Author: Billy

Hello friends,

Here we are in India and I am going to do what I can to update regularly on this blog. Our internet service is spotty, so you may receive more information on some days than others.
Here is the account from our first day…

Day 1

Wow, India is a place that will give you sensory overload. The sounds, the smells, the things you see, and even the food you eat are all totally different. Its fun to watch the reactions of the team as they experience India for the first time.

We arrived in Chennai on Tuesday night at about 11:45. As soon as we stepped off the plane, the heat and humidity stuck to our bodies. We all got through customs smoothly and our got our bags together before meeting Josh outside. We went to his home for a few hours before heading right back to the airport for our flight to Rajahmundry. Josh’s brother-in-law hooked us up by taking us straight through the long line to security, and even had our boarding passes pre-printed and got the medical packs checked for free along with our luggage.

We arrived in Rajahmundry at about 10:30 and got settled in to Kumar’s home. We are all staying in one room, but praise God for the air conditioner!

After getting our things in order, we headed out to our first crusade. On the way, Kumar received a phone call and received some bad news. There is a rich hindu man who lives nearby the area we are holding the crusades. He complained to the authorities that our PA system was too loud and tried to stop the meetings. He also is using his influence to frighten the people from coming to the crusades by threatening excommunication from the community. The police did not stop the meetings, but they made us turn down the volume. We expected a crowd into the thousands, but unfortunately because of this man’s threats, there were only about 400. But still, we were very anxious to preach the word of God and to share the love of Jesus Christ with them.

Bill Garrity shared a few words to kick things off, followed by Zach Smith. Then, Zach Lamberson gave an encouragement before I preached the main message. Many people responded to the altar call and everyone in the crowd stood to their feet when we prayed to receive Christ as Savior and Lord.

We returned to Kumar’s place rejoicing in what the Lord had done on our first night and took some much needed rest. I think the guys were more worn out from stressing over the driving habits than from our travels. Ha ha! Lots of white knuckles and near death experiences on the roads of India.

I have some pictures to share, but the internet is so slow it wont upload the images, but I will keep you posted as things develop here. Please pray for us, for the Indian people, and for a rich harvest! Pray for the man opposing us, and for those he has been frightening. Pray for our families back home who are anxiously waiting for us. Thank you brothers and sisters!

Today we had a small pastor’s meeting in Sithalapakkam ( i hope i spelled that right), which is near the grounds of our big crusades in Chennai. It was held in pastor Rajendran’s church, since he was the main pastor who was instrumental in bringing the other pastors together for the crusade.

There were several churches represented at the meeting. Each of these pastor’s had their churches pounding the streets for weeks getting the word out about the crusades, and also they worked very hard to transform the field into a place where we could hold the meetings. They had to knock down a lot of weeds, then bring in a machine to level the field off, then treat it with some disinfectant and begin setting up the stage, sound, lighting and seating area. This took a lot of time and significant effort.
We had a specific message we wanted to get across to the pastors, which was that they should continue to join forces even after the crusades to reach the community. These men were to be given information of those who respond to the gospel at the meetings, depending upon where the person lived in the area, and were to be responsible for follow up and discipleship.
One of the great things we were able to experience here is to have communion with these men of God. It was really special.

That evening, we held a small crusade in the slums of Chennai. Our original plan only included holding the three big nights of crusades, but at the last moment, Josh called me and asked if we had an extra $400. He said he could throw together some smaller crusades with just a small amount of money, so I said, “Lets do it!”
This was one of those meetings. When we arrived, I was pretty nervous. This place was a real dump and looked dangerous. I was especially nervous because we had needed to convert some dollars to rupees, and I had about ten years worth of the average person’s wages in my duffle bag!
About 300 people turned out for our “small” crusade, and after many people responded to the altar call, we came down from the stage and layed hands on everyone who came forward for prayer. The setting was in a 30′ wide alleyway between two tall, 4 or 5 story apartment buildings. People were hanging out of windows and balconies to listen. The street was packed full of chairs and people standing on the sides. Once we were in there, we weren’t getting out until it was over. Josh laughed at me when I told him i made me nervous. What if these people didnt like what four americans had to say? We stuck out like sore thumbs.
But, it was a very fruitful crusade, and many souls were added to the kingdom of God. We were constantly surrounded by children who for some reason kept calling me “Stone Cold!” Wrestling is apparently very popular in India.

Keep the fire burning for Jesus wherever you may be!
See you on the streets!

After settling into Josh’s home in Chennai, we had some wonderful ministry plans for the next week straight. Both Dr Kumar and Josh and his family were absolutely fantastic in the way they treated us and made room for us in their homes. I think we in the U.S. could learn some free lessons on hospitality from the Indian people. As guests in their homes, we were given preference in all things. The best room, the best food, you name it, we were given first dibs. Not only that, but they actually insisted that we take the best room and eat before them, etc. They wouldn’t even allow us to argue. Very hospitable people. Roll over Hilton Hotel, I know where I’ll be staying from now on.

So the first day of ministry was to hold an all-day pastors meeting with the young, emerging Christian leaders in Chennai. The place we rented out was a beautiful resort on the Indian Ocean about a half hour down the coastline south of Chennai. We had a full day of teaching, worship, games, food, and fellowship all planned out.

The reason for this is that so often the pastors will go to a pastor’s meeting and receive a lot of good teaching, but will not get an opportunity to get to know each other. So we wanted to spend the whole day together with a light teaching schedule. This way, they would be able to build lasting relationships for the future of ministry together in Chennai.

The main theme of the entire day was that these young men need to include their wives in their ministry. In India, the women are not respected at all. In fact, many pastors will prioritize God first, ministry second, and family third. Often the wives get left out of the equation entirely. So, in order to change that dynamic, we met with the young emerging leaders and gave them practical, biblical instruction in this area. The teaching was very well received by them all, and we had great feedback(especially from the women lol).

We played several games with them, each one specifically chosen because they required the husband and wife to work together to achieve the goal. It was a great way to put the teaching into practice right off the bat.

We really enjoyed spending quality time with the pastors and their wives, getting to know them and seeing them foster good relationships that God will use to spread the gospel in this great city. As I write this, it has only been a few months since we left, and already they are planning to hold monthly mini-crusades together, going from one pastor’s area to the next, month by month.

This was a special day because everything we had hoped to accomplish with the conference was a success. We left the place praising God for pouring out his blessing on our humble efforts.

Praise the Lord!

In local news, a small 3-man team was pounding the pavement on Sunday afternoon down at the boat races. In a few hours, we handed out almost 2,000 tracts and got into several great conversations with people. They tried to kick us out once, but we just moved down the beach about 400 yards and started over. haha It sure was hot, but God strengthened us and gave us good attitudes. Please consider joining us next time we hit it!

then I will see you on the streets!

Our last day of ministry in Rajahmundry in India is a Sunday, so our schedule brings us first to a small, outdoor church service partly off and partly in the middle of the roadside in a downtown sidestreet.

This place was very special to me personally because a lot of the attendees are people who had come to Christ through the cellphone preaching. Before the service began, Kumar told me that these believers all knew me and were anxious to see me in person because he had conducted the cell-phone preaching at this place a number of times. So at the end of the meeting, I asked him to address the crowd and ask how many of them had become Christians through the cellphone meetings. I was a bit overwhelmed when most of the people there raised their hands. It was a real encouragement to continue the work of the cellphone ministry.

Trevor delivered the main message and we laid hands on a prayed for every person there. the children were giddy and having a wonderful time. We were wondering why the security was so tight and why they looked so nervous. As we left, Kumar explained that just six months ago, the pastor was threatened by Hindu radicals to stop preaching the gospel. After he refused, he was attacked from behind in the middle of a Sunday morning service by a man with a machete, and had his head cut off in front of the whole crowd. We were both shocked and humbled because persecution became very real and also because it was an honor to preach from the pulpit of such a brave brother in Christ, who stood his ground in the face of death.

The evening crusade was in a familiar place. It was just a few kilometers away from our baptism site. As we were weaving our way through the alleyways and streets of the village, Kumar received a phone call and he instructed the driver to stop and shut off the lights. A group of Hindus were at the crusade causing a disturbance and threatening violence. We didnt know if we should be nervous or not. This wasnt the first time on this trip that the hindus were trying to obstruct the work of God. But, soon, the phone rang and we were on our way again. Apparently, there was some sort of deal struck, and we shut off a few of the loudspeakers in order for them to leave us alone.

Our stage was set in the middle of the roadway, and the chairs were lined up the street as far as we could see. The music was so loud. We chuckled together as we surmised what it would have been like if we hadnt shut off half the speakers. Kumar was still upset and said he wanted it to be like”thunder from heaven” upon the entire village. When the speaking began, we could not see how far the crowd went back into the street. There was row upon row of people coming out to hear the gospel. I preached about the fruit in our lives demonstrating what we really are, no matter what we may claim to be, and what it looks like to be a child of God. Then I shared the good news of the gospel with them and offered them an opportunity to come to Christ publicly. The altar filled up rapidly and after praying with them to receive the Lord, we laid hands on them and prayed for every person.

We headed back to Kumar’s place, knowing that this was the last day of ministry in this dark city. The need for the gospel is so great in Rajahmundry. We all openly expressed our desire to come back and plant more seeds on this fertile soil.

Monday was a day that was burnt up in travel back to Chennai, so the next blog will begin on our first day of ministry in the city of Chennai, India.

In local news, me, the wife and the kids went down to Columbia Park for the 4th of July festivities last night and handed out over 800 tracts before we settled into a comfortable spot to watch the fireworks. I was pleasantly surprised by my kids as they handed out hundreds of tracts alongside their dad. I’m training up more evangelists!

See you on the streets!

Day 6 Saturday, March 13

Today was a very special day. First on our agenda was to head down to the river and baptize 60 new believers. The Godavari River is the 2nd most holy river in India, and is revered greatly by the Hindu faithful. There are magnificent temples built along its shores where people come and offer sacrifice to their gods.

The place Kumar chose to hold the baptisms is just below a gigantic dam, probably one of the largest I have seen. We went to a place where the river was about waste deep. It was extremely hot out, and we were down in the middle of a massive sandbar, so there was absolutely no shade to protect us from the sun. The water was warm and offered little relief. There were so many people coming to be baptized, 60 in all, and we were humbled by their desire to have us do it. The four of us, me, Richard, Trevor, and Rick, lined up and did them four at a time. It didn’t take very long, but we got lots of great pictures and I recorded the whole thing. It was an honor to take their first step of obedience to Christ with them.

We went home for showers and went to the mission hospital for a tour of the ministry there. As we arrived outside the building, we were greeted with garlands and a warm welcome. There were approximately fifty or so people waiting in line to be seen by a doctor. Kumar gave us the full tour, showing us every room and every piece of equipment. It was eye-opening to see the kind of medical treatment people receive in a third world country. We were able to pray for a lot of people, everyone, in fact, including a woman who was in recovery after a hysterectomy. Before we left, Kumar took the time to see a few patients and give them treatment. It is truly wonderful to see a man of God operating within the gifts he has been given. The mission hospital is also used to house the some of the orphans. The orphanage is only a block away, and is too small for the boys and girls to stay in one place, so at night, after school and dinner, the girls come over to the hospital where they have been assigned sleeping areas.
The only reason Kumar has the room for them is because when the economy in the US dried up, so did a lot of the support that the mission hospital relies on to continue most of the work. He has gone from 2-3 surgeries a day to maybe one per week. The need is still there and very real, but the resources are not. But extra space will never go to waste in a place like India, and Kumar and his team have utilized the extra room by giving the girls a safe place to sleep at night. Last time I was there, he told me how sometimes at night the Hindus would come and just simply take girls from the orphanage. It is important for them to have security even at night to protect the children.

After we finished laying hands on and praying for those who were still waiting for treatment, we headed to the orphanage to spend time with the children. Richard really got into teaching a couple of good lessons to the children, and played games with them that gave a picture of what the lesson was about. It was great to see him operating within his element. As I said before, it is wonderful to see a man of God using the gifts he has been given.
The Indian children are so beautiful. Their eyes are so full of life and hope. After being on the streets, looking into the years of hard living in the faces of so many people, it was refreshing to see the bright, youthful faces of the children. It is a hard thing to do, sitting there, looking at a bunch of kids who have lost their parents. Kids who do their studies every day, eat their dinner every night, and lie down on a cold floor with no family around. As I looked at them, I wondered what went through their minds in the stillness of the night, what memories they cherished, and how their little hearts must break. Then I thought about India and the hardness of the life they were faced with. They will never enjoy some of the simple pleasures that you and I take for granted every day. You have no idea how hard it was to maintain a smile for them, while I wept inside. All you want to do is take them up in your arms and make everything alright for them, but you know it isnt something you are capable of. But there is One who can. The best thing we could do for them is show them and tell them about the marvelous future we have in Jesus Christ. To tell them that there is a Father in heaven who knows their names and loves them deeply, who will never leave them or forsake them, and who has paid the ultimate price so that they will be able to enjoy endless fellowship with Him in paradise. What an incredible ministry, to come and offer hope to the hopeless, to offer love to the unloved, to show them that when they follow Christ, they become part of the family of God.

Our crusade was in a remote village about an hour from Rajahmundry. As we pulled into the narrow streets of the village, there was a demonstration going on at the Hindu temple in the middle of the village. They had a very loud amplifier and were getting excited. I hid my nervousness from the rest of the team. The crusade grounds were small, with seating for about 300, but only about 150-200 came to the meeting. I preached about finding your security and identity in Christ, and many souls were added to the kingdom for the glory of God. We laid hands on people and prayed for them afterward, and we also spent a few moments at the village pastor’s church. It was a tent, maybe 15’x15′ and he said he was currently having about 40 people there per Sunday. His home was attached to the church area, and was about half the size. He was so very happy with the success of the crusade because he has been laboring in the village for years and now they are coming to Christ. Praise the Lord!

Brothers and sisters, it has been a bit since the last blog went out. Many of you have been asking what the deal is. Things have been busy in the household, especially after the months of preparation for this trip, and then being gone for over two weeks from my precious family. I hope to have you fully updated soon, because there are some things developing that I am going to be excited to share with you very soon. I’ll keep you posted…
See you on the streets!

Well, our fourth day of ministry in Rajahmundry was pretty much the same as the day before. Kumar had rented the grounds and all the equipment for two days, so our pastor’s conferences and crusades were held at the same place.

To get there, it is about an hour and a half drive from Kumar’s house. We would leave after breakfast and do pastor’s training until about 1:00-2:00, then head back to his home and rest for a while before heading straight back to conduct the crusades. While we were gone, the pastors and their wives were busy setting up chairs, lights, sound, etc. for the crusade. By the time we returned, they were already set up, worshiping and preparing the crowd for the message. We offered to stay and help, but Kumar did not want us wandering around for safety’s sake.

The hindu man who was having fits the night before was quieted down by the police. In fact, the police even had a few officers present later that night at the crusade to protect us in case anything else might come up. So, despite the disapproval of some, we had our second day of pastor’s training, and Trevor wrapped up Habakkuk with a very good encouragement. Rick went on from the outlining method and got into teaching them how to keep their people living in the basics in their Christian walk

One cool thing we got to do is celebrate Dr Kumar’s 40^th birthday. We got to pray for him and have some cake. Then, all the pastors and their wives came forward and we laid hands on them and prayed for their ministries. This was a really incredible blessing for all of us.

The second night of crusades in this place was very powerful. We had over 3,000 people at the meeting and it seemed like pretty much everyone came forward for prayer after the altar call. When I made the call to repentance, every person there got up and called upon the name of the Lord. Its almost surreal to be used in such a powerful way. It hasn’t really set in yet.

It is a real honor to be able to lay hands on people and pray for them, but I have to be honest, there were moments when I looked up and couldn’t believe we had barely made a dent in the crowd as they pressed in, reaching out for a touch from God. There are so many people who are desperately looking for hope. You will be able to see these things on the video at the end of this blog.

Day 5 Friday, March 12

Today we woke up and headed out to the medical camp. This place is about two hours away from Rajahmundry. The medical camp is a place where local villagers can come to get free examinations and medical care. We pulled in, and there were about 20 of teh village people gathered under the shade of a mango tree. Before they began the exams, Dr Kumar asked us to speak to them and give them the gospel. I kind of put Rick on the spot, but he did very well and spoke clearly and plainly to them about Jesus Christ. At the end of his message, most of the people repented and gave their lives to Christ. Kumar was very excited about this because apparently the people in this village are extremely hardcore Hindus and usually won’t even listen to anything about Jesus, even though he has been reaching out to them with the medical camps for a long time.

Also, while we were there, Kumar showed us the foundation that was the beginning of a cancer treatment center. They had put it in about 5 years ago, but when the economy began to fall in the US, the support also went with it. However, they do have a teak-wood plantation that is about half-way mature that they intend to harvest and use to complete the building. They should make several hundred thousand USD when the time comes, and will finish the construction of the cancer treatment center.

Another thing he showed us was a well that they had dug on the property. They tried two times before to find water there, but were unsuccessful, but the donor told them that she was sure that Jesus told her they would find water on the property, and to try one more time in a certain corner. They were laughed at by the geologist for trying, as they had been told they would not find any water on that property, but they went ahead and had them dig one last time. They found water at 60’. Now there is a water supply on the property. Praise God!

We left the medical clinic and took a scenic route along the Bay of Bengal coastline back to Kumar’s home to take some rest before the crusade. There are a lot of people suffering and living in conditions we can hardly even imagine.

At the crusade, it was Trevor’s big night to preach. The meeting place was in front of a church, right across the street from a hindu temple. In the background, there was a noisy, jealous pastor who was causing a disturbance. He was upset because he was cut out of Kumar’s network for misusing funds and also because his wife was immoral. He had rented his own PA system and was apparently trying to compete with us. His rantings did not hinder our ministry, though, and many people responded to Trevor’s message. We also prayed over people again. It was a very busy day, and we saw many people come into the kingdom of God!

So ends another fruitful day of ministry. God has totally been filling our cups, and causing them to run over. We can take no credit or accolade for anything that has been happening. All we can do is share what the Lord has done and you can praise Him together with us for His wonderful works! If you would like to watch a highlight video of the entire trip, you can see some of the things we have talked about so far, and a lot of what is still to come! Watch this touching video on the following link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VzTPJI3upc

Day 3 Wed, March 10

Today is the first of our two day pastor’s conference, and also the first of our two big crusades in Rajahmundry. They are being held in a rented field. The organizing churches have built a stage, a tented area for the seminars, and set up rows of lights for the evening crusades. Kumar has all of our meetings so very far away. Even though I am riding in the front seat, I am still getting motion sickness by the time we arrive at our destination. I’m thinking this is partially due to the bizarre driving habits here. I don’t know how many near head-on collisions we have narrowly escaped.

At the pastor’s conference, Trevor and Rick both got into their messages. Trevor’s study for the two days was a verse by verse examination of the book of Habakkuk. He tied in the struggles Habakkuk was facing with the struggles the Indian church is going through, and encouraged them to stand their ground no matter what the circumstances.

Rick did a teaching on how to outline a Bible passage. According to Kumar, this was very good for the pastors because very few of them have any education. They know how to preach the gospel and encourage their members, but doing an in depth study on a particular passage is not something they have been trained to do. So the pastor’s conferences were very good and encouraging for those who attended. There were something like 200 pastors there.

This was also our first night of big crusades. We held the crusades at the same place as the pastor’s conference. During the worship, there was a hindu man who was getting loud, causing a disturbance and demanding that we stop the meeting, but the security quickly dealt with him and we moved on.

The first night, with about 2,500 in attendance, I preached a basic message about who God is, what he requires of us, and the gospel. You have to put yourself in the shoes of those you intend to reach. Many of the people I was speaking to knew nothing about the Bible at all, so I was starting form scratch. I began in Psalm 139, showing them that God knows each of them personally and actually created them for a purpose, then moved on to Acts 17, explaining that God put them exactly where they are at this time in history, using all the circumstances of their life to bring them to a place where they might seek him and find him. From here, I used to Scriptures to identify the attributes of God, his holiness, righteousness, majesty, dominion and glory. Then I moved on to bring out the fact that God has placed a conscience within each of us, so that we would know the difference between right and wrong without having to be told, and used the law to bring the knowledge of sin to them. Then we read form Revelation 20, about the great white throne judgment, to bring understanding that there is a day that God has set aside to judge every man woman and child, and if left to our sins, we would have to answer for them to Him. This sets up the message of the cross perfectly. The fact that God loves us enough that he would be willing to become one of us in order to pay the penalty for the sins we committed against him is overwhelming to those who know nothing of a personal God. They were eager to embrace Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins and the gift of eternal life. I asked anyone who wanted to receive Christ to stand and pray with me, and almost the entire place got out of their seats. When you read about the day of Pentecost, sometimes you can wonder how the gospel can make such a huge impact in one setting, and then you come to a place where the gospel is being heard for the first time and you see men and women ready to surrender completely to Him, and suddenly those passages that seemed so incredible become not only possible, but probable and real.

When you see such large numbers responding to the gospel, automatically there is a tendency to question the sincerity or the motives of what is going on. But another important thing you must keep in mind about the Indian culture is that the cast system still dominates much of society. For any one of these people to come forward in this setting it is almost guaranteed that they will suffer for it in their family, in their workplace, and in their community. When they come forward to receive Christ and begin a new life in Him, they are counting the cost in a way that neither you nor I have ever experienced, and for that, I think we have to be humbled and encouraged.

The altar was packed when we had them come forward for prayer. Wow! What a blessing! The crowd was pressing in upon each other, trying to get to the front for prayer. Everyone wants you to lay you hands on them and pray for the blessing of God in their lives. The guys are really jazzed about being able to pray for so many people.

Here is the video from the pastor’s seminar and the crusade http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgTc8zrTQ98

The next day of ministry in Rajahmundry is coming soon….

See you on the streets!!