Revival Now!

For the past two weeks we were in the state of Bihar visiting our mission stations started several years ago. Bihar is known as the “graveyard of missionaries,” yet today, despite great economic hardship and the threat of persecution from Hindu radicals, the native church is thriving, rapidly growing in the unreached villages and tribal areas. Visiting and having fellowship with believers in different tribal areas, seeing their hunger for the Lord and their passionate worship is beyond explainable. One thing is certain: the Spirit of the Lord is moving, releasing the captive from demonic oppression, setting free those who are in bondage and addicted, and opening the eyes of those who are blinded by idol worship and witchcraft. The light of the Gospel is shining greatly in the darkest part of our nation.

In one of the villages we dedicated one of our churches, but things didn’t start out in a positive way. A couple of times our missionaries were chased out of the village, and at first they always met with resistance from the villagers when our brothers tried to share the Gospel with them. But on the back side of the village, about a hundred meters away, lived around 50-60 low caste families. Among them, several families accepted Jesus as their personal savior and started a prayer group during the covid season. Our Lord, in His divine wisdom, called a young man named Sanju to lead that prayer group. That prayer group soon became a house church with ten baptized members, and its growth continued. They outgrew the house where they were meeting, and had to move their worship service outside, under a banyan tree in the village. After a few weeks of services under the banyan tree, a Hindu radical came and placed an idol underneath the tree. He claimed that the banyan tree was a sacred tree, and their village deity would occasionally come and rest in that tree. He went on to claim that our believers worshiping under that tree disturbed their village deity and she could not rest for several days. Now she was restless, and her anger was going to cause misfortune for the village. After that, the believers were prohibited from coming close to the banyan tree. Once again, the church was looking for a place to worship, but not for very long.

One believer donated a small piece of land, 40 feet wide and 70 feet long, and they built a temporary church using bamboo poles for support and plastic sheets for the roof. They covered it with some sarees (a six-meter-long cloth that the women use to cover their bodies). For a few months they worshiped in that shelter, but last October the Hindu radicals came and burned down the temporary church. They threatened the believers to stop worshiping Jesus, or next time they would burn all the believers along with the church. In spite of that the believers continue to come together and worship in that open field under the sun, without showing any fear.

By our Lord’s grace we helped them build a small brick church building in that field. Last week we were in that village for the dedication of that church building. When we arrived in the village we were greeted with shouts of “Hallelujah.” It was amazing and refreshing to hear those shouts, knowing that these were the people who had been worshiping idols for generation after generation, but now they were delivered from the curse of idol worship and shouting praise to the Living God. Their curses were broken, and the light of the Gospel has shined on them.

As we reached the front of the newly built church, one young Hindu tribal woman presented us with two bouquets, made from flowers and leaves, one for me and one for Sherly. She touched our feet as a sign of respect, and welcomed us to her village. We humbly accepted them and proceeded with the dedication service. After the service she was brought to us for prayer.

Her name is Tulasi. In her mid-twenties she suffered from a mental disorder and spent several years in a mental asylum. Later, according to the doctors, she recovered, and her parents arranged for her to be married to a young man. In her husband’s home she suffered physical and mental torture for 4 years, and during this time she also lost her parents due to covid. Because of all the trauma, she lost her mental balance again, and was sent back to the mental asylum. A few months ago she was sent back home from the mental asylum. Her husband and his family did not accept her. Instead, they chased her away. With nowhere to go, she came back to her parents’ empty house. With no one to care for her, she lived alone in her parents one-room house. She was at the mercy of the poor tribal people in the village. She had never been to the church before, but that day she went and picked some flowers and green leaves from some bushes, and made two beautiful bouquets to welcome us. No one told her to do that, and she knew nothing about the church dedication. All she knew was some visitors were coming to the village. She approached us at the entrance to the church, and presented us the bouquets with great grace. The dedication service was starting, but she did not enter the church. After the dedication service the local pastor told us her story and everyone was amazed seeing what she had done to honor us. Knowing her condition, we invited her inside the church, laid our hands on her and prayed for her. As we began to pray she was uncomfortable, and began to make loud noises. As all the church people came around her, they began to praise God and pray for her. She was delivered from demonic spirits and was set free in front of us. She again fell at our feet, thanking God. For the following week, she visited with us in several meetings, sharing her testimony and how she was delivered. Her testimony has touched hundreds of people in different meetings. God is using her to touch the life of many people.

During our trip we dedicated four new church buildings and laid the foundations for three other churches. We baptized over 400 hundred people and visited our three training centers in the tribal areas. We also made plans for our Christmas outreach in different areas.

Help Us Share the Gospel

We want to thank you for every one of your prayers. Without your prayers we would not be able to harvest this harvest. To read more inspiring and exciting testimonies of what God is doing among the unreached people groups of India, click the links on the right, and keep reading!

Proclaiming the Gospel…

…until He comes

As I write this, we are in between two intense storms. Ten days ago, Hurricane Helene hit the Gulf Coast of Florida and brought destruction from there to the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. A few days from now another storm will once again hit Florida, and weather forecasters are predicting Hurricane Milton will have an extreme impact.

Some of you reading this may have been directly affected by Helene or Milton. Many of you have friends or family affected by one or both storms. Jesus and His disciples encountered a storm, and He calmed the wind and waves with a word. Paul and Luke experienced a storm so severe that the ship they were sailing in was destroyed, although no lives were lost.

Even in calm weather we may go through storms of a different kind – spiritual or emotional storms that try to shipwreck our faith. The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. So even though insurance companies call bad weather an “act of God” we need to remind ourselves of God’s character. He doesn’t bring pain and suffering on people. Not the natural kind, and not the supernatural kind either.

Jesus said He came to bring abundant life, so let’s remind ourselves of His character. Meanwhile, let’s join other believers around the nation and pray for all people suffering in various kinds of storms. Jesus is the answer, may He reveal Himself to all those in need of comfort!

Blessings in the Wonderful Name of Jesus,

Thomas

India is home to over a billion people who have never heard of Jesus. Those who do know Him are eager to proclaim and share their new-found faith in Jesus even after knowing that this will bring persecution from their families and friends, and they will be rejected and outcast by others. Today the government authorities are trying their best to stop the churches and missions from spreading the gospel to the unreached, by passing new laws, giving extra power to the police, and openly calling out to oppose the Christians and stop the preaching of the gospel in unreached areas.

Even as people try to stop the gospel, our Lord is opening new ways to reach out to the unreached area with the gospel, through simple believers who are fearlessly sharing their faith. One mountain area was totally unreached for years. We had sent out several teams to those areas without much impact on the people. In the last few years we have been seeing simple believers who are laborers and willing to travel to the mountains in the summer, working in the farms from April to October and sharing their faith with native people around them and praying for them. Our Lord is using them for His glory. Over the last few years, more than 37 house churches were started in that area.

In May and June some of our missionaries visited our house churches in the mountain areas. They came back and shared one testimony that changed the whole village.

Our brothers were visiting one of the house churches and having a small meeting. The head of the village came to that meeting, where he heard the story of the Gadarene demoniac (Luke 8:26-39). In the meeting there were a few people who were possessed and during the worship and prayer they were delivered. After the meetings, the head of the village asked our brothers to visit a family and pray for them while they were in the village. In the evening the head of the village took two of our brothers to a old house that seemed as if no one lived there. There they met a women in her late sixties, very gloomy and unhappy. The village head talked to her privately for a while, trying to convince her to reveal her situation to our brothers. Finally, she took our brothers to a window and showed them two young men, laying on the floor. The village head told them that this women has three children, one daughter and two sons. They were all living a normal life but 7 years ago the children’s father committed suicide. A few months later the oldest son slowly became mentally ill. They took him to various doctors and mental hospitals, but his condition got worse. At the same time their daughter also started behaving differently and got worse. After a year, the youngest son too become mentally ill. Their mother took them to various doctors and witchcraft doctors, different “god-men” and temples. She spent all her savings and they lost all their friends. The woman worked at several house cleaning jobs, just to make enough to feed her three children who were locked in two different rooms. She took care of them the best she could, but they were barely alive.

The village head asked our brother “why don’t you pray for them? This morning in the meeting I saw with my own eyes people who were mentally tortured being delivered.” He was begging our brothers to please do something for this family, and in his ignorance he even offered them money. The mother just sat and listened, showing no emotion, as a woman who had lost all hope and was living mechanically.

Not knowing what to do, our brothers prayed with them and said they would come back the following day. As they left the village, their hearts were full of compassion because of the state of the three young people and the sorrow of their mother. They also took note of the faith and expectation of the village head, who was a Hindu, who had seen the deliverance in the house church and believed that Jesus could also help these young people. After much prayer and talking it over with the local believers and with me, they contacted the village head late in the afternoon on the following day, telling him they will come and pray for them. The next 24 hours they spent in fasting and prayer along with the believers. In the afternoon of the third day they returned to the house, along with the village head. The mother of the three told them that since morning all three of them had been very violent, shouting, making all kinds of voices and had even tried to attack her while she tried to feed them.

Our brothers along with around 20 believers surrounded the house, singing and worshiping the Lord with loud voices. Then they started walking around the house, still singing and worshiping loudly. The villagers heard the singing and also surrounded the house. After some time, everyone, including the villagers, could hear loud shouting and crying coming from the house. The shouting and crying went on for 40 to 60 minutes. Suddenly, the shouting and crying from the rooms stopped, and only the singing and worshiping of the believers could be heard. Looking through the window, the villagers saw that all three of them lay quietly on the floor. The mother and a few villagers opened the room and found the two sons and the daughter were unconscious. After few minutes, they regained  consciousness and they were acting normal. By our Lord’s abundant Grace and favor, all three of them had been delivered while the believers were singing and worshiping the Lord.

According to the believers, while they walked around that house singing and worshiping, they felt great boldness, power, and comfort which they had never experienced in their lives.  Many of them said they were worshiping the Lord in tongues in which they had never spoken. Truly it was divine experience for everyone.

Since that day 80% of the villagers, including the priest of the local temple, are attending the prayer meetings. Over the past few weeks God has been moving in a very special way in that village and it is spreading to the other villages. This week a few of our brothers are traveling to that area again to spend time with the new believers in that village.

Help Us Share the Gospel

We want to thank you for every one of your prayers. Without your prayers we would not be able to harvest this harvest. To read more inspiring and exciting testimonies of what God is doing among the unreached people groups of India, click the links on the right, and keep reading!

Proclaiming the Gospel…

…until He comes

Whether you realize it or not, you are in a battle. Not a physical battle, but a spiritual one. The Kingdom of Heaven is at war with the kingdom of darkness, and the battlefield is all around us. The true God, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, is bringing revival on the earth, and the forces of darkness are trying to thwart Our Father’s plans. Jesus told us that “In the world you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 MEV)

He also told us how to overcome the world. When His disciples asked Him how to pray, He told them (and us) to say “Your Kingdom, come! Your Will, be done!” (Matthew 6:10) The Greek verb tense in this verse signifies a command rather than a request. So Jesus is not telling us to plead with Him that these things happen, He is telling us that we have the authority to command these things. But we can look around us and easily see that God’s Kingdom is far from being established on this earth.

One reason for the sad state of the world might be due to our neglect of Jesus’ directive. I realize that I spend more time complaining about the state of things around me than I spend praying this kind of commanding prayer. Maybe you are also distracted by everything happening around you. Don’t misunderstand me, it’s important to keep up with current events, to know what is going on around us. But maybe we spend too much time looking at all the problems, and not enough time working and praying for the solutions.

Instead of just telling people how spiritually dark it is, let’s take time to turn on the light. Along with watching the news, let’s also spend time reading our Bibles. Let’s pray that people’s eyes will be opened supernaturally, and they will be set free. As we question where this country is headed, let’s seek to be the answer for those around us who are seeking hope, pointing them to Christ.

Thank you for your faithful partnership with us! We couldn’t do this without you. And if you have any prayer requests, please let us know so we can agree with you for God’s answer.

Blessings in the Wonderful Name of Jesus,

Thomas

Millions of children in India lack guidance and discipline, especially those who are in poverty. They are developing bad habits like stealing, smoking, drinking alcohol at a young age and criminal activities. According to the census, India has 10 million child laborers between the ages of 5 and 14. Addiction, lack of education, poverty, ignorance and blind faith in idols of their parents in India are destroying the future of young children in India.

Exciting Word has been focusing on reaching the children with the message of the Gospel. We started regular Sunday schools in the villages and slums and have several free day schools in the slums. We are conducting VBS and Sunday schools in the slums and remote villages with the help of young believers.

This year from June 6th to 8th we had 42 Vacation Bible schools for children of Christian parents. Over 9,000 children ages 7-16 attended the VBS in different locations. It was a time of rejoicing, singing learning, listening and fellowshipping. A total of 402 young people ages 12-16 dedicated their lives for the Lord’s service, and over 900 children gave their lives to the Lord. We saw 342 young children 12 years and older baptized during the Vacation Bible school. Truly these children were greatly impacted and touched by the Word of God, fellowship, and worship.

During the week of June 10th, we conducted a 5-day “Sunday school” program. Held in 92 different locations in different slums and remote villages in north India, we invited over 16,000 children ages 7-16  from non-Christian families. For most of them, this was the first time attending a Christian program. On the first day the attendance was low but when the children spread the news of the “Sunday school,” other parents brought their children, and many parents stayed to help, serving the children with water and snacks. It was a great harvest time according to our brothers who were overseeing the programs. They prayed and saw hundreds of children with physical needs healed. One young boy born mute began to speak, another boy had a tumor in his neck disappear, and many children were delivered from evil spirits. More than 1,900 children came forward to receive Jesus into their lives during the 5-day Sunday school. Thousands of children were touched and were moved by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. It was a great festival time for children, and in many places, because of the request of the parents, our youth started a regular weekly Sunday school.

Piyush

Piyush and his siblings’ reputation for being poor and untouchable was causing lots of harassment in the school that was affecting their lives. Piyush and his family were always sick and depressed. His parents worked hard to provide for the children, but often they did not have enough to eat and went to bed with empty stomachs. During our one-week Sunday school in their village, Piyush brought his siblings to the Sunday school. It was first time that a Christian program had been organized in their village. Piyush said later he had come to the meetings just for some free food for himself and his siblings. Once there, they listened to the singing and sang along. They also listened to the parables and Bible stories. The following day, Piyush brought many of his friends to the Sunday school. The first day there were 70-80 children. On the second day the number doubled, and by the fourth day when I(Regi) visited that particular Sunday school, I saw over 300 children, ages 7-16, all from non-Christian backgrounds, rejoicing, dancing, and singing Christian songs. Not even realizing it, they were praising and worshiping Jesus. That day we gave an invitation to the children ages 12-16, to dedicate their lives and accept Jesus as their personal Savior. Forty-three children responded and gave their lives to the Lord. Piyush, his brothers, and some of his friends were the first ones to come forward to accept Jesus into their lives.

Malati

Malati is a 13-year-old girl, brought up by her single mother who works as a temple cleaner in the nearby Hindu temple. Malati’s mother struggles physically and financially to provide for the two of them. Malati goes to the government school, and in her class, there was a Christian girl who befriended her. She was always happy and singing. Her family was not rich, they were also struggling, but they were happy, always smiling and behaving respectably to everyone. Malati was invited to Sunday school in the nearby village by her Christian friend. With Malati’s mothers’ permission, she attended the 5-day Sunday school for the non-Christian children in the nearby village.  During the Sunday school, she heard about Jesus and Bible stories for the first time. At the end of the Sunday school, she gave her life to the Lord, along with 31 other children ages 12-16. She gave her testimony in front of the other children: “The 5 days I spent in the Sunday school was the happiest time of my entire life. Before this I was very unhappy, enduring rejection and humiliation, and no one accepted me, but here in the Sunday school I found true joy and friendship and learned that Jesus is going to be with me always.”

For the past three Sundays our missionary has been conducting a Sunday evening service in that village. Many of the children and their parents are also attending the service. Last Sunday our missionary reported that 14 people received Jesus as their personal Savior, including Piyush’s parents. God touched their hearts, and they received Jesus as their personal Savior. Through the mouth of the little children God is spreading the message of the Gospel to unreached and untouchable villages.

Because of your prayers and sacrificial giving and by the hard work of more than 900 youth and young people who were leading the VBS and Sunday schools, we were able to sow into more than 25,000 children. Knowing our Labor in the Lord is not vain, we are expecting a greater harvest in the days to come. We rejoice, knowing that our Lord can use these children to change and transform their parents, families, villages and communities for Christ by the power of God.

Help Us Share the Gospel

We want to thank you for every one of your prayers. Without your prayers we would not be able to harvest this harvest. To read more inspiring and exciting testimonies of what God is doing among the unreached people groups of India, click the links on the right, and keep reading!

Proclaiming the Gospel…

…until He comes

Your life impacts more people than you may realize. Take a moment to stop and think about the people whose lives your life intersects with. First of all, you have your family. You may have a spouse, children, or grandchildren. You may have siblings, and your parents might have passed from this life, as mine have, or they may still be alive. They all see your life and you may be one of the only Christian witnesses in their lives.

Beyond your family are your friends. Friends from childhood, friends in the neighborhood, friends at church – all of them are impacted by the love and care you express in both your words and your actions. Beyond your circle of friends, your life touches strangers’ lives every day. At the grocery store, the gas station, just driving down the road, you cross paths with possibly 100 people every day. Are their lives changed in a positive way because of your influence?

It might be hard to answer that question, because we rarely know the stories of all the people we meet, and so it is difficult to say whether our brief interaction with them changes their lives in any tangible way. But did you realize that you have impacted 25,000 children in a positive way this past month? Because of your partnership with Exciting Word, you have helped bring the Gospel message to 25,000 children, and 2,800 children came to know Jesus as their personal Savior!

Thank you for your faithful partnership with us! We couldn’t do this without you. And if you have any prayer requests, please let us know so we can agree with you for God’s answer.

Blessings in the Wonderful Name of Jesus,

Thomas

Kinnaur is located in the northeast corner of Himachal Pradesh, bordering Tibet. With a mountainous area, ranging in altitude from 7,612 ft. to 22,362 ft., Kinnaur is one of the smallest counties by population with around a hundred thousand people. Kinnaur is located on the Indo-Tibet border, offering a unique blend of Indian and Tibetan cultures, and a blend of Hinduism and Buddhism. In every home you will find a room dedicated as a Hindu or Buddhist worship place. Spirit worship is also part of their way of life. Every story or incident in the family or in the village typically involves some kind of demonic spirit. To keep on pleasing these spirits, the people will do anything. No one in this region wants to displease the spirits. Christianity was never heard of in this region, and 15 years ago there was not a single Christian believer in this region. Kinnaur was totally unreached.

15 years ago, Naima was an educated young Tibetan monk who was a strict Buddhist, but Buddhism and its practices confused him. He was looking for the true God and searching for truth in his life. He received “The Gospel of John” from some believers, and Jesus began to speak to him. I (Regi) had the privilege of leading him to the Lord and baptizing him while he was in Dharamsala. When the religious head of the Buddhist monastery found that Naima had become a believer and that I led him to the Lord, they attacked me and tried to kill me. The Lord Jesus miraculously saved me from the snares of the enemies and protected me. Then they turned to Naima attacked him, beat him up, locked him in a room, and tried to force him to reject his faith in Jesus. By God’s grace he was able to run away from the monastery.

We could not keep him in our place, so he went to one of his distant relatives in Kinnaur to hide himself from his own people. While he was in the remote village in Kinnaur he could not find any Christians to fellowship with him. After almost two years of hiding, one winter morning he was asked to help carry a young man on a stretcher through the snow to the hospital. The young man was suffering with breathing problems. Because of the snowfall there were no doctors at the hospital. There were several patients who were very sick. Among them was Bhim Singh, a Nepali laborer who brought his 8-year-old daughter to the hospital for treatment. They were waiting for two days for the doctor to arrive. Her condition was getting worse, and she was unconscious. Seeing her situation and the pain and agony of Bhim Singh and his wife, Naima was moved in the spirit and started to pray in his heart for her healing. While he was praying in his heart, without realizing it he was praying aloud and audible to everyone. Bhim Singh brought his unconscious daughter to Naima and laid her in his lap. For the first time in his life, Naima was about to lay hands on someone and pray. When he laid his hands on her and prayed for her, she instantly gained consciousness and was healed in front of the people in the hospital. That day Our Lord moved in a very special way through Naima, healing several other people also.

This was the beginning of a great move of God in that small mountain region. From that day the light of the gospel began to shine in one of the darkest parts of India. The first two weeks of May 2024, Sherly and I, with two other brothers, were visiting different house churches in that region. We went from village to village, attending small meetings of 50-75 people, fellowshipping with them, teaching, admonishing, and correcting them. We could see the light that began to shine 15 years ago, still shining and getting brighter every day. We fellowshipped with hundreds of new believers who have been transformed by the message of the Gospel, delivered by the power of God, washed by the blood of Jesus, and were worshipping the Living God in spirit and in truth.

Naima (from a Buddhist background) and Bhim Sing (from a Hindu background) were transformed by the power of God, and now they in turn are transforming hundreds of peoples’ lives. For the past 15 years our Lord has used Naima and Bhim Singh, and other brothers and sisters, in a tremendous way to start hundreds of house churches and prayer groups. While we were there, we had 18 meetings, where a total of over 100 people gave their lives to the Lord. While we were worshiping the Lord in small gatherings, we saw men and women being delivered from evil spirits. During worship, people were healed, and we baptized 92 people. We started two house church leaders training centers in this region to train native men and women. Today according to our brothers and sisters there are more than 6,000 believers in this area!

God is building His church in India despite all the hardship and persecutions and attacks on believers and church leaders.

Help Us Share the Gospel

We want to thank you for every one of your prayers. Without your prayers we would not be able to harvest this harvest. To read more inspiring and exciting testimonies of what God is doing among the unreached people groups of India, click the links on the right, and keep reading!

Proclaiming the Gospel…

…until He comes

Some of you might be old enough to remember an old contemporary Christian song named “Pass it On.” Written in 1969 by Kurt Kaiser, it starts “It only takes a spark to get a fire going.” This month’s testimony reminded me of that song. All it took for the Gospel to spread across a region in India, and to see multiple thousands of people come to faith in Christ, was for one young man who was willing to pray for the healing of a young girl. A simple step of faith that thrust him into the limelight drew others into the spiritual family of Christ. It causes me to ask myself whether I am willing to take a step of faith and reach out to others around me.

As we go about our lives, how many people do we cross paths with? Just stop and think about it. We go to the grocery store to pick up a few things, and there might be more than 100 people walking up and down the aisles in the same store. Should we quietly walk past them, or might we have an opportunity to speak a kind word to someone feeling discouraged? At the mall on an errand, again we see people all around us. Maybe some of them are “sheep without a shepherd” as Jesus sometimes described people.

It has been several years since the pandemic lockdown, but it seems that people are still recovering from the emotional stress they suffered being isolated from other people. Maybe it’s time we took the opportunity to reach out and share the love of Christ with those around us. People might reject us, but they also rejected Christ, so we are in good company.

It is so easy to retreat into the safety of our homes and just avoid people, but may I encourage you to resist that urge. As you read this month’s newsletter, ask the Lord what actions He wants you to take, to further His Kingdom. Then step out in His love and watch what He does! And reach out to us and share your testimonies with us!

Blessings in the Wonderful Name of Jesus,

Thomas

Bihar is known as the “graveyard of missionaries” among the Indian missions because of the hardship of reaching the people in Bihar with the Gospel. For many years, hundreds of missionaries from all around the world sacrificed their lives to reach the people of Bihar. Bihar is one of the poorest states in India. The lack of education, cultural differences, language barriers, religious differences, the caste system, and ignorance make it even harder to reach the people of Bihar.

Exciting Word is celebrating our 25th year of our ministry in Bihar. It was because of the very humble beginning of our Brother Edwin Simon (who is with the Lord now) that led us to the state of Bihar. We visited some of the tribal villages in Bihar and conducted a few small meetings. The response of the people and the miracles and wonders that took place in those small meetings opened our eyes to the need of sharing the Gospel to the unreached villages and people groups in Bihar. We joined together with a few native missionaries under the leadership of Edwin Simon. Since then we have seen a move of the Holy Spirit in a great way in the villages of Bihar. Our prayer and God-given vision was to raise up native people within the community and equip and train them and send them to their own community.

For the last 25 years, Bihar has become one of the greatest harvesting fields. The seed of the Gospel that the dedicated missionaries sowed in Bihar, and the tears they shed for the people of Bihar are bringing a great harvest, especially among the tribal areas. We have seen God in His mercy raising up young and old people who had no theological training or very little training, called by God to share the Gospel to their own community and people groups. While they shared the Gospel, our Lord established His Rhema Word with miracles and wonders and has drawn thousands of people to the kingdom of God.

Brother Kishan used to be a laborer, working near our home. We shared the Gospel with him, he found Jesus, and our Lord led him back to his own native people and used him to spread the Gospel among the unreached people groups around his village. My first public meeting in Bihar was in Brother Kishan’s village. It lasted for three days and was attended by over 5000 people. During those three days we saw more than 600 people respond to the Gospel call. My largest baptism service was in Bihar where we baptized over 287 people early in the morning in the “holy” Ganges River. Today there are thousands of house churches who meet once a week to worship the Lord in truth and spirit. All because his community came to the Lord.

Brother Ragave is yet another young man who was a missionary by profession who came to construct a small church building in a tribal area. God had touched his life and delivered him from alcoholism and drug addiction. He went back to his own community and our Lord used him in a tremendous way for His glory. For the last 11 years our Lord used him to reach out to thousands of unreached villages and people groups, where he started hundreds of house churches.

Chandan and his wife with four small children received a call from God to go to a particular community. He went and shared with many mission agencies and leaders, and his own church told him not to go because they felt it was “unbreakable ground.” Everyone who had gone there previously for mission work had perished. (The area was known for illegal activities and the government was fighting with an extremist group who was demanding political freedom) Everyone told him “Don’t go; you will lose everything.” Chandan came to me in one of our meetings, shared his vision with us, and we promised to stand with him. For the last 10 years Chandan has been breaking the “unbreakable ground.” He has led hundreds of people to the Lord, including some of the extremists. He has started more than 38 house churches in different villages, and started our training center there, where 41 people are going through the training program.

Chandan has faced extreme persecution several times. He has been threatened, and twice he was attacked and beaten up. A friend of his was killed by a radical group. Last month they were planning to have a baptism service but somehow the word of the baptism reached the radical group. A crowd of over 100 people were waiting in ambush to attack Chandan and the new believers and trap them. Just in time our God miraculously saved them when one of the radicals secretly called Chandan and told him to postpone the baptism service.

Nowadays, Bihar is becoming the graveyard of missionaries again. Hindu radical groups are mercilessly attacking the believers, including women and children, beating them with bamboo sticks, throwing them on the floor, tearing the clothes of women and publicly humiliating them. We have reports of attacks on Christians in several places in Bihar during the Easter time.

Last month Brother Sunny, one of our former missionaries who is still pastoring a church with over two hundred baptized tribal believers, was attacked during their Sunday service. He was beaten up badly and paraded through the street where they tried to force him to call out to their Hindu god and goddess. When he refused, he was beaten more. His attackers said, “We are teaching a lesson to everyone who will not worship our god and goddess.” At their hands he received severe injuries, including one in his neck. It was our Lord’s mercy that while they were taking him to burn him publicly, the police arrived and saved him from the hands of the radicals.

Bihar is one of the greatest harvest fields, and at the same time one of the most dangerous mission fields. Now it is becoming too hard and dangerous to give baptisms to new believers publicly. Over the last few years, we have baptized people early in the morning or at night, but that too is becoming hard. We prayed and asked God for His wisdom, and we believe we have His answer. We are planning to build a water tank inside the churches (5 feet deep x 4 feet wide x 6 feet long). We will construct it with a lid made of iron bars and wood, and cover it with a rug. People will sit on it for worship, not knowing it is there. When they have a baptism service it will be opened and used for the service. After draining and cleaning it, it will be used as a water tank for the church. We are praying for our Lord’s provision for this. Each baptism tank will cost $350 to $400, and it will be a great blessing. It will give freedom to conduct baptisms safely, without the attention of the people in the village.

Help Us Share the Gospel

We want to thank you for every one of your prayers. Without your prayers we would not be able to harvest this harvest. To read more inspiring and exciting testimonies of what God is doing among the unreached people groups of India, click the links on the right, and keep reading!

Proclaiming the Gospel…

…until He comes

As you read this you are probably aware of the solar eclipse that has crossed our nation. Is it a sign? What does it mean? Well, I don’t have any specific answers for that question, but the Bible does say “There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting from fear and the expectation of the things that are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”(Luke 21:25-26)

In the past month we have seen a massive bridge destroyed when a ship lost control and rammed into it. We have seen a 7.5 earthquake hit the island of Taiwan, and tsunami warnings proclaimed for Japan. We continue to see wars around the globe. All sorts of bad news reports are vying for our attention.

Meanwhile, God is moving by His Spirit, and “those who know their God are strong and are taking action.” (Daniel 11:32, NASB) This is not the time to sit back and do nothing. This is not the time to wring our hands as we watch the news. This is the time to press in, seek God’s face and take action to bring ourselves into alignment with what God is doing in the earth.

Jesus said that the signs in the heavens and on the earth will increase and continue to do so until He returns. We should be aware of the signs, but we need to resist the urge to allow ourselves to be caught up in the fear of the events happening around us. God wants to keep us in His peace as we live our lives. He also wants us to continue investing in His kingdom, making the best use of the time we have before He returns in His Glory.

As you read this month’s newsletter, ask the Lord what actions He wants you to take, to further His Kingdom. Then step out in His love and watch what He does! And reach out to us and share your testimonies with us!

Blessings in the Wonderful Name of Jesus,

Thomas