On the surface, recalls Pastor Lak Soeuy in Cambodia, his life appeared great. But every day, he struggled. “Deep down I knew my life was not what I wanted it to be,” he says.
Today he finds his hope and trust in Jesus, but he used to be a Buddhist. “I tried to follow Buddha’s teaching and do good,” he recalls, but he could not find true happiness and peace. He kept seeking, and eventually began practicing sorcery and witchcraft in his hunt for truth.
But one day, a local champion handed him a Christian booklet. He opened it, and the words he saw sparked something within him. And so his hunt for truth began to shift. A Cambodian friend visited him and explained how Jesus Christ died to redeem everyone from the power of sin.
Right then and there, he prayed and entered into a relationship with Jesus as his Lord and Saviour. God called him to preach the Gospel. Pastor Lak Soeuy started a new church in the Takeo Province in southern Cambodia where more than 900,000 people live.
Today, this church is self-sustaining, and his congregation looks after poor widows, children and families. Pastor Lak Soeuy is also working to train more Cambodian believers about how to start new churches.