When Pete and Debbie Livingston sold all they owned to relocate from Mid-Missouri to Svay Pak, Cambodia, they knew they were called to help remove and heal children in the sex trade.
This week, their ministry's mission expanded as three families of coworkers at Agape International Missions (AIM) were among 11 families who lost homes to fire in Svay Pak.
Their homes were grass and wood huts, sharing common walls. No lives were lost, but all the families owned was.
"Everything is really a lot when you don't have much at all," Livingston said.
The broader goals of AIM are to reach individuals on a personal level and to change the culture by building healthy families. So the organization quickly responded to provide food, water, blankets and other simple necessities for all of the affected families.
"We will help re-establish homes for all eleven families," Livingston said.
He estimated the cost to provide for each family would be about $100 for the basics and another $150 to set up the entire home. AIM welcomes donations for this effort at its website under "Svay Pak Fire Fund."
"We work with sweet people," Livingston said. "We were excited to see their positive attitudes in response to this.
"The support from within the community is so amazing, even with very little, neighbors find something to give."
The Livingstons have been in their new home about six months. In that time, they have realized even more how deep rooted the issues are in eliminating sex trafficking.
"We now are beginning to see well the struggle of politics and humanitarian needs," Livingston said in a recent blog. "People needing help and governments needing to appear responsive, but the two are often at odds because help takes time not just money and governments want to look good now so they find money to allocate."
The world of trafficking is changing, Livingston said. Instead of "customers" visiting a store-front brothel, girls are taken directly to rooms at local hotels, he said.
"Criminals and abusers change their method, but not their deeds," he said.
AIM has a four-fold approach - rescue, restoration, reintegration and prevention.
"For us, the job is not done till the community has changed," he said. "A rescue is dangerous and important, but it is only the beginning."
Next month, a mission team from Concord Baptist Church will spend 10 days in Cambodia, helping with a first-time family ministry conference, visiting schools and orphanages, and learning ways they might build a long-term partnership with AIM, said John Forsythe, assistant pastor.
"We continue to be so appreciative of the support of our home church," Livingston said.
When Forsythe joined Concord staff last fall, he brought with him his association with DJD Cambodia Ministries, Inc., a not-for-profit he established five years ago to serve needs in Cambodia. This summer will be his ninth trip to Cambodia.
His organization has worked primarily in the Battambang Province, focused on spiritual development, education and economic development by working with churches and pastors.
"With Pete being over there, this relationship makes a perfect fit," Forsythe said.
Chris Thomson, director of children and family ministry at Concord, agreed.
"This is unique that God brought us John, with an already-established ministry in Cambodia, in October and then Pete left three months later to work there," he said.
This will be a first-time experience for Thomson. While the Livingstons share their Radically Married workshop, Thomson will lead the team of three fathers with their high school-aged daughters as they provide Backyard Bible Club activities in the local villages.
When they return, they will bring with them Concord's Vacation Bible School T-shirts made by women in AIM's sewing center.
The local church hopes to partner with the Livingstons, AIM and DJD to bring about long-term solutions to the spiritual and physical needs in Cambodia, Forsythe said.
"I am still completely overwhelmed by the magnitude of the impact of the crime inflicted upon the people of Cambodia by their very own families and leaders," Livingston posted recently.
He referred to Psalms 118:5-6: "Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?"
"We have come in response to the call of distress," he said. "We have come to be part of the answer that will set these people free, and, it is the Lord who is doing the wonderful work of setting the captives free."
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