the Lao Front after 1975, the Lao Evangelical Church (LEC)." and "The LEC under the Khunta Panya family has developed an independent strand of Lao Protestantism which is very strict." and "The continued family control of the LEC is ensured both by its authoritarian organization, and by the LFNC whose top down structure it mirrors. The symbiosis between the two is shown by the fact that the LEC operates asa gatekeeper for the LFNC vis-à-vis new and competing protestant groups, such as the Lutherans, the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Baptists, all of whom would have to be approved by the LFNC before they could operate legally inside the country. For example, the Methodists recently tried to petition for recognition by taking the bold step of bussing followers from 11 out of the country’s 18 provinces to the LFNC offices in Vientiane. LFNC officials have been bewildered when confronted by all these different strands of “Christianity”. The current President is still Rev. Dr. Khamphone Khuntapanya. References The History was obtained at: https://web.archive.org/web/20120405045347/http://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/regions/asia/laos/lao-evangelical-church.html Leadership Structure was obtained from LEC itself (They have no official website) and also from https://web.archive.org/web/20120405045347/http://www.oikoumene.org/member-churches/regions/asia/laos/lao-evangelical-church.html Churches in Laos Evangelical denominations in Asia Christian organizations established in 1956