We are counting down now and everything is coming together just in time it seems.
I have a great amount of faith in what is about to transpire at the crusade… principalities confronted, darkness exposed, the light shone, appeals made to the people, and most of all for the miracle of salvation to sweep the people. Our key verse is John 3:20…. darkness only holds us in judgement when we let the fear of exposure control our lives.
We are expecting up to 10,000 people to attend the crusade, which is an unprecedented crowd for this city. Pray for us… protection, boldness, power. Pray for yourselves… faith, courage, etc. No one said the commission we are called to fulfill would be without risk.. only that we will win in the end if we believe.
1 John 5:1-5
Wow, yesterday was a day to remember for a long time. After getting up early and attempting to have an American style breakfast, we began our day to visit orphaned kids in various settings. The first one wasn’t really a “orphanage.” They’re called “gypsies” and they are a community of people that live in the wild. They are very uncivilized and have no practical understanding of good hygiene. When we arrived in their “camp” all of the kids (about 20-25) came running out to greet us. They were happy to see us and it looked like they were having the best day of their life. We sang song with them and I shared a short story of how much God loves us. Then, we gave them the packets of “goodies” that Becci Willoughby made from our church and they love them. Shortly after that experience, we traveled a few kilometers to a daycare that is run for moms who sell things at the train station. These kids were kindergarten age and younger. A few of them were very afraid of these big white people. Especially Austin, he looks like the Jolly White Giant! Anyway, we played with them and they also loved their gifts. Our next and final stop was a ministry that housed mothers and their kids who’ve contracted AIDS. This was difficult for the whole team to prepare for. We were picturing moms and kids looking very sick and laying in bed. We were in for a big surprise. These guys were some of the happiest, joy-filled, hope-filled people! We were amazed at their smiles and laughter. Our team sang worship songs and then the kids sang worship songs in their language. After that, we gave them the “goody” bags and they tore through them. As they were expericening all of the things in the bags (crayons and coloring books, bouncy balls, candy, animal foam things, etc..) they stumbled across the glitter pouches. That was a mistake to bring. It was mayhem! One of the moms got this brilliant idea to smear the glitter all over Katie’s face. Over the course of the next 2 hours was an all out glitter war! Everyone had some amount of glitter smeared over some limb or face! But, it was so worth it. To see these kids and their moms play and smile and have fun was heaven on earth. There was not a somber moment! It was all joy and peace–except for the glitter war. This moment reaffirmed that happiness, sorrow, peace, chaos are all relative to our own perspectives. These kids and their moms are making the most with what they have.
In preparing for the crusade messages, I came across these areas of darkness that will, through this post and in my message, be exposed by the light.
It is amazing that man could ever love the darkness over the light when you think about the details of darkness, but that is the paradigm isn’t it. The attraction of darkness can only remain when the truth of it is kept hidden or flatly lied about.
Sexual exploitation of children (Asia Sentinel)
The scale of abuse, according to the national study, is far worse than anybody had thought. It reports that 69 per cent of all Indian children are victims of physical, mental or emotional abuse, with New Delhi’s children facing an astounding abuse rate of 83.12 percent.
The survey, which involved interviews with 12,447 children, also highlights that it is usually family members (89 percent) who perpetrate such crimes and that more boys face physical abuse (72.61) than girls (65 per cent). Overall, Indian children were found to be victims of a slew of sexual crimes — rape, sodomy, exposure to pornographic material, fondling, forcible kissing and sexual advances, among others.
The study also notes that child sexual abuse in India begins as early as five, ratchets up dramatically during pre-pubescence and peaks at 12 to 16 years. Some 21 percent of respondents acknowledged experiencing severe sexual abuse like rape, sodomy, fondling or exposure to pornographic material. Ironically, 71 per cent of sexual assault cases in India go unreported.
Corruption
Corruption is anti-poor, antinational, and anti-economic development. Out of a population of greater than one billion in India, 26 percent live below the poverty line. Any welfare policies addressing the needs of the poor are greatly limited by the corruption that permeates the bureaucratic apparatus involved with such redistribution. Out of the Rs. 150 million (US$3.75 million) spent in the public distribution system to provide food to the poor, 31 percent of the grains and 36 percent of the sugar were leaked into the black market
Caste Oppression
When social worker Bhanwari Devi, member of a low, potter’s caste, prevented a child marriage in the rural western state of Rajasthan in 1992, she was gang-raped in retaliation by five upper-caste men. They were acquitted after a three-year trial. The judge ruled that they could not have possibly raped a lower-caste woman like Devi, who was working for a state women’s development project.
The reality: Prosecutions of upper-caste men for rape or abuse of low-caste women in India are rare, but such violence is not. India, a nation of more than 1 billion, has about 240 million Dalits, and 48 percent, or more than 66 million, of them are women, according to the 1991 census.
Dishonesty
Integrity is a necessary attribute expected in practitioners of medicine. Unfortunately there is evidence on hand that academic dishonesty is widely prevalent in many Indian medical colleges and that a proportion of students seem to think that there is nothing wrong in participating in such acts. They surveyed 259 medical students from two government colleges in South India and reported 32% of students admitted to have copied at the university examinations.[8] What is rather worrying is the fact that 20% believed that there was nothing wrong in doing so and 33% said they would consider doing so in future, too.[
We spent some time getting a comprehensive interview video done with Josh that really puts the entire flow together of what has happened over the last three years. It really is a summary worth hearing, and a good way to get to know my ministry partner, Joshua. http://christgate.org/july2007.htm
Scroll down after seeing where we are in our itinerery so far.
We also compiled a great video with a cool soundtrack from last years trip and put it on the homepage. The song playing behind it hits the spot. Pray for India!
The conference has concluded and we are hearing great things from the pastors. Many have called Joshua and have said that the fact I preached from a cage representing our fears as ministers really helped them face the deep level personal issues that hold them back. My prayer is that the demonstration will do just that, and leave a lasting impression as the leaders here will face new challenges in the Kingdom Cycle as they seek to be free from the control of fear. For the record, these people are pretty tough already, as they slay nasty dragons day in and day out, but like all of us humans, have a lot of personal fear to overcome as they walk in the Great Commission.
For more on what the Kingdom Cycle is, see my powerpoint slides.
We’ll try to post the conference videos early next week, but it would be good to know if there is any interest in that first.
The Indian government still has pockets of influence in many localities where those hostile to the gospel (aka the RSS) can direct the police and make life on the road difficult for missionaries. Well, all that is true, but it is not exactly what happened to Andrew.
You have to see the video to get the big picture. Dont worry too much… he is going to be ok, we got him out the next day and he only complained about feeling a bit cramped.
“It is all worth it, if the right impact is achieved in the end”, he said.
Perseverance is defined as: Steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, despite difficulties or obstacles.
This word is a key to working in the ministry field. By far one of the most important on my top five, and i bet most others would agree. Persevering is a part of life, even when we deal with small struggles; i.e. my struggle has been patching up a broken heart. But the struggle in this place has been and is fighting off the enemy. I must say it takes a lot out of person to fight alone, and i could not make it through without God.
We came home last night from the amazing pastors conference. It was another exciting experience of India for me. We arrived hot and sweaty from our long bus ride over, but we arrived to a wonderful oasis called T.W.R: Trans-world Radio’s retreeat center. Being in that place I felt a spiritual comfort, it was almost like being at home. The boys put their strength into the frustrating job of making a jail/cage (Andrew preached his lesson on how pastors can be caged in by their Fears, AMAZING) which was difficult in the heat, but they persevered onward. Then we rushed to get ready and dressed to meet all the pastors and their wives as they arrived. Another amazing experience for me, the people were so excited to see us, and to just touch our hands and have us bless them.
One of my favorite parts of this experiences were the peoples reactions to my lip ring, (I have a lip ring on my upper right lip, referred to as a Monroe) many people pointed to my lip ring and stared at it curiously, I found the best way to communicate its purpose was to point to it then my nose. Saying that a nose ring was like a lip ring. Pastor Caleb told me a hilarious story that his congregation thought that I had surgery on my jaw, and it was a screw holding it together. LOL (laugh out loud.) While the people were coming in I filmed them with Adam’s camera, many women hid their faces while the men were excited to get into my shots.
But I also loved the stories that the pastor’s would tell me of their lives: One man showed me these pictures of himself, on the front a picture of him doing work as a witch doctor, and on the other side pictures of him ministering to his congregation. He told me that he was a witch doctor for 15 years, then by the grace of God came to know Jesus, what a change! I love these stories and there were many more mouths more then happy to let me know of their journeys.
Then we went and had our lesson in the Philadelphia auditorium, worship in Tamil, then Andrew spoke on how as pastors they can get caged in their our fears, so true. It was amazing the way the pastors took to learning these things, they were so focused on catching everything they could.
I love the way that these people are so evangelistic, its so amazing and breath taking to me. Because back home in our congregation we are so quiet with our faith, and many are shy, here they shout it out: Praise the lord, hallelujah!!!! And when we go and read from our bibles the people almost fight over who gets to read out loud. Its so amazing to me, that their so bold and excited in their faith, I hope to take this home and spread it around. I think America needs to start stepping out of their comfortable religion. This trip is truly life changing.
We made it here with the team to the TWR conference center on the coast of the district of Kanchipuram.
It was great to see all these pastors again, and I was encouraged that they found value in the last conference enough to come back again. Pastor Joel and others tell me all the time how the buzz of last years’ “Tipping Point Conference” has made this years registration efforts a breeze.
I planned something special for the messages.. a bit provacative. We will send video of it on Thursday.
Because of financial shortfalls, we had to cut the registrations off at 500, and are turning 700 pastors away this year, as well as turning a 2 day conference down to one. This will reduce costs, but we still need to raise even that and could still use your help. I am clinging to God’s promise to me on this matter, and am simply determined to keep you posted on the needs. Please look into what we are doing here in terms of leadership development and the promotion of spiritual unity among pastors. The team saw the impact first hand and have their own stories to tell about what is happening here as well.
Please check out the site, pray, and put up your own comments on the posts.
Thanks for all your help in every facet you are able to contribute,
Andrew
QUOTABLE:
“Reflect, O disciple of Jesus! on what has been presented to thy view. The cause of Christ is thy own cause. Without deep criminality thou canst not be indifferent to its success. Rejoice that so delightful a field of missions has been discovered and exhibited. Rouse thyself from the slumbers of spiritual languor. Exert thyself to the utmost of thy power; and let conscience be able to testify, without a doubt, even at the tribunal of Jesus Christ, If missionaries are not speedily sent to preach she glorious Gospel in Bengal, it shall not be owing to me.”
An Edinburgh newspaper reporter account of India after visiting with William Carey in 1797
We are just about to leave for the conference and this is the last time we will be online until we return.
I experienced a horrendous amount of chest pain last night.. not my heart, but it turns out my muscles got bound up tightly after the flights and uncomfortable bed. I have not slept well either, so it all built up.
This really brought us to a place of prayer as a team, and I am feeling much better now, but will have to study on the way as last night was lost while I was crying out in agony. I know that soulnds dramatic, but it is really true. I could not breathe without feeling like a knife was going into my lung. Our striving here is nothing compared to what you see in the book of Acts. We are just honored to be on the front lines, and to have the honor to minister to many amazing pastors who labor daily in India.
Eph 6:10-18
Please join with us and help us win this battle to help refresh the spiritual leadership of Kanchipuram. Our next post will include more video and testimonies of what happened.
I am currently sitting in Andrew’s office, about to write my first post for the blog, so amazing I know. I shall start from the beggining on how I got here. Months and months ago, I wanted to come to india, and my loving family and friends made it possible by helping me earn and gather the money that I needed to come, a complete blessing from God. This trip to India brought about many firsts for me. My first missions trip, my first time on a plane, my first time out of the U.S, and my first Adult trip far away from home. From the very beggining this trip has been a HUGE adventure for me.
I am glad to say that we though tired and worn out, arrived safly in India. The first night to me was terrifying, I arrived jetlag and uncomfortable with the poverty and busyness of my sourndings, I was very much so in fear, the next morning after sleeping my brain only told me one thing: I need to go home. Fear had absorbed me. But shortly after I woke up, we had our first devtional time together in India, where I felt the beggining of how much the holy spirt was presnet with our group.
We sat down and started to pray and sing, and me not being able to contain my fears and emtions any longer. Blew up, well I basically started bawling. My loving family surronding me, prayed that the holy spirt to be with me and to give me comfort. Which it so strongly did! Amazing. But we finshed out our first day with exploration and sleep.
Sunday, we traveled for about an hour to Caleb’s church. My first real experience of Indian culture. It was beautiful and I fell instantly in love with the people in my surrondings, they were so loving and inviting, and wanted nothing more then to talk to me and have me be close to them! The service, was very different from the ones back home, not that its bad in any way. They sang in Tamal/English and talked in Tamal/English.. I still enjoyed it throughly. During the service Chris spoke on how we are created in the image of God. It was beautiful and the church enjoyed it. After the service we were approched by the people and they spoke to us about different things; like how we got there, what we were doing, and telling us about their lives. They were so excited just to talk to us, I felt so blessed! And my personal favorite was most definetly the Children!
Pastor Caleb has a beautiful baby, that I much enjoyed playing with. But also the children were beyond excited to talk to us. There were two little girls who I took a special liking too, im pretty sure that they were sisters. They were so shy, but curious to really look at me. One of them sweetly handed me her candy, and just looked at me. She was beyond adorable. It was so beautiful and amazing the way I felt the spirt in this chruch in such a short amount of time. I mean everyone wanted to pray and were comfortable just shouting praises and singing at the top of their lungs, I wish I had this in my own church at home I just loved feeling so free and surronded by God. Such an amazing beggining in such a short amount of time!
Andrew made Katie and Bonnie and I all authors too, so we’ll be posting regularly as well during the trip.
I absolutely love Tamil people. Last Sunday was our first Sunday to attend services and the team split into two areas. Bonnie, Dustin, Katie and I went to Pastor Caleb’s church and the rest of the team went to Pastor Joel’s church. I found out on Saturday that I would be preaching at Caleb’s church and I had remembered I spoke there in 2003 on our last trip. To my amazement, they remembered this tall, skinny white boy. The people welcomed us with open arms as I spoke about “The Image of God”. The children are very open to talk and hang out with. They are shy at first then they are bouncing off the walls. Our team is still struggling to adapt to the 12 and a half hour time change. Please be praying for us as we will assist in a Pastor’s Conference which is tomorrow for us. Blessings…
Anyway, we played with them and they also loved their gifts. Our next and final stop was a ministry that housed mothers and their kids who’ve contracted AIDS. This was difficult for the whole team to prepare for. We were picturing moms and kids looking very sick and laying in bed. We were in for a big surprise. These guys were some of the happiest, joy-filled, hope-filled people! We were amazed at their smiles and laughter. Our team sang worship songs and then the kids sang worship songs in their language. After that, we gave them the “goody” bags and they tore through them. As they were expericening all of the things in the bags (crayons and coloring books, bouncy balls, candy, animal foam things, etc..) they stumbled across the glitter pouches. That was a mistake to bring. It was mayhem! One of the moms got this brilliant idea to smear the glitter all over Katie’s face. Over the course of the next 2 hours was an all out glitter war! Everyone had some amount of glitter smeared over some limb or face! But, it was so worth it. To see these kids and their moms play and smile and have fun was heaven on earth. There was not a somber moment! It was all joy and peace–except for the glitter war. This moment reaffirmed that happiness, sorrow, peace, chaos are all relative to our own perspectives. These kids and their moms are making the most with what they have.
