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