December 7, 2009
Permit
September 1, 2009
Pamphelt, Flyer, 3D Renderings, and Video
August 25, 2009
August 21, 2009
August 17, 2009
August 4, 2008
New (Old) Videos
February 12, 2008
Building Is Down!
We have a few early pics of the after math of the demolition in the photo gallery below. None of this would have been possible without all of your encouragement and support. Thanks and God Bless!!!
November 6, 2007
Volunteers Needed
Two Sundays ago, we had an emergency meeting for everyone in the congregation. Pastor Charlie asked us if we should keep the building up and work on remodeling it, or if we should take the building down and build the church from the ground up. With a majority of the vote, nearly 95%, it was decided that the building would indeed be demolished.
Now, we would like to extend an invitation to those that would like to help our congregation bring the house down. If you have any knowledge on construction and would like to lend a helping hand, please use the form below or call Pastor Charlie Phim at (801) 755-5742. If you decide to call Pastor Charlie, please provide the following information in the form to him.
We thank God for giving us the strength and encouragement to move forward with the progression of the Build-HIS-Church project. I think a particular quote from one of Max Lucado's pamphlets titled "How Hurts Bring Hope" describes what we're doing, best. Lucado said,
This really holds true to our congregation. Rather than seeing the arson as a bad thing, we look at the positives that it brings us such as bringing our congregation together; and bringing the church together brings us closer to our Heavenly Father.
Once again, thank you for all the support that you have shown our church and please continue to pray for us. "Blessed those that are pure of heart, for they shall see God." Matthew 5:8
November 3, 2007
Letter From The Pastor...
Dear Friends,
On behalf of the Cambodian Christian Reformed Church, I wanted to take this time to thank those that have expressed their concerns over the incident that took place on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 at our church property. I am overwhelmed with the community’s support to our congregation. I believe that this is a blessing to us and that God has a plan for us and for the community. We will take what has happened to us and turn this into a positive thing. I would like to inform those that have express their interest with our church the plans that we will be taking. We are thankful to those that have prayed for us and have kept us in their thoughts. We are also thankful to those that have offered their time and donated their money to help us rebuild what we have lost. I believe that this is just an obstacle that we will overcome.
~ Pastor Charlie Phim
November 2, 2007
Quick Update
October 28, 2007
Cleanup A Success
October 26, 2007
Cleanup on Saturday
October 25, 2007
More Member Statements
When I received the call last night from Pastor Charlie informing me that our church property was on fire, I went into disbelief. My drive to the church property felt like it was miles and miles (I live in Magna. To get to the property from where I am, it would be a good 12-15 minutes. That night it felt like hours.) Why would anyone do this; especially to a church property? I don’t understand at all why it would cross anyone’s mind to vandalize another person’s property. As my husband and I arrived at the scene, we were not allowed to go near the building until the firefighters gave the clearing. I stood there shocked, watching what would have been a temporary place to worship go up in flames.
My mind wanders off to the year 2004 when we first purchased this property; how much excitement we had knowing that one day, some day, we would have a place of our own call a church. A place where our kids would go to learn about God, praise and worship Him; Our Lord and Savior. That summer, the members would meet every weekend to start cleaning and clearing out the debris, sage bushes, overgrown weed, dead trees, you name it! I remember walking in with my blue overall’s on with my husband by my side thinking “What a mess! How are we ever going to get this cleared and cleaned up? We’ll never going to do it”. Oh what little faith I had. What I saw was like trying to move a mountain. Little did I know, and what I should have known all along, is that God is always on our side. And He was. The strength and energy that He alone gave to the congregation to meet every day those first couple months was amazing. We cleared and cleaned up so much trash. The property was becoming more and more like our church home to us. What funds we had saved up went into the remodeling of the home/building. We had the outside shell of the home which was in good condition and the inside needed plenty of work. But labor isn’t something that we’re scared of. Hard work pays off and the members that were out there hours on end showed it. We were able to remodel what we could and when the funds ran out, we organized fundraisers and took donations to replenish our “Build-His-Church” building fund.
It’s been about 3 ½ years now since we first purchased the land and although we don’t have all the funds to complete our church building, I know that we will have a church facility to worship in some day because of the determination that our members have.
“Church” is defined as:
1: a building for public and especially Christian worship
2: the clergy or officialdom of a religious body
3: often capitalized; a body or organization of religious believers as:
- a: the whole body of Christians
- b: denomination
- c: congregation
4: a public divine worship.
I believe that we can be a church anywhere, anytime whether it’s in an actual church facility building, a public place, the living room in my home, wherever. As long as we have Christ in us and as long as we can come together to have fellowship and praise Him. That is my church. My heart is my church building for Christ alone. I want to take this time to thank all who have shown their support. It is a blessing to know that we can come together as a community and support each other. God bless each and every one of you.
~ Dee So, Secretary of CCRC
Initially, when I got news from Kristen, it was surreal. The first thought was our church burnt down? Someone must be kidding right? It's just unheard of. However, after passing the site, and going through news articles and comments, it begins to set in. The future home of our church, gone. The dreams of many shattered; destroyed.
In reality, it's just a setback; a hindrance that we will indeed overcome. There are many who don't believe in us. Conversely, there are many who feel for us and offer their hand. To this I am very grateful. Though, for those who say this is not a church or look what their god let happen, they have their right to their opinion. Who are we to pass judgment on that? But Paul said the Church is not defined as an elaborate building. Rather, it is a body of people gathered to praise God. A composition of many parts functioning as a single unit.
Also, as far as compensation is concerned. It's a very debatable topic. Part of me says they should pay for what was lost. But what did we really lose? An ancient building older than grade school cafeteria food? Buildings can be rebuilt, the foundation of the Lord can't. Some say we should cut our losses and sell our "undeveloped land." If it was numbers game, it would've been done eighteen months ago. However, because of the efforts of others infused into the project, placing the declining dollar in place of their work tarnishes their value.
It should also be mentioned that again this is not a total loss. No longer do we have to pour our tithes into a dilapidating house. This should not be seen as an omen. Instead, it should be seen as a calling to revitalize the congregation and continue our mission. We've been stagnant for nearly three years. It wasn't until now that the fact has come into perspective. Some don't feel we should be here. Wow, a Bible forshadowment fulfilled. Our parents overcame the odds twenty years ago. Who's to say we can't do it again?
~ Harry Mornh
As a Christian, I've always been taught to love those who hurt you, to make an allowance for every wrongdoing and simply to just try to understand. This incident doesn't change that.
~ Bunna Veth
Member Thoughts
I hope this event can bring us all together to move forward with the building of His Church. I’m sorry for the damage that was caused, but I hope that good will come out of this. I especially hope that those found responsible will be able to use this experience as a learning tool in order to better their lives. God will help us all through this time and give us strength to renew our efforts.
~ Kristen Veth
When my dad told me what happened at the church building, I rushed to the property with some of my family. When I got there, I was in disbelief with all the police cars and fire trucks that were there. I thought it was a huge fire, but getting a closer view, it didn’t seem too bad. I thought to myself, “Why would anyone do this to our property?” I then went back a day after the fire and saw the damage it really caused. The inside was a mess; not that it wasn’t messy before. Thinking about all the hard work our congregation put into this building, from doing the roofing, to fixing up the electrical system, is really what makes me sad. Also, all those Youth Groups from Mountain Springs, from Missoula, Montana, from Boise State University, and two groups from the Trinity CRC in Rock Valley, Iowa who put so much work into the house and backyard. They were great to work with and gave it 110% out there. Through blistering heat, heavy rain, and even snow. To have their hard work go down in flames is really what upsets me. So even though my heart is with the church as well as my prayers, I’ll be praying for the Youth Groups that put in their effort to us.
~ Patrick Prum
When I first heard about it, I was shocked, because that property belonged to our church community. Everyone’s hard work and dedication that was put into that building is now gone. I helped out over there, my family, our whole congregation, and even those outside of our state, a lot of other Youth Groups helped. I just can’t imagine who would set fire and damage the building that we worked so hard for. Those who started the fire, well…I should forgive them for what they’ve done, although I am angry and sad, there’s nothing that I can do, but pray that things go well.
~ Perry Prum
When I first heard the words from my father that the church building that we have been working on for so long has been set on fire, I felt shocked and confused to why anybody would do such a thing as this. My family and I rushed over to our Church property to find that our building was almost completely demolished in the inside. I became sad at this view of our property and also angry at those who did this. There wasn’t much I could do at this point, but gaze at the building and pray to God for answers about what we should do about this and try to forgive those who did this. We all hope that things will turn out the way God intends for us.
~ Phillip Prum
April 3, 2005
Older Posts from our Previous Website
April 3,2005
After church, members of our congregation and some youth group members went to work on the church. Yet another productive day. Sooner or later we'll get this thing done. Please continue to support and pray for us.-Bunna
March 26,2005
Happy Easter, Journal! Today, we celebrated Easter and had lots of guests visiting our church. We sang "When You Believe" by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. As we were singing, I looked towards the audience at the Youth Group from Iowa. I saw some of them smiling and applauding throughout the song, I saw Kim mouthing the words to the song as we were singing, and saw Bogey leading the applause after the song was over (not sure if he was applauding because he loved us singing or if we were so bad he applauded because it was over). After the service, we all gathered downstairs saying our goodbyes, exchanging phone numbers and e-mail addresses, and giving each other hugs. As we waved our goodbyes, and they waved back, I thought about Thursday and Friday how hard those kids worked for us. I want to wish them a safe trip back to Iowa and hopefully we will get to visit them in Iowa.-Patrick Prum
March 25,2005
Hello again, Journal. Once again, another productive day with the Young People's. The only bad thing that happened was the snow. It was non-stop snow til the time we started to the time we finished. Did you think the snow was going to stop us from working? "No Way!!!" was the response when I asked a couple of the members of the Rock Valley Youth that question. Today was the day all of us could have some fun. Today was Demolition Day! Along with the Youth Groups, I totaled the garage that was meaning to be destroyed for quite some time. The Rock Valley leaders were also very kind as they rented a wood chipper for us to turn the branches and twigs into wood chips. Without us asking, they took thrie own money out of their pocket and rented a wood chipper for us. As lunch time approached, we all sat in the building listening to Pastor Charlie's story. I was so happy to see the Young People's so interested in our Pastor's story, asking him questions and just having a good time. We wrapped up work at about 2 PM. Later that night, we went back to Mountain Springs to join in a Good Friday service. It was unlike any service that I have ever been to. I loved the atmosphere of the whole thing. After that, we decided to go to the home of Pastor Mike Menning, the Pastor of the Mountain Springs Community Church, for banana splits. We had lots of fun talking about ourselves and other things. We were also fortunate to hear the story of lady who was part of a polygamist's family. Luckily, she got out of it in time and met a guy who was right for her. After the ice cream, we went bowling. It was unfortunate that the Rock Valley Youth couldn't stay to bowl with us, but what can you do. I look forward to seeing them for the last time in a long while on Sunday for our Easter Celebration.-Patrick Prum
March 24, 2005
Hey Journal, this is my second Journal entry . Today, the Rock Valley, Iowa Youth Group came down to help us clean up the church. I was the first one to go up and greet them and my first reaction to when I saw them was, "Wow, they are all tall!" Well, as the day progressed, I got to know them a little better and they all were a bunch of neat kids. We worked on picking up branches and cutting down the trees. Man was I suprised to see how much firewood they made! It was raining the whole time and I was amazed by the dedication from not just our group, but the Young People's of Iowa as well. These kids really want to help us with this project. We stopped at about 3 PM so that we could get ready for the combined youth activity at Mountain Springs. We talked about how we could build better relationships we our Mormon neighbors. It was a very interesting discussion because we, living in Utah, know what it's like being surround by Mormons. Coming from Iowa, they didn't have that experience. It was cool being able to hear both points. As I was making my way home, I was just looking forward to tomorrow for another exciting day with those kids.-Patrick Prum
March 24,2005
Pastor Charlie's trip continues to pay big dividends. This weekend, a youth group from Rock Valley, Iowa answered the call. Together, with our own youth group, we ripped out the chainsaws and tore down the rest of the trees in the backyard. Some people, namely Bogey of the Iowa group, had a little too much fun manning the powertoys. However, the real fun didn't begin until we unsheathed our sledgehammers and demoed the garage. Truly the only correct way to do a service project. Thank you to the Iowa group and we'll update the youthGROUP page with pictures and junk pretty soon, so be sure to check that out.-Bunna
March 19,2005
Hello Journal, looks like this is my first journal entry. So today, the InterVarsity group from Boise State University came to our church and helped us with cleaning up the building. I didn't really get to talk to them much because I was out running to get some food for the group. Though I did get to converse with them a little bit. They seemed like a bunch of cool kids when we talked during lunch. We picked up debris, cut down trees, and joyfully knocked down fences (Oh, there is no experience like kicking something down. You haven't lived until you kick something down.). We finished at around 4 PM and unfortunately, I wasn't able to say goodbye because I was at the dump. Oh well, it was fun and hopefully, the Iowa Youth will be just as cool.-Patrick Prum
March 19,2005
Today, the Intervarsity student group from Boise State University came down for spring break to help us clear the land. We picked up debris, cut down trees, and knocked down fences. It was a very productive day. We are extremely grateful to the Boise group for spending part of their break to help with this effort.-Bunna
February 5, 2005
Today, our pastor has left to go out to spread our ministry. Pastor Charlie will be traveling in our behalf as he goes out and tries to get other Christians to donate to the Build-HIS-Church fund-raiser. He will be traveling to Idaho and California to other churches presenting our ministry. Good luck, Pastor Charlie and may God Bless!
