Setan and Randa immigrated to the US as refugees in 1980. Setan began working very hard to support his family. Meanwhile, he took every opportunity to advance his knowledge about God and Jesus Christ even while he was working. Setan attended the Colorado Christian University and the Denver Seminary from early 80’s to early 90’s. By God's grace he started a Cambodian congregation at Faith Presbyterian Church, Aurora, Colorado. They sponsored 5 orphans in Cambodia, their homeland through World Vision.
In 1990, they received word that Cambodia had slightly opened to the outside world for the very first time, since Pol Pot took over in April 1975. Setan had never forgot his pledge to God; “If you spare my life, I promise to be your witness.” With this news, Setan believed that it was time to go back to Cambodia and tell his fellow countrymen about the God of the Universe who had spared his life and transformed his heart. Randa joined with Setan for their homecoming journey without knowing what the outcome of this mission trip would be.
As soon as Setan and Randa arrived at the Phnom Penh International Airport, they were arrested. They were accused of being American spies with the CIA. They were sentenced and placed under house arrest for three months. Setan started sharing the gospel to his prison guards and led two of them to a relationship with Jesus Christ (the day security guard and the night security guard). Setan gave these two men the assignment of bringing people from the streets to his room every day so that he could preach to them about Jesus. God used this to bring 15 to 20 people to Jesus Christ. This convinced them that God wanted them to continue their goal of sharing about Him among their fellow countrymen.
After much prayer and fasting, God made it clear to their hearts that Setan should stay and serve him in Cambodia. Meanwhile, their children, Benjamin and Sandra were still in school in America. Randa decided to stay behind in the USA to care for their children and to raise them up, where it would be safe and they could have good educational opportunities. It was a very difficult decisions as a young family to have to split up like this. Meanwhile, Jesus reminded us of Matthew 28:19-20 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Setan was committed to obey God and so made the decision to go to Cambodia as a missionary to his own people.
Setan began walking door to door, sharing the love of Christ with people, being very careful since it was still dangerous to do this. Soon Setan connected with the 'underground' house churches in the Capitol city, Phnom Penh. These were believers who had survived the Killing Fields and were still living in the capitol.
As he began working with them and sharing the good news with others, many were coming to Christ. Setan saw the need to start an institution to train young evangelists and church planters to reach his nation with the love of Christ. One man who Setan led to Christ was a Professor of Fine Arts. He was later arrested and killed because he would not give up his newfound relationship with Christ.
Later, in March of 1992, Setan started the Phnom Penh Bible School and enrolled 78 students. About 1/3 of them were already serving in the existing house churches.
The school was meeting in an old run-down building in the middle of Phnom Penh. The students from Phnom Penh lived at home with their family. Those from outside the city lived in the building. Since there were only a few churches in the Capitol operating openly, Setan, alongside his students, began a church meeting in the same building they were using for the Bible School. All of the students were trained to be Evangelists, Sunday School Teachers, Preachers and Pastors and to start their own churches. The students graduated from Phnom Penh Bible School with diplomas in Biblical Studies.
In July of 1995, Setan started Kampuchea For Christ, (now operating as TransformAsia), in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Initially, five graduates were employed to work with KFC/TransformAsia. Our main mission was to focus on training more leaders/pastors to plant churches across Cambodia. By God's grace we were planted over 100 churches throughout Cambodia within 2 years.
Soon, after this the situation in the country became much more free and open. Many denominations from abroad started coming to Cambodia. Many of our church planters joined with these new groups. A group of strong leaders continue with a vision to move forward as an indigenous Cambodian movement. Through it all, the light of the glorious gospel is transforming many hearts for this life and eternity.
We are praising God, our heavenly Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ for setting us apart to do His work of the ministries in the country that we love and long to see many more come to the saving knowledge of the Messiah, Christ the Lord, our King and great God of the Universe.
To learn how God used Setan to transform lives and bring salvation among the Khmer Rouge leaders, click here.
To go back and learn more about our history click here.