Today’s post was written by Sonata Wilson, CAMA’s marketing and communications specialist.
Coming Together to Celebrate
On Thursday, October 10, CAMA international workers and global partners came together with former CAMA directors, former CAMA workers, and other special guests in Chiang Mai, Thailand, for a two-day celebration in honor of CAMA’s 50-year anniversary.
The festivities began in the early hours of the morning the day of the opening session. A fitness fundraiser—CAMA’s Fit for Fifty 500K Event—was hosted by CAMA workers in effort to raise both awareness and support for refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs)—the same groups of people whom CAMA came alongside in response to the Vietnam War in Thailand over 50 years ago. Over 100 people registered for the event, and together, participants logged over 860 kilometers on-site through running, biking, and other forms of exercise—raising over $35,000 to-date to support those displaced worldwide.
Remember
In the early afternoon, the preceding five-day global staff retreat for current CAMA staff members and global partners concluded with a Q&A panel of previous CAMA directors, their wives, and the wives of former directors all sharing stories of the past along with hard-earned wisdom for the present. After a few hours of rest, the anniversary event officially began with a short parade featuring flags from countries CAMA has partnered with and served in, along with flags representing the four iterations of the CAMA logo. Over 200 people registered to attend. After the procession was seated, a brief word of introduction was given by current CAMA Co-Directors Ron and Lisa Ramsey. Robin Dirks, the special assistant to the vice president of Alliance Missions (AM) and a former international worker with 40 years of combined service with CAMA and AM, then took to the stage as the event’s MC. Words were shared over the verse that had guided preparations for the celebration, Psalm 126:3: “The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.”
What followed was a series of sessions centered around the theme of “Remember. Rejoice. Renew.” Thursday evening’s session focused on “Remember,” as videos covering the birth of CAMA in the aftermath of the Vietnam War and its first relief and development projects during the 1970s and 1980s played. Andy and Beverly Bishop—the first international workers to officially serve with CAMA—came to the stage to be honored and to share a few words about their work during the start of CAMA. When answering a question after the session about CAMA’s 50-year anniversary, Andy said, “It’s certainly an answer to prayer, and it demonstrates such a wonderful development that we never dreamed could even happen. When we see these people here, you hear the stories and realize that keeping a holistic approach to the gospel is the only way to go, and this [celebration] proves that it worked.”
Following the Bishops, Timothy, a man born to an impoverished family in Laos during the peak of the Vietnam War, shared his testimony of how CAMA came alongside him and his family with relief in a refugee camp. He told of how a simple T-shirt given to him by CAMA workers planted a seed of love and compassion and instilled in him the ability to hope. As he concluded his story, Timothy shared a word for CAMA’s donors. He said, “It may not seem to be very much. Maybe [you] couldn’t do much, but I want to assure you that [your] $20, $50, or $100 actually changed and saved somebody’s life. One of those persons was me.”
After Timothy’s testimony and the run of the subsequent 1980s video on CAMA’s expanding work, Robin and his wife, Donna, came forward to reminisce and were honored for their service in West Africa. Following them, Robert Sanou, the founding director of ECHO West Africa and a former director of ACCEDES—a multi-sectoral development organization in Burkina Faso—took to the stage and spoke toward CAMA’s impact in West Africa. After sharing how hundreds of students had come to know Christ through a school CAMA had supported, how thousands of people had benefited from a microcredit program assisted by CAMA, and a story about hardened hearts softening to Christ and His church through a CAMA-funded well, Robert said, “Thank you to each of the donors—all of you supporting CAMA Services. I could share with you thousands of testimonies of how [your support] . . . changed a life. Not only physically, but also spiritually. It brought people to Jesus Christ. Thank you, donors. Thank you for supporting.”
As the session closed out in worship, Robin said a prayer in his serving language of French and spoke a word of encouragement over the current CAMA workers and global partners, saying, “The God that was faithful in the 70s can meet our needs today.”
Rejoice
The next morning began with worship and a devotional from Tim Crouch, the vice president of AM. Drawing from Song of Solomon, Tim emphasized the importance and impact of being friends of those whom God loves—to recognize that we have a role to play in helping others realize that they are loved and to be friends who share the good news of Jesus, for the way to the shepherd is to hang out with His sheep. “Friends who walk with those whom God is seeking,” Tim said, “are in a position to celebrate transformation when it happens.”
Following Tim’s speech, a video covering CAMA’s continued work in the 1990s played. Marlene Westergren, wife of late CAMA Director Cliff Westergren, took to the stage and spoke a few words about her and her husband’s time serving. “Cliff was a listener,” said Marlene. “He gave his life to listen to others and to help them.”
After Marlene and Cliff were honored for their leadership, the CAMA in the 2000s video was screened. Immediately following the video, a group consisting of Robin and a collection of current CAMA workers reenacted a comical skit that had been performed back at the very first CAMA staff retreat in 2000 involving the late CAMA Director Phil Skellie and a series of unfortunate interpretation errors. Phil’s wife, Becky, came forward afterward and shared a bit about her and Phil’s focus during their time as leaders. “A lot of what drove Phil,” said Becky, “in what we did in those years with [The Alliance’s] National Office was to challenge the mission to be more biblical in their approach to how they served the poor and how they took care of each other as workers.”
After Becky was honored, Di Ullrich, a CAMA international worker who has been serving in Kosovo for the past 25 years, came to the podium and spoke of how she had seen lives transformed and communities restored over the course of her time with CAMA. Di spoke of how her ministry has centered around pioneering occupational therapy (OT) in Kosovo. She shared stories of how former students of hers are now assisting those with down syndrome, autism, and those in need of in-home therapy with OT, how she was able to assist a man who had had a stroke regain mobility through OT, how a different man began to promote prayer in front of her OT students after being prayed for to come out of a coma and eventually accepted the Lord along with his wife, and how—at the local college she’s been teaching OT at—she’s had opportunities to pray for the director of the college while pointing to the God who sees and cares.
The video of CAMA in the 2010s then played, and former CAMA Director Mike Sohm and his wife, Nancy, were called up to the stage. Mike spoke toward the memory of his experiences leading CAMA in response to Hurricane Sandy with U.S.-based churches and how that made him realize the key and strategic role that the local church “plays around the world and in disaster to not just share the love of Christ, but to be His presence, pray for people, and to follow up with [them].”
As the session concluded in worship, people representing Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, and the United States—members of CAMA’s global leadership team—came forward to say a prayer over the entirety of CAMA in six different languages.
After lunch, CAMA staff and global partners gathered in the halls outside the assembly room to host the CAMA World Market to highlight and celebrate the current work of CAMA around the globe. Booth after booth featured clothes made by local seamstresses, jewelry made by local crafters, food to taste, coffee to drink, games to play, information on different needs and ongoing projects, and much more. People perused the stalls as demonstrations were held from a makeshift stage to highlight aspects of certain cultures from each region. These demonstrations ranged from an interactive showcase on the importance of farming God’s way, a line dance with the crowd, a food-eating contest featuring a local treat, an “Olympic” competition featuring local attire to a song sung in Spanish about coffee. Finally, Alliance President John Stumbo closed the CAMA World Market by leading the gathering in a hymn of worship.
Renew
After a few hours of rest, the final session opened with worship and a banquet meal. A video detailing CAMA in the 2020s played and was followed by a mini documentary providing a broad overview of CAMA’s work since its start in the 1970s until now. A song of praise followed in worship, and John Stumbo took to the stage. John exhorted the current CAMA workers to renew their commitment to one another, to their work, to their own identities, and to the Holy Spirit. To the original founders, John said, “I think that had you known what it was that was going to be produced through your life and ministry, discouragement couldn’t have even been possible.” John added, “Not every ministry lasts 50 years. Not every seed planted [bears] fruit. But no act of love and no word of the gospel spoken can be in vain.”
The current CAMA workers then stood up from among the assembly to receive a blessing as Andy came forward to pray over them and their work. Finally, Ron and Lisa took to the stage to close out the event. Together, they shared about their great joy in getting to lead CAMA and presented both a charge and commitment to CAMA’s workers for the years to come.
“It’s been a powerful experience to see the historical roots of our beginnings within The Alliance and to recognize that the same kinds of stories [that were] told at the beginning . . . are still being told today, “said Lisa. “There’s a consistency of relief response, people development, community asset development, and strong, holistic partnerships—grounded in faith in God and in the power of Jesus to transform lives.”
“It’s evident that CAMA is about people encountering Jesus,” she said. “About demonstrating His compassion and love. About lives transformed and communities restored because Jesus is reconciling all things. Jesus is the One who brings healing to broken relationships with God, with self, with others, and with creation.”
Standing upon Galatians 6:9 and 1 Corinthians 13:7, Ron and Lisa then called the current CAMA workers to continue forward in serving with fresh compassion, to cultivate and steward well the talents the Lord had blessed them with, to celebrate creativity, to nurture innovation, to keep enduring, to keep practicing reconciliation and restoration, and to keep fostering healthy community among themselves and others.
“Compassion gets us there, but it’s love that keeps us there. Let your love be the fuel of the care that you give to people,” said Lisa.
“Continue forward with relief, people development, community development, and partnerships. These are the simple core processes that have driven the work of CAMA—from the early days until now,” said Ron.
“You know Jesus designed light to work in darkness, and He designed CAMA to work in darkness,” he said. “Where it is dark, the light shines the brightest, and we encourage you to continue to show His light.”
“As long as the world remains broken, CAMA will be relevant,” said Ron. “You will be relevant in the work you do, ever more in the coming years as we come closer to Christ’s return. Scripture tells us that as the last days draw near, we will see an increase in war, famine, earthquakes, and other natural and human disaster[s]. CAMA stands ready to take the good news of Christ into these places, and our relevance will only increase as we continue to care for the least of these.”
Ron and Lisa concluded their charge and commitment with prayer, and Tim Crouch returned up front to give one final prayer over CAMA, its leadership, and its future. Afterward, the assembly was released to enjoy a time of fellowship with one another.
Thank You
Thank you for not only for making 50 years of relief and development possible, but for enabling CAMA workers—both past and present—to come together to remember His faithfulness, to rejoice over the work of the Kingdom that the Lord has accomplished through CAMA, and to renew the commitment to keep extending Christ’s compassion. The Lord has done great things for, with, and through His people, and CAMA has had the privilege over these past 50 years of seeing lives transformed and communities restored through the support of compassionate people like you. As CAMA steps forward into the next 50 years, we hope you’ll continue to partner with us as we work to share the redemptive power of the gospel through both word and deed.
