Revival Now!

Dear Partners and Friends,

When I watch the news these days, it seems like I am reading the Gospel of Matthew. In Chapter 24, he quotes Jesus as saying “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” In Greek, the word translated “nation” could also be translated “ethnic group.” We are seeing conflict between ethnic groups at a level arguably greater than any time in recent history.

Jesus goes on to say “There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.” We have seen this too, as a sign of the times. But this is not the end. He warns us that the “world” will hate true believers, and many nominal Christians on the fence will decide to “turn away from the faith, and betray and hate each other.”

These words paint a troubling picture of the days we are living in. But Jesus ends his comments with some very encouraging words. He says “the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

How do we respond? Do not be alarmed. Stand firm. Those are Christ’s simple instructions. As I said last month, now is not the time to give up. Keep living your faith. Do not turn away from your faith because of disappointment. Keep praying. Keep expressing love in your actions to others. The return of Christ is approaching. Keep sharing the message of the Gospel. And keep loving your neighbors. As I have said in the past, if you need prayer or help in any way, please feel free to reach out to us. And please keep our brothers and sisters in India in prayer, as they face the same kinds of challenges that we face. Together we will overcome, and God will be glorified.

Blessings in the Wonderful Name of Jesus,

                        Thomas

Raj Kumar was born into a traditional carpenter’s family where he grew up worshiping many Hindu idols and practicing many rituals. He studied up to the 8th grade, but after that his family felt that it was time for him to work and support the family. When he was 16 years old, he injured his leg with a hand saw. He did not take it seriously, however, and it became so badly infected that he was admitted to the hospital. He stayed there for more than seven months, but it never healed.

The injury continued to bother him and since he had great difficulty in walking, he was taken to different doctors, none of whom were able to cure him. He was even taken to a witch doctor, but again, it was no use. His parents were unable to treat him and he became a burden on them. The people in the village spread a rumor, saying the wound was due to leprosy, and that was the reason it could not be healed. They put pressure on Raj’s parents to abandon him.

Raj’s parents took him to a medical college, the biggest one in their region. There they tested him for leprosy and the result was negative. There too, after only one week of treatment, the hospital told his parents to take him home. The wound was now so serious that it affected his whole leg and he was completely bedridden. But they refused.

Unable to cope with the situation, Raj’s parents abandoned him there in the hospital, knowing they were probably leaving him to die, and went back to their village. So, this young man, who was unable to walk without someone’s help, was left in the hospital by his parents. Unable to pay the bills, the hospital simply put him out. Now Raj was alone, living on the street.

For two weeks he lay by the street, hopelessly waiting for death to come. The only ones who showed mercy to him were the beggars. In Raj’s own words “seeing my plight, the beggars along with some lepers (who were no longer contagious) shared their food with me, and at their mercy I was kept alive. Worms were crawling from my wound, and no one except the street dogs came close to me because of the awful smell. I was waiting for my death.”

One of our summer outreach teams was working in the area, and one of the beggars (a leper who had become a Christian) met our outreach team on the street and shared about Raj and begged them to help him. The leper led our outreach team to Raj. They found him lying under a tree, in great pain, surrounded by a putrid smell. Our brothers gave him some water and food and talked with him. Upon hearing his plight, they carried him to their room. They bathed him, cleaned his wound, and nursed him back to health. Daily they shared the good news of the Gospel and laid their hands on his wound, praying for him and giving him hope that Jesus had the power to heal him.

Raj began to read the Gospel on his own. Every miracle Jesus did gave him hope, and in his desperate condition Raj trusted Jesus for his healing from the serious disease that the doctors couldn’t heal.

After a few days of prayer, Raj started to feel the healing touch of the Lord and the wound started visibly healing. Within a few months, the wound was completely healed, and he started walking. In His own words “I was saved from the jaws of death; several times I wanted to end my life, to be rid of the misery I was going through, but even in that I was incapable. But Jesus saved me and turned my tears into joy, through the six young, loving brothers, people who I had never known before. Jesus sent those brothers to save me from my misery and give me a new life.” Raj accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and two years ago one of our leaders baptized him in the Ganges River. In the river that Hindus consider the holiest river of their faith, he made a bold declaration that his faith was only in Jesus, his Lord and Savior.

“’For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; … to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’” Matthew 25:35-40 NASB

For the last two years, he has been mentored by the local missionary whom we sent to that area. Last year Raj joined our house church leadership training program, completed the training, and joined our outreach team. It was then that he asked us to send him to his own village, the same place where the villagers had forced his parents to abandon him. Along with six other brothers, in the second week of March this year, he went to his parents’ area, but could not go to his home village because of the coronavirus.

But when the total lock-down began on March 23rd, on the following day he called our leadership team. He was burdened for the people on the street, the beggars who had fed him and kept him alive, but he was 45 miles away from them in another village. He asked for permission to leave the team and go and help the street beggars. As soon as we agreed, he started walking, and after three days he reached the town where his parents had left him to die. Immediately he went to the authorities to get permission to feed the street people. At first, they refused, but he shared his testimony with the police chief. He told him “they cared for me; it is now my time to help them.” Hearing this, the police chief gave him permission. That was on March 29th, and since that day Raj and two more of our missionaries have been feeding two meals every day to 300-350 street people, including lepers, beggars, the mentally ill, and other people. Raj and our missionaries and their families cook and pack the food every day and distribute it to the people.

Today the government authorities, the townspeople, and even the Hindu radicals all appreciate Raj and his team and are giving him support. For Raj it gives him great satisfaction to show his gratitude and repay his debt to the beggars and poor people, who shared their food with him and kept him alive while he was in the valley of death.

Raj, with his testimony, his love, and his passion to serve the people, is winning the hearts of the people for the Lord.

Help Us Share the Gospel

Will you help us continue sharing the Gospel in the darkest places of India? Psalm 119:105 says ‘Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.’ You can share in the blessings! To find out how to contact us, and 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!

With your help, the Gospel will be proclaimed, and you will be blessed, along with thousands of others!

Proclaiming the Gospel…

…until He comes,

Dear Partners and Friends,

Things are changing every day. The country is beginning to open up. States are allowing businesses to reopen and workers to go back to their jobs. But the response from people crosses a wide spectrum. Some are rejoicing; some are upset. Some say it should have happened sooner, but others are afraid we are moving too quickly. People are suffering and dying from the virus, while others are suffering due to extreme economic hardship brought about by the lock-down. The problems of today’s society are complex, but the answer is truly simple.

As believers in Christ, followers of the one we call “King of Kings and Lord of Lords,” we are challenged to truly believe Him and take Him at His Word. His Word assures us that “[He] will never desert you, nor will [He] ever forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5, NASB) In times like these, we should ask ourselves, do we truly believe this? Or are we hearers of the Word, and not doers, deceiving ourselves?

Please hear me out. I am not saying we have no problems. Some people have been laid off. Others are stuck in a home that is now filled with people. Parents and children are getting on each other’s nerves. Small businesses are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. But for most of us in America, we have food to eat. Maybe not always what we want to eat, but something to
sustain us. We have a roof over our heads. Maybe your house needs some maintenance like mine does, but we should be thankful that we are not living on the street, like the people in this month’s story.

Let me exhort you: keep living your faith. Now is not the time to give up. We can see the signs of the times, so we know that the return of Christ is approaching. Keep reaching out to others. Keep praying. Keep sharing the message of the Gospel. And keep loving your neighbors.

As I have said in the past, if you need prayer or help in any way, please feel free to reach out to us. And please keep our brothers and sisters in India in prayer, as they face the same kinds of challenges that we face. Together we will overcome, and God will be glorified.

Blessings in the Wonderful Name of Jesus,

                        Thomas

What an unprecedented time we’re living in. We have had moments of confusion, concern, and disbelief at the events of the last several weeks. None of us ever expected that we would experience something like this in our lives. This global pandemic has affected all kinds of people, from all walks of life, with personal, spiritual, and financial implications. One question that comes to all of our minds is “what is happening, and what is going to happen?” And while we might not have chosen to experience this in our lifetime, in His sovereignty, God has ordained for us to be here for such a time as this, to witness this firsthand, with our own ears and our own eyes.

 But we have also been grateful for the truth of Isaiah 43:1-4 which reminds us: “… Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown” (NLT). We have a God who brings hope into our lives, even during the most challenging of circumstances.    

Praying Around the Clock

We have started a 24×7 prayer chain. Since March 21, all our missionaries and their families, thousands of believers, and thousands of our house church leaders are all joining together in prayer for the nations and for the healing of the land. Every hour between 1000 and 1300 people are joining together in their homes in different states and locations, praying for God’s intervention.

So many people around the world don’t have the hope that we are clinging to right now. They live in fear because they don’t know what is going to happen. We want them to know Jesus, and to have access to God’s Word in a language that speaks to their hearts. We have started to record salvation messages, just five minutes each, and we are now sharing these messages with hundreds of people through WhatsApp. We have set up a phone number, where people can call for questions or spiritual counseling. We are receiving 100-120 calls every day, and most of the calls are from non-Christians.

Feeding the Hungry and Sharing the Gospel

At the same time, our commitment to the Lord Jesus and to His ministry has not changed. We have 86 young men who came for our 2020 Summer Outreach, to several different mission fields. Due to the total lockdown in the country, they will not be able to go out to share the Gospel. But we take this time as a privilege we have been given, to help the local believers, both spiritually and physically. Almost all the teams that came for the outreach are now involved in helping the people, alongside the government officials. In Bihar, our brothers have joined with the local people, serving in the community kitchen and feeding thousands of people. They are doing so while following all the recommended precautions. (We have not asked them to do this. Instead, our leaders asked them not to go out, but they felt they needed to help people.) It also gives them an opportunity to meet people and share and pray with them.

Food Bags for the Desperate

Millions of daily workers, slum dwellers, and migrant workers and their families are facing a hard time. They do not have food to eat. The authorities are trying to help but hundreds of people are not getting help in the villages. In response to the great need, all the churches that are involved with the ministry have come forward to help the poor, the needy, and the untouchables. By God’s grace and the sacrificial giving of God’s people, we helped 1,900 families with food bags. In each bag, we have one week’s minimum supply of food. This consists of 8 lbs. each of wheat flour and rice, 4 lbs. each of lentils, onions, and potatoes, 2 lbs. each of sugar and vegetable oil, 1/2 lb. of tea, 1 packet of salt, some spices, 1 bar of soap, 1 lb. of laundry powder, and some fresh vegetables. If the family has small children we also include some packets of milk powder and some other children’s food.

Hundreds of our believers who had saved wheat and rice for their families came forward to give to the needy. One of our leaders writes “Many people have said that the church in India is always a receiving church and that they have never learned to give, but after what I have experienced over the last two weeks, I can tell you that the Indian church is learning to give.”

On Good Friday morning, our mission leader from the state of Bihar, one of the poorest states in India, called a leader and said that there are hundreds of believers who are facing hardship since the lockdown began. In some areas, the authorities and villagers are targeting new Christian believers, by withholding government food subsidies and other benefits that people in the village are receiving. When the Christians questioned this, they were beaten up and accused of trying to spread the virus. Local Hindu radicals are pressuring the believers, saying “Reject your faith in Christ, come to the Hindu temple, bow down before the idols, and we will give you food.” Our coordinator told his leader that the situation is very grave. The believers are down to one meal a day, and they are not allowed to eat in the community kitchen.

The leader promised him that he would pray for them and try to do something. He and his wife prayed and called out for God’s provision and for His intervention. As they finished praying, they received a call from Surender Singh, a Sikh convert, a hard-working farmer who came to the Lord last year, through our Summer Outreach team. He said “Pastor, I just harvested my wheat yesterday. By God’s grace, we have a very good harvest. To honor Jesus, I want to give 1000 food bags to people in need.” (His field is only 5 acres, and he actually wanted to give 2 metric tons of wheat or 4400 lbs., but since it was impossible to transport, he sold the wheat and wanted to help with the food bags.)

The Indian government is planning to extend the lockdown until May 3rd. Our teams are praying and trying their best to help people with food bags, and many believers are coming forward to help.

Help Us Share the Gospel

Will you help us continue sharing the Gospel in the darkest places of India? Psalm 119:105 says ‘Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.’ You can share in the blessings! To find out how to contact us, and 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!

With your help, the Gospel will be proclaimed, and you will be blessed, along with thousands of others!

Proclaiming the Gospel…

…until He comes,

Dear Partners and Friends,

We have never been this way before. Yesterday’s plans might not be enough for today. Every day that goes by brings a new challenge. So many are out of jobs, many people are sick, either with the coronavirus or related issues. Many are lonely, fearful, angry, or depressed. It is easy to be overcome by stress and anxiety. It is certainly a time of uncertainty.

But this is also a time to be thankful that we live in America, still the greatest nation on earth. We have the means to do medical research. We can still mobilize the teams and resources to help people in need. We live in a democratic republic, with the freedom of speech that many nations do not have. We have the freedom to live the Christian life and share the Gospel, a freedom that people in India do not have. Though we have so many questions, we still have so much to be thankful for. God is still on the throne and Christians are coming together to pray in an unprecedented way. Believers are meeting house to house, even if they are meeting online. The Gospel is going forth in new ways, and the lost are being saved.

I am reminded of God’s words of caution to Cain when he was upset after God rejected his offering. God said, “sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” For us, fear, anxiety, worry, anger, and strife – all these things are crouching at our door. They want to control us, but just as God told Cain, we must master them. How? By turning our attention to the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul reminds us to meditate on what the Lord has done through the atonement of Christ. He has given us a new mind, peace within, and the promise of protection from anything the enemy could throw at us. (see Ephesians 1:17-19 and 3:14-20)

Do you think our present situation has surprised God? Do you think He is anxious or perplexed, wondering what He should do? Do you think He caused this situation, to throw the world into turmoil and upheaval? These statements do not reflect God’s character or His true nature. God is the giver of good things. (see James 1:17)

If you need prayer or help in any way, please feel free to reach out to us. And please keep our brothers and sisters in India in prayer, as they face the same kinds of challenges that we face. Together we will overcome, and God will be glorified.

Blessings in the Wonderful Name of Jesus,

                        Thomas

Manu Shankar lives in a remote village. Thirteen years ago he received a Gospel of John booklet while he was visiting another city. As a young man of 24 years old, he read the booklet over and over. It surprised him and touched his heart, but as far as he knew, it was a moving story of just another Hindu Holy man. After a year he got married, and he asked his wife to read the booklet. She, too, read it and was very emotional about the man Jesus. They had never heard about Jesus before reading the booklet, and even after reading it, they continued to think he was some holy saint of Hinduism. Today Manu is 37 years old, and a father of two young children. Last April, his 12-year-old son brought home a Gospel of John booklet he received from our outreach team and handed it over to his father. When Manu saw it, he realized it was the same booklet he had received 13 years ago, which incidentally he still reads occasionally. His son told him that they were invited to a meeting in the neighboring village the following Sunday if they are interested in knowing more about this book.

Manu and His family went to the meeting the following Sunday, where our outreach team had arranged a small public meeting. Regi was there in that meeting and preached the Gospel. He told them that Jesus is the only Savior who can save and forgive them from their sin. That Sunday, 21 people responded to the Gospel call, including Manu and his family. Last June, Manu was baptized in water along with others.

Regi was in Manu’s village for a meeting last December. They had told him it was for the dedication of their house, but when he reached the village he saw that alongside their house they had built a meeting room which was 40 feet long and 25 feet wide. With the help of local believers, they built the room using bricks for the walls, dry grass for the roof, and cow dung for the floor. When Regi arrived, it was not even finished, but since they don’t have any other place to worship, they asked him to dedicate it for the Lord’s Glory. They had their first worship in that  room that day. It was so full of people that there was not enough room for everyone to sit inside, so some of them were sitting outside the room and worshiping the Lord.

During the nine months after that first public meeting, hundreds of people came to the Lord in that area. The Lord empowered Manu and other brothers to share the Gospel with many people who had never heard the good news. In Manu’s own words, “we lived from generation to generation under the curse of idol worship. I heard the Gospel 13 years ago, but no one told us who Jesus is. It was 13 years later when someone finally came and explained to us who Jesus is, and what He has done for the remission of our Sin. Today we are saved by the grace of God, and we now live to tell the people what Jesus has done for mankind.”

“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!”

The Gospel Light Shines in the Darkness

Looking at the entire ministry, the year 2019 started with lots of apprehension: the news regarding the restrictions that the pro-Hindu government is trying to bring on the churches; news about the growing number of attacks on house churches in different states by Hindu radicals; and in general, the religious liberty our brothers had been enjoying for years was now under a threat. Many missionaries were arrested and sent to prison. Everyone in the mission field was feeling the impact of the news coming out every day.

In the midst of all this, the Lord was doing great things, revealing His glory by moving mightily among the people, touching the lives of thousands of people, healing them, delivering them, and drawing them closer to himself.

By God’s grace and favor, 2019 was one of the greatest harvesting years in our ministry. As most of you know, reaching the unreached is the main focus of our ministry. Last year, due to the combined efforts of our brothers in the mission field and our outreach teams (this includes Summer Outreach, Christmas and Easter Outreach teams), we reached hundreds of unreached villages and thousands of unreached homes. Our teams shared the Gospel and distributed “Gospel of John” booklets and New Testaments. By the grace of God, Exciting Word started 900 prayer groups (where people from all religious backgrounds get together once a week to pray, learn and worship Jesus in someone’s’ home. Thousands of people received Jesus as their personal savior and made a public confession. We baptized thousands of people in different states. We trained hundreds of men and women in our 40-day training centers. We ran thirteen sewing centers and through these sewing centers more than 300 poor women and widows were trained to sew clothes, make dresses, and support their families. We distributed 16 motorcycles to our missionaries, and 72 bicycles to our house church leaders. Over 24 church buildings are under construction right now.

Regarding the challenges, twenty-nine of our missionaries and house church leaders were beaten up by Hindu radicals. Nineteen were arrested by the police while sharing the Gospel or conducting a prayer meeting, all under false allegations of forced conversions. Thirteen of our temporary house church buildings were burned down or demolished by Hindu radicals, and 27 new believers and their families were forced out of their village for believing in Jesus.

Help Us Share the Gospel

Will you help us continue sharing the Gospel in the darkest places of India? Psalm 119:105 says ‘Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.’ You can share in the blessings! To find out how to contact us, and 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!

With your help, the Gospel will be proclaimed, and you will be blessed, along with thousands of others!

Proclaiming the Gospel…

…until He comes,

Dear Partners and Friends,

One thing is certain – we live in uncertain times. All around us we hear reports of wars and rumors of wars, plagues, pestilence, disease, death, financial crises, and more. We have every opportunity to give in to fear and hopelessness. But what does the Bible say? It exhorts us “do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13) People are losing their hope in government and in the medical community because they don’t know the Lord or His kind intention toward us (Ephesians 1:9). God is for us, not against us.

The news of a powerful new virus has taken the news agencies by storm. There are reports of swarms of locusts across the earth. The stock market has been reacting wildly to all the turmoil around the globe. What should we do, as believers in the One, True, Living God? Should we embrace the fear and anxiety, and join the ranks of preppers, storing supplies and locking our doors, waiting for the apocalypse? Or should we allow God to increase our faith, and step out as a beacon of hope in our communities?

The men and women who partner with us in India face these questions every day. In addition to all these calamities, they also have radical extremists who threaten their lives for sharing the Gospel. Their government is actively trying to weaken their influence and has drastically increased the legal penalties for sharing the Christian faith in India. If they simply say that “God will forgive your sin” they could be charged with “promising divine pleasure” and sentenced to years in prison. But when the laws were changed, they met together and decided they would rather go to prison than for someone lost to go to hell because they didn’t hear the Gospel.

It reminds me of Acts 4, where the early believers were persecuted in a similar way. The disciples responded by calling a prayer meeting, where they concluded with the words “and now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.” (Acts 4:29-30)

Instead of running from calamity, let’s run toward it with the same zeal and confidence they had!

Blessings in the Wonderful Name of Jesus,

                        Thomas