How do you know that God is real? Is there anyway to prove that God exists?
These questions and others like them get asked all of the time, and those who pose them like to fancy themselves as somewhat intelligent.
Romans 1:20 says,”For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” What that is telling us is that creation itself testifies to the genius of God’s creative hand. It tells us that there must be a Creator.
Anyone who looks around them and sees the incredible balance in all of creation from the atom to the universe can clearly see that this world was designed.

If I told you that the device you’re reading this on fell together on it’s own over millions of years, you probably wouldn’t believe me. If I suggested that your morning newspaper was the result of an explosion down at the press, you would think I was a total moron. In fact, that’s so insulting to the intellect, you would probably be upset for wasting your time even reading it.
Did you know that there are 3 billion bits of information in just one strand of human DNA? Think about that for a moment. DNA is so small that you need a microscope in order to see it, and yet God in his brilliance has encoded 3 billion bits of ordered genetic information that is unique to you as an individual. Fascinating!
If you were to sit down and count them at the rate of three per second, you would be sitting there counting for over 31 years. And that is just one tiny little strand of human DNA.

Now consider that that information is different for every human being on the planet. Consider that information being different for every type of animal and every type of bird in the animal kingdom. Consider the incredible order and balance in all of creation, from insects and plants, to flowers and trees, to the weather and seasons, etc. Then consider the vastness of the universe, and that our planet with all of its wonders is just one tiny insignificant spec among billions of stars and countless galaxies. It should fill you with a sense of awe at the majesty of the power of God.
David said,”The heavens declare the glory of God.” Psalm 19:1
The more the science discovers about the world around us, from tiny strands of DNA to the vastness of our universe, the more increasingly complex we see that the creative hand of God really is.
From the microscope to the telescope, what we continue to learn is that the incredible, awesome handiwork of God’s genius and wisdom extends so far beyond our modest intellectual grasp that we must be humbled by it.

It’s no wonder that Romans 1 says “they are without excuse.” God has not left us without any witness of himself. It just gets “suppressed.” Read the entire chapter and see what he says about those who reject it.
It’s sad to see so many people misled by the popular contemporary academic belief in the fairy tale of evolution. You have grown men with brilliant minds who are so opposed to a belief in God that they will dogmatically embrace almost anything that supports their position. So you can have a professor with lots of letters after his name stand in front of an audience and boldly claim that billions and billions of years, time+matter+chance, has produced everything we see. The Bible says that man is a fool! Psalm 14:1

Don’t be afraid of questions on proving God’s existence. He’s already given plenty of proof all around us in creation itself.
Now we just need to tell them about who He is and what He has done in Jesus Christ.
Reach out and share the gospel with someone today.

Last weekend I took the boys out to a local crawdad hotspot. We were hoping to catch 50 or so so we could boil them up and have a meal.
A friend of mine insisted that we could fill a 5 gallon bucket full of them if we only used one of his traps. I think that was just a clever excuse to come along with us, because after about a half an hour, we still hadn’t caught even one. It was time to take matters into my own hands. I found an old Burger King cup on the shore and began hunting.
Catching crawdads can be a little tricky. It requires a little bit of strategy, and a little bit of deception.
When a crawdad is threatened, it will face it’s enemy with its claws ready to pinch. When it’s time to flee, it will flick it’s tail and swim backwards across the rocks until it finds a place to hide.
So I wade around the shoreline overturning rocks, being very careful not to disturb the water and stir up a cloud of silt. Once I spot a crawdad, the game is on.
I dangle my free hand out in front of his face in order to distract him. He faces me in a defensive posture with claws up. Then with my other hand I get behind him with the cup. The trap is now set. As I move my free hand closer in a threatening manner, eventually he panics and flicks his tail, straight into the back of my cup. While trying to escape the threat that I’ve placed in front of him, he has sealed his fate. I scoop him up out of the water, and there is another crawdad in the cooler.
It took about an hour to catch 40 to 50 crawdads, which proved to be a rather tasty snack.

Satan is a master of strategy and deception. He knows how to pull all the right strings and spin all the right lies in order to mislead the world into thinking wrongly about the nature and character of God.
“Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.” 2Cor 4:4

I can’t tell you how many people I talk to from different world religions, atheists, agnostics, secular humanists, and all sorts of other types, that view the God of the Bible as a threat. He has been painted as a tyrant, a lie, a fairy tale, an egomaniac, etc.
As they put up their defenses and back away from a perceived threat, they fall right into the devils trap, and so seal their fate.

It’s our job as Christians to show them the truth, the love, and forgiveness that God offers the world in Christ. The last command of Jesus is the great commission and high calling to us all: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”
Are your friends, loved ones, co workers, neighbors, being deceived by Satan and heading for eternal doom? Are you telling them the message of the glory of Christ?
Release them from the devil’s trap. Be a true and faithful witness. God bless you as you answer this highest of callings.

One time I went to do a quick walk through on a house that was supposed to close the next day. There was a terrible smell as soon as I stepped through the door. Somebody was cooking something awful.
In the kitchen were three women dressed in black robes, standing around the oven. Burning on the cooktop was a pot with some kind of mixture of spices. The homeowners had not closed on the house yet, so there was no furniture or other belongings of any kind in the home.
I asked what they were doing, and they said it was their way of blessing the home before they move in. Interesting. I asked what religion they were, to which they replied that the were Sikh. (pronounced “seek”)
I raised my eyebrow and asked curiously, “What exactly are you seeking?”
They all laughed and one of them said, “No, its not like that.”
Of course, I knew that, but it gave me the open door to speak briefly about seeking the Savior.

When you have a little fun and make the atmosphere light, you can speak to people freely about the gospel and not have them be offended at you. It doesnt have to be all serious or awkward all the time. Eternal life or eternal death are serious issues, to be sure, but remember, we are trying to open people up and reach them, not drive them away by making them uncomfortable. There is a time to be serious and level with people in the conversation, but getting it started requires a little tact. I try to keep it light at first and let them get a feel for my sanity. When they know that I am genuine, then we can move on to deeper issues.
I didnt come on too heavy because this was my job and I couldnt have new homeowners feeling bombarded by some overzealous preacher. I was simply planting the seed and hoping for future conversations down the road.

I have seen people do a lot weirder things than cooking spices to invoke a blessing. In India, Hindus will literally bring a cow into their new home and wait for it to urinate or deficate in the home. Sometimes they will smear the cow dung around the home. Talk about a great way to break in a brand new house!
It’s true that people do lots of strange things to get God’s attention or blessing. What does the Bible say? God took the initiative!
“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
All world religions are wrapped around man reaching out for God. In Christ, God reached down to man.
Do your friends, loved ones, neighbors know about the forgiveness you have found through the blood of Jesus?
Go tell people about the life you have in Christ!

One time I told the kids we were going to go camping. In a flash, they had their bags packed and the kids were in the car honking the horn. I had to go and tell them that I didnt mean we were going right NOW, but a few days later. funny how kids think that when you say something, it has to happen right away.

A few months ago, God gave me a vision. Then He gave me clear confirmation that it was something He was going to do.
Immediately I started moving forward in obedience to His call. But things weren’t just falling together as quickly as I had expected. So I started getting a little discouraged and began questioning myself and whether I was really discerning God’s will or not.
I thought that if I had really heard from The Lord, then I should just plow forward and make it happen. But, I began to realize that I need to trust God’s timing. After all, God promised Abraham a son and it was 25 years later when Isaac was born. So why should He be so swift to carry out his promise in my life?
I decided in my heart that I would no longer be frustrated and just let it rest in His hands, and he would carry it out in His own perfect time. I was even explaining this to my wife and a friend yesterday afternoon. If God had given me clear direction, then my responsibility is to take steps of obedience in that direction, but let Him open the doors in His own timing.
Then last night as I was reading, I was led to Habakkuk 2:2, a verse I had initially used to cause me to write down the things that God had told me about what He was about to do. “Write the message plainly on tablets, so that a herald may run with it.”
But I hadn’t read verse 3. In it, God says, and in that moment spoke very clearly to me,
“The vision is for a future time.
If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently,
For it will surely take place.
It will not be delayed.”
I was given a renewed sense of faith in what God had shown me and the steps of obedience I had taken so far. Now it is up to Him to put it all together and fulfill what He has shown me.

If you are waiting on God for something He has promised, don’t lose heart. He doesn’t have to act on our timing, He does it in His own. He knows when it’s right and what may seem like a delay in our view is not a delay at all. It’s just our own impatience to see things done immediately.
All the promises of God are Yea and Amen in Christ Jesus.

God bless you today

Lynton’s home is attached to his church. He gave us the full tour of the house, showing us all the equipment they use when they go out into the jungle on mission trips. What they do is walk out into the jungles, looking for small villages of people that they can share the gospel with. It takes a full day of hiking into the mountains just to reach some of these clans. So they end up staying for several days at a time in the jungle, sleeping on the ground, among the creepy crawlies and wild animals, with only the provisions they pack in on their backs.

We had intended on driving out to the starting point of the jungle and even making a short trek into the forest, but that didn’t ever materialize on this trip.

This morning, we drove into Badulla to get to some internet access, so that the team members could talk to their families and I could update the blog. While at the internet store, I spoke with the manager and we got him to come to Lynton’s house to install wireless internet in his home. After leaving the shop, we went to the market to meet a couple of Christian men.

One of them used to be a high ranking Buddhist monk, who was literally worshiped here in this same city. A few years back, he became a Christian, and immediately he was persecuted for his faith. He now owns a small shoe store in the market, which we visited, purchased shoes from, and prayed for him and his business.

The second man was the manager of another small shop in the city, who is also facing some persecution for being a Christian.

In Sri Lanka, 87% of the country’s 20 million population is Buddhist, something like 10% are Muslim, and less than 1% are Christian, and that includes Roman Catholics, Pentecostals, Assemblies of God, etc. As soon as someone becomes a Christian, the very first thing they are taught in being discipled is how to handle persecution, and how to love those who persecute them.

At 4:00 in the afternoon, we went to a small house church meeting in a strong Buddhist area. It is very difficult to be a Christian here, and evangelism is forbidden. They risk beatings, imprisonment, and even death for holding public meetings, so the church is underground.  We sang some songs, had some great fellowship, and each person on the team shared some encouragement with them. It was hard to sit among people who endure things that we don’t even come close to, and try to bring something for them in the midst of that suffering.

After the meeting, we went to Lynton’s son’s home for dinner, which was fabulous. Lewllyn and Shamila prepared a wonderful meal for us. They are Lynton’s right hands in the ministry, and will  soon be taking over. It was a couple of hours of fellowship that we enjoyed thoroughly.

Then we got back to the house in time to meet with the man from the internet company, who set everything up for Lynton so that he will now have wifi in the house. If I may confess, I think I insisted that we provide that for him more out of selfishness because I wanted access while we were here.

On Thursday, we had a special church service planned at Lynton’s church. People began showing up around 9:30, and the service started at 10:00. We met and shook hands with every single person there, most of whom traveled up to 35 kilometers just to hear from us. Many of them traveled by bus and on foot. No one drove their own car.

Each person on the team was able to minister to them in some way. Linda and Yasab shared their testimonies, Jami shared one of her songs, and Zach and Billy each spoke for a little more than half an hour each. Then we laid hands on and prayed for every one of them.

People came forward for all sorts of things. One man came forward who go saved when he was 80 years old. He lives on the side of the steep mountain, and his home was washed away in a rainstorm. Now he sleeps on a plank in the jungle, and the people in his village persecute him.

Two women came forward who pick small herbs and vegetables in the mountains, and then go down and spread them on a cloth in the streets to sell them. Since becoming Christians, they have been told to stop selling on the streets or face prosecution. Neither of them is married, so they have no source of income.

One woman came forward with her three children. Her husband left her when she came to Christ, and she has no way to provide for her children.

One old woman came forward, who’s son came to her and told her to deny Christ. When she refused, he forcefully held her hand on a table and held a knife over it, and demanded that she deny Christ. She refused again, and he stabbed the knife through her hand and into the table and walked off. We saw her scars and prayed for her.

Another young woman with a small child came forward asking for prayer for protection from her husband. Since becoming a Christian, he beats her regularly, demanding that she abandon her faith, inflicting bruises and black eyes on her that she carries to church. Lynton and the rest of the believers testified to what they have seen in her life.

So many people came forward asking for similar prayers, explaining how they were suffering persecution for being a Christian. It was heartbreaking and humbling. What is especially amazing for us to see is the fact that these people still love their oppressors. They understand the blindness of their hearts, and so patiently endure the suffering and show the love of Christ to those who hate or persecute them.

We received more blessing from these beautiful people than we brought to them, I am sure. Lynton is continually stressing to us how valuable our presence is to them and how much of an encouragement it is to their faith just for us to come, but I can’t help but feel a strong sense of inadequacy when it comes to what to say to them. They are giants to me. Heroes of the faith.

Its our last day here, as tomorrow we wake early in the morning and make the 6 hour drive back to Colombo, where we will enjoy a little more fellowship with Lester and his family before getting to the airport by 4:00 to start the journey back home.

I will send out one last blog to recap the ministry that has occurred over the past 19 days. Until then, would you please continue to pray for us? We would ask for continued protection during our last hours here, and for safe travels home. Thank you and God bless you.

Sorry for the delay in updates. We have not had internet access for awhile, so here are the next four days.

Every time I come to Rajahmundry, Dr Kumar likes to take me on very long drives.  We have a joke between us that when we are about to go to some place for ministry, I will ask him how far away it is, to which he will usually respond, “It’s not too far, brother.”  After an hour in the car, I start to wonder, “Too far compared to what?”  I have come to expect that most of the time when we leave the house, its is going to take a while to get to our destination. The joke is that if Kumar says its 20 minutes away, I know that it is probably more like 60 minutes. There is Billy-time and Kumar-time. That may not be funny to you, but its funny to us, and anyone else who comes to Rajahmundry and sees just how true that is.

Saturday in Rajahmundry was a day we set aside for dedicating a new church building. It was not too far away, if you consider distances like Dr Kumar. Something like one hour Kumar-time. Last year, we visited this church when it was under a hut. They packed more people than you would believe under that hut for church services. About 9 months ago, the pastor became sick. When he was lying down suffering with the flu, some hindu people came to him, acting friendly and offering him some lemon juice to help him. He drank the juice, but it turned out to be poisoned with cyanide, and he died very quickly.  Then, once the pastor was out of the way, the hindus convinced the local authorities to force them to tear down the hut church, saying that it was dangerous and a fire hazard.  As all this was happening, Dr Kumar stepped in and began to act on behalf of the Christians. He secured some land within about 100 yrds of the hut church for the construction of a new church building. Then he informed us about the plight of the local believers.

There was a generous man in our church who had compassion on the situation and offered to donate the funds for the construction of the new church. We wired the money over and construction began right away. There were some minor obstacles that they had to overcome along the way, but the church was completed before our visit today, and we held a dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony for the new building. We had a moment of prayer for the church and the believers, then cut the ribbons and went inside, where several of us had the opportunity to speak to them and deliver some encouraging messages. After the preaching, we held a medical camp inside the church, in which 120 people were examined an diagnosed, then given shots or antibiotics for their illnesses, and we prayed for each one of them before they left.

We endured the long drive back to Rajahmundry, and Jean Mary took some of the girls shopping for silks while others of us took some rest before our evening meeting.

It started to rain. We were a little worried that our outdoor meeting would be canceled, but we waited to see what would happen.  The rain did not stop, so we moved our meeting into the pastor’s church of that area. There were about 50-60 people gathered inside, and Zach delivered the message to them. There were a lot of people there who responded to the call of salvation, and we were so happy to see them so eager to accept Christ. It seems that everywhere we go, people are hungry for God’s word and God’s truth, and they readily accept the offer of salvation in Jesus Christ.

We know that Sunday is going to be our busiest day yet, so we all hit the sack when we got back so we could be rested up and ready to roll out in the morning.

Day 13

Usually we try to stop by as many churches as we can in Rajahmundry on Sunday mornings, but this year we planned to go to the neighboring state of Pondicherry for our Sunday services. Very recently, there were a bunch more pastors in this area that have come under Dr Kumar’s network of churches. Pondicherry is a state in India where there is more persecution than Adnrah Pradesh, which is where Kumar lives.

It was another short drive to Pondicherry, probably 60 minutes Kumar-time, but we all knew what to expect and were prepared for the time in the car. Kyle kept us all grimacing and rubbing our ears in pain by singing as loud as he could to his iPod. At least it gave us all something in common to loathe even more than the ride.  (Sorry, Kyle)

We preached at six different churches in Pondicherry. Each one was unique in its own way. From brick buildings with 75 or so members to huts with 40-50 people inside, and even one church where we held the meeting outside on the open ground, each individual church had its own qualities that we will remember. At one church, a storm came through just as we entered the building. It was a great light show, with loud thunder, heavy rain, and strong winds that swirled and blew in all directions. But it was over within about a half hour, so it did not spoil the rest of our meetings.

Each of the men spoke at least once, and each of the girls shared some encouragement before the main message. Most of the time, we felt like we were the ones being blessed rather than those we came to minister to.  Everyone on the team was excited to be a part of what the Lord was doing.

We certainly hope that our time and testimony in India has been a blessing to you as you read this blog and stay connected with us on Facebook and emails. Believe me when I tell you that we all appreciate your prayers for us and for the ministry. We could not be goers without being sent, and we share our joy with you.

Thank you for your support. God bless you today.

India 2013 Day 14, 15

It’s our last day in Rajahmundry.  Although nobody wants to be done serving these wonderful people, I think just about everyone on the team in anxious to get home after 14 days of intense ministry.

Today we went down to the Godarvi river and baptized 16 new believers. It was a bit of a bumpy ride to get there, but once we did, we had a short walk through beach sand and cow dung to get to deep water, where we spread out and each of us baptized 2 people.

It is always interesting when you baptize the people here. They don’t swim for recreation, so most of them have never gone completely underwater. They get really nervous about being put under, even when you are holding onto them, so it is a situation where they cautiously put their trust in you. You can tell that they are afraid, so you have to say soothing words to them and be gentle.

After the baptisms, we went back to Kumar’s place, showered, packed our bags, and went straightaway to the airport. We had to get to Chennai and immediately go from the domestic terminal to the international terminal, where the team split up. Five of us went to the Sri Lankan Air desk to get our tickets to Colombo, and three team members got on their Emirates flight back to the US.

Actually, we had something of a miracle in that whole process. Originally, only four of us were supposed to go to Sri Lanka, and four were to go home, but Yasab changed her mind and decided that she would like to extend her trip and come to Sri Lanka. So I checked with Sri Lankan Air to make sure there were still seats available on the flight, which there were, and then we called Emirates and changed her itinerary to fly back on the 26^th. Once we changed the dates there, I called Sri Lankan Air again and tried to buy the ticket, but they told me that they don’t allow people to purchase tickets online or over the phone within 24 hours of the flight. There were only 6 seats left on the plane, and we couldn’t get to a Sri Lankan Air desk until we landed in in Chennai, 2 hours before the flight! So I was pretty stressed about that, because we definitely weren’t about to leave her in Chennai by herself if the flight was booked by the time we got there.

I called Lynton in Sri Lanka to make sure he would have a large enough vehicle for one more person. It’s a good thing I called, because he thought we were flying into Colombo on the 23^rd, not the 22^nd. Thank God Yasab changed her mind, because I would not have confirmed that with him a second time if she had not joined the team. We would have landed in Colombo, with no cell phone service, and Lynton would have been 6 hours away from the airport in the middle of the night. We would have been stranded in a strange city for a whole day.

We got to Chennai and the flight was booked. No available seats. Then we purchased her a ticket on the next available flight to Colombo at 9:30 the next morning, and decided that Zach would stay in Chennai with her overnight at Josh’s place and meet us in Colombo tomorrow. We went to the check in counter and got our tickets, and begged if there was any way to get her on the flight tonight. At first they weren’t budging on it, but once they understood the situation, they told us to wait until the check in closes and if there are any people who don’t show up, she could have their seat. After about a half hour wait, they charged us a 950 rupee fee (about $20) and put her on our flight with a first class seat! Praise the Lord!

The bigger miracle was that I actually called Lynton and we got our dates straight. I had just talked with him a couple days before and confirmed everything, but there was some confusion and he thought we were coming one day later. I probably would have had a meltdown if we flew into a strange city in the middle of the nigh with a team of 5 people that I was responsible for, and had no one around who we could trust.

We arrived safely in Colombo, got through immigration and met Lynton outside. Our drive from the airport into the city was a big surprise. Sri Lanka is a beautiful place. Nothing like I expected. I didn’t know what to expect, so I guess I always imagined that it would be worse than India, but its actually quite nice.

Lynton’s son Lester lives in the city of Colombo, so we rode about an hour or so to his house to crash for the night. His house was a very nice place, and his family was extremely hospitable and accommodating to us.

In the morning, after taking some showers and freshening up, Billy and Yasab had to make a quick stop at the Emirates office to pay for changing her itinerary, while Zach, Linda, and Jami went with Lynton to McDonalds for breakfast. We met up afterwards and left the city around noon to make the 6 hour journey to Badulla, where Lynton’s home is.

The scenery is absolutely gorgeous. We travelled slowly, deep into the mountainous jungles of Sri Lanka on narrow roads that wound tightly around the steep, jagged hillsides, all the while captivated by the enchanting beauty of the majestic terrain before us. As we continued to climb higher and higher, the hot muggy climate became more cool and comfortable. The city of Badulla is nestled in a valley among the mountains, and is nicknamed The Dustbowl of Sri Lanka, although I cannot figure out why because we have not seen any dust. The hills are full of tea plantations around us, which makes for a lush, green, countryside. It is very pretty.

It took us most of the day to get to Lyntons house, but once we did, we settled in and pretty much crashed for the night.  He has a wonderful home, which is very accommodating. It was purchased for him by some missionaries from America a few years ago after he had everything taken away for him.

Will update more tomorrow for you, as internet service allows.

Last night the power was out until 2:00. That means we had no air conditioning. It is so hot and humid here that it is not even possible for us to sleep without AC. The air is just too thick. Kumar has a small generator that will power a couple of lights and a couple of fans. One light and fan in the girls room, and one light and fan in the living room, which we sat under in misery until the power finally came on. The air conditioner makes it possible for us to breath and sleep.

Since it was such a late night, it was also a late start in the morning for us. We left the house around 10:00 to go to the mission hospital, where Kumar diagnosed and treated several patients and allowed us to pray for them. Then he gave a tour of the building. The hospital used to be a busy place, with three floors in full operation, but now the funding is very low, so they don’t have the resources to do as much. They have also lost a lot of funding for the orphanage, so now the orphans are living in the hospital. Since they are not using all the floors for medical purposes, they are now using two floors to house to orphans.

We had a tent set up on the roof where we visited the children. We prayed for them, taught them some Bible stories through a couple of skits, shared our love for them, and played games with them before passing out candy. Yasab shared her testimony with them about how she used to view the nice foreigners who came to the orphanage she lived at in Ethiopia, and how she never thought that she would become one of them. She gave words of encouragement and identified with the children in ways that none of the rest of us could.

It’s always hard to leave those beautiful little faces, but we had to get going to our evening meeting place. It was in an area about an hour’s drive from Rajahmundry. We conducted a small medical camp about a block away for the crusade area, and treated about 100 people. Most of them are just suffering from vitamin or mineral deficiencies, so simple shots usually give them a lot of help. We prayed for every person who came to be examined.

The crusade was at an intersection of a couple of streets. We had chairs and a table (which served as a pulpit) set up in the intersection, and the people sat on mats and blankets in the streets going in both directions on our right and left.  The pastors said there were 300 people present. Kyle gave an encouraging word before Billy preached the gospel. About 50 people responded to the call to salvation, and we rejoiced together with the angels in heaven as they confessed their faith in Jesus. Then we laid hands on every person who came forward for prayer and asked for the Lord’s blessing on their lives.

It was another fruitful day of ministry and we are all still excited to see what is in store for tomorrow.

Thank you for faithfully praying for us and for the work God is doing in India.

Until tomorrow, may God richly bless you.

Today was similar to yesterday, in that our schedule was basically the same.

Billy and Barrett went to the pastor’s seminars for a morning and an afternoon session. On both days, we split the teaching time up evenly. We each taught for an hour in the morning session, and also in the evening, for both days. So we had a total of four hours each of teaching time. It was a real blessing to be able to speak to these men about issues surrounding ministry. It’s kind of intimidating to get in front of a large group of pastors, most of whom have been in ministry much longer than I have. There is a temptation to try to come up with some incredible new revelation for them, and blow their minds apart, but honestly, the more I look at the New Testament, the more I recognize patterns in practical instruction to leaders. There are things that we are prone to forget and things we are prone to fall into as leaders, and it is always a good thing to address these issues with men of God.

The rest of the team went to another gypsy camp to share the gospel and piles of American candy with them. Here in India, they don’t call candy ‘candy’, they call it ‘chocolate’, no matter whether it contains chocolate or not. Candy is referred to as ‘chocolate.’ So any time we pull out a bag of candy, all the children swarm around us hollering, “Chocolate! Chocolate!”

They had a much better reception today than they got yesterday.  They had a little tent put up, and the team shared some Scripture with them and played some games with them.

Once the team met back at Kumar’s, we took off again to go visit one more sight where there is a church being threatened by a local landowner. He is trying to force them to sell the church to him, as he wants the land it sits on. We saw the church and handed out candy to the local children, who came out when they saw white people.  First we gave them the gospel and then we shared candies with them.

Tonight was the last night of our big crusades in Rajahmundry. There were 5,000 chairs rented for the event, and they were all filled, as well as people sitting on the ground and standing around the perimeter. It was a great turnout.

Jami opened up with how the Lord had used the team to bless a sister and how he wants to have a relationship with each one of us. Zach then presented a short message from Acts 17, and Billy followed up with a thorough gospel presentation. When I am in India, I try to treat the situation as though I am talking to people who have never heard the gospel in their lives. So, I start form the beginning, (who is God? Does He know me? What does He require of me?) and work my way into the good news.

The response was amazing, as usual. The Indian people are so receptive to God’s love. Everyone there stood to their feet to pray and receive Christ. I don’t know how many were already Christians. If I had to guess I’d say that there were quite a few. But they are so sensitive to the Word and have such tender consciences, that they are ready and willing to call on the name of the Lord any chance they get. The way I see it, if someone is having a little doubt, then the way to clear it up is by submitting to and calling on the Lord. We counted it all joy to be able to minister to them, encourage them, and strengthen them in their faith.

After charging them to join a Christian church, get baptized, read their Bibles, pray, and share their new faith with others, we offered prayer to any who would like to come. It took 8 of us a full hour to lay hands on them all and pray for them. The response was overwhelming. These people are hungry for God. They crowd around the altar, pressing in upon one another to get close and receive prayers for their specific needs. We were honored and blessed to be able to serve them.

Praise God for all of your new brothers and sisters. We have had a wonderful time of reaping in the harvest. By your prayers and financial support, you have played an equal role in this ministry. Thank you for your dedication and faithfulness.

I will update you again soon.

We had to get to the airport in Chennai by 7:00 am on Tuesday. We woke early in the morning, loaded our bags, said our goodbyes and headed to the airport. We had a one hour flight to Hyderabad, and couple hour layover, and another one hour flight to Rajahmundry.

It’s much hotter in Rajahmundry, like a straight up furnace. To make things even better, the government of India rations the electricity. In years past, the power would get cut off for a few hours per day at random times. Now, the situation is worse, and the power is off pretty much 75% of the time. They turn it on for an hour or two, then off for several hours, then on for an hour, then off, and so on. The heat is really affecting the team.

On our first night in Rajahmundry, we held a small crusade in a remote village. There were about 150 people there. Kyle Skinner preached the gospel and the whole crowd stood to their feet at the altar call. Everyone here is so sensitive towards God, they all want to call upon the name of the Lord whenever they will get the chance.

On Wednesday, we had a pastor’s conference, which was set upon a hillside underneath a pavilion that is used to facilitate weddings.  There were about 75-85 pastors there. Billy and Barrett went to the conference, while the rest of the team went to one of the local villages to minister to some of the children there. They brought a bunch of candy as well as some metal plates and cups for their families. These people do not have vessels for eating their food, so it was a blessing to be able to provide them with these basic necessities.

They set the children in a row on the ground, and their parents stood at a short distance away. When the team started to give them the candy, the children began to cry. The harder they tried to be nice to them, the harder they would wail and cry aloud for their parents. Somehow, they had gotten the impression that the team had come to take them away from their families. So they were deathly afraid of everyone on the team. Eventually, they were able to go back to their families, and then they settled down and began to enjoy the candy. It was really a strange situation for the people on the team, since they had planned on staying around for awhile and playing with the children, but after what had happened, they decided to head back to the house early.

The pastors conference was over by 5:00, and we went back to the house to enjoy a little rest before our evening crusade.

Barrett was on schedule to preach tonight at the crusade, which had a great turnout. There were about 2,000 people in the crowd. After the altar call, hundreds of them called on the name of the Lord, and we praised God for them.  We did not pray for everyone tonight, because the people have to get up very early to work on harvesting in the fields tomorrow, so we had to let them go to sleep. We will offer prayers to anyone who wants to come forward tomorrow night.

Thank you brothers and sisters, for your prayers for us. We are so grateful for you.