last pics

Monte, Bob and Gary with Pastor Sam Stephens whose father started IGL

Hospital built on the IGL campus is one of 18 throughout India that has a ward for cancer patients.

How can you resist?!

Monte made a great charge to the SriLankan pastors and had everyone humble themselves before the Lord

More pics

A woman with leprosy filled with joy (and some food!)

The school on the IGL base which enrolls over 400 children.

Pastor George and wife who pastors the village Rolling Hills is adopting

A view of the stage from which US pastors taught over 1500 Indian pastors

Some Indian friends we met

Some Pics

Some of the boys praising the Lord at a church service we attended

Gary with children using some of the puppets made at Rolling Hills

Monte greeting students at the IGL base

The three "amigos" with people from the village

Construction of a nursing school at IGL base - everything for the construction is made on the base

My Final Thoughts

As Monte is working on a posting, I am going to share some overall things that have impacted me these last two weeks. When I get back, I will go through and put some pictures up so you can at least see some of what we have talked about. These will be random thoughts and not tons of detail - but hopefully will give you a taste of what is jumbling around in my soul.

* The power of the persecuted church: The pastors here know God at a whole different level. They are forced to depend - to cry out- on God. We talk about "Abide to Abound;" they live it!
* 80% of the Christian resources are found in the United States yet 80% of the children live outside the US - what's up with that?! They are so grateful to get a cd of the songs and are so grateful. We (yes I realize I will fall into this category!) go to conferences and buy tons of materials to learn more yet our churches are stagnant or declining and theirs are booming. (See Monte's blog today)
* Puppets are universal. Thank God for planting this in me when I was a little boy.
* The Body of Christ is global. They need us, but we equally need them. Monte and I have learned tons from these people about living for and serving Jesus. Americans don't have all the answers.
* "How can I serve?" putting these glasses on, continually seeking the Lord as to who and how I should serve those He would serve. Also means I need to have that quiet time with Him to hear His still small voice.
* "I deserve nothing" - everything is a gift from God and I need to be thankful. Got tested big time on this very thing while I have been here. Boy was it hard, but when I said thanks to the Lord - a tremendous peace came over me. Can't wait for more times like this!! :o)
* I am only as useful for the Kingdom as I am willing to serve God where, how and when He asks. I need to be where He wants me to be. Be still before Him so I can move out boldly from Him.
* Seek to serve a life of no regrets.
* Some verses I read this week that were significant:
- I Cor 9:26: run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. (WOW!)
- I Cor 9:? : find common ground with people to reach them for Christ. (You
need to live life with them)
- Psalm 138:8: The Lord will work out His plans for my life for your unfailing
love, O Lord, endures forever. (Not I will work out His plans,
or the Lord working out my plans. Also, endure means hardships
are inevitable or His love will endure because of my stupidity
at times!)

Thank you so much for your prayers over these last two weeks and prior. God has been faithful to us all and specifically giving me some next steps in what He has called me to. That's what I asked for - just the next step - not sure if I am ready to know the whole thing yet!! :o) Besides, I would probably try to do it myself and then say it was Him - how silly is that?!

ps: Since Monte has mentioned this, I might as well too. Montezuma has been my friend all week and I am ready to leave him behind - if you know what I mean!

One more from the road - Monte

United States - here we come!

After a good nights rest tonight (hopefully!) we'll be headed for home first thing tomorrow. Please pray for our connections and for the quick passing of time during our long layovers!

The Pastor's conference finished strong here today, what a wonderful sight to see these Pastor's, so appreciate for this opportunity, enthusiastically taking hold of the vision to Arise, and go forth.

At dinner tonight we had a great chance to visit with three of the IGL
Pastor's who were responsible for coordinating the conference in Salem
India, and came to help out at this conference as well. I had an
inspiring conversation with Pastor John (I could not even begin to
attempt to write his last name, much less pronounce it). Pastor John
was called to full time ministry 31 years ago. He felt God calling him
to leave his home and go to a very remote area nearly 400 miles away.
So John went, no money, no contacts, no church planting strategy or
plan, just faith that God was sending him. When he arrived at the
village, he told me he immediately had four strikes against him. He was
an outsider, he was a bachelor, he did not have a salary, and he was a
Christian. As a result, he could not rent a room and slept under trees
and in barns for 8 1/2 months! He prayed each night for the village and
for God to open doors for him. Finally one day he was passing out
Christian literature door to door and came to a house where a woman
answered the door. After handing her the literature, she said to him,
"Praise the Lord for you Pastor". He told me he almost fell over. He
then learned that she had recently become a believer at the school she
was attending and had been praying that God would send someone to help
her grow in her faith. This woman and her husband (who Pastor John led
to the Lord) offered him a place to stay and became the first official
members of his church!

Pastor John went on to tell me that a bit has changed over the years. He said that the first 10 years of his ministry were the "persecution" years. He was beaten, thrown in jail and run out of many villages over and over again. He told me the next 10 years were his "sowing" years. Circumstances began to improve, but there was not an abundance of fruit - yet! He went on to say that the last 10 years have been his "harvest" years of ministry as God has
opened many hearts to the Good News of Jesus Christ. Presently, John's
church has over 3000 people, and he believes the Lord is asking him to
plan for over 10,000. In addition, Pastor John has planted so far 473
churches all across Southern and Central India. He is now raising up
Pastor's and training them to go to the Northern part of the country
where people are most hostile to the Gospel. At this point he looked at
me solemnly and said, "They tell me they will go there to die if that
is what is required, I believe their commitment". And to think, John is
but one of the thousands of Pastor's working withIGL all across India and Sri Lanka. As I said before, we were asked to come to teach, but we have learned so much more than we ever could give.

Needless to say, I didn't end up eating much of my dinner. After praying
together, we said goodbye to our new friends. They wanted us to please
ask all of you to pray for them and the ministry God has given them.
With wide eyed sincerity, they told us they would pray for us, our
ministry and our families as well. Something tells me, that's a promise
that can be taken to the bank!

As I sign off for the last time, please let me say again how appreciative I am for your prayers and all of your support. There were times on this trip, like most every
missions trip, that we literally felt the prayers of loved ones all
over the world for us. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

But don't stop yet! We've got miles to go before we are home. Continue to
pray for Gary as his system is still in distress. Pray especially for
his body to cooperate during our long travels. Pray also for us as we
arrive home and begin to synthesize our experiences and as we come
before the Lord asking what He would have us do with these experiences.

I leave you with this final experience. At the end of the conference
today, a woman came up to me to thank me for my teaching and told me
that she had been praying for me and my family during the whole
conference. After shaking her hand and thanking her it dawned on me
once again, we don't even think or pray in the ways the believers here
think. We don't begin to rely on God the way I've witnessed these past
weeks. I plan to make some changes - how about you?

Thanks for coming along for the adventure, see you all state side!

Gratefully His,

Monte

Ministry Island Style!

Hello again from Sri Lanka!

Sorry for not posting more over the past couple of days, we've had an incident take place that redirected some of our time - Gary's health!

Please continue to pray for him as he continues to battle whatever it is that has grabbed his system. Thankfully, some of the effects have subsided, but he began a whole new medicine today. Hopefully this will do the trick as it really helped a couple of others in our group.

As we noted in our last post, life is very different here than in India. The pace is more relaxed, the environment not nearly as dire and there are many more traces of the West here as well. Some of us actually had a hamburger for lunch yesterday, complete with French fries!

We are currently in full swing of the Pastor's conference and are enjoying the experience of worshiping with over 300 sold out servants of the Lord. Due to the continued civil unrest here in Sri Lanka, many of the Pastor's had to go through up to 7 separate checkpoint to get to the conference. The main thrust of the unrest is due to the increasing number and influence of the Tamil people (Tamils were brought to Sri Lanka from Southern India during the British rule a couple of hundred years ago). The Sri Lankan government passed a motion which denied Tamils any kind of work for the government. Apparently this was to curtail the Tamils influence. The government also asked that the Tamils go back to India. In protest, the Tamils began to rise up, and now the more militant arm of the movement is called the "Tamil Tigers". According to some of the Pastor's here, the issue now is one of revenge. Each time one side retaliates, the other side begins planning its revenge. At this time no peace is in sight. I must admit, it is a bit intimidating when you arrive at the airport and see guards with machine guns patrolling, and then see bunkers with guards and heavy artillery lining some of the streets around the airport.

One of the heavy casualties here is tourism. Before the tsunami and the beginning of the civil unrest, this beautiful island attracted 3-4 million tourists a year. We were told that all of last year netted only 54,000 tourists! The beaches and resorts are empty here. Its a great deal if you don't mind the long trip over (and machine guns!).

Fortunately, the fighting has not caused major setbacks in the work of the ministry here. Even though the Pastor's were subject to the checkpoints, as Pastor's they received special treatment. It is a great picture of the body of Christ to see the Tamil and Sri Lankan native Pastor's here together, loving one another!

I would appreciate any and all prayers for my teaching tomorrow. I've really wrestled over the last couple of days with what to share. I felt that what I taught last week was not for this group. And after seeing the incredible work of ministry here, I kept asking God to show me what it is He wanted me to say. Part of the problem is that we are looked on as such experts, but as we see what they are doing for the Kingdom of God, we walk away as the ones who have much to learn. But I've settled in on my topic and will actually be warning the Pastor's about not losing their first love (Rev. 3), in all that they are doing in ministry as well as heading the Apostle Paul's words of wisdom in 2 Tim 4:1-5. Pray also for my succinctness of speech as here we work with double translators, one for the Tamils and one for those who speak the native Sri Lankan tongue.

The one visit I made this week to see the ministry in action (poor Gary could not venture out) was a travel a couple hours North to IGL's Mission Base. Yet another impressive sight. This base is still under construction (they build as they have funds available to do so). Currently they have children's cottages, and are building a conference center/dinning hall. One interesting note, as we were leaving the base to return to the hotel we saw a major construction project right next to the Mission Base. We asked one of the IGL Pastors traveling with us what they were building. He told us it will be a Muslim base much like IGL's. He went on to tell us that whatever IGL does, the Muslims copy it! He said they have figured out that if they don't they'll lose more and more of their people who after being cared for in the name of Christ, begin to name the name of Christ! It was a mixed emotion moment.

Gary and I plan to do one final post tomorrow as we leave for home early Saturday morning. Pray for our stamina, we have definitely hit that part of the trip where you long for home! Please pray for our travels home as well. As I said, we leave Sri Lanka early Saturday, travel to Mumbai (Bombay India), have an 11 hour lay over, then fly to JFK in New York, then to Atlanta (anther long layover) then home to Portland by 7:30 Sunday night. PDX will never have looked so good!

Oh, before I forget, Gary has been working on his teaching ministry website while he is here, and will have many details relating to his trip back here in March. He plans to have it all up by early next week. Check it out at eachnewgeneration.com.

One final prayer request before I sign off. Gary, Bob and I have been praying and discussing what exactly to do with everything we've experienced here once we return. Please pray for us, that we will have divine guidance!

Well, time to sign off. I need to head back and put on my slacks and tie for the communion and ordination service tonight. As hard as it is to wear a tie in this heat, its nothing when you see these Pastor's who have truly given up all for the call of God on their lives, come forward to be prayed over and ordained as ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Some, before receiving the training from IGL, had little or no formalized education. Man is God using the simple things of this world in a powerful way!

Our continued love, prayers and blessings from Sri Lanka!

Monte (for us both!)

Back on line!

We are now in Sri Lanka suffering for the Lord with our hotel on the beaches of the Indian Ocean. But there is another side to this beautiful island. As we were landing, there were tanks and heavy artillary on the runway. There were armed guards around the airport protecting it from the rebels and the warfare going on here. Bu tnow, I am getting ahead of myself.

Yesterday was a busy last day in India. We went to an IGL church service in the morning and participated in their enthusiastic worship and then our team did the teaching and the prayers. Their taking of the offering brought me back to the story of the widow's mite - these people who have so little giving what they can to the Lord. They are so appreciative of people from the West coming to minister to them - that they matter in the Kingdom of God. What a privilege to be part of that. Back "home" for lunch and then a quick packing of luggage in the van, saying our good-byes to those not going with us. How hard that was - in just a few short days, you become like family. We're then off to a rural church to dedicate their new church building. We were greeted as honored guests and participated in dedicating the building to the Lord for it to be used for His Kingdom purposes in their community. It is amazing to be so far out and yet still have sound systems complete with a wireless mic! Again, the people are so appreciative for the church in the West to be part of the whole Body of Christ - to provide the resources, training and what it takes to come to their church service. When we were done - it was off to the hotel by the airport for our last night in India. But what a final day it was - 9 hours on the bumpy roads of India - experiencing every part of life here. A ride we won't soon forget!

This morning we had a quick 45 minute flight to Sri Lanka and you would think we were in a different world - I guess we are! No animals on the road, no garbage or litter, everyone driving on the right side of the road, washing machines, dryers and tvs being sold in the airport! You gotta love it.

Conference starts tomorrow - pray for the speakers - that they would be inspired by the Lord and not depend on what they taught last week. Pray for these pastors who needs lots of encouragement. As of right now, we don't know what our role is but we both are anticipating that God has something here for us (and not just a time to relax by the pool!)

Hopefully we will be back on tomorrow as we have to go to a cafe to get internet access. We can't tell you how much we appreciate your prayers and support for us!

gary for the two of us
(sorry Bob you had to miss this!)