by God topreach His gospel in the nations.
By 2018, I had learnedthrough many trials, heartache, and failed attempts to hire "workers"that the eyes of one called by God look very different than that of thoseseeking to fulfill their own interests. I had sent workers into ministry platformsbased on their skills, abilities, and talents and had paid a heavy price. Mydear friends and elders in those nations, who had already learned these lessonsthrough their own leadings, graciously received the folks that I would send,bending their lives to accommodate and somehow make a way for them. Thank Godmany of those workers found their callings while on the field of work, butseveral others endured great loss and frustration.
Now here was Annie.
"Jesus loves you.Everyone else has a perfect plan for your life, Annie," I shared, almosthoping that she would reveal to me any unspoken agenda, angle, or misalignedreason for her desire to serve God through SEAPC. "I believe that God hasbrought me here, and I want to do anything I can to serve Him," she replied.Ha! I had heard that one before, I thought. "Ok, let's start with ashort-term trip to Cambodia."
She went. I went, too,and watched to see if God's work within her would perform itself among thepeople. Without fear, apprehension, or doubt, Annie ministered. After thattrip, I invited Annie to submit to a long-term missions training program withthe SEAPC USA team. She confirmed in prayer that she was to do so and that shehad heard from God to give her life to Cambodia—specifically to the vision ofBanteay Meanchey Arise (BC Arise).
BC Arise was on therise. The Cambodian government had just expanded this work to bringChrist-centered education in science, math, and English to 126,000 publicschool students from 488 public schools in Banteay Meanchey province. In thefirst month of Annie's training program, BC Arise was averaging 82 studentspraying to receive Jesus per day in those schools.
Scaling up for a harvestlike this required rapid decision making, complete trust incalling/purpose/vision/team, and of course, WORKERS! After completing thetraining, Annie moved to Cambodia. She began by serving the multitude ofshort-term missions teams flooding into the harvest from Hong Kong, Singapore,the United Kingdom, Malaysia, and America. Annie was a natural at this! Theskills and talents laid out in her resume proved promising as she managed thelogistical quagmire of short-term missionaries. However, the calling from Goddemanded a much larger platform. We soon transitioned Annie to support the BCArise Waterdrop program created and led by a fellow worker, Jenni Taylor (who,by the way, was used by God to do the impossible and who remains a real dealhero in my book). Annie took to it, building bridges between foreign workersand the local team. The local team struggled at first with confidence. Theycould not imagine themselves being used by God in this capacity, but Anniestood with them, letting God's word and prayer flow from her calling and intotheir lives.
She spent the next twoyears helping a 20-member team grow to 50—hustling from school to school,zig-zagging through the muddy roads on the backs of mopeds to get her localspirit-filled Cambodian teaching team to the students awaiting their lessons.Often, when I would visit Cambodia and ride with the team along those roads, Iwould look out on the rice fields and think back to my father, who prayerwalked that province in faith in 1994. Those same fields held the laststronghold of the Khmer Rouge. They were, in fact, the actual killing fieldsPol Pot used to murder tens of thousands who he thought may rebel against him.Now those roads once used to deliver man unto death had become roads thatcarried life and hope to the next generation. My friend Annie made sure thecarriers of truth got on the mopeds and went to work.
She stood in the gap fortwo years, and now she has come home to us again! The fruit of her obedience ischanging a nation. The team she helped to raise up is multiplying and carryingforward the work. No, she was not alone in this. God sent dozens of workers tojoin her side in the journey. God knows that life is a team sport. When I thinkabout the "workers" we need for the harvest ahead of us, I think ofAnnie Buckles.
God, send us more workers today! Please, if you love Jesus and want to serve Him with your life, want purpose and a place to perform a deep calling from God, and want to do something meaningful, righteous, and true, ask Jesus to speak to you now and do whatever He says to you.
If what He says includes Cambodia, then, by all means, come and see me, visit our office, and get to know Annie Buckles. She will be there to greet you and tell you the things you need to know before you go.
PRAY
Pray for the BC Arise national missionary team as they deliver, teach, and follow up with Water Drop online English training. They are sowing the Word of God into 150,000 students daily.
GIVE
The monthly budget for BC Arise is $11,200. Please prayerfully consider supporting one or more of the national missionaries for $300/per month.
GO
SEAPC currently serves BC Arise in the education platform from a Christ-centered approach. Join the team and serve directly through providing training in English, technical, nursing, and agricultural sciences.