Loving Lepers......

We put out the word at the last minute from the orphanage to ask some lepers to come to one hall for ministry in a practical way. A small number gathered along with some beggars with cancer.

We aimed to meet them and show the love of Christ by spending time and to provide rice and some small amounts of money. Nothing could have prepared us for what we would witness today! We had been instructed how to behave and the do's and dont's so in a sense we were a little on edge if I am honest!

Pastor Jay sang a few Christian songs, prayed and then we met each one individually as they sat along one long wall inside this hall. What we saw was in some cases quite shocking, and all of them were in filthy clothes best described as rags. Nobody wants these untouchables it seems!

Pastor asked me on the spot to do a short preach.....?? Oh says me ...Holy Spirit come!! Fortunately I had popped a magic candle in my pocket and a box of matches and told them about the Light of the World. It all seemed a bit in adequate and my faith was not enough to expect instant healing although many times our hearts desire for such a thing.

With God's strength I felt compelled to tell them the Gospel and that one day we would have new bodies and there would be no more suffering if we put our trust in Christ. Even more surprising I decided to put my faith to the test and asked for any who might want to accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Approx. 20 made that choice and we led them to Jesus... what an amazing day! We gave each one about 2kg of rice and
some money and sent them on their way! Although there was rejoicing I'm afraid I literally wept after the event was all over. My heart just broke with emotion with what we witnessed and saw take place!

School Visit.......
Today we returned to the St.Joseph's school and spent the whole day being guests of honour. This place blows your mind at the welcome and hospitality we receive. It's a Christian run school but the children are mostly Hindus. They put on numerous programs and exhibitions for us to see and watch..absolutely spectacular from Karate and breaking tiles to a series of cultural dances.

To see such excellent behaviour and well disciplined children was a sight to behold, all proud to be part of this very rural school...note at our 1st visit 2 years a go they had not seen a white person before!!

Peter did his story of Jesus in the storm which always goes down well, and then after lunch Kym preached to the staff members in the recently opened Chapel. Last year we prayed over the foundations and now we were inside!

I then preached to the kids and their parents who had arrived. It was packed as so many parents had come, so much so that the very small kids had to sit outside which seemed a shame! It seemed a very disorientated start as people were moving around and various other minor interruptions took place ,but eventually the atmosphere changed and I changed my message to suit the large number of adults who gathered. The gospel was preached and between 25 to 40 parents came forward at the end.

This is amazing stuff, we introduced them to the newly appointed pastor of the chapel and he encouraged them to come to the chapel on Sunday. The Power of the Gospel in India is so powerful, evangelism is just so exhilarating and we want to see more souls brought into the Kingdom of Christ!

Thanks for your prayers ...please continue, there is till more time yet!

Training Timothy's

One great thing here is the fact young men and women are here from the remote villages of north India. They are extremely poor and are cared for here and assisted in their training towards being a pastor, and eventually sent back to preach the Gospel.

What a privilege to teach and encourage and pray with these delightful young people! After a time of worship and teaching we asked them to reflect on what they had learnt with the help of my lap top and a worship song with pictures of creation. Closing with prayer and calling upon the Holy Spirit to give them a fresh vision for God and to be filled a fresh, turned out to be a powerful and moving event. God showed up big time…… many broke down and wept and cried aloud to God in open prayer. This was so controlled and yet an awesome experience! I have never seen before so many people crying out to the Lord with such passion and sincerity . The leader who teaches this group of about 50 students encouraged this opportunity to express them selves and kindly interpreted some of those audible prayers.

We were all greatly moved by the hand of God touching lives in such a powerful way, a memory we will always hold close to our hearts! I know how right it is that we must seek further training ourselves so that we can become even more equipped to bless our brothers and sisters in Christ, there is a passion welling up as we see God using us through your prayers…thank you in the name of Jesus!

Orphan children at ICMC:

You may recall that we have been involved with this orphanage for almost 20 years now, and so on this occasion we returned to pay a visit to see developments. Little Rajeet (pronounced this way) came running over to meet us within 15 minutes of our arrival…somehow it did not take long to know we were back! This time he brought a puppy called ‘Snowy’ to show how he was caring for him!

 

There are, as usual, many projects going on and we are amazed to see expansion programs and new developments, these are hard to explain, but the following pictures say that the orphans are being cared for and have shelter food and clothes. They are loved by those who care for them and by us, there is no doubt that you cannot fail to be touched by seeing so many kids singing and praying before your very eyes! You can see them hear waiting to hear our every word.

Some of the sights are not so pleasant as we see deformities and illness and sadness, but we thank Jesus He can change lives!! This boys legs and feet tell the story, we pray for God’s touch and mercy upon such young
ones!

Children love stories and here they are doing the actions to Peters story of Jesus calming the storm. 1000 kids doing actions!!!!!!

The familiar thing is the constant demand for having their pictures taken and then showing it to them. A thousand kids means a thousand pictures!!!!!!!

Vibes in the tribes!:

We are now at the Yercaud hills and intend spending a day and a half rest, but tonight we went into a distant tribal village. We meet a local pastor and his wife which is located in a nearby village, who then took us on foot into probably the most remote village we have experienced so far. It was delightful , narrow paths & scattered huts and small houses on a hillside surrounded by coffee bushes and dense undergrowth.

We stopped in the middle of a path 6ft across and within moments about 6 chairs turned up and a few mats laid out also for any children. Only a handful of believers were expected to come and the balance would be made up of locals and kids. Within 20 mins we had a small crowd of 25 people and about 10 children and the service began. 

It was amazing as always to see these pastors strike up a song without any musical accomplishment and lead worship and watch and see other people come out from nowhere and join the meeting. About 5 more people turned up and a few widows who stood against a shed behind us to observe what we might be saying. Doing ‘Church’ outside without any scheduled timetable or major organisation is just an amazing thing to behold. 

Kym delivered a short message and then I spoke briefly to the kids and adults which then progressed into a gospel service, at the end of which approx 10 people came forward and gave their hearts to Christ. This is just so amazing to witness and see for real before your very eyes! This local pastor who is not currently working in this village has agreed to come back and help these people move forward, and hopefully embrace them into his own church!

Again please keep us all in your prayers, we are feeling very tired now and a days rest tomorrow is going to be greatly appreciated.

A challenging delivery?!:

We went to a hall to conduct an evening meeting which was at the beginning fraught with minor difficulties…. Within moments the main power went out and we were in total darkness! It was in a kind of basement so it was impossible to have light penetrating from outside from those who had generators.

The Catholic church was holding a meeting opposite us and insisted we kept the windows shut, so no fresh air could come in!

The guy on the keyboard was playing like an organist in Blackpool tower! He continued to play while I was preaching eventually. They put up special hanging lights over our table from which I could not see the congregation, so when the power did come back I had to move off to the side which meant it was more difficult for David to interpret.

Although they were mostly Christians I felt compelled to preach the Gospel towards the end…and invited people to come and see me to one side rather than an alter call. One person came ONLY, but then perhaps not a surprise and so led that person to Christ.

What happened next was amazing..!! One mother brought a teenage daughter to me and intimated I was to pray for her daughter.  She was very dirty and in very poor clothes. Through a co-pastor I soon realised that we needed more prayer support as this young lady was possessed with an evil spirit! With the aid of Pastor Solomon we prayed fervently over her and her body began to contort. She then went down onto the ground and was rolling around. We called upon Almighty God and summoned Heaven to deliver her from this spirit and commanded it to leave in Jesus name. She stopped and came out of this trance!

After more prayer and counselling we were able to lead her to Christ  ………Praise the Lord. During this time her mother just wept profusely. It was probably one of the most emotional and demanding moments of ministry I have witnessed. It transpires that she was going to commit suicide the previous night, and throw herself in a well! Her mother asked he to come to this meeting, when I asked what stopped her she said…Jesus told me I must come tonight.

I gave her a cuddly knitted toy which had a huge smile and when she got it as a gift her face lit up! This is why we are here ! This is why we need your prayers!

Keep them coming!

Photo's:

There are some fantastic pictures being sent through from  Rod, Kym and Peter's trip. Don't forget you can view them all (plus pics from other trips) by clicking here or on the picture above.

A reminder too to visit the IVCM website too to find out more about how this trip fits the vision of IVCM!      

IVCM

Filling Pasta (well Pastor's anyway!!):

Approx 60 independant pastors came for fellowship and teaching...a really fantastic morning and since we have rec'd many good comments...PTL enjoy the photos and pray for these men that God would bless there ministry! One way transport and lunch we provided for them. 

Street Ministry: At one village we preached and Peter did a childrens talk. As you can see lots of children came, wondeful to be out at night and then we prayed for them ! 

Some bibles being given out at one meeting:

No longer backwards coming forward!:

Yesterday morning we went to a remote rural village, it was delightfully primitive and there had been no major Christian witness, in fact it was only in the last few years could anyone go into this place in this capacity. We were to hold a meeting in the centre surrounded by tiny houses, outbuildings and goat pens.

Pastor David was expecting about 20 people to turn up and as such a few chairs was scattered around in a very compact way. Within moments of our arrival people gathered from nowhere it seemed. Bear in mind this was around 10.30am but almost 80 people inc children arrived.

People brought their beds out onto the street to sit on:

We arranged for a few more chairs to come and within 10 mins a man with a bicycle appeared with a large bundle strapped to the back of his bike!! (Chair team watch this space!!!)

David led worship by singing a song (no keyboard here)..and people just listened as there appeared to be no Christians. I noticed just one woman tho, and it turned out she was called Naomi, and had been praying for Jesus to come to her village for many years!!!!!!!

Kym spoke first which was short message and challenging , some of the younger generation moved back and hid behind a cow shelter. I then spoke and expanded on her talk with an illustration and then preached the Gospel. I yelled at the boys to come out and told them I could see them hiding and so did God.

  

We felt God's presence, and I gave an alter call and to my amazement approx 40 came forward and gave their hearts to Christ. It was so powerful to see the Lord working and changing hearts! Old and young, men and women and some of the lads!!

This blew us away as this meant a new church had just been started and  what would be the next thing? Pastor David was so excited as he had been wanting to start a church here for some time, now he has to find a pastor and so thats the challenge for us back home, we need another £25 a month plus a small home to rent or build. Please be thanking God for this great witness and for the necessary funding !

It did not end there, as one man (Just given his heart to the Lord) came up and said he had some land and would allow us to buy it ONLY for a small church building....how cool is that !! The very man who comes to Christ wants to start a church... how do such things happen out here like this?

It was hard to leave this place it is such a beautiful village and the people so loving and grateful, a place we will never forget!!

Please pray that the Lord will guide us and make His will clear, the land will be about £3500 to buy and another £1500 + other fees. The land is big enough to build a pastors house (sound grand but actually only two rooms), David thinks we could do this ALL for around £6500-7000. Lord you own the cattle on a thousand hills... speak to the hearts of many!

Lastly one young man stared at me from a distance with a glazed face.. and marks on his face, arms crossed! He came up to me and said 'Hare Krishna'.. at once I knew what he was about!! BUT he wanted to give me a copy of his bible Krsna (in English) , BUT wanted one of ours to read!!!!!!!! So we exchanged bibles.....please pray for this man, as needless to say I challenged him and he kept saying his god was more important despite the witness... PRAY IN JESUS name that the Holy Spirit will reveal the truth!

PLEASE keep praying as the Lord is about His fathers business and using us here, we are tired and looking forward to a day and a half break. Pray for refreshment and continued anointing.

Hall of Hope:

Some may recall that a year ago we prayed over the foundations in a rural village that God would provide the funds for the first IVCM church building or as it's called here .. a Prayer Hall..!

The funds came in November and the work began in earnest to raise the walls and have this work complete with the strong possibility of being able to dedicate this building on this trip.

The earlier pictures shows us doing some practical stuff before hand and a few days later we have the privilege of dedicating and opening the hall. As we arrive the small crowds had gathered and we were given garlands and welcomed once more. This process for us presents us with mixed feelings knowing how poor they are and that we are made so special. Training at BMS on 'cross cultures' comes in as a useful reminder as we must respect this culture and embrace their customs.

We were then requested to unveil the commemoration plaque and receive more public attention!!

  

Amazing experience with such joy and worship and prayer! I then led everyone thru the act of dedication, and then we anointed with oil each of the 4 corners of the building and thedoor and threshold, reading out a different scripture and short prayer! The final moment was to cut a ribbon and let the people go inside. There was no stopping them !!!!

Once everyone was settled we blessed the builder and his workers with gifts and had an amazing time of worship.

The Holy Spirit was filling this temple! Awesome to take the very first service in this new Prayer Hall! The atmosphere was electric and we sensed God's presence amoungst us. Towards the end I had this thought that wouldn't it be awesome if just somebody gave their heart to Christ. What a blessing if that should happen... could it...?

I prayed to the Lord that He would grant my wish and began preaching the Gospel and made a deliberate outreach hoping that somebody from within the village would be here and to be saved. I invited any to come forward after the end of the service rather than a public alter call and said where I would be waiting. While Kym and Peter prayed for individual believers one person cam forward,... then another! In total 5 people including a husband and wife came to know Jesus that night! ..Praise God

I am excited about evangelism and the power of the gospel... Thank you Jesus! Amen. Believers had invited friends to come and some where simply curious! The gospel was proclaimed and the Lord gave granted my
wish and the fellowship has now increased. PTL

Please pray for these people and in particular for one lady who was partially paralyzed and her brain also affected as a result of her last childbirth! I noticed Kym in particular praying fervently with her and was pleading to the Lord on her behalf for healing and restoration. If you could pray also for her then maybe we might here a wonderful testimony in time to come! Come Holy Spirit come.

The Bible to people - however we can do it!

Caught up at last with the blog, just a few hours before tonight's meeting so here's the update for Sunday. 3 services, two normal ...(if there is such a thing out here!...everyone is different and you don't know what might happen next)! First these young lads greet you as good stewards to an opening between shops! Could this be Nightshift in India?

Two traditional services in the morning, followed by a special one late afternoon. worship, preach followed by handing out bibles to the needy and saris to the widows. (see pics)... notice how young some of the widows are!! Then request from individuals for prayer.

 

At one church with lots of children Peter talks to the children about the storm that Jesus calmed and after using his prop , gets them to do the actions!

I love looking at the women especially in Worship as they are not inhibited in any way... God is their audience!

Prayer requests come in sorts of ways .. here a 95 year old woman is greeted by Kym and Peter. These personal prayer requests are expected ......why are we so reserved to request prayer in some Western churches? Here it's the norm!

Mission possible!:

Today was an awesome day... sorry for the delay but Sat and Sunday has been full demanding days but Exciting... PTL! 

Am writing this at 12.30 Monday Indian time to try and keep you posted!

Saturday started with our Youth meeting  when 125 had signed up to come, but by 10.45am 180 youth showed up for this rally!!!!! A great morning of teaching and worship culminating in approx 25 kids giving their hearts to Christ .. praise God!  Another 80+ made fresh commitments to their faith !

   
7 recent believers came for baptism and had the privilege to baptise them and give each one a Tamil Bible during the service that followed. Here baptism is first outside ... of course and then pile into a house church 20x16 with barely an inch to move.

  

Following the service we pray for many people who come forward requesting prayer for many different things. Here you can see an older lady who just wept before me .... Jesus bring relief into her life. 

Please pray with us as we seek to bless them and uphold them before our saviour... we pray that we will hear testimonies in the future of great and wonderful things.

 

      

One man (seen in front of me) after prayer gave me a free will offerring, which I was not allowed to refuse! This blew me away and I could not hold back the tears, and nor could he.. These people and their passion for Christ and expectations are so HUGE!!!!!!

One person gave us several bags of knitted teddies/dolls in all shapes and sizes, which nicely added to our luggage at the last minute!! As you can see these kids felt very special!