The moment of blessing from older to younger

During the 2008 Southeast Asian Leadership Summit, a special moment was shared by the older generation with the younger generation — a powerful word of confession and blessing. This video captured “The Moment” and was recorded by Russell Yee. Posted here with permission.

Elder Chiv Taing is speaking and Pastor Amra Phou translating. Transcript below:

On behalf of the first generation . . .
We do have that dream
Of coming to the land of opportunity
And, you see, we came from a war torn country
And we came here
And we tend to have that protectiveness,
Not allow the second generation
Not allow, our children
To be led by the Lord
We tend to be too protective
And we failed to recognize the leading of God
To move to the next generation

And on behalf of the first generation
I would like to apologize for that

Let you go, let you go . . .

I would like to seek forgiveness from all of you,
On behalf of the first generation
I should have recognized the power of God
And allowed God’s work within the church
To prepare the church, to build a bridge
For the next generation
And from this conference I will go back
And educate my people
And let them realize that we need to let go of the next generation
Allow God to work
To build a bridge to bless throughout generations
Not just words, but Im going to go back, and commit to pray to the God
of Jacob
To lead you guys in the way of the Lord

You guys, its O.K.
God bless you guys from now on
And be strong

And I would like to bless you
And encourage all of you to continue to be the light of the world
And the way you continue to serve each other,
The first and second generations
And allow God to lead all of us
Thank you.

Mark your calendar for next year, as the Southeast Asian Committee is working towards our 2010 Southeast Asian Leadership Summit (SEALS) in San Jose, CA on March 11-13th, 2010. See website www.seacleaders.com for updates.