Blessings hey…. I hope this post finds you all well…

Impact 2008 is our theme for our 1st annual youth revival fest. It is going to be held at chengulpet (the centre of kanchipuram district) on the 25th of October. We had a amazing planning meeting at the Tamil Lutheran Church (chengulpet) were all the senior pastors from various taluks and denomination took part and gave their full support for this meeting. South Chennai Youth Pastors Fellowship also joined in for the meeting and has offered their full support. We are expecting about 1000 to 1300 young people from throughout the district, and we have also identified an ideal place that can hold that many. Our heart desire is to empower young people through radical Spirit filled worship and soul stirring word of God. My prayer and dream is that when they leave that day they should never be the same as they came but go in Power, Love and Sound mind and make an IMPACT where ever they are and in what ever they do, bring CHANGE and Glorify Christ Jesus.

I believe young people are the future for the Nation and its time that they stop impressing and start making impact.
History Makers…..Hey….

Please pray for an awesome outpour of the Holy Spirit and for all the necessary arrangement that needs to be done. Pray that God would change, heal and light his Fire in every young man and young women’s heart.

It’s going to be a great day filled with lots of games, music, fun, competitions and food. Man I am excited….I am looking forward for it…

Will keep in touch and update you all with more details soon…

Blessings - Pastor Joshua & Team

Greetings once again to all in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Just wanted to update you guys on whats happening in India, i hope you guys are aware of it, if not please read Pastor Caleb’s post. Churches are standing together conducting mass processions, rallies and fasting prayers and are raising support in every way to help those who are being brutally tortured for their faith. Please take time to look into these links and the power point presentation to understand in detail and pray more effectively for the affected.

Nun was gang raped and priest brutally assaulted in Kandhamal

Victim of anti-Christian mob describes experiences

Sister Nirmala’s appeal to Orissa Chief Minister

Hindu extremists damage 600 churches in Orrisa
4000 Christians forced to flee, one nun burnt alive

NCM submits its report on Karnataka violence to PMO

Attacks on churches spread to Tamil Nadu

7 churches vandalized in Karnataka

Kandhmal: Christians unwilling to return home

Dear Friends,

I urge you to stand with us in prayer, am sure u are aware of the ongoing violence against Christians in Various districts of Orissa a Hindu pre-dominant state. The reason for the sudden escalation of violence is a Hindu priest was killed by the Maoists for which Christians were made scapegoats by the Hindu activist groups who were already angered at the growing rate of conversion found this incident to falsely turn it against Christians, as a result Christians have been victims of violence instigated by two major Hindu groups by VHP and RSS. They have destroyed 600 churches, killed more than 25 people, 4000 people are hiding in the jungle out of fear for being killed with no water, food or shelter, and thousands are living in relief camps. A nun was gang-raped and murdered, another one was burnt alive. Pastor’s throat was slit he bled to death. Two pastors were killed last week. A handicapped person who couldn’t run was burnt alive right before his brother’s eyes who was helpless by an angry mob. Thousands of houses have been destroyed.

We want guys on your knees crying for these dear ones and martyrs of the gospel. We don even feel like eating when we hear the news of our brethren under such great persecution.

There are endless stories of brutally Christians being tortured for their faith, it’s a reality right here in India a so-called democratic secular front. Am also suggesting some links which give an update of day to day incidents.

If you guys would feel led to support the victims , please let me know I know pastors and missionary organizations whom we can channelize it through. Above all pray that God of Elijah would intervene supernaturally and protect his children.

God bless

Pastor Caleb , India

Background information on Orrisan violence on the church

I am hearing some good ideas while at the Gnomedex conference.

We are going to start the efforts earlier for next year, as we are now all very happy we had such a great trip in 2008.
So I created this ChipIn tool for the site:

Yes, we are targeting $30,000 for next year. This will pay for 800 pastors to attend a 2 day conference, plus help make our festival highly impactful. This is not the total we will raise, but simply the smaller donations we are targeting to come through the site. Up til now, we have just collected in the thousands from a small circle consisting mostly of my own money. Fundraising has seemed to be too big a hurdle, but I have a new optimism about the possibilities of many smaller contributions bearing the bulk of the load.

We’ll build this into the site and get things organized for next year.

We had an amazing thanksgiving service at Pastor Joel church (Chengulpet), all most all the pastors from uttiramerur fellowship gathered together and it was good day. We sang some songs, prayed together and had time for testimonies. what you are about to read is no story but real testimonies.

Pastor Henry Lawrence, a well respected senior servant of God who has been at utiramerur for a long time and has a church at the entrance of the township said, history will speak aloud of the revival meeting coz no one comes to conduct meetings at uttiramerur it was always the rejected place. He also added that posters of meetings conducted in neighbouring taluks will be pasted here but not for meetings at uttiramerur coz there was none. We were longing for a breakthrough he said and God not only used CGI Ministries as a bridge for the breakthrough but also to create history.

Brother Jayakumar who was a of such great help from the beginning said this revival meeting was a gateway to bring all pastors and ministers together. He also said that day the Presence of God was so strong an awesome that it was like little heaven on earth.

We completed the meeting by honouring the pastors and giving them a small gift as a token of our appreciation. Tears of joy flowed as we hugged and prayed for one another. In the end we had a good time of fellowship and food.

I want to end by saying we make a difference where ever we go and we create history coz the HISTORY MAKER HIMSELF is with us. Please pray for us and join us as we together extend the Kingdom of God and bless the district of kanchipuram. God Bless You.

2008 we created history. Uttiramerur meeting saw unexpected turn out and the whole town was in awe of how churches got together in unity and love to celebrate and pray for their taluk. Its still the talk of the town. Pastors and local leaders are calling in to report miracles and great change in peoples lives and even in their own fellowship. We faced many hurdles and confusions but in the end God prevailed and His Name was Magnified that day. We are expecting major break throughs and more pastors to join the local fellowship and be a blessing to the district.
There was such liberation and freedom as we sang, danced and worshiped God. God used andrew powerfully to challenge his people to look to HIM alone and come out of shame as He will make their faces radiant coz there is no shame in Christ. Its revolutionary as about 55 people gave their lives to christ and we laid hands on the sick and prayed and GoD delivered them. The only person who was ashamed that day was the already defeated satan and his crew. People didnt wanna leave after lunch even thou it was late coz they wanted more songs and worship so we had some games, songs and did a small skit and finished the day in style. This is history guys…………………..

This year was different in many ways and one was having the conference after the revival meeting. We were really anxious as the day arrived coz we had about 800 registrations but funds for only 500 people. We did call and send letters asking poeple not to come but you know in india people do turn up. But God ways are always perfect and just that we had only 500 turn up that tuesday afternoon. The three days were powerful and life changing. Worship was radical, alive and the sermons were straight forward and sharp. Everything went on perfect with out any confusion or disturbance. Many pastors are calling us saying THE OVERCOMING CHURCH CONFERENCE has changed the way they thought of church and ministry. ONE BODY, ONE VOICE, ONE CHURCH was our cry, dedication and prayer. Pastors call in to say they that the statement “CHURCH IS GODS PROJECT” has opened their eyes, to reconciliation and unity. Pastors are already calling in to book their seats for next year conference. Like i said before wow… wow… God Is Great, He Does Miracles Too Great, There Is No One Else Like HIM. There IS No One Else Like Him.

We Thank God for his grace and mercy to serve him and bless the district of kanchipuram, thank you all for your prayers and your support. Please continue to pray for us and the dstrict of kanchipuram and do join us next year as we proclaim and claim more taluks in the district of kanchipuram. Thank you and bless you all.

I leave you with some pictures of the revival meeting and the conference. will update you more in the weeks to come……..

Prakash set up the conference midway with a strong word about the dangers of the Babylonian Church, or, using worldly methods to make the church succeed. On Wednesday Night, I went forward with this to directly call pastors to repent of the 7 deadly sins of church building. I don’t pretend to be an expert on church building, especially in the practical manners of administration, etc. I do however see that according God’s design for the body in Eph 3, 4, Rom 12 and elsewhere, the following 7 common practices have to end:

1. Being respecters of persons (James 2)
2. Personal kingdoms (aka Running church like a competitive business)
3. Among pastors, a sense of having graduated (no longer singing with the church, etc.)
4. Jealousy
5. Love of Money
6. Sectarianism
7. Thinking ourselves priests (1Tim 2:5)

This is something the whole church leadership needs to take heed of, and the leaders of Kanchipuram are privileged to hear it first. Hopefully they will run with it and the rest of the church can see wonderful revival transpire here in India and repent also. I doubt most churches would allow this kind of message to be heard. Christian leaders worldwide are bonded to practices they learned not from Christ, but from marketing books, elitist sectarian policies or political expediency. Someone has to say it.

What turned me around on this subject was this in Christ’s prayer in John 17.
He prays for one thing only — That we be One, just as He and the Father are One.

When was the last time you had an opportunity to be an answer to prayer to what Jesus Himself is praying for?

Let’s build the church His way shall we? Not because it is expedient, strategic or what the people of this generation are demanding, but simply because Christ is the Head, and we are THE Body.

The Overcoming Church conference is our third annual and we are seeing what looks like a new beginning here.

I dont have time to report on the details, but we will be uploading the audio of the event later and will also make it available as a cellecast.

Our guest speaker yesterday was none other than M. Prakash, who in addition to being the Director for TBN in India, is also a great friend with our pastor Frank DiMazio, Bob Whager and Dick Iverson! We became friends very quickly, and we look forward to working with him again, as he is very close to Pastor Joel, which makes him a close partner to CGI. It was a delight to hear is amazing message about the dangers of Babylonian methods in the church. I marveled about how well it fit in with and advanced the conference theme.

Please visit the site to see the conference audio we’ll put up later today or tomorrow. The church can overcome, but we have to repent on a lot of fronts.

India has mobile data cards… so I am doing a new tech trick in India I have yet to do in the States. No one can tell me that India is not a land of great convenience. We are driving now down to The TWR conference center where the ministry begins tonight.

Please pray and consider helping financially according to my last post, as our attendance is likely exceeding capacity. We are turning pastors away who keep calling. Who knows who will show up without calling.

Greetings friends and prayer partners,

I am honored to share a great report with you about our work in Uttiramerur.

This area of Kachipuram (as you can see on the map) is one where there are very few churches, a history of ancient kings, and it lies in a forgotten corner about an hour from Chennais suburbs. Only one in twenty Indians in South Chennai have even been there, although it is only a half hour away from the District’s High Court and administration area.

As you will see from prior posts, we had originally intended to do a full three day crusade after the model of the past 4 years, but this time, everything pointed to the advantage of doing it smaller, especially the readiness of the pastors to organize a big event. Unlike the other cites/regions of Kanchipuram where we had done crusades before, Uttiramerur has a younger, more scattered church that first needed to taste victory on a scale that would be more manageable and have less opposition. If we had gone big, frankly the church would have likely scattered, and we would be vulnerable beyond a reasonable risk. In this ministry, it takes faith to step forward, and faith to also know when to scale back.

Anyway, the result of our one day meeting was way beyond expectation. At first, we thought it would be a great breakthrough to have 300-400 people, and then on Wednesday we discovered there would be over 1000! The pastors quickly rallied with our core leaders and managed to get a video crew out so that an overflow room could be arranged in the 700 max marriage hall we had rented. Yesterday, we actually slightly more than 1200 people at the Uttiramerur Festival! The whole church in this area, as well as many inquisitive Hindus came out gather and celebrate.

This was the first time in known history that the church has gathered together in this area. It stuck me as an amazing scene that only God could arrange. Crusade meetings are very different from these kinds of gatherings. I felt at the beginning that it was 1/3rd church gathering, 1/3rd evangelistic event, and 1/3rd pastors unity day. The worship was a miracle in that the whole church in Uttiramerur were worshipping together, and it was in no way a denominational/sectarian event. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for the church to dwell together, in unity! There was a power there that you would not find if the meeting had been underrepresented by the churches in the area. A spiritual dimension of honor, strength, dignity and glory was achieved for the local church simply by gathering together. Pastors Joshua, Joel, Caleb and Aruldass agreed, declared and prayed that the church there would rise to new heights, come out from the shadows or chaos and oppression and boldly grow into becoming a real influence in the community from that point forward. The pastors were visibly convinced, and later reported that it exceeded their expectations.

By the time I got the mike to preach, the most important breakthrough was felt and already achieved. I felt like the most blessed person in the room to be part of all this, and to have the honor to address and seal the deal by delivering the word of God. I was impressed to share on a theme of deliverance from shame. John 3:20 says that darkness is preferred by those who avoid the light, and this launched me into a passionate word about how Christ’s light frees us from shame. Ps 34:5 says, “They looked at Him and were radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed”. Without preaching the sermon again, shame is a sickness of the soul, and a tool of our cruel nature we use to make ourselves gain the upper hand. Christ delivers all of us from shame just like he delivered the woman in John chapter 8. By showing mercy and shining His light of hope on our soul. Ultimately, He bore our shame on the cross, so there is no need for any believer to carry it with them again. The promise is for a permanent deliverance. So stop worrrying about what others think about already, and let God make you radiant!

The people received the word and 55 came to give their lives to Christ. The message on freedom from shame is revolutionary for those under the caste system, and my continuing prayer is that the light of God continues to bear fruit in the dignity, honor and character of the church here in India long after this event. Please make that your prayer as well for the church gathered here yesterday. To finish the day, I laid hands on probably 800+ people one by one. Sickness was confronted and destroyed. Healing was reported back, but I will let Josh follow up with details in another post.

We had a great lunch, all 1200 of us and despite a bit of chaos, even that went better than expected. It truly was a great day for the church here, ending in joy and celebration. The first 6 hour gathering of the church in Uttiramerur is just the beginning of a great story here. We are praying about doing our crusade next year here, to help this gathering take its next solid step into becoming a transformational, mature local church.

Thank you for your prayers and support. Special thanks go out to Dave Ruskjer for trusting that we are indeed a great investment in ministry work, gathering the local church and helping leaders to work together in a way that glorifies God and builds the church.

Get ready for more posts about the conference that starts on Tuesday, and please continue to pray for that.

Thanks,

Indi-Andy