News and Views
We have our fingers on the pulse of modern missions. Mission work is changing rapidly as the world's cultures and global conditions are changing. Ease of travel and communication impact how the Gospel is spread. But at the heart of missions, there is the work of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and the obedience of the Church to carry out Jesus' command to go into all the earth.
We want to present challenging biblical truths, insights into today's missions environment, and progress reports on reaching the entire world with the Gospel. Please keep checking our blog regularly for updates, stories and challenging thoughts from Scripture!
200 villages. 5 provinces. 2 hours. 1,435 people baptized. On September 6, 2020, a record-breaking baptism happened in Thailand. On that day 1,435 people from 200 villages in 5 provinces came together at Chon Daen to declare their faith in Jesus Christ and be baptized. Many of them heard about Jesus for the first time in 2020 through the ministry of Free in Jesus Christ Church Association (FJCCA) teams. All 1,435 people were baptized within 2 hours by only 20 FJCCA leaders. This event exceeded previous events: January 2019 (520 people baptized) and October 2019 (640 people baptized). As the...
Unlikely Choice – Cotton Fields and Construction Sites
"I was neither a prophet nor a prophet's son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees” (Amos 7:14 NIV).
Fifty years in ministry for the Lord Jesus. I recently passed this milestone. God’s call on my life has been remarkable from the very beginning.
My earliest childhood memories are of our 8’ x 10’ camper trailer, which was our actual home. We always parked somewhere near the construction sites where my father was working hard to keep us out of the cotton fields of Alabama. By the time I was in sixth grade, I...
For over a decade I had heard my father, Robert Craft, talk about the church-planting teams he would visit while in Myanmar. He showed me pictures of them and the villages they were entering for the first time to share the Good News. These faithful brothers and sisters faithfully minister to start churches where there had never been any before.
What remained in my memory were the stories of shocking persecution – in the form of property damage, verbal threats and physical attacks – which was met with equally matched responses of perseverance by these national workers. These champions of the...
COVID-19 has already taught us the importance of “first responders” and frontline workers. This pandemic has also taught us to appreciate the unseen, unidentified essential workers and the willing volunteers who meet critical needs in times of crisis. My first experience with serving as a “first responder” came unexpectedly when I was a teenager.
One of my most vivid teenage memories is riding in a recently purchased fire truck to a fire in our small hometown. Like many rural communities, the fire department in our town is made up entirely of volunteers. My dad, the first mayor of our town...
Reach A Village continues to receive affirmation of our diligence in the area of accountability. Recently, Christianity Today featured our ministry in Thailand as part of a follow-up article about the Thai church growth movement from 2019. Bob Craft, Reach A Village’s Founder and President, and his son, Ellis, International Ministry Director for Southeast Asia, share about the risks of ministry and the increased interest in supporting our ministry leaders there.
“Our hope is that the CT article will bring attention here in the United States and in Thailand to the good practices and the...
How many of us would ever have believed that an unknown virus would change life for everyone on earth? Right now, I am in the midst of a 14-day self-quarantine at home after being in Cambodia for most of March. I got back to the U.S. on one of the last commercial flights recommended by the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh. Suddenly, COVID-19 is impacting every aspect of our lives. Reach A Village’s local ministry partners around the world are experiencing stresses in their lives, too. Governments are restricting their movements. They have less income. They feel the threat of this virus in...
In light of what is happening around the world, and here in the United States, I want to reassure you that the ministry continues. This is an uncertain season, but we have no doubt that the will of God is for people to hear the Gospel and the message of hope and salvation that is found in Him alone.
Our team here in the United States is currently working remotely, and we are in regular contact with our international ministry partners. Our work is not carried out with large gatherings or mass evangelism. Rather, it is in small group Bible studies, personal evangelism or open-air meetings...
I am sad to report that our dear friend and Cambodia Ministry Director Pastor Uong Vibol died from lung cancer on Feb. 28. Yet, while we mourn this great loss, we know that he is now rejoicing in heaven with his precious Lord, and has no doubt heard Him say, “Well done thou good and faithful servant!”
For over 20 years, Pastor Vibol made it his mission to spread the Gospel to as many of his fellow Cambodians as possible. He knew how the terror, suffering and genocide inflicted by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge had left a sense of despair among his people. He said, “People are living without...
For over a decade I had heard my father, Robert Craft, talk about the church-planting teams he would visit while in Myanmar. He showed me pictures and videos of them and the villages they were entering for the first time to start Christian churches where there had never been any before.
What remained in my memory were the stories of shocking persecution – in the form of property damage, verbal threats and physical attacks – which was met with equally matched responses of perseverance by these national workers. These champions of the faith seemed superhuman and unreal. I never...
Reach A Village Founder and President Robert Craft recently wrote an article for Christianity Today sharing how God is answering the prayers of Cambodian Christians with a modern-day miracle. While Christians in other countries in the region face government restrictions, this Buddhist nation’s prime minister, Hun Sen, hosted a banquet for 3,000 church leaders and thanked them for their contributions to Cambodian society through education, ethics, social projects and promoting peace and unity.
Hun Sen also pledged continued religious freedom. This paves the way for our ministry partners, the...
