TRAINING PASTORS IN INDIA

On September 21, Lyndell and I set foot in India almost 30 years since our first trip to that country back in 1990 on a short-term medical mission trip. We traveled at that time with an organization called Project Christ International (PCI) whose founder and leader was an Indian named Samraj. This man was used by the Lord on that and several other trips to train and challenge me often in regards to how much I needed to study the Word of God and make the truth of what I learned known to others who had never heard.

Now we were traveling again to India and the same state of Andhra Pradesh with an organization called Training Leaders International (TLI) to train local itinerant pastors in the study and interpretation of the scriptures in order to help them prepare and deliver God-centered, Christ-exalting expository sermons to the people of their remote villages. It was a great joy to be used of the Lord in this capacity. Samraj was about 65 when we first met him and now I am 68. He first came to our residence in Houghton, MI one day and introduced himself by saying, "Hello my name is Samraj and I want you to come to India with me". Through our witness of his ministry to share the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Hindu villagers of India, I was gripped by the Lord with a desire to follow a course of attempting to do the same wherever God would open the cross cultural doors of opportunity.

So we were graciously permitted to join TLI as part of the training program that some 60 or so pastors have been taking for over a period of 2 1/2 years thus far. They were in their seventh of nine sessions, which they will finish in the summer of next year upon their graduation. Each session goes for a week and several of the pastors must travel by bus or train long hours and many miles to attend the training. Their witness for the Lord has become more difficult in India in the past 10 years or so and several have been beaten or their lives threatened for preaching Christ Jesus.

Currently there is a political group of leaders in the state of Andhra Pradesh who are seeking to propose a new law that will oppose anyone who might choose to convert from Hinduism to Christianity. This anti-conversion law has already passed in several other Indian states and would bring about an increased level of hostility and persecution to pastors and other Christians in Andhra as well.

We were able to hear some fascinating testimonies on how some of the pastors had come to believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. One man was dying from cancer and all the doctors and Hindu priests had given up on him ever getting well again. Then a Christian pastor came to the hospital to pray for him and later after the prayer he had a dream that Jesus had appeared to him, touched him and said he was now healed. That man did get well and then went to find the pastor who had prayed for him and said he wanted to know more about Jesus who had touched him. That man was now one of the pastors at our training session.

Another man was known as a big brawler in his village and had beaten up a young pastor who had come to preach in his village. He was told never to come back or he would be killed. Sometime later that big man became very sick and was in the hospital when this young pastor returned after recovering from his injuries, so he could pray for this brawler. The man was so moved by the love of that pastor that he became a believer after being healed of his sickness and then became the young pastor's "bodyguard" going into other hostile areas to bring the gospel.

The living conditions of the missionaries we worked with are very difficult due to the extreme poverty around them as well as the unsanitary conditions with open sewer ditches, polluted streams,  extreme heat and humidity, hoards of cluster flies, poisonous snakes, huge rats, spotty electricity and dangerous driving conditions. The ability to minister in this area for those who have not grown up in such an environment is truly based upon the grace of God.

The pastors and Bible School students who attended the sessions all seemed genuinely pleased with the training and many commented that they were excited to see how all the Bible stories and various books of the Bible are related to each other to showcase the glory of God in Jesus Christ. Some were able to present short sermons at the end of the week to demonstrate what they had learned from the previous sessions.

Now we are back in Bangkok to begin teaching English at Santisuk English School with hopes that our students will not only become more proficient in speaking the English language, but grow in their understanding of Jesus and be drawn by God to receive Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.

We wish to thank all of you who prayed for us while in India and now ask for continued prayers for our work in Thailand. May God be glorified in all that we do. "... whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." (I For. 10:31)

Indigo Ailines from Bangalore to Vijayawada

Vijayawada with population of about 2 million
(about 1 hour away from training center)

Organization that we partnered with in India

Backyard of Reach All Nations (RAN) training center 

RAN Center
(where we lived and taught)

Open sewer ditch harboring source for disease 

RAN Center under construction
(houses 80 staff, students, children, & students)

Local housing with water buffalo and chickens (roosters were our alarm clock around 3:00 am each morning)

Doors built at this height due to frequent flooding

Cook named Zaccheus
(A wee little man was he)

Our bedroom with one of the few A/C units we deeply appreciated

Large rat killed outside the kitchen
(it had been residing in the couch in the living room)

Preparing our food

Kitchen where our delicious meals were cooked

Treated to a very special creation one evening

Gluten-free cookies for our resident missionary's wife

Dining Room (can you see the flies on the baby's high chair?)

Now you can see them!

Some of the children being raised at the center

Rainy season brings about lush vegetation

And beautiful flowers

Various unique varieties

Hidden creatures also among the flowers 

Decorative art daily sketched to invite 
pleasant spirits into Hindu's home

Bible student's wife who recently recovered from deadly venomous cobra's bite

Shanty where old women lives among the chickens
 and human waste receiving only minimal care. 
(The local missionaries were forbidden by the woman's relatives from providing
 any food or other  palliative care for her.)

Stairway up to training room on third floor

Training session for pastors
(They also enjoyed singing "This is the day the Lord has made"
 in English using bongos to keep the rhythm)

Another teaching session for pastors

My wonderful interpreter and his lovely wife
who also prepared all our meals for us

Pastors discussing the lesson together

Pastor preaching sermon prepared after training

Bible women also attended the training

Our team with area's prominent woman's Bible study teacher
(she was also the aunt of one of our trainers from USA)

Honored with flower leis and shawls(very heavy, odiferous and honey bee magnets)

TLI team with pastors

Missionary singing in Telegu



On behalf of Lyndell, myself and the rest of our team, I can't express how much we valued your prayers, while we worked with these beloved Indian brothers and sisters in Christ. Their eager willingness to learn more and more in order to be a greater blessing to their churches was certainly exciting. And it has made for an experience that will always be remembered in our minds, since our hearts were so encouraged and touched by the testimony of their faithfulness to the spreading of the glorious transforming gospel of Jesus Christ.



I thought this picture portrays a story in itself. This is a statue in the Chennai airport of Shiva known as the Destroyer god of Hinduism. Notice the caption that is "photo bombing" the picture that says, "Make Life Convertible". Hinduism has kept millions of people in bondage to a life of misery and an eternity with no promise. The only thing that can transform such false teaching and convert a person from experiencing a life of no hope to one of enjoying the gift of eternal life is the proclamation and penetration of the good news of Jesus Christ into that society and culture. Please remember to pray for those who are taking the gospel to those still in darkness. Jesus is the only one who can convert their life from one of despair to one of everlasting hope, peace and joy.



"Behold, he (Jesus) is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen." Revelation 1:7