Revival Now!

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

We are amazed by the way our Lord is using young believers in the villages for His Glory. They don’t have any theological background; they have simply experienced the power of the Gospel. Because they have experienced transformation in their lives, they gladly share their experiences with others, with passion and boldness, without thinking of any negative effect or what people might think. Here are some of their stories.

Hindu Drug Addict Now A Preacher

Vijay is a 38-year-old man born into a Hindu priestly family. His family wanted him to be the next priest in the family-owned temple, where thousands of people come to worship every day. He was sent to a prestigious Hindu university to study all the Hindu religious books, and to be trained. While doing his research there, he moved in with some Hindu monks and there he became a drug addict. After his research ended he came back from the university, but now he was a full-blown drug addict who was completely out of control. He wandered homeless for 11 years, and just like the prodigal son in the Bible, he lost everything.

Finally, someone found him dying in a railway station, and he ended up in a hospital, still without any hope, no one to care for him. His family and friends rejected him. It was in this hospital bed last April, during our Easter outreach, when some young people shared the Gospel with him and prayed with him. He was given a New Testament and introduced to the Gospel. He was touched by this message of hope, and wanted to know more about Jesus. The Holy Spirit began to move in his life. Our brothers regularly visited him, prayed with him, and shared the Gospel with him. Within two months he was delivered and transformed by the power of the Gospel.

During our last Christmas outreach Vijay joined the outreach team in the state of Rajasthan. He and his team were sent to an unreached people group called “Dhakad.” They are a population of 700,000 people without a single known Christian among them. In their society, drug addiction, alcoholism, gambling, and abuse are all very normal. Vijay, along with 78 other men and women, reached the tribal villages of the Dhakad community and shared the Gospel. During the outreach, Regi attended 2 public meetings, where 350-400 people attended each meeting. Since we were the first people to reach those tribal villages with the Gospel, this was the first time in their lives they had ever come to a Christian meeting.

In one of the meetings, most of the men in attendance were drunk, but God still moved in this meeting. Last week Regi was in these villages, attending some meetings arranged by our brothers among the Dhakad community. He said he could clearly see the light of the Gospel shining there. He attended three different meetings. According to our minister in charge of the outreach, they have started regular prayer groups in over 31 villages. Brother Vijay has been ministering among the young people who are addicted, and God is using him in a powerful way, delivering and healing people. One thing Regi noticed is that lots of young people attended last week’s meetings and responded to the Gospel call.

Young Women Minister Freedom

During the Christmas outreach three of our young women who attended the outreach were sharing and distributing the literature in the village. During this time, some women came and, very politely, invited them to pray for a young girl who was ill. Without knowing the full situation, our sisters followed them to a large house. They were led into a dark room where, suddenly, the women attacked them and began to abuse them. They forcefully took their literature bags and other belongings, and the sisters were locked in that room. Our sisters were pleading with them to let them go but the other women were members of the women’s wing of a Hindu radical group.

After the initial shock, the three young women knelt down and started to pray. While they were praying in the dark room, they heard a growling from the nearby room. Groping for the light switch and turning it on, they saw a young woman in terrible condition, laying chained to her bed. By her appearance they realized she was mentally ill and had been locked in the room for a long time. They were afraid and didn’t know what to do. They tried to talk to her, but all she did was beg them for food. In tears, our sisters knelt down, crying out to the Lord to save them from that room.

After some time, one of them started to sing a song, and one by one the others started singing with her. While they were singing, the woman in chains sat up in her bed, and began to shout and curse. The young women just continued singing and praying in the spirit.

In their own words, “while we were praying and worshiping the Lord, the woman who was mentally ill stopped shouting and cursing us, and began to cry. At the same time, we felt great boldness and comfort. As our fear turned to great comfort, we went to her bedside and stood around her worshiping the Lord. How long? We don’t know. The woman who was chained was calm and peaceful, smiling at us. Outside the room we heard shouting, and after some time two men came looking for us and opened the door to our room. We were in the other room where they had locked the young woman. To their amazement, they found us sitting with her and she sitting peacefully. She was delivered – completely healed. Later we came to know she had been chained up in that room for seven years, and to preserve her family’s honor, they had never taken her to any doctors.”

The young woman’s name is Anita. The other women in her family were trying to teach our sisters a lesson for daring to come and share the Gospel in their village, but our Lord had other plans! The One who saw the tears and heard the cry of the people wanted to save Anita from her sufferings. In the second week of February, we had a public meeting in that village. Anita was there, and she is now completely normal. In her home we started a regular prayer meeting. Our God is an amazing God who does amazing things through His children!

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

Do you ever find yourself at a loss for words, searching for the right thing to say? This can happen to all of us, and at various times. Maybe you just experienced a wonderful blessing, and you can’t find any words to express your happiness. Maybe it was a time of intense grief or shock, and the words just don’t come. Jesus encourages us in all situations that He will give us the words to express ourselves.

When I first experienced the Presence of God, when I knew without a doubt that He was with me, I had no words to express the joy I felt. Thoughts flashed through my mind and emotions flooded my heart so rapidly that there were no words that could possibly express everything I wanted to say, nor could I speak the words fast enough to keep up with my heart and mind. That was the moment I received the gift of tongues, and it seemed to fit perfectly with the moment.

Today, as I hear the testimonies of miracles and deliverance in India, I find myself speechless again. How can it be, that God loves us so much, that he pours out His Spirit and His Presence on us when we least deserve it? We are lost in sin and disease, and He pours out His salvation, His forgiveness, His peace, and His grace on us. Then He empowers and equips us to do the same for others. When we can’t find the words to share the Gospel, the Psalmist says “open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” (Psalm 81:10 MEV)

Then there are times when our faith is challenged, and the world wants to test us and trap us with our words. Like the women in this month’s newsletter, sometimes all we can do is pray and cry out to the Lord. Even then His promises are sure. Jesus tells us “Do not be anxious how you will answer or what you will say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” (Luke 12:11-12 MEV)

Finally, there are times when we should just be quiet and pray. As it says in Proverbs, “Even fools are thought wise when they keep silent; with their mouths shut, they seem intelligent.” (Proverbs 17:28 NLT)

Blessings in the Wonderful Name of Jesus,

Thomas

As the year 2023 recedes behind us into history, and 2024 has now begun, we have entered a season of reflection. Old things have passed away, and new things are here. We have said goodbye to dear friends who have transitioned into their final reward, and we have said hello to tiny new lives who are just beginning to notice the world around them. It’s like a giant relay race, where one group of runners passes the baton to the next. We all want to run the race with endurance and make it to the end.

How do we accomplish this? Is it by pushing ourselves to run as hard and fast as we possibly can? Is it by putting our focus on our own needs and wants? After all, who else has our best interest at heart? And how can we possibly accomplish our goals if we aren’t relentlessly pursuing them? Who else is going to care enough to help make that happen?

Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions. Jesus said “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26) In the verses just prior to this, Jesus tries to reorient our thinking away from selfishness and toward selflessness. He wants us to think of others more than ourselves. And he promises us that His Father will take care of our every need.

As believers in Christ, and followers of His Gospel, we know that we are saved by grace through faith. But do we realize that Christ intended for us to also live by faith? So, every action we take, every thought we have, should be carried out from that perspective. If God says He loves us, we can be certain of that. If He says we are forgiven, we should act like it. If God says “by His stripes we are healed” then we should act like it. We go to a web page and check our bank balance, and then we go shopping with full assurance that our purchase will not be declined. Let’s apply that same principle to our walk with Christ. We go to the Bible and read a promise written there. Now let’s apply that promise to our personal situation with full assurance that our prayer will not be denied. Let’s trust Him.

Blessings in the Wonderful Name of Jesus,

Thomas

As I, Regi, write this my heart overflows with joy and gratitude as I remember all God’s wonders over the past year. As I have shared before, the pro-Hindu government is determined to stop anyone from reaching the unreached people with the Gospel. They are changing the laws, and persecuting house churches in the villages, physically and emotionally. They falsely accuse and arrest pastors and believers, imprisoning them for many weeks without bail. Hundreds of house church leaders and believers have been in jail for months for sharing the Gospel.

This was the background as we planned our 2023 Christmas outreach. We had 648 house church leader trainees to send out for practical evangelism as part of our training. During this planning, we were approached by two youth groups who wanted to join us. Then a church wanted to join the outreach to celebrate their 25th anniversary. By the time we started on December 5th, we had over 1,620 people participating. Starting in the state of Gujarat, the teams went out in groups of 10, to the unreached villages in the remote areas. They spent two weeks in door-to-door evangelism, sharing the Gospel and giving out the Gospel of John to whoever could read it in their native language. They prayed for people’s physical, spiritual, and emotional needs, and invited them to a special Christmas public meeting in a nearby area.

During those two weeks of evangelism our people faced many challenges – physical, emotional, and spiritual. In several villages they were beaten up by Hindu and Muslim radicals, in others they were locked up in a room. Our sisters were verbally abused, accused, and publicly humiliated.

As they went house to house, they were stirred emotionally. They saw people suffering from physical and spiritual oppression, possessed by evil spirits, helpless and ignorant, forced into all kinds of evil practices, and in great need of deliverance. Spiritually, they saw great darkness everywhere, people who were lost and hopeless. As one of the tribal sisters said “We live among these people. We see these things every day but as we carried the Gospel message with us, our eyes were opened, and we began to see things differently. We finally understood the phrase in the Bible ‘Jesus was moved with compassion.’ When we shared the Gospel with them, we felt pure love and compassion. When we prayed for them, we prayed in tears. Our only desire was for the Lord to touch them, help them, and deliver them from darkness. Nothing else mattered to us. Not people’s accusations, not their threats, not humiliation, not our own fears. Somehow, we wanted them to be free from bondage.” These are the words of a 21-year-old tribal girl who participated in the outreach, and she dedicated her life to serve the Lord.

During the outreach, our Lord moved through the brothers and sisters, and hundreds of people were touched, delivered, found new hope, and were healed from their sicknesses. We reached 896 unreached villages and shared the Gospel with over 216,000 homes. We had over 239 Christmas public meetings in different villages. Due to Hindu and Muslim radicals’ threats, and officials not giving permission, we had to cancel several public meetings in different villages. In spite of that, according to our field report, over 75,000 people attended these public meetings. More than 9,000 people publicly responded to an altar call. The Lord of The Harvest gave us a great Harvest, beyond what we thought and imagined. Personally, I spent 23 days traveling and attending 59 public meetings, where we saw hundreds responding to the Gospel call, and people healed and delivered in front of our eyes.

One of the incidents which we will never forget took place at a public meeting very close to a slum. As Sherly and I walked from the car to the meeting place, a young, crippled 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, we heard a loud cry from her. Everyone thought it was because of 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 legs, her lifeless legs became normal, 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! That day, holding her mother’s shoulder for balance, she walked home in her own strength! A few days later she stood strong and shared her testimony. As you can see, she no longer needs the wheelchair.

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

Kumhar is the name of a people group in India with a population of 19 million throughout India. According to ancient Indian mythology, the Kumhar are offspring of the god Braham (who they believe created the universe). They claim to be the first inventors of the wheel. Their name means “makers of earthen pottery.” They speak the languages of the areas where they live. The Kumhar’s livelihood is agriculture, animal husbandry and making earthen pots. They are highly spiritual, honest, and hard working. For the most part, Kumhar farmers work on land owned by higher castes. They are given a portion of the crops at harvest time. The Kumhar are Hindu and pray to god Shiva, (the Hindu destroyer god) and other gods and goddesses.

In one particular state there are more than 2 million Kumhar people. Many missionaries have tried to reach them with the Gospel, but they have always met with great opposition and rejection. Some of our believers in that state have been praying for years for an open door to reach this people group.

Praise to our Lord that over the last four years we have seen Him moving through a young man from the Kumhar community and reaching thousands of people.

Aravind was born in a Kumhar community where the high caste people forced them to work in their field. He is the only child of his parents. His father drove a tractor for a living and his mother, too, worked on the farm. Aravind’s parents sent him to the village school so they could both work, and the school also provided him with a free lunch. He enjoyed playing with the village children, but he was treated badly by them because his family was poor. Unexpectedly, Aravind’s father became very sick. He was admitted into the hospital, but none of the treatments worked. Finally, the doctors diagnosed him with lung cancer, and within two months he died. Aravind was 16 at the time. He had a dream to become a schoolteacher, but the situation forced him join his mother, working for their landlord on his farm.

The life on the farm was horrible. They had to work almost 10 hours a day, but the wages were very low. They were unable to pay their house mortgage and the bank took their house, so they became homeless. At 17, Aravind took his mother to Delhi hoping for a better life. But in the city, he and his mother suffered greatly, and they ended up living in a slum in a plastic tent. Aravind’s mother become very sick because they did not have warm clothes to wear in winter. Some church people came to serve food in the slum and saw the physical condition of Aravind’s mother. They took her to the nearby hospital where she received care. After a few days in the hospital, she regained her strength. They went to the church to thank the people on the following Sunday. That day both mother and son heard the name of Jesus for the first time in their lives. The following week, on Christmas Day, Aravind and his mother went to another church service. There they heard the Gospel for only the second time in their lives, and they gave their lives to Christ.

With the help and encouragement of the church people, Aravind and his mother agreed to help an old missionary family who had been working among the Kumhar people in another state. For 23 years they had not accomplished much in their mission work. They were disappointed in their lack of success, beginning to feel their age, and had no children or any other family to take care of them. Aravind and his mother went to live with them and take care of them. Aravind grew in his faith and relationship with Lord under the guidance of the missionary couple. The missionary couple realized that our Lord had sent Aravind to their home as an expression of His divine care, provision and faithfulness towards them for their service to God in their old age. They also realized that God had a plan for them to invest in this young man’s life. Aravind and his mother took care of the old missionary couple for 7 years. They both went to be with the Lord during the covid season. After their death, our Lord gave Aravind a burden for his own people. He and his mother returned to their village and started to live in the community.

Aravind and his mother went to visit a young relative who lost her eyesight a few years ago. In her words “the doctors sent me home in darkness.” Her mother had to help her with everything. She became quite desperate and tried to commit suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan. While visiting her, Aravind’s mother asked if they could pray for her. With her parents’ permission, Aravind and his mother laid their hands on her and prayed for her to receive her sight. After the prayer she opened her eyes, and she was able to see! God in His mercy healed her from her blindness.

That was the beginning of a great revival among the Kumhar community, and over the past three years God has opened the spiritual eyes of thousands of people in the Kumhar community to see the light of the Gospel through Aravind and his mother. Today God is accomplishing and fulfilling the dreams of the missionary couple through their disciples among the Kumhar people. Sixteen house churches have been established in different villages in the Kumhar community.

Last June we started a training center among them, and 32 men and women are attending our house church leaders training from the Kumhar community. Among 19 million people, 16 house churches and 486 baptized believers is a very small number. But it’s a new beginning, and our Lord promises that “He will build His church.”

India is the most populous country in the world with one-sixth of the world’s population. According to official estimates in 2022, India’s population stood at over 1.42 billion. Among these people, there are 2,373 people groups, and 90% of those are yet to be reached with the Gospel. In the 2,135 unreached people groups there are more than 1.3 billon people.

So how do we reach them? One person at a time, one village at a time, one people group at a time. This month we hear about a people group of 19 million people, most of whom have never heard the name of Jesus. But God, in His rich mercy and grace, has reached out to these people through the lives of a few dedicated people who felt the burden to reach these people with the Gospel.

How were these people encouraged in their calling? Through the influence of others who were dedicated to the Lord in their own calling, with their own burden. As believers, we each have a calling and a burden to reach someone with the Gospel. Are we inspiring others to do the same?

As we think about our own lives, there are people around us who we influence. How can we encourage them to seek the Lord and find their own calling, and then step out and do what the Lord wants them to do? How can we be an example to them by demonstrating a faith filled life of service to our Master?

As you reflect on your calling, ask God to show you how you can help others discover their calling. You will be encouraged as you encourage others. As I say often, thank you for your faithfulness in partnering with us. We could never do what we are doing without your prayers and financial support.

Blessings in the Wonderful Name of Jesus,

Thomas