I want to share a couple of excerpts from my personal journal with you.
Feb. 8th
"Today was confusing . . . We woke up and did some evangelism with our supervisor to kill some time. Our anticipation was geared towards the promised reunion with the 6 boys from the slum who want to know Jesus. We went home and waited to go to the slum. We never went. This was our shot! Our sign from God had come in the form of these 6 guys, right? Surely God isn't closing that door. Why would He have has us meet them? What was the purpose? If there is some lesson we are supposed to be learning from this, I don't see it. This is too important to concede just to teach me. Am I too selfish? Is my focus wrong? Was it my fault? I could be. Any percentage, no matter how small it may be, leaves a door open that has me believing that to be the reason. I need to hear God on this. Holy Spirit speak to me now and block out and lies or condemnation. Give me patience."
Feb. 11th
" . . . As I read on (in Genesis), I see Abram in Egypt during a famine. God has sent him to Negeb and his aim is to get there. Why stop and go to Egypt? I first thought this to be disobedience. He also lies to Pharaoh and calls Sarai his sister. Why hide the truth? Is this God's will? Is Abram a coward? God answers me. No. Abram is wise. He received two promises: 1) He will be blessed. 2) He will have numerous offspring. Neither of those had seen fruition yet. He was not wealthy and Sarai was barren. A famine came which meant death for anyone in the Bethel hill country. He had to go to Egypt survive and Pariah would had he known of his marriage to Sarai. This decision to leave and lie not only saved his life (and his line) but it fulfills God's promise to bless him. Abram, having curried favor with Pharaoh in lying, receives livestock and possessions. He then leaves with his wife a wealthy man still able to birth a nation. What foresight! God give me eyes to preserve myself in wisdom that I too may reproduce Christ. I am barren in India and must be cautious so that I can procreate Jesus in another before I leave. Do not let me leave India without spiritual offspring!"
The first entry comes one week after we met the slum guys who wanted Jesus. This was the night they stood us up and the last time we'd be in a setting with them where we could share with a translator. God opened that door with those 6 guys on January 31st like I said in the last post. I believe God opened it for a reason. There had been no action from the family or from our pastor since that last post that would indicate the two parties would ever work together. At one point, I painted a negative picture of the family to you. That was wrong of me. They stood in the way of that purpose. The purpose being: reaching the youth of Bangalore for Christ. This was not limited to the educated youth of Bangalore. We desired for those guys to know Jesus too! Back then, I read in my journals that they were the people God brought me here for.
The second entry is just as important. It came days later and you'll see me analyzing what appears to be Genesis 12. God was speaking to me through it. He wanted me to know that His desire is for me to have Christ reproduced in others as Abram was promised offspring and blessing. I hit a point on this trip where I didn't believe either of those entries would see happy endings. I accepted that God wanted to teach me something about moral victories and learning ambiguous, cliche lessons from seemingly disappointing ministry circumstances. What a fool I am for thinking God wanted to settle for less!
The faithful readers of this blog have followed the story through all the highs and lows. We've had difficulty finding people who want Jesus. Then there was the ongoing struggle of having slum guys thrown in our path only to have them ripped away. We've had aimless trips to a village that sidelined us from evangelism in the city. We've had confusion concerning our purpose here and the church we will work and associate with. And, most recently, we've had fruitless labor in the evangelism aspect of our ministry. We fought so stubbornly for the right to share with youth and ironically enough, no one was interested. We've felt powerless and hopeless more times than I care to admit here in India. What else could we do? We've had the parable of the sower beaten to death for us. People constantly encouraged us that sometimes the seed falls on bad soil but you never know when that good soil is just around the corner. In either case, God is pleased that we are working. It is helpful! But I know God had more in store than a pat on the back for being bold enough to share. Like I've said before, that isn't hard for me. Apparently trusting Him is. He taught me that instead. The lessons are not as opaque as they were a month ago.
Since last Wednesday, God has answered our prayers and gave us that coffee shop worker and the Buddhist monk's brother. You know this because I posted it the other day. We met again with the worker again and will do so twice a week to search the scriptures deeply. He is understanding his purpose, Jesus' commission and the joy of salvation. He is different. I don't see the same guy at all. He is no longer drinking or smoking either. God is working tirelessly in his life! This is pleasing to me and is a clear sign from Hid that He is blessing this city. I could come home satisfied. God provided the offspring as promised. He keeps His promises! But what about those slum guys? What happened to them?
We have the translator now! We just have no opportunities to meet with them. It just so happened that Sunday, March 17th, God orchestrated a masterpiece right before us. We had left church in a great mood. The study with our new disciple went well and he understands our work with him will end soon and the pastor will take over. We were going to call it a day and rest. God had a different plan. The father of the house called us down and said he wanted us to meet with the slum guys in the old church. We asked who would translate and he offered his fifteen year old son. We accepted the invitation and began thinking about how we would handle this meeting. This was our big chance. These are the guys we were ready to go all in for! We called our pastor.
One thing lead to another, and after a series of nerve-racking events, we were in a room with 16 guys from the slum who have not accepted Jesus but were curious. The pastor was on his way. They started to get antsy. I couldn't say anything to them because they didn't understand me. Boredom and confusion set in and it was obvious that everyone in that room was uncomfortable. I just started praying. Jesus needed to work and provide us with something. Why answer our prayers to get us with these guys and have us blow this opportunity? Just then our pastor walked through the door and a silence fell over the room. All eyes on him. Everyone leaned in with grins eagerly anticipating his first words. He sat down and proceeded to usher in the Spirit in a way I hadn't seen in a long time. For an hour and a half, he spoke and prayed. He got to know them and joked with them for a bit to break the tension. He made them laugh. He then made them think. Most of them don't think critically. They haven't examined their lives or worldview. He challenged them and shed new light on Jesus. He shared what Christ has done in his life and the radical change he experienced. They were touched by it and completely zoned in. They hung on his every word. We laid hands on every one of them and he began prophesying and declaring the peace and salvation in their lives that only Jesus can provide. They surrendered to Jesus their idols and their lives. We have the pile of idols that they gave up sitting in our room now. I didn't understand a single word that was spoken in that room. It was all in Tamil. We sat there speechless. God used us to put those 16 guys in a room with our pastor.
14 guys came to accept Jesus as their Savior that night. You math geniuses out there see that two of them did not. One of them left. He had an evil spirit in him and he refused to give up his idols. He wasn't willing to go all the way to the cross. This actually comforted me all the more about the others. It showed their sincerity. He walked out of the room. My heart broke. But the others stood strong. Another one stayed and received prayer but wasn't ready to accept yet. That's fine! I respect that. But I will pray that he thinks on that night this week. I say that because we are meeting them again next Sunday. They can't wait to come back. They all talked amongst themselves about how they will tell everyone they know about what Jesus has done. It's not our pastor they worshiped either. They understand that his power comes from Jesus. They left changed and wanting to follow up. God moved in a powerful way. For those who have seen Father of Lights, Furious Love, and Finger of God, it was kind of like that. We couldn't believe it. We asked and God provided and came through in ways we didn't think possible. Our plan back when I wrote that journal entry up top was pretty shoddy. We couldn't envision what God was seeing. We didn't have any of this in mind. His timing and work is greater than ours.
So we have no loose ends. There are no stones left unturned. God brought us the guys. God brought us hard times in the village. He made us desperate and dependent on that mountain. He made us wait. He made us pray and fail for a season. Then He brought a terrestrial downpour of blessing that was completely out of our control. At no point on this trip could we take credit for anything. God brought us all the people and gave us all the tools to glorify Him. I've learned that much this semester. He'll get His glory. One way or another, He'll get it.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Thursday, March 7, 2013
The Victor
We are halfway there. Your dedication in prayer has touched God's heart. I believe the last thing I mentioned was the meeting with the father of this family. We needed to discuss our church situation and see how open-minded he was to letting us try other fellowships. I'm going to save you from enduring an incredibly long and frustrating story and just say we are free to choose our own church. We talked with the father Wednesday night and he understands where we are coming from.
Despite all of the drama, we are offering ourselves to serve in the slums all the more! We enjoy that ministry and, due to family travels, we haven't been in over two weeks. We want to go. We like what we do there. The family's hectic village schedule has inhibited us from being there. Our role in their church is to work hard in the slums. We told them, "If you want to win the slum, win those six guys." Some of you may remember an emotional and powerful night where we met six men in the slums who wanted Jesus. For those of you keeping score at home, it's been over 35 days since we have seen them. We can't call them because we don't have their numbers or speak Tamil. We pushed the family to arrange opportunities to share and nothing ever opened up. They need to get these influential young men to grow in faith and labor in that slum with the family. We leave in two months. They'll be here. Things started piecing together. The family now realizes what we are and why we are here. Praise God!
So we are done with the family church. Where to now? If you read the last post, you'll also remember a haven we found in Bangalore. I can't say the name of the church it the name or the pastor. Those who Skype and FaceTime me know a lot about this man and his ministry. I want to go all in with it. We have probably five days a week where we are working with this church at some capacity and fulfilling our mission here. He is a man with big dreams but he doesn't spread himself thin. He understands that discipleship will change this nation; not another concert or crusade. Urban India has money and resources. Giving them more resources from our country isn't going to help them eternally. The richest man and the poorest man are headed for the same place if they don't have Christ. Spiritually they are dying. This pastor understands this and is set out to make a difference. And he is!
We will stem the flow of work with the Indian evangelism group. They have more laborers and discipleship groups than I could have ever imagined at first. Weird as it sounds, they can't make use of us like we thought. Our role there is to encourage who they have right now and teach them to share and disciple. That is without a doubt an important task! But this pastor has a good ministry going but needs a couple of young, fearless guys to come in hungry and work with him. Two came into his life a week ago. He has a ministry with African students which are coming in large numbers to Bangalore. They learn English and get degrees with cheaper tuition so they can go back home and work. Bangalore has as many residents from Africa, Northern Asia, the Middle East and Europe as it does natives to India. We need to reach these foreigners while their here as well as reach the Indian people. Allowing them to go home and let God change their communities. That is one aspect of his vision.
He also, as expected, has a tremendous heart for the city and his fellow countrymen. He leads many discipleship groups and evangelism teams through the unreached parts of the city. It's so tempting for us to stay in the pockets of town where there are believers to lean on. He's taking us into the heart of darkness and wants to fight where the odds seem against him. He just wants people to know Jesus. He's a lot like me and my teammate.
So as we remember the six guys from the slums, we remember the language barrier is the issue. We also don't have a consistent leader to arrange the meeting. My partner was struck with an epiphany last night that our new pastor speaks two languages: English and Tamil. Why not have him interpret for us and then disciple them after we leave? We knew God would bring it all together. He wasn't going to provide such a clear opportunity and rip it from us. He has provided a way. This man and those boys are linked through us. We were meant to come here and meet them so that they could meet each other. It's beautiful.
It's going to be a good relationship that we hope carries on after we leave. He fully expects us to come back every now and again for varying spans of time to continue our work. He's laboring till the end. And when it's all said and done, he wants to be fishing for men alongside us.
We are now looking at slum work, the church, Bible study, African ministry, Indian evangelism groups, and college work with our actual supervisor. Our calendar is filled all the way until we leave this city. We are having to turn down opportunities that we would have killed for a month ago. We are busy. We aren't complaining. This is exactly what we wanted and are thrilled to be doing it. Pray that it has a lasting impact.
Despite all of the drama, we are offering ourselves to serve in the slums all the more! We enjoy that ministry and, due to family travels, we haven't been in over two weeks. We want to go. We like what we do there. The family's hectic village schedule has inhibited us from being there. Our role in their church is to work hard in the slums. We told them, "If you want to win the slum, win those six guys." Some of you may remember an emotional and powerful night where we met six men in the slums who wanted Jesus. For those of you keeping score at home, it's been over 35 days since we have seen them. We can't call them because we don't have their numbers or speak Tamil. We pushed the family to arrange opportunities to share and nothing ever opened up. They need to get these influential young men to grow in faith and labor in that slum with the family. We leave in two months. They'll be here. Things started piecing together. The family now realizes what we are and why we are here. Praise God!
So we are done with the family church. Where to now? If you read the last post, you'll also remember a haven we found in Bangalore. I can't say the name of the church it the name or the pastor. Those who Skype and FaceTime me know a lot about this man and his ministry. I want to go all in with it. We have probably five days a week where we are working with this church at some capacity and fulfilling our mission here. He is a man with big dreams but he doesn't spread himself thin. He understands that discipleship will change this nation; not another concert or crusade. Urban India has money and resources. Giving them more resources from our country isn't going to help them eternally. The richest man and the poorest man are headed for the same place if they don't have Christ. Spiritually they are dying. This pastor understands this and is set out to make a difference. And he is!
We will stem the flow of work with the Indian evangelism group. They have more laborers and discipleship groups than I could have ever imagined at first. Weird as it sounds, they can't make use of us like we thought. Our role there is to encourage who they have right now and teach them to share and disciple. That is without a doubt an important task! But this pastor has a good ministry going but needs a couple of young, fearless guys to come in hungry and work with him. Two came into his life a week ago. He has a ministry with African students which are coming in large numbers to Bangalore. They learn English and get degrees with cheaper tuition so they can go back home and work. Bangalore has as many residents from Africa, Northern Asia, the Middle East and Europe as it does natives to India. We need to reach these foreigners while their here as well as reach the Indian people. Allowing them to go home and let God change their communities. That is one aspect of his vision.
He also, as expected, has a tremendous heart for the city and his fellow countrymen. He leads many discipleship groups and evangelism teams through the unreached parts of the city. It's so tempting for us to stay in the pockets of town where there are believers to lean on. He's taking us into the heart of darkness and wants to fight where the odds seem against him. He just wants people to know Jesus. He's a lot like me and my teammate.
So as we remember the six guys from the slums, we remember the language barrier is the issue. We also don't have a consistent leader to arrange the meeting. My partner was struck with an epiphany last night that our new pastor speaks two languages: English and Tamil. Why not have him interpret for us and then disciple them after we leave? We knew God would bring it all together. He wasn't going to provide such a clear opportunity and rip it from us. He has provided a way. This man and those boys are linked through us. We were meant to come here and meet them so that they could meet each other. It's beautiful.
It's going to be a good relationship that we hope carries on after we leave. He fully expects us to come back every now and again for varying spans of time to continue our work. He's laboring till the end. And when it's all said and done, he wants to be fishing for men alongside us.
We are now looking at slum work, the church, Bible study, African ministry, Indian evangelism groups, and college work with our actual supervisor. Our calendar is filled all the way until we leave this city. We are having to turn down opportunities that we would have killed for a month ago. We are busy. We aren't complaining. This is exactly what we wanted and are thrilled to be doing it. Pray that it has a lasting impact.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Fresh Start
My dad used to joke with me saying that I've never met a stranger. My uncle (his brother) is the same way. If you are sitting next to me on a plane, in a restaurant, or at a ball game, get ready to listen. I have, over time, developed an eye for those situations where the person isn't in the mood to chat. However, my love for sharing my life and learning about the lives of others shines forth. My friends can attest to this. I sat next to a middle aged man on the way to the Dominican Republic once. I had him in tears 15 minutes in as he was telling me about his mother who just died and how he doesn't know what he's going to do without her. We talked it out and I helped him through it. My friends, Matt and Alex laughed and thought, "Oh, of course. He's always talking to someone!"
If you cross my path, you aren't a stranger. You're a friend. You're family. This has translated well in the evangelistic setting.
If you remember the last post, you'll remember that we were scheduled for another short village trip that had no purpose. We met with our supervisor and have already got the ball rolling with changes we need to make. We also did exactly what I said we would do. My teammate and I had to make up for lost time by working twice as hard. We met about a dozen students last week and shared with all of them.
Regarding to the trip that we were supposed to take to the village, it was important that we didn't go. We had leads and contacts coming our way that were too good to pass up this weekend and we needed to be in Bangalore. The problem was we had no alibi and no place to stay for the weekend (we are not allowed to stay in the family's house alone). We prayed for something to come up and rescue us from another three day stint in the village. God provided there too. In "Blind Faith", I described a group to you that is made up of Indian evangelists. Because of our trips we have been forced to cancel days of evangelism with them. They already had a wavering trust in us to begin with. Us being unavailable for two weeks didn't help our situation. We were supposed to meet with one of their staff on Wednesday night to share on a campus with him. We were excited but nervous. Would he be angry with us? Will he show up? We prayed that God would mend our relationship with them. We had no idea how powerfully He would answer that prayer.
We were waiting on our friend at the university and shared with a guy in the meantime. Our friend showed up halfway through and smiled when he saw us working ahead of him. We finished up and shook his hand apologizing over and over again for letting him down. He forgave and was gracious to us assuring us there was no problem. He brought two guys our age who also work for their organization and we hung out for a while. They went on to tell us that there are "camps" that they do. These are what we would think of as weekend retreats that campus ministries back home would do. They do three or four a year. One of them was last weekend. The exact days we needed plans and it also includes lodging and food. We couldn't believe how perfect this was. It seemed too good to be true. It is for new believers and seekers to come and learn more about Jesus. Three days of teaching and worship with fellowship in between. They want us to come and help lead it. I could hardly sit still I was so excited. We accepted.
We went and the retreat was held at a small Bible college on the outskirts of town. About 25 students came to learn more about being disciples. We felt like this was a good opportunity to help these young believers get their feet under them as they go back out to school. Our role for the weekend was never made clear but we took the opportunity to talk to all the guys we could and offer help to them in their universities. They were all very moved over the weekend and want to live more radically for Christ. Most new Christians are very timid. They are terrified to share with their friends because it might ruin the relationship and rejection terrifies them. They come from Christian families for the most part which helps quite a bit. But they tend to stay in a very tight circle of believers that rarely grows. One of them really connected with us over in small group time and during breaks. We learned he was the reason we came that weekend as he really wanted to have us meet some of his atheist friends and talk to them. We were thrilled to help any of them out in any way we could teaching them about following Jesus and making disciples themselves! God wants us to reproduce Christ in another and they now know that your faith is not meant to be locked inside of you but to be shared with others.
We are also going to a church that meets in a coffee shop and is mostly people our age. This is beneficial because it gives us a place to direct seekers to if they want to know Christ. We are also getting filled. For the first two months, we went to church every week in a place where the message was in Tamil and we were put in another room to watch the kids as they colored. We must be fed. God was gracious for the first half of the trip by teaching us through His Word and through the Spirit alone. We actually went quite a while just learning under Him as Father and being filled daily from a having good relationship with Him. I've never had a season of life where I didn't have an older man pouring into me since I came to faith at the age of sixteen. This was new for me. God took the reigns for a time and did it Himself. The Spirit was my guide and the Father was my teacher. But it is crucial that we find another place and we have! We left the retreat Sunday morning and took the bus back to our end of town where this fellowship meets. The pastor/worship leader is incredible and really understand us. He speaks perfect English and has a fairly good American accent. The worship is modern and powerful. It reminded me a lot of home in some ways but was completely different in others. The prayer time before the sermon was very open-ended, the people were terrific, the teaching was solid, the vision matches ours, it was the most refreshing thing we've done here. People from Africa, Engalnd, India and America come to fellowship here and there are families as well as college students. It's a perfect fit. The pastor and his wife took us out to lunch afterwards and got to know us. They're great. They also have good ministry opportunities for us throughout the week as well as Bible studies. This is an answered prayer.
So things are going well. We are meeting a lot of people and a lot of good things are happening. We still need to convey the importance of this to the family. They don't really understand what is happening and we feel a tension in the house. They aren't happy. A talk is coming that none of us are looking forward to. Pray for them and for us. But also pray for the work that is happening and praise God for it! We have seen a tremendous amount of change and are doing well.
If you cross my path, you aren't a stranger. You're a friend. You're family. This has translated well in the evangelistic setting.
If you remember the last post, you'll remember that we were scheduled for another short village trip that had no purpose. We met with our supervisor and have already got the ball rolling with changes we need to make. We also did exactly what I said we would do. My teammate and I had to make up for lost time by working twice as hard. We met about a dozen students last week and shared with all of them.
Regarding to the trip that we were supposed to take to the village, it was important that we didn't go. We had leads and contacts coming our way that were too good to pass up this weekend and we needed to be in Bangalore. The problem was we had no alibi and no place to stay for the weekend (we are not allowed to stay in the family's house alone). We prayed for something to come up and rescue us from another three day stint in the village. God provided there too. In "Blind Faith", I described a group to you that is made up of Indian evangelists. Because of our trips we have been forced to cancel days of evangelism with them. They already had a wavering trust in us to begin with. Us being unavailable for two weeks didn't help our situation. We were supposed to meet with one of their staff on Wednesday night to share on a campus with him. We were excited but nervous. Would he be angry with us? Will he show up? We prayed that God would mend our relationship with them. We had no idea how powerfully He would answer that prayer.
We were waiting on our friend at the university and shared with a guy in the meantime. Our friend showed up halfway through and smiled when he saw us working ahead of him. We finished up and shook his hand apologizing over and over again for letting him down. He forgave and was gracious to us assuring us there was no problem. He brought two guys our age who also work for their organization and we hung out for a while. They went on to tell us that there are "camps" that they do. These are what we would think of as weekend retreats that campus ministries back home would do. They do three or four a year. One of them was last weekend. The exact days we needed plans and it also includes lodging and food. We couldn't believe how perfect this was. It seemed too good to be true. It is for new believers and seekers to come and learn more about Jesus. Three days of teaching and worship with fellowship in between. They want us to come and help lead it. I could hardly sit still I was so excited. We accepted.
We went and the retreat was held at a small Bible college on the outskirts of town. About 25 students came to learn more about being disciples. We felt like this was a good opportunity to help these young believers get their feet under them as they go back out to school. Our role for the weekend was never made clear but we took the opportunity to talk to all the guys we could and offer help to them in their universities. They were all very moved over the weekend and want to live more radically for Christ. Most new Christians are very timid. They are terrified to share with their friends because it might ruin the relationship and rejection terrifies them. They come from Christian families for the most part which helps quite a bit. But they tend to stay in a very tight circle of believers that rarely grows. One of them really connected with us over in small group time and during breaks. We learned he was the reason we came that weekend as he really wanted to have us meet some of his atheist friends and talk to them. We were thrilled to help any of them out in any way we could teaching them about following Jesus and making disciples themselves! God wants us to reproduce Christ in another and they now know that your faith is not meant to be locked inside of you but to be shared with others.
We are also going to a church that meets in a coffee shop and is mostly people our age. This is beneficial because it gives us a place to direct seekers to if they want to know Christ. We are also getting filled. For the first two months, we went to church every week in a place where the message was in Tamil and we were put in another room to watch the kids as they colored. We must be fed. God was gracious for the first half of the trip by teaching us through His Word and through the Spirit alone. We actually went quite a while just learning under Him as Father and being filled daily from a having good relationship with Him. I've never had a season of life where I didn't have an older man pouring into me since I came to faith at the age of sixteen. This was new for me. God took the reigns for a time and did it Himself. The Spirit was my guide and the Father was my teacher. But it is crucial that we find another place and we have! We left the retreat Sunday morning and took the bus back to our end of town where this fellowship meets. The pastor/worship leader is incredible and really understand us. He speaks perfect English and has a fairly good American accent. The worship is modern and powerful. It reminded me a lot of home in some ways but was completely different in others. The prayer time before the sermon was very open-ended, the people were terrific, the teaching was solid, the vision matches ours, it was the most refreshing thing we've done here. People from Africa, Engalnd, India and America come to fellowship here and there are families as well as college students. It's a perfect fit. The pastor and his wife took us out to lunch afterwards and got to know us. They're great. They also have good ministry opportunities for us throughout the week as well as Bible studies. This is an answered prayer.
So things are going well. We are meeting a lot of people and a lot of good things are happening. We still need to convey the importance of this to the family. They don't really understand what is happening and we feel a tension in the house. They aren't happy. A talk is coming that none of us are looking forward to. Pray for them and for us. But also pray for the work that is happening and praise God for it! We have seen a tremendous amount of change and are doing well.
Monday, February 25, 2013
The Village
I haven't posted in a while for a number of reasons. The main reason being that I haven't had wifi for 10 days and counting. Those closest to me have likely pronounced me dead as I have unwillingly neglected to respond to their messages. Please know that we are safe and healthy. There is no emergency. We have run into a vexing situation with our Indian family and the set of expectations they had for our stay here as they do not mirror our own.
I won't berate a group of generous and faithful people on the Internet. I especially won't do that when it will be seen by people they don't know in a setting where they can't defend themselves. I'm not that kind of a person and it is unfair to them. We have a host family of Indian nationality as I've mentioned before. They are an incredible group of believers with vision unlike any family I've ever seen. When we fell in their laps back in January, we had a purpose given to us both by God and by our American supervisors in the company. Those purposes are, although ministry related, very different from this family's own purposes. We now see that a series of misfires in communication between our company and this family, has left our schedule in the hands of Indians who arrange it under false pretenses. This is very dangerous for two young men who have clear goals in mind and not a lot of time to see them through. We need to be efficient and effective. It is challenging to be either when we are being pulled in different directions in a culture that is resistant to the idea of planning.
On Valentine's Day we awoke with news from the father telling us that we were going to the village he is from. We knew of the plan to take this trip the first week of March and were wondering why he was telling us something we already knew. He then added that the trip has been moved up indefinitely and that we were leaving that day. We ended up leaving in the afternoon and spent four hours on the road with just enough time to eat dinner and drive right back home to Bangalore that night. Later that week, after we regained stability and control over our time, news reached us that we were taking a week-long trip to the same village. This wouldn't have been a problem aside from the fact that all of our savings were surrendered to fund the trip, our Indian phones were out of money and useless and our wifi wasn't working and there would be none in the village. I was completely broke, taking a trip into the middle of nowhere, with no clear purpose explained. My parents had no clue where I was or what I was doing. I speak for both me and my teammate when I say that we hit our lowest point that week. We were starting to come into our own in our college ministry. We had good contacts and leads coming our way as we sought out a new fellowship to start inviting our Indian friends to. Everything was piecing together again. Hours before we knew about our impromptu trip, we had a student admit that he needed Christ in his life. We were soaring that evening until our wings were clipped with this news that our ministry must be paused for a week. The mother claimed that strike day (a couple of days each year in which all stores and public transportation services do nothing) is very hazardous and that riots happen as the city becomes dangerous. Although that wasn't the full truth (because we drove through the city and everything was normal), we knew we couldn't refuse the family's request. We lost control. We were mad.
We hoped the village would provide good opportunities for ministry so the trip wouldn't be a complete lost cause but there were no English speakers to teach or translators to work with. There was no work for us to do there. We would frequently ask what we could do to help. There was never a task that needed our assistance. We were supposed to rest on this compound built around a mountain range with no civilization for miles. There is a Christian school in its last stages of construction with a dedication coming soon. We wanted to help with building work but they gave us the job of removing specks of paint from the desks for one hour for a couple days. It wasn't difficult as much as it was aggravating. Aggravating int he sense that we knew we could have been painting or laying brick but they insisted that we not work and go rest. There was literally nothing to do but seek God. Our options were to seek Him, sleep, or stare blankly at a wall for a week. I'll let you guess which one we chose.
Our "house" sat at the foot of a hill/mountain. I had only seen its silhouette set against a starry sky on our previous trip as we rode back in the night. We would ascend the mountain twice every day to do our alone time with God. We climbed to reach the highest parts of the rocky hill that gave us a view of the entire village and all the surrounding ones miles away. Some of the mountains and valleys looked like the places I see in my mind's eye as I read Bible stories. I felt like I was thrown back thousands of years into the past. Stones and sand met water and vegetation across a rural landscape. Monkeys and bats sheepishly come out of their caves as we leave every night. That hill means a lot to me. As it turns out, the parents of the family have quite a history up there as well. They have gone up before us for years to pray and fast. God has audibly spoken to the father up there and called him to ministry on that hill. His father before him had a similar experience and they claim that all the prayers they pray up there have been answered and that God provides on the mountain. This affirmed what we had been feeling all week. Perhaps our time up on the mountain was the reason behind this unexpected and inconvenient excursion.
The more time we spent up there, the better we felt. God really put us at ease and spoke clearly about who we are to Him. We felt assurance that we are on the right track and that He is pleased with our work. He wants us to continue to preach with boldness and love and let salvation be the work of the Spirit. He saves people. We don't have that power. The Story of the Lamb is greater than any little tactic I learned during training week. I trust in that Story. He told me not to be afraid of failure in a "numbers-driven" community waiting for us back home. I remembered to trust His faithfulness again. He came through before and we saw good things occasionally. He won't neglect our crying out for fruit and for opportunity. We love this city and its people and He knows that. We pray according to His will. We are learning that our fervent intercession for our friends here in Asia and back home is something that pleases God. I found joy in that discipline. I learned that Jesus' teaching of seed scattering is pointing to the truth that I need to develop His patience in my life. I may not see the purpose or fruit or vision behind what happens here (both in the village and Bangalore) for years. God plans to do so much more that I could ever think up on my own or schedule out in a few months. His work is ongoing and powerful. We could come back with no disciples and not come back failures. That's what He told me. He told me ministry is a calling that I've been given. It may take me back to the field. It might be India or it might not. I may never come back to the field. I may only do short-term stuff. The point is that He loves the fire and hunger we have to find the lost and show them Jesus. We hate days when we don't get to share. We take our work very seriously and we labor hard in the field. Our supervisor and family are constantly trying to make us take a break. They want us to have fun days for ourselves sometimes. We won't give ourselves that until we feel like we've earned it. We have so much work to do and too much time has been wasted as it is. We have urgency and drive that is alarming some of our peers and superiors. We just hate seeing a nation yearn for the divine so sincerely and earnestly without ever seeing the Truth. I hate that Satan is running amok with billions buying into his lies. I can't rest with that on the doorstep. That (among other things) was what I learned on the mountain. My purpose is clear. I wanted to go back to Bangalore.
We did eventually get back and on our way out the door to leave we were told we needed to come back again in a few days. We respectfully refused to do so. We have so much to do and the clock is ticking. Our prayer is that the family will come to grips with the reality that we are not here to rest. They are under the impression that we are simply wanting to experience culture, take a holiday and see the world. They also have a culture that treats 21 year old men as boys. To them we aren't even close to adults and you aren't seen as independent until you are 30 or so. You live with your parents until then in India and sometimes married couples stay with the parents. They see us in the same light as their middle school sons because we are unmarried. They don't know that I moved away from my parents and worked to make money all while going to school three years ago. We consider 18 year olds to be more independent and adult-like with mature responsibilities in America. We gave them the benefit of the doubt out of respect and understanding the cultural barrier. Communication between them and the company has been poor and dug us into a hole. We are lab rats for this company and are trying something new for them. We are mapping the city's hot spots for ministry and telling them what is working and where it's working. Village trips with no planning or purpose are a real hindrance to that vision and we are making changes to loosen the bonds we have with them. They are terrific and we have nothing but respect for their ministry. It's just not why we are here.
So, as usual, I will end with prayer requests. We just came out on the other end of an extremely rough time of wrestling with God and with our circumstances. God has spoken and given grace and we are back home with something of a fresh start. Pray for the family to be open-minded as we slowly divorce ourselves from their ministry. Pray for the plow we intend to lay our hand to as we move onward. We have more leads and contacts that we know what to do with and could really get a lot done in a couple months time. Pray for the hearts of the people here to be convicted of their sin so they can see a need for Christ in their lives. Pray that we are given opportunities to follow through with people. Sharing is easy. Discipleship is hard as the culture is comprised of flaky individuals who struggle to keep their word. We are fine. We are healthy and are back on track. Your prayers Helped get us through the hardest week so far. God's strength will get us back to you in one piece. May God do whatever He needs to to make sure fruit comes. Even if it means we don't come back in one piece. We'll do anything. Whatever it takes.
I won't berate a group of generous and faithful people on the Internet. I especially won't do that when it will be seen by people they don't know in a setting where they can't defend themselves. I'm not that kind of a person and it is unfair to them. We have a host family of Indian nationality as I've mentioned before. They are an incredible group of believers with vision unlike any family I've ever seen. When we fell in their laps back in January, we had a purpose given to us both by God and by our American supervisors in the company. Those purposes are, although ministry related, very different from this family's own purposes. We now see that a series of misfires in communication between our company and this family, has left our schedule in the hands of Indians who arrange it under false pretenses. This is very dangerous for two young men who have clear goals in mind and not a lot of time to see them through. We need to be efficient and effective. It is challenging to be either when we are being pulled in different directions in a culture that is resistant to the idea of planning.
On Valentine's Day we awoke with news from the father telling us that we were going to the village he is from. We knew of the plan to take this trip the first week of March and were wondering why he was telling us something we already knew. He then added that the trip has been moved up indefinitely and that we were leaving that day. We ended up leaving in the afternoon and spent four hours on the road with just enough time to eat dinner and drive right back home to Bangalore that night. Later that week, after we regained stability and control over our time, news reached us that we were taking a week-long trip to the same village. This wouldn't have been a problem aside from the fact that all of our savings were surrendered to fund the trip, our Indian phones were out of money and useless and our wifi wasn't working and there would be none in the village. I was completely broke, taking a trip into the middle of nowhere, with no clear purpose explained. My parents had no clue where I was or what I was doing. I speak for both me and my teammate when I say that we hit our lowest point that week. We were starting to come into our own in our college ministry. We had good contacts and leads coming our way as we sought out a new fellowship to start inviting our Indian friends to. Everything was piecing together again. Hours before we knew about our impromptu trip, we had a student admit that he needed Christ in his life. We were soaring that evening until our wings were clipped with this news that our ministry must be paused for a week. The mother claimed that strike day (a couple of days each year in which all stores and public transportation services do nothing) is very hazardous and that riots happen as the city becomes dangerous. Although that wasn't the full truth (because we drove through the city and everything was normal), we knew we couldn't refuse the family's request. We lost control. We were mad.
We hoped the village would provide good opportunities for ministry so the trip wouldn't be a complete lost cause but there were no English speakers to teach or translators to work with. There was no work for us to do there. We would frequently ask what we could do to help. There was never a task that needed our assistance. We were supposed to rest on this compound built around a mountain range with no civilization for miles. There is a Christian school in its last stages of construction with a dedication coming soon. We wanted to help with building work but they gave us the job of removing specks of paint from the desks for one hour for a couple days. It wasn't difficult as much as it was aggravating. Aggravating int he sense that we knew we could have been painting or laying brick but they insisted that we not work and go rest. There was literally nothing to do but seek God. Our options were to seek Him, sleep, or stare blankly at a wall for a week. I'll let you guess which one we chose.
Our "house" sat at the foot of a hill/mountain. I had only seen its silhouette set against a starry sky on our previous trip as we rode back in the night. We would ascend the mountain twice every day to do our alone time with God. We climbed to reach the highest parts of the rocky hill that gave us a view of the entire village and all the surrounding ones miles away. Some of the mountains and valleys looked like the places I see in my mind's eye as I read Bible stories. I felt like I was thrown back thousands of years into the past. Stones and sand met water and vegetation across a rural landscape. Monkeys and bats sheepishly come out of their caves as we leave every night. That hill means a lot to me. As it turns out, the parents of the family have quite a history up there as well. They have gone up before us for years to pray and fast. God has audibly spoken to the father up there and called him to ministry on that hill. His father before him had a similar experience and they claim that all the prayers they pray up there have been answered and that God provides on the mountain. This affirmed what we had been feeling all week. Perhaps our time up on the mountain was the reason behind this unexpected and inconvenient excursion.
The more time we spent up there, the better we felt. God really put us at ease and spoke clearly about who we are to Him. We felt assurance that we are on the right track and that He is pleased with our work. He wants us to continue to preach with boldness and love and let salvation be the work of the Spirit. He saves people. We don't have that power. The Story of the Lamb is greater than any little tactic I learned during training week. I trust in that Story. He told me not to be afraid of failure in a "numbers-driven" community waiting for us back home. I remembered to trust His faithfulness again. He came through before and we saw good things occasionally. He won't neglect our crying out for fruit and for opportunity. We love this city and its people and He knows that. We pray according to His will. We are learning that our fervent intercession for our friends here in Asia and back home is something that pleases God. I found joy in that discipline. I learned that Jesus' teaching of seed scattering is pointing to the truth that I need to develop His patience in my life. I may not see the purpose or fruit or vision behind what happens here (both in the village and Bangalore) for years. God plans to do so much more that I could ever think up on my own or schedule out in a few months. His work is ongoing and powerful. We could come back with no disciples and not come back failures. That's what He told me. He told me ministry is a calling that I've been given. It may take me back to the field. It might be India or it might not. I may never come back to the field. I may only do short-term stuff. The point is that He loves the fire and hunger we have to find the lost and show them Jesus. We hate days when we don't get to share. We take our work very seriously and we labor hard in the field. Our supervisor and family are constantly trying to make us take a break. They want us to have fun days for ourselves sometimes. We won't give ourselves that until we feel like we've earned it. We have so much work to do and too much time has been wasted as it is. We have urgency and drive that is alarming some of our peers and superiors. We just hate seeing a nation yearn for the divine so sincerely and earnestly without ever seeing the Truth. I hate that Satan is running amok with billions buying into his lies. I can't rest with that on the doorstep. That (among other things) was what I learned on the mountain. My purpose is clear. I wanted to go back to Bangalore.
We did eventually get back and on our way out the door to leave we were told we needed to come back again in a few days. We respectfully refused to do so. We have so much to do and the clock is ticking. Our prayer is that the family will come to grips with the reality that we are not here to rest. They are under the impression that we are simply wanting to experience culture, take a holiday and see the world. They also have a culture that treats 21 year old men as boys. To them we aren't even close to adults and you aren't seen as independent until you are 30 or so. You live with your parents until then in India and sometimes married couples stay with the parents. They see us in the same light as their middle school sons because we are unmarried. They don't know that I moved away from my parents and worked to make money all while going to school three years ago. We consider 18 year olds to be more independent and adult-like with mature responsibilities in America. We gave them the benefit of the doubt out of respect and understanding the cultural barrier. Communication between them and the company has been poor and dug us into a hole. We are lab rats for this company and are trying something new for them. We are mapping the city's hot spots for ministry and telling them what is working and where it's working. Village trips with no planning or purpose are a real hindrance to that vision and we are making changes to loosen the bonds we have with them. They are terrific and we have nothing but respect for their ministry. It's just not why we are here.
So, as usual, I will end with prayer requests. We just came out on the other end of an extremely rough time of wrestling with God and with our circumstances. God has spoken and given grace and we are back home with something of a fresh start. Pray for the family to be open-minded as we slowly divorce ourselves from their ministry. Pray for the plow we intend to lay our hand to as we move onward. We have more leads and contacts that we know what to do with and could really get a lot done in a couple months time. Pray for the hearts of the people here to be convicted of their sin so they can see a need for Christ in their lives. Pray that we are given opportunities to follow through with people. Sharing is easy. Discipleship is hard as the culture is comprised of flaky individuals who struggle to keep their word. We are fine. We are healthy and are back on track. Your prayers Helped get us through the hardest week so far. God's strength will get us back to you in one piece. May God do whatever He needs to to make sure fruit comes. Even if it means we don't come back in one piece. We'll do anything. Whatever it takes.
Thursday, February 7, 2013
Kingdom Culture
We set aside 16 weeks from 2013 and came to India. We're 4 weeks in.
I'm giving storytelling a rest for a while. My previous entries may seem to contradict themselves as we are constantly falling in and out of plans and relationships. We meet people and arrange meetings. They don't follow through and it's back to the drawing board. After our fortunate encounter with the young men at the slums last week, there have been others we have met in different colleges all over town. Prayers are being answered and The Lord is giving us more than we can manage right now! He truly has seen the work through. But you all know these stories. What now?
Discipleship.
We are a quarter of the way done and have a small contingent of benign men of peace. We don't need anything more. People want to know the vision. From the business industry all the way to ministry, in America, people like hearing the big picture explained. They want to know where we are going and want to trust that we'll get there safely. What is our vision? I may have done a poor job of articulating this early on and left some of you thinking this was an arbitrary expedition to Asia for a bored college student. Vision has never been something we have lacked.
We want this cluster of nations and people groups to know Jesus and we understand that this must first happen through discipleship.
There are many differences between Americans and Indians and I've already exhausted you with the details. The approach is different. There is a Western way of doing things and there's an Eastern way of doing things. There is also a Kingdom way of doing things. As men come to faith, their ways and our ways don't clash as much because we trudge a more narrow path together and leave our old paths behind. We aren't Indians or Americans anymore. We are Christians. I belong to that Kingdom just as much as I belong to Louisville, KY.
There is a right way of living and our Savior knows that way. Who cares if they eat with their right hand and wipe with their left? That isn't a custom I need to work them away from. Most American women wear next to nothing and we celebrate sexuality and promiscuity like no other culture has before. Lets drop the charade that one culture has it right and embrace a Kingdom culture that has no flaw and is eternal. Ushering them into that and discovering it with them will accomplish the big vision we want. Not changing certain habits that Asian people have developed over the centuries. That's trite and a waste of my time. We aren't imperialists.
So in God's Kingdom we see discipleship. Walking with a man and showing him Christ and teaching him how to be crucified as Jesus was. It is allowing leading him to repentance and watching as he interacts with the Spirit. It's showing him the truth of God's Word and lavishing its riches on him daily. Its investing time, money, effort, and love into the stock that yields a certain fruit. Will that man turn around and show Christ to another man and understand his purpose as living for the glory of God? The glory of God through discipleship is the goal. That's a global vision. I did the same exact work in America.
This is what we need prayer for. As we coax men into our fold, some reconfiguring of the heart must happen. I powerless to do that. Only God molds hearts. Prayers must be for them. Pray they can have boldness to try something different from their parents. As similar as discipleship is, they do have some factors that we don't. The cultural acceptance of Christianity isn't quite the same. But if the desire for Christ is there, discipleship is going to happen. From this pray that churches are planted and that they reach their communities in ways I never could. I can only communicate so much to this country as I am limited by language and my nationality. They are going to be better at this than I am. We just have to knock over the first few dominoes. Pray.
I'm giving storytelling a rest for a while. My previous entries may seem to contradict themselves as we are constantly falling in and out of plans and relationships. We meet people and arrange meetings. They don't follow through and it's back to the drawing board. After our fortunate encounter with the young men at the slums last week, there have been others we have met in different colleges all over town. Prayers are being answered and The Lord is giving us more than we can manage right now! He truly has seen the work through. But you all know these stories. What now?
Discipleship.
We are a quarter of the way done and have a small contingent of benign men of peace. We don't need anything more. People want to know the vision. From the business industry all the way to ministry, in America, people like hearing the big picture explained. They want to know where we are going and want to trust that we'll get there safely. What is our vision? I may have done a poor job of articulating this early on and left some of you thinking this was an arbitrary expedition to Asia for a bored college student. Vision has never been something we have lacked.
We want this cluster of nations and people groups to know Jesus and we understand that this must first happen through discipleship.
There are many differences between Americans and Indians and I've already exhausted you with the details. The approach is different. There is a Western way of doing things and there's an Eastern way of doing things. There is also a Kingdom way of doing things. As men come to faith, their ways and our ways don't clash as much because we trudge a more narrow path together and leave our old paths behind. We aren't Indians or Americans anymore. We are Christians. I belong to that Kingdom just as much as I belong to Louisville, KY.
There is a right way of living and our Savior knows that way. Who cares if they eat with their right hand and wipe with their left? That isn't a custom I need to work them away from. Most American women wear next to nothing and we celebrate sexuality and promiscuity like no other culture has before. Lets drop the charade that one culture has it right and embrace a Kingdom culture that has no flaw and is eternal. Ushering them into that and discovering it with them will accomplish the big vision we want. Not changing certain habits that Asian people have developed over the centuries. That's trite and a waste of my time. We aren't imperialists.
So in God's Kingdom we see discipleship. Walking with a man and showing him Christ and teaching him how to be crucified as Jesus was. It is allowing leading him to repentance and watching as he interacts with the Spirit. It's showing him the truth of God's Word and lavishing its riches on him daily. Its investing time, money, effort, and love into the stock that yields a certain fruit. Will that man turn around and show Christ to another man and understand his purpose as living for the glory of God? The glory of God through discipleship is the goal. That's a global vision. I did the same exact work in America.
This is what we need prayer for. As we coax men into our fold, some reconfiguring of the heart must happen. I powerless to do that. Only God molds hearts. Prayers must be for them. Pray they can have boldness to try something different from their parents. As similar as discipleship is, they do have some factors that we don't. The cultural acceptance of Christianity isn't quite the same. But if the desire for Christ is there, discipleship is going to happen. From this pray that churches are planted and that they reach their communities in ways I never could. I can only communicate so much to this country as I am limited by language and my nationality. They are going to be better at this than I am. We just have to knock over the first few dominoes. Pray.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Jehovah-Jireh
This is easily my longest post yet but the most important thus far. If you read it, read it all.
There is power in prayer. I know a few thoughts are brewing and stirring for you as a reader.
-You are growing tired of getting Facebook notifications (don't lie...it's true).
-You are reading stories that are rolling together in your minds and seem redundant.
-You may even assume incredible things happen daily and it's like the book of Acts all over again.
Let me clear up a few things before launching into the story from today (January 31st).
-There will come a time when the stream of posts trickles off and my entries will be few and far between.
-Most of these stories are similar because we have set up a routine for ourselves to structure and monitor our schedules. God doesn't necessarily desire that for us all the time.
-More often than not, we wake up and share without immediate fruit. We are often frustrated and confused. People here are not seeking Jesus. The warm interactions and men of peace (see Luke 10) are a dime a dozen. Even in Acts we are looking at a long span of time and seeing the highlights. There is life that happens between the "mind-blowing" moments.
I didn't say all of that to depress you and make you think our labor is somber and uneventful. Quite the opposite! I want to invite you into the deep recesses of my mind and give you the opportunity to empathize with us here. You cannot fathom the heights we feel without first grasping the depths we see and experience as well. Regarding our victories thus far, there have been flashes in the pan and I have been quick to type them up and send them your way. I do not embellish or stretch these stories to give you a higher respect for me. I am, through much conviction, devoted to telling you about my adventure with God as it really is. I owe everyone that courtesy. We have shared the good news about 20 or so different times to something close to 30 people. That estimate that is probably low, it may have been more. Of all of those people, probably 10 of them received it well and acknowledged that what we were saying was different and interested them. None of them met us again despite making contact with us and promising a second meeting. Although its still early, we only anticipate 5 or so will actually see us again. Those are the facts after three weeks of being in India.
I went to bed every night with a balanced scale of encouraged and discouraged emotion. It seems contradictory but its how I felt. We were scattering the seed of life and all of these people heard the Gospel where they wouldn't have ordinarily. But no one was actively seeking us out to meet again and appeared hungry for more. My partner and I have extensive discussion about it. We share what we feel God is telling us and are constantly trying new approaches. The lack of logic in this culture was killing us and we fell into that pitfall every time. We had no options. I went to the roof of our house with a chair as I do every morning and looked out at the city. What are we missing? What can we do different? I needed answers to these questions. I read a little bit and prayed a lot.
Please have mercy in them God! Show them Yourself. Forgive them of their sin. Show them that they are sinful and need help. Do a miracle!
I prayed this all day long. We had no choice! All of our tactics and efforts were ineffective and powerless. We admitted that we had nothing left in the arsenal to try other than this. Simple and sincere prayer went a long way. We assumed that God would answer our prayer weeks from now in the form of a man of peace coming to Him through us. We went out for a little bit today looking for him. The man of peace was nowhere to be found.
We went to the slums as we always do on Thursdays to teach. I had a rough outing with the children that night and I can provide specifics if you really want over a message or when I get back. It was bad. I was teaching a group of 4th grade girls to read when the pastor of the slum tapped me on the shoulder and pointed down. He doesn't speak English so I just had to guess what he wanted. I assumed he wanted my teammate and I to go downstairs because it was time to go home. I said my goodbyes to the kids and followed him. He stopped off of the second floor of the building and pointed into a room. We didn't know why but went in. In that room stood 6 young men around our age with big smiles on their faces. What's all this about? No one this old ever comes around the church in the slum. We were told through a translator that these boys are really questioning Hinduism and want to know truth. They like Jesus but have many questions and struggles and need men their age to help them along. They want to follow Him but have no guidance. They asked if we could meet with them every Friday at 6:30 to help them.
This is the work of Jehovah-Jireh. He is the God who provides.
I almost cried. I shared with them and they applauded the story of Jesus in my life. There is literally no way I could ever begin to take credit for this. I didn't do anything. God literally answered the prayers of you and me and plopped these guys in our lap out of nowhere. These kids knew what this building in the slum was. Everyone does. We knew that since we weren't leading anyone to Christ on our own, we had to be the ones who stand in the gap for this nation. Someone had to step up and fight off Satan from these people because they surely aren't doing it. They're inviting him in. It was as simple as prayer.
But there is power in prayer.
We begged God for this and decided there was nothing more for us to do. Prayer was my Alamo that day. It was my last resort. My back was completely against the wall and needed God to do all of the heavy lifting. He did it. I don't know why I was so surprised. I have a book in my room that tells of nearly every instance in which He has been faithful for the first few thousand years of life. Why would I expect any different? It amazed me because I was just sitting in the valley hours before it happened. It desert made me appreciate the oasis all the more. This is why you need to know how bad it was and how desperate we were. All sorts of doubts and insecurities about ourselves and this place invaded and consumed us. It was the most vexing week of my life. God redeemed it as He does all things. He redeems neighborhoods, cities, nations, and hearts. He smiled down on a couple hopeless servants today and gave them reason to hold on a bit longer.
So I ask you to hold on as well. Don't give up on this trip just yet. We have seen dark days here but God is a Father who gives light. Nothing is guaranteed and we still have a lot of praying left to do. Our work is cut out for us and its a messy job. We don't know them. They could be faking to get American friends. They could be faking to take advantage of us financially. They don't speak a word of English. They aren't true believers right now. They work 13 hours a day and have limited availability. But on Fridays they want to meet and hear about Jesus because they see something in him. Lets get on our knees and beg God for a miracle in these hearts. It could yield a harvest of millions of hearts years down the road. God works well with a few people that have the Spirit. Look what 12 men did after Jesus left.
There is power in prayer. I know a few thoughts are brewing and stirring for you as a reader.
-You are growing tired of getting Facebook notifications (don't lie...it's true).
-You are reading stories that are rolling together in your minds and seem redundant.
-You may even assume incredible things happen daily and it's like the book of Acts all over again.
Let me clear up a few things before launching into the story from today (January 31st).
-There will come a time when the stream of posts trickles off and my entries will be few and far between.
-Most of these stories are similar because we have set up a routine for ourselves to structure and monitor our schedules. God doesn't necessarily desire that for us all the time.
-More often than not, we wake up and share without immediate fruit. We are often frustrated and confused. People here are not seeking Jesus. The warm interactions and men of peace (see Luke 10) are a dime a dozen. Even in Acts we are looking at a long span of time and seeing the highlights. There is life that happens between the "mind-blowing" moments.
I didn't say all of that to depress you and make you think our labor is somber and uneventful. Quite the opposite! I want to invite you into the deep recesses of my mind and give you the opportunity to empathize with us here. You cannot fathom the heights we feel without first grasping the depths we see and experience as well. Regarding our victories thus far, there have been flashes in the pan and I have been quick to type them up and send them your way. I do not embellish or stretch these stories to give you a higher respect for me. I am, through much conviction, devoted to telling you about my adventure with God as it really is. I owe everyone that courtesy. We have shared the good news about 20 or so different times to something close to 30 people. That estimate that is probably low, it may have been more. Of all of those people, probably 10 of them received it well and acknowledged that what we were saying was different and interested them. None of them met us again despite making contact with us and promising a second meeting. Although its still early, we only anticipate 5 or so will actually see us again. Those are the facts after three weeks of being in India.
I went to bed every night with a balanced scale of encouraged and discouraged emotion. It seems contradictory but its how I felt. We were scattering the seed of life and all of these people heard the Gospel where they wouldn't have ordinarily. But no one was actively seeking us out to meet again and appeared hungry for more. My partner and I have extensive discussion about it. We share what we feel God is telling us and are constantly trying new approaches. The lack of logic in this culture was killing us and we fell into that pitfall every time. We had no options. I went to the roof of our house with a chair as I do every morning and looked out at the city. What are we missing? What can we do different? I needed answers to these questions. I read a little bit and prayed a lot.
Please have mercy in them God! Show them Yourself. Forgive them of their sin. Show them that they are sinful and need help. Do a miracle!
I prayed this all day long. We had no choice! All of our tactics and efforts were ineffective and powerless. We admitted that we had nothing left in the arsenal to try other than this. Simple and sincere prayer went a long way. We assumed that God would answer our prayer weeks from now in the form of a man of peace coming to Him through us. We went out for a little bit today looking for him. The man of peace was nowhere to be found.
We went to the slums as we always do on Thursdays to teach. I had a rough outing with the children that night and I can provide specifics if you really want over a message or when I get back. It was bad. I was teaching a group of 4th grade girls to read when the pastor of the slum tapped me on the shoulder and pointed down. He doesn't speak English so I just had to guess what he wanted. I assumed he wanted my teammate and I to go downstairs because it was time to go home. I said my goodbyes to the kids and followed him. He stopped off of the second floor of the building and pointed into a room. We didn't know why but went in. In that room stood 6 young men around our age with big smiles on their faces. What's all this about? No one this old ever comes around the church in the slum. We were told through a translator that these boys are really questioning Hinduism and want to know truth. They like Jesus but have many questions and struggles and need men their age to help them along. They want to follow Him but have no guidance. They asked if we could meet with them every Friday at 6:30 to help them.
This is the work of Jehovah-Jireh. He is the God who provides.
I almost cried. I shared with them and they applauded the story of Jesus in my life. There is literally no way I could ever begin to take credit for this. I didn't do anything. God literally answered the prayers of you and me and plopped these guys in our lap out of nowhere. These kids knew what this building in the slum was. Everyone does. We knew that since we weren't leading anyone to Christ on our own, we had to be the ones who stand in the gap for this nation. Someone had to step up and fight off Satan from these people because they surely aren't doing it. They're inviting him in. It was as simple as prayer.
But there is power in prayer.
We begged God for this and decided there was nothing more for us to do. Prayer was my Alamo that day. It was my last resort. My back was completely against the wall and needed God to do all of the heavy lifting. He did it. I don't know why I was so surprised. I have a book in my room that tells of nearly every instance in which He has been faithful for the first few thousand years of life. Why would I expect any different? It amazed me because I was just sitting in the valley hours before it happened. It desert made me appreciate the oasis all the more. This is why you need to know how bad it was and how desperate we were. All sorts of doubts and insecurities about ourselves and this place invaded and consumed us. It was the most vexing week of my life. God redeemed it as He does all things. He redeems neighborhoods, cities, nations, and hearts. He smiled down on a couple hopeless servants today and gave them reason to hold on a bit longer.
So I ask you to hold on as well. Don't give up on this trip just yet. We have seen dark days here but God is a Father who gives light. Nothing is guaranteed and we still have a lot of praying left to do. Our work is cut out for us and its a messy job. We don't know them. They could be faking to get American friends. They could be faking to take advantage of us financially. They don't speak a word of English. They aren't true believers right now. They work 13 hours a day and have limited availability. But on Fridays they want to meet and hear about Jesus because they see something in him. Lets get on our knees and beg God for a miracle in these hearts. It could yield a harvest of millions of hearts years down the road. God works well with a few people that have the Spirit. Look what 12 men did after Jesus left.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
He's Opening Doors
Evangelism has been pretty cold work lately. We have been spending a lot of time finding the places where college kids hang out and dropping pins on our mental map of Bangalore. We know the theoretical "hot spots" to reach the youth that is so eager to rebel from their traditional heritage. When we engage, however, we are finding that most people aren't too interested in knowing Jesus. This really takes an emotional and spiritual toll on you at first. We obviously know that we aren't going to win every person we encounter to Christ, but we also grow impatient. I think God wanted to teach us patience this week.
The feeling of reward for our work in the slums comes with a certain immediacy that evangelism is lacking. We are using too much logic to argue for Jesus. American atheists would be fascinated by this fact. The South Asians just don't care about all of that. It has more to do with culture and society for them. Show me why I should follow Jesus. I came to a realization that I simply wasn't spending enough time on my knees asking for the lost. I don't know the Father's heart like I should. My head is getting in the way and interrupting the Spirit when it tries to speak and lead. I found myself frustrated with the Indian people and avoiding conversation with them. Satan swept right in and capitalized on my lack of faith. All of this happened in a span of two days or so. I just wanted to stay in the slums where ministry was easy. It makes zero sense to anyone who isn't here, but it's true.
After the night with the widows and some serious prayer, God provided the heart change I needed. I have found Him to be quite the heart surgeon in my time here. He has mended me in every way in the most opportune time as He sees it. We visited another mall in central Bangalore. After many failed attempts in another mall days earlier, I had no reason to be excited. I was excited. God was just speaking peace over the day and I felt good things ahead. I could sense that God was going to set up a fruitful appointment and right at the end of the day He did.
We were in the food court eating ice cream and I was looking for common ground to work from with these people. First I looked for students and found pockets of them scattered. I needed an entry way, some kind of reason to approach them. Then I saw a guitar with three students. Here we go. I went up and asked if they played. All three of them had guitars and had just bought them in hopes of learning. I told them I know some chords and would love to teach them. I also shared Jesus and they were interested as they had never heard someone tell Jesus' story as I did. They didn't know Jesus claimed to be the Son of God but they claimed to be Catholics. I said I would love to hang out again. They were ecstatic and exchanged contact information with me. God came through. We just needed patience.
Later that night I called back home to my little brother and his classmates after dinner. They were still in school and my partner and I got to tell how faithful God had been. It felt good just to brag on Jesus to someone who cared about him for a little bit. Most people here take it with a grain of salt but nothing beats sharing with some passionate brothers. Any stories we tell have to come back to Jesus or they just aren't worth telling. We were running on empty just a couple days ago but have new energy after these past couple days. We love it here. Pray that God has our scattered seed fall on rich soil.
The feeling of reward for our work in the slums comes with a certain immediacy that evangelism is lacking. We are using too much logic to argue for Jesus. American atheists would be fascinated by this fact. The South Asians just don't care about all of that. It has more to do with culture and society for them. Show me why I should follow Jesus. I came to a realization that I simply wasn't spending enough time on my knees asking for the lost. I don't know the Father's heart like I should. My head is getting in the way and interrupting the Spirit when it tries to speak and lead. I found myself frustrated with the Indian people and avoiding conversation with them. Satan swept right in and capitalized on my lack of faith. All of this happened in a span of two days or so. I just wanted to stay in the slums where ministry was easy. It makes zero sense to anyone who isn't here, but it's true.
After the night with the widows and some serious prayer, God provided the heart change I needed. I have found Him to be quite the heart surgeon in my time here. He has mended me in every way in the most opportune time as He sees it. We visited another mall in central Bangalore. After many failed attempts in another mall days earlier, I had no reason to be excited. I was excited. God was just speaking peace over the day and I felt good things ahead. I could sense that God was going to set up a fruitful appointment and right at the end of the day He did.
We were in the food court eating ice cream and I was looking for common ground to work from with these people. First I looked for students and found pockets of them scattered. I needed an entry way, some kind of reason to approach them. Then I saw a guitar with three students. Here we go. I went up and asked if they played. All three of them had guitars and had just bought them in hopes of learning. I told them I know some chords and would love to teach them. I also shared Jesus and they were interested as they had never heard someone tell Jesus' story as I did. They didn't know Jesus claimed to be the Son of God but they claimed to be Catholics. I said I would love to hang out again. They were ecstatic and exchanged contact information with me. God came through. We just needed patience.
Later that night I called back home to my little brother and his classmates after dinner. They were still in school and my partner and I got to tell how faithful God had been. It felt good just to brag on Jesus to someone who cared about him for a little bit. Most people here take it with a grain of salt but nothing beats sharing with some passionate brothers. Any stories we tell have to come back to Jesus or they just aren't worth telling. We were running on empty just a couple days ago but have new energy after these past couple days. We love it here. Pray that God has our scattered seed fall on rich soil.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)