THE GOD BLOG: CHIN DO KHAM'S EXTRAORDINARY GLOBAL INFLUENCE

Posted:Friday,Oct25,2013 

By Bill Sherman:World Religion Writer

I was in Beijing, China, last week when I got word that my friend Chin Do Kham had died unexpectedly. I thought at first it must be a sick joke; he was 54, trim, full of energy, and seemed to be in perfect health.

 I got back from China too late to attend his funeral, but I am told that Victory Christian
Center’s nearly 5,000-seat worship center was almost full, and that the funeral went for several hours, much of it in the Zomi language.

 I traveled to Myanmar, formerly Burma, with Chin Do last spring. We took a rutted, gravel road deep into Chin State in the far northwest part of the nation, the region where he was born and raised.

 He is a celebrity in that region. Everywhere we went, people came out of their homes and shops to greet him and ask him to pray for them. We visited Bible schools he had started, and churches where he was held in high esteem.

 Chin Do’s life story is nothing short of miraculous. He was born in a tiny mountain village and was a poor student as a boy. He walked two days from his village to go to school in the mountaintop town of Tedim. He showed us the building in Tedim where he became a Christian.

 He furthered his education in Yangon, the capital of Myanmar, and eventually made his way to Tulsa to attend Oral Roberts University, later becoming a professor there and at other schools. He taught leadership principles around the world, and worked tirelessly to improve life for his fellow Burmese people both in Myanmar and around the world. He took us to his new office in Yangon, at that time still without furniture.

 Through his influence, some 3,000 Zomi people have moved to Tulsa from Chin State, setting up about a dozen Zomi-language churches here.

 It was a rare privilege to get to know Chin Do Kham, a truly extraordinary person.

 He will be greatly missed in Tulsa, in Myanmar, and in many more places around the globe where his influence was felt. Our prayers go out to his family.

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