Meeting The Crises

Hello friends and family, we greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We praise God that even though there is tremendous physical distance between us, we can still communicate in seconds through the medium of technology. The bible says in Isa 45:22 “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.”  We are truly thankful that though Nations and Kingdoms rise and fall, Jesus is still on the throne and he is still the only answer for the world today.

We are in the Region of Villupuram in Tamil Nadu, South India where we have successfully completed over a Month of Missionary labor.

We thank God for his unceasing protection and His tender watch care over His children as we seek to plant the standard of the Gospel in the un-entered Regions. We are also ever grateful to the readers of our blog who daily intercede on our behalf before the throne of God.

We shared on a blog last year entitled “face to face with persecution” about a Village called Meiyyur in the Villupuram District where we conducted some Evangelistic meetings. For those who remembered, we also shared the story about the 100+ men who accosted us and demanded that we cease to preach in that Village. Our Church members have lived under the boot of a radical Hindu group for many years. In this area and in surrounding areas there is a group called the RSS. This group is a militant offshoot of right winged Hinduism. In many places their name strikes terror into the hearts of any minority religious group that are not Hindu derived.  In the North of India there have been many attacks on Christians and Muslims alike that have resulted in much bloodshed and fatalities. Unlike other Orthodox Hindu groups who only use the arm of politics to advance and enforce their agenda, this group is a well-trained paramilitary styled organization that believes in using maximum force if necessary to implement  all India  under Hinduism. This group is tremendously powerful even though the Nation is one that professes to be Democratic and offers full protection for all religious groups under its Constitution.

Some of the readers of our blog well remember our earnest appeal as we sought to purchase land on which to put a Church for our fledgling congregation last year. We can praise God as we announce to you today that the Church building that was once faith is now sight. The building that we have prayed about and longed after for our people is now under construction and at present stands 6 feet high in the Village of Meyyur. All that we can say is to God be the glory great things he hath done. The Metro New York Men’s Prayer Ministry has rallied to the call and has sponsored our 1st Church building project in the Villupuram Region.

We anticipated some opposition in the planting of Churches in India and our anticipations unfortunately, were not disappointed. Our building work has been staunchly opposed in this Village from its earliest beginning. There are some groups of youths who have daily harassed and tried to intimidate our Contractor as he has sought to do his building work. We have been told by these youth that even though it is the Constitutional right of the people to practice their religion, still we will not be allowed to place a Church there. Even though we have legal rights to the land and have taken all the appropriate steps our rights will be denied. It has been a daily trial over the last few weeks for us as our Church has had to secure legal aid and appeal to the local police for protection as there was some minimal damage done to our building by these youth.  One of our local Pastors here has spearheaded the counter response to the many threats and daily disturbances that are being launched by this extremist group and for that we are eternally grateful. Our life and work we daily place in God’s hand but we especially need the prayers and the support of the saints for the Villupuram work. Our Family is not in any immediate danger at the moment thank God, as we live 1 1/2  hours away from this troubled Village but we feel a great need for God’s intervention as we continually advance forward into un entered territory. Our team of workers in Villupuram are not discouraged in the least bit as we know that our work and cause is of God. As we advance forward in faith we know that He will continually open the doors for us and grant us the desired wisdom to do His will.

We are very happy to report that our other building project to construct 7 homes for some of our poorest believers is almost complete. We received some minimal support for this project but by faith in God we advanced forward and the Lord opened the way for us to complete it. We can feel content knowing that the elderly women that we have helped will not have to worry about snakes entering their dilapidated houses or being drenched by the soon coming Monsoon rains, praise the Lord.  Many thanks, to those few faithful supporters for making sacrificial donations and coming to the rescue of these poor sisters in Christ.   They had no shelter and no one to help them, but God heard their cries and blessed them.  Thank you for being a part of this blessing.

Brother William Lewis from the Washington DC area came to visit us for 10 days and assisted us in our Village Ministry. He was able to see firsthand the many sights, sounds and smells of rural South India.  We also conducted a week of prayer at the Valavanur SDA School.  This school has close to 1,000 children from pre-school to grade 10 in attendance.  It was a very large task to cover the whole school daily for 1 week, but God gave us strength and all four of us, even Noah worked tirelessly to teach these young children bible truths.  We also took Brother William to the villages that we worked with during our previous trip to India.  We still visit these villages on a regular basis and have forged strong friendships with many of the villagers.  They were happy to see another face from the U.S and openly welcomed him.  We were thankful that he was willing and able to come and see this vast area for him  self.  It is truly a different world to behold.

We want to thank you again for your e-mails of encouragement to our family. They have proved a tremendous source of strength to our family as we labor for the Master far away from home. We know that with every advanced step Satan will battle us for every inch of ground.  The bible says that he is angry because he knows that he has a short time (Revelation 12:12), we pray by God’s grace that our humble efforts in this Country will help to make his time even shorter.

From Villupuram District, Tamil Nadu, South India, God bless you and goodbye from 3goingforwardministeries, Maranatha.