Last year, Vivien and I met Molyvann, a Cambodian pastor with a remarkable calling. His office is located inside the government palace, where he serves as Special Advisor to the Prime Minister and the cabinet, an appointment bestowed by the King of Cambodia.
Today, in that very office, he shared how he arrived here. Born into a prominent family close to the Royal House, he became a target when the Khmer Rouge seized power in April 1975. During those brutal four years (1975-1979), nearly two million Cambodians were killed through execution, starvation, disease, and forced labor. His father, his mother, and six of his eight siblings were among the victims.
When the Khmer Rouge emptied Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975, claiming residents needed protection from American bombing, the entire population—over two million people—was forced into the countryside. Families were intentionally separated so they would never reunite. Molyvann survived by hiding and fleeing until he reached a Thai refugee camp, where he was finally reunited with his only surviving sister. Even now, at 70 years old, he still wakes up with nightmares from that period.
In that refugee camp, he encountered the love of Jesus, met Ivonne, his future wife, and later received refuge and support from a Chinese church in Brooklyn, New York.
One truth has shaped him ever since: when a nation collapses, only what belongs to the Kingdom of God endures. He clearly remembers that during the genocide, a single bowl of rice was more valuable than all the currency, gold, or jewelry his family had saved. Everything else lost its meaning.
Today, he is fully committed to advancing kingdom projects at every level, empowering a new generation of Cambodians to bless and rebuild their nation from the inside out.
