Wrapping up Training in India

We have just finished a great week of training here in south India. I couldn't be happier with the results of the week. The men made great progress in everything we tried to teach them. Through the week, we have 4 practice sessions during which the students make short 5 minute presentations of a passage of scripture they have studied. As we discussed ways they could improve, the students responded and made great progress each practice session. On the last day one of the men gave the devotion, and we felt he did a tremendous job in understanding the passage and in presenting it. That was a great way to finish the week. 

The men are also passionate about passing on the training to others and encouraging them to pass it on as well. I think they have become as committed to that as we are. They get so excited hearing how the training is impacting others. This is exactly what we are striving for, multiplying our training through others so that the maximum number of pastors grow in their ability to study and preach the Word of God accurately.

Tonight we went to share with a YWAM group of students about the larger Bible story. They were so attentive. Their leader is one of our students. We learned about how he came to know the Lord and it is an interesting story. He grew up in a Hindu home and as a teen joined a radical group that hates believers. A man he knew showed him a calculator one day. He had never seen one before and was amazed. He wanted to have one and asked the man where he got it. He said he got it at a training in another city that he went to, he said they just gave it to him for going. Our friend asked if he could go and it was arranged. After a few days he realized it was a bible school and he was not too happy, but he wanted the calculator. He skipped some classes but hung around for 4 months, mainly because the people were so nice to him. Finally, he came to faith. It turns out that the original man with the calculator was lying, he actually stole it, and was not a Christian. Our God works in mysterious ways.

After preaching tomorrow we head home, only about 39 hours away. My back is 90%, just a little stiff and a little nagging pain. It didn't keep me from doing what I needed to do. Thanks again for your prayers. Through praying you are helping us train many pastors.

Al