Revival Now!

This is the story of a small village in Rajasthan. A few years ago, 14 Muslim families were forced out of their homes by the Hindu majority villagers. They accused them of killing a cow, an animal which the Hindus consider holy and honor as mother. They were beaten up very badly and forced out of the village. Later the authorities investigated, and found the allegation was false – the cow was killed by wild animals. The meat found in the Muslims’ homes was goat meat, which is allowed and sold in every market. The Muslims were innocent, but the Hindus who were in the majority did not let them return to their village. Finally the authorities relocated the 14 families to a new area. Over the last few years, several other Muslim families were relocated to this village. Today there are more than 47 families. They are very poor people, not highly educated, but they are very hard working people. Some are potters; some are iron smiths; others work in the brick factory.

During the Christmas outreach a few of our brothers and sisters went to that particular village to share the Gospel and distribute the Gospel of John. Before this, no one had heard the Gospel. They knew Jesus as Issa, one of their prophets. Our brothers received a very warm welcome from the villagers. They visited every home in that village, shared the Gospel with them, and invited them to a public meeting in a nearby village, but they said they would not come. The meeting was going to be held in a Hindu village, and the Muslims expected problems if they attended.

Finally our brothers decided to have a separate evening meeting for them in their village. It was going to be in the evening because everyone could attend it with their family. They set the date for December 27th. One of our area ministers in charge was going to attend and give the message, but that evening on the way to the village he became very sick. He could not ride his bike, and he asked some villagers to take him to the hospital. In the hospital he was admitted with a high fever and was unable to go to the meeting. Our brothers and sisters who were trainees in our training center were making final arrangements, and already the villagers started to come to the meeting. When they realized the preacher was not going to come, they didn’t know what to do. They got together and started to pray and ask the Lord. They had an LCD projector and the “Jesus” movie in different languages, so one had the idea that they should first play the movie and then afterwards share the Gospel. Others disagreed because this was supposed to be a Christmas meeting. As they talked it over, some children came and asked if they were going to show a movie, so they went ahead with that plan.

During the meeting they sang some worship songs and with the audience’s permission they showed the “Jesus” movie in the local language. Over 200 people watched the 2-hour movie for the first time. According to our brothers, no one moved during the movie and they were impacted emotionally. During the crucifixion scene, there was a great emotional outbreak of weeping and crying, many crying uncontrollably. At the end of the movie, at the resurrection scene, everyone was on their feet rejoicing, celebrating, and there was even dancing!

After the movie ended, one of the brothers stood up and shared that this man is “Issa” the prophet, in their religious book. He went on to share the pure simple Gospel with them. Jesus came into the world, lived among us, died on the cross for our sins, and if we believe in Him and repent of our sins, we will be saved. They gave an altar call, and 78 people responded to the altar call. Our brothers and sisters laid their hands on them and prayed for them.

For the past two months, every Sunday, they have had a regular prayer meeting. Last week, I (Regi) was in that village for a special meeting. In the evening, more than 350 people attended, people from other Muslim villages too. I preached the story of the Prodigal Son to them, inviting them to come back to the father’s home. More than fifty people responded to the altar call. They brought their sick, lame, demon-possessed, paralyzed, alcoholic and all their people to the meeting. We prayed for them, and in front of all the people, those who were demon-possessed cried out and were delivered in the name of Jesus. A paralyzed man was able to sit up in his bed, even before praying for him! He went home sitting on the back of his son’s motorbike. Our Lord is moving among the people of this village with signs and wonders! People who were rejected and thrown out, outcasts, God is calling them to Himself.

Today our trainees visit the believers, fellowshipping with them, and worshiping the Lord, the True Prophet who came to save them, learning from His Word to observe all that Jesus taught us. For our trainees it was a life-transforming experience. They are normal people with no special gifts or abilities, people who are weak, but our Lord used these normal young men and women to lead hundreds of people who were in spiritual darkness into the marvelous light of the Gospel. For them it is the greatest joy and privilege, and today most of them have dedicated their lives to the Lord’s service.

This year’s Christmas outreach has been very challenging – spiritually, physically, emotionally, and financially. But by God’s grace and favor, and your earnest prayers and financial support, we overcame every challenge by His strength and His favor on us to reap this harvest.

Help Us Share the Gospel

As we lead the many new house churches that were planted in the Christmas outreach, please pray for us that our Lord would continue leading and guiding us to disciple the unreached with the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Please consider helping us in this task. Without your prayers and support we would not be able to reap the 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

When God is at work, His Light shines in the darkness. When that happens, people respond in different ways. Some respond in a positive way, others respond negatively. As the Bible says “And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil.For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed. But the one who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds will be revealed as having been performed in God.” (John 3:19-21, NASB)

Recently our ministry teams shared the Gospel in a Muslim village, with amazing results. The people had never heard the message, and they responded with great joy and excitement. We rejoice that these people who lived in darkness for many years have now entered a life filled with light. They were saved, healed, and delivered because you, our partners, helped to spread the message of the Gospel.

This village was touched by the power of the Gospel, but other villages remain in darkness. Pray with us that the light will shine in those places, too. We know that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how will they call on Him if they don’t hear? And how will they hear if no one tells them? And finally, how will someone tell them if they aren’t sent? (see Romans 10:13-15)

That’s where you and I come in. We might not be able to go to the villages and share the Gospel, but we can send someone who is trained, ready, and willing to go. We can empower and enable them to travel to remote places and bring the light into the darkness. And when they do, we will share in the reward of seeing people’s lives transformed. Thank you for standing with us in prayer and financial gifts. Together we will see the testimony of Jesus grow in India! “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:14 NASB)

Blessings in the Wonderful Name of Jesus,

Thomas

We rejoice in the Lord for the harvest we had during the 20 days of Christmas Outreach and public meetings. It started on December 9 and went until December 28. When we planned the outreach in October there was some apprehension because of the government’s anti-Christian polices and the Hindu radicals openly threatening believers in northern India that they will wipe out Christianity and cleanse every village in India. There were many attacks on churches, and many house church leaders were arrested, charged, imprisoned and denied bail.

When our leaders discussed this, everyone wanted to be part of the outreach. In Bihar some tribal church leaders met me and shared their vision to reach the unreached villages around them. I shared our Christmas Outreach plans and asked them to join us. They agreed, so 49 churches in a 70-mile radius joined the outreach. They were tribal people, and we had to train them to be polite, calm, patient, and to endure hardship.

On December 9th, 1,782 men and women joined together and started the outreach in five different states. They were divided into teams with 12 or more people per team. 139 teams went out, reaching over 108,700 homes in 497 unreached villages in 13 days of outreach. They met people in homes, villages, fields and on the roadsides. They shared the Gospel, gave out “Gospel of John” booklets, prayed for individuals and families, and invited them to public meetings. By God’s grace, our brothers and sisters were received with joy in most villages, while in some places they were humiliated, beaten up, and forced out of the village with strong verbal threats.

On Sunday, December 22 after an early morning service, we conducted an outreach from noon to 5:30pm. Over 27,000 believers, including men, women, and children, went to over 100,000 homes in the villages, sharing the Gospel, praying for people, and conducting open air meetings. They reported over 780 people accepted Jesus as their personal Savior, and many healings and deliverances took place, while believers prayed for the sick.

In one village, a family of 5 believers (both parents and 3 young children) were sharing the Gospel. Their oldest son ran into a schoolmate unexpectedly, who invited them to his home. The schoolmate introduced the boy’s family to his family. They began to talk, and the believing parents told them they came to their village to share the Gospel and pray for people. While they were talking, many of the schoolmate’s relatives and neighbors entered the courtyard of the house. They were very polite and hospitable. The believer’s family, upon seeing the relatives, and with the family’s permission, shared the story of Christmas. None of the villagers had ever heard the Gospel story. They all had assumed that Christmas was just the birthday of some great man. As they finished speaking and prepared to close with prayer, more people from the neighborhoods came. At this point, the number of listeners was more than 50, so in closing they shared the pure Gospel and gave an invitation. For the man who was speaking, it was his first time publicly sharing. His wife helped him share, and at the end the family sang a few songs and prayed for the people. One young woman who could not stand straight from birth, and had been brought by her parents, was healed in front of the people. Eleven people dedicated their lives to the Lord at the end of the meeting.

But as I said before, there was some trouble also. In another place, 52 believers, including women and children and their pastor, were surrounded by Hindu radicals, who locked them in the public school for 6 hours. Later the villagers informed the police, who came and released the believers.

From December 23rd to the 28th, 172 public meetings were held in different villages. The public meetings were well attended. Sherly and I personally attended 16 of these public meetings, where hundreds of people responded to the altar call. In 6 different places the Hindu radicals came and disrupted the meetings. In two places they damaged the plastic chairs and the sound systems. According to the report from our leaders who were overseeing the Christmas outreach, our brothers and sisters reached over 232,000 families or homes in 1,072 villages in 5 states. They gave out 490,000 “Gospel of John” booklets to the people, held 172 public meetings in the villages. A total of 45,000 people attended these public meetings, and for most of them they said it was their first time in a Christian meeting. At the altar calls, a total of 6,954 people responded. In addition, many healings took place. One 17-year-old young man who, according to his doctor, was 85% blind, was healed in one of the public meetings. In another meeting, a 42-year-old paralyzed man carried in on a stretcher was healed during the meeting and afterwards walked home. Later, his father, who suffered from severe depression and had tried to commit suicide several times, was delivered in another public meetings. These are just a few of the many miracles reported during the public meetings.

In summary, this year’s Christmas outreach was very challenging – spiritually, physically, emotionally, and financially. But by God’s grace and favor, and your earnest prayers, we overcame every challenge by His strength and His favor on us to reap this harvest.

Help Us Share the Gospel

As we lead the many new house churches that were planted in the Christmas outreach, please pray for us that our Lord would give us direction and lead us and guide us to disciple the unreached with the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Please consider helping us in this task. Without your prayers and support we would not be able to reap the 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

Along with entering a new year, we have entered a new season. There is a new hope in the air and a revival has begun. Not just in India, as we read in this month’s newsletter, but all around the world the Spirit of the Living God is moving, and those who have their spiritual senses attuned can feel something. There is a feeling of electricity in the air. People are opening their hearts once again to the message of the Gospel.

Many of us have been praying for a change in our country. We have been interceding for a return to godly morals and a renewal of righteousness. Now we are seeing things beginning to change, and it might be tempting to take a rest, to relax and enjoy seeing our prayers being answered. But this is not the time to relax. Now is the time to act. We have a window of opportunity to share the Gospel with hungry people. We have open doors to pray for those who are hurting and need an answer from God.

It’s true that many prayers have been answered, but just as many situations still exist where prayers need to be prayed, and answers need to be received. Jesus said, “the kingdom of heaven has forcefully advanced, and the strong take it by force.” (Matt. 11:12 MEV) Now is the time to be forcefully advancing in exerting influence on the world around us. You might feel insignificant, but each of us can have an impact on others when we allow God to guide us.

How do we allow God to guide us? By abiding in Him and letting His word abide in us. We are saved by grace through faith. But how do we nurture our faith? In Romans Paul says, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17) We nurture our faith by filling ourselves with the word of God. Whether you read the written Bible or listen to someone else reading it, begin to absorb the Bible every day. You might be amazed at how your faith grows.

And as your faith grows, activate your faith through prayer and actions. When you read a Bible promise, receive it by faith. When you need a healing, receive it by faith. No matter what your need is, apply God’s word to your personal situation with full assurance that your prayer will be answered.

Blessings in the Wonderful Name of Jesus,

Thomas

The Banjara people live a nomadic lifestyle. They work as ironsmiths, making and repairing small farm equipment, constantly moving from one place to another for work. They travel in groups in ox carts and live in tents in the fields. In the past, Banjaras were also known as criminal communities, but now many are born again, baptized, and living a life for the Lord Jesus, working hard and living in harmony with the local people.

Our pastor Charanjit and a few other brothers work among the Banjara communities. The Lord has blessed their effort, hard work and sacrifices. In the last few years, hundreds of people from the Banjara communities have come to the Lord. Last March we had three days of meetings among Banjara communities, and more than 250 families attended the meetings. It was eye opening for us to see how these people mingled together, made friendships with one another, and how those friendships turned to into more lasting relationships. Parents found wives for their young boys and husbands for their girls from within their own communities, building young families established by Gods word.

During those meetings, some of the elders from the communities came to us with a special request. Most of the young girls live with their parents and help them in their work, but these young girls have no confidence since they are not educated. In fact, they can barely read. Since they began attending the church services, their parents had seen great positive changes in their lives. So their request was for us to start a skill development program for their daughters. As a result, we started three sewing centers in three different areas among the Banjara communities.

Last week, Sherly and I visited two of those sewing centers and met with the young women. We were amazed to see that in both training centers more than 25 women were being trained to sew dresses and make candles. And the first batch of 69 women had just completed the training in three different sewing centers in Banjara communities. They have already started earning some income from their new skills. They are planning to open shops in different areas where they can sew dresses to make a living and be able to contribute to their families. During one graduation service some elders of the Banjara community came and told us, “When Jesus came to our lives, He not only changed and transformed us, but he also changed and transformed our families and the destiny of our children. We no longer are slaves of our traditions, but we are free from all bondage!”

During this Christmas season, all these sewing center graduates and hundreds of men and women will be joining the Christmas outreach, working together to tell the untold, reach the unreached, and touch the untouchable with the Gospel message.

Another life changing experience occurred in a slum during the last Christmas outreach public meeting, reported in our newsletter from January,2024. As Sherly and I walked from the car to the meeting place, a young, disabled girl shouted at us to stop. Unable to walk, she crawled toward us with her hands, dragging her useless legs behind her through the filthy water along the road. Seeing her struggle, we walked over to her. She greeted us and said she recognized me. She said we had given her a wheelchair several years ago, but her alcoholic father sold it to buy liquor. Here was a young girl in torn dirty clothes, soaking wet in 40° weather, shivering, sitting there looking desperate. In tears she said “I heard that you were coming here to preach, so I waited for two hours by the road, hoping I would see you. I don’t have a good dress to wear to the meeting, so I waited here, just to ask for another wheelchair.” Sherly walked back to the car, opened her suitcase, and got some of her clothes, a sweater, and a light blanket. With the help of another sister, they took her to her one-room house to meet her mother. I sent two of our pastors to a nearby medical shop to buy a wheelchair. Finally, I joined the meeting. By this time, we were late. Over 500 people from the nearby slum were present in the meeting. I preached a simple Gospel message, gave an invitation, and a good number of people responded. We prayed for the sick and needy. At the end of the meeting, I wanted to publicly present the new wheelchair to the girl. My wife informed me that, now that she had a nice dress, she was sitting in the meeting. I asked some of the sisters to bring her to the front. As they lifted her, everyone recognized her and was aware of her condition. There was no life in her legs, but as she was brought to the front, she cried out loudly. Everyone thought she was in pain, but it was easy to see that while the other sisters carried her, she was moving her legs! After a few meters, she took a few steps. As she put weight on her lifeless legs they became strong, and she began to walk on her own. She fell several times, but each time she got up and walked again in front of the people. I fell on my face and people were in tears, shouting “Hallelujah! Glory to God!” I was crying, looking at the wheelchair that I bought for her. The most I could do was give her a wheelchair. I was trying to be kind and caring, but my Lord went far beyond that. He gave life to her legs and lifted her up! All glory and honor to our God alone!

As her healed legs gained strength, the young girl started a Sunday school in her slum. Then she went to other nearby slums and started more Sunday schools. Now she and her brother, along with a few other young belivers, are overseeing 7 Sunday schools on different days. For the past year, through her testimony and young people sharing the Gospel, we have baptized 89 people in that area. They all live in the slums, are poor and uneducated, but now they rejoice in the Lord. Last week I was in the slum for a meeting. They told us they wanted to build a church and asked us to help them buy a small piece of land, (1800 sq. feet.) and build a prayer hall for them to come together to worship. God is building His church, in the highways and byways, in the mountains and in the valleys, in the villages and in the slums.

Help Us Share the Gospel

As we conclude the 2024 Christmas outreach and look toward 2025, please pray for us that our Lord would give us directions and lead us and guide us to reach the unreached with the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Please prayerfully consider helping us to reach the unreached. Without your prayers and support we would not be able to bring in the harvest.

We are coming close to another Christmas and in India’s present situation Hindu radicals are intimidating and attacking churches and Christian activities. They are putting pressure on the Christians that are sharing the Gospel with others who have never had an opportunity to hear the Gospel before. Christian festival seasons are always an open door to reach out to the unreached.

Last year our Christmas outreach team went to an unreached village in Rajasthan. No one in the village had heard about Jesus.  Our team visited each home sharing the Gospel and distributing the Gospel of John to the ones who could read. Two members of our outreach team, a husband and wife entered a yard of a home and found a 30-year-old man lying in the bed in the sun. Our team tried to speak to him, but he did not reply. After a few minutes the man’s wife came out to our team members, and they shared the Gospel with her and inquired why her husband was laying unmovable in the bed. She told them that he had a bad stroke and became paralyzed two years ago. Our team members asked her permission to pray for him. As our team members approached him the man’s wife said please don’t go near him, he smells bad because he has bed sores, and they are in very bad condition.  

She said the doctors in the government hospital won’t keep him in the hospital and sent him home. She told them that they have three children, the ages are from 7 down to 3. She is cleaning other people’s homes so she can feed her children.  The past three days her youngest child was sick so she could not go and clean. It was a very sad situation.  Seven of our team members came together and laid hands on the paralyzed man and prayed for him.

While they were praying for this man a group of Hindu radicals came to the house and began to shout praises to their Hindu god and goddess. Before finishing the prayer, they forced our brothers out of the house, and even kicked the backs of two of our brothers. They humiliated them and chased them out of the village. Our team members, with very heavy hearts left the village praying for our Lord to heal that paralyzed man.

Our brothers were busy with the Christmas outreach and public meetings. Near the Christmas outreach at a nearby village our brothers started a prayer meeting for the first time. A month after the weekly prayer meeting started, in the neighboring village, two young men brought a 30-year-old man to the meeting.  Everyone thought he was brought in for prayer. During the prayer meeting this man stood with the help of the young men and shared that, “a husband and wife came to my house along with a few other young people [referring to our Christmas outreach team], they laid their hands on me and prayed for me.  While they were praying for me because I was paralyzed, I felt a burning sensation going through my body. I lost my voice two years ago but that day I was able to make some noise.  But no one could hear my voice because of the Hindu radicals shouting. The people praying were forced from my home that evening. But then, I was able to call my wife and my children by name. This past month I was able to talk and able to eat with my own hands and with the help of my wife I can walk. We wanted to meet the brothers and sisters who came and prayed for me, but we didn’t know where they were located. Yesterday, these young men who were part of the Hindu radicals that beat up and humiliated the brothers and sister came and told me that they have seen some of them every Friday.”

This man had been paralyzed and bedridden with bedsores. He smelled badly and there was no one to care for him or help prevent bedsores by turning him from one side to the other. He lived in poverty and had been left to die by the doctors. He had even asked his wife to give him some poison to kill him because of his hopelessness these past two years. But by the power of prayer and by our Lord’s mercy, this man was standing and giving the testimony that Jesus healed him by His power through his people.

This testimony being shared in the village has opened doors for invitations for our brothers to come back to the same village from where they were chased out. In the month of October, I (Regi) had the honor to conduct the first baptism in that village. 32 people took baptism including the man who had been paralyzed and his wife along with 11 men who beat up and humiliated our brothers and sister.

Help Us Share the Gospel

As we prepare for the 2024 Christmas outreach, please pray for us that our Lord would give us directions and lead us and guide us to reach the unreached with the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have a great need for resources, and financial needs for this outreach program. See this month’s partner letter for more details, and please prayerfully consider helping us to reach the unreached. Without your prayers and support 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

During last year’s Christmas outreach we reached 896 unreached villages and shared the Gospel with over 216,000 homes. According to our field report, over 75,000 people attended public meetings. More than 9,000 people publicly responded to an altar call. Because of last year’s Christmas outreach our brothers and sisters were able to start over 256 prayer groups in the unreached villages. The Lord of The Harvest gave us a great Harvest, beyond what we thought or imagined. It was a great blessing to see hundreds responding to the Gospel call, and people healed and delivered in front of our eyes.

This year we are planning for the Christmas outreach along with our 700+ training center students. Many churches and youth groups in the rural areas are also planning to join us in the Christmas outreach. We have 21 churches in Bihar who are not part of Exciting Word and want to be part of our Christmas outreach and there are many more in other areas. We are expecting to send out 150 teams to 6 different states to focus on 900-1000 villages, and to reach 140,000 to 170,000 homes to share the Gospel with during the two weeks of outreach.

Please pray with us for the 2024 Christmas outreach as we are planning that our Lord would give us directions and lead us and guide us to reach the unreached with the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have a great need for resources, and financial needs for this outreach program. We ask you to please prayerfully consider helping us to reach the unreached.

• Over 220,000 Gospel of John Booklets – $12,000 (for $1 we can give a Gospel of John to 20 homes)
• 50,000 New Testaments – $6000 (for $1 we can give New Testaments to 8 people)
• 5,000 Bibles – $11,000 (for $2.20 we can give a complete Bible to a person who responds to the Gospel call in a public meeting, as a Christmas gift.)
• Expenses for public meetings, for sound systems rentals, floor mats and tents. $100-150 per meeting.

Blessings in the Wonderful Name of Jesus,

Thomas

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