The End of our Time in India

Today we finished our meetings at noon. We celebrated together with our Indian brothers and sisters with a communion service. I really believe that they were significantly impacted by our teaching and the manner in which we conducted ourselves. One group of pastors told me that our teaching was some of the most significant teaching they had ever received and that they were excited to be able to use it with their people. One pastor told Mark, our training partner, that he was impacted by the humility we showed as we taught them. We were so happy to hear that because it is one of our prime objectives to serve them with humility and build them up in Christ. I built relationships with several pastors that I think will turn into opportunities to train in their areas of South India. All in all, we were delighted with our time here. When we are planning on a trip to a new area like this I find it hard to imagine what the people are like. I picture them as more or less a uniform mass of people. When we arrive and live here awhile we soon find out that they are as distinct as we are with widely varying looks and personalities. It has been a real joy to get to know these folks.

This afternoon we went to a shopping area. It is hard to describe unless you have experienced it. Instead of a mall it was really a series of narrow streets jammed with people. Literally thousands of small motor scooters lined every street. One section we walked into was a Muslim section and the dress of all the people suddenly changed. Some seemed not too happy that we were there. It reminded us of the challenges that the pastors face here with opposition from the Hindus and Muslims. Yet they have such a fervor to reach them for Christ. Perhaps the stark differences between them and believers reminds them that unbelievers are lost and going to hell. We in American have only subtle differences from our lost neighbors and we sometimes forget where they are all going.

We are excited to soon be going home but not without a sense of loss that we leave good friends behind. We comfort ourselves with the fact that we will return here again. Edie and I head first to Spain for a short vacation, the first in a long time. We are looking forward to a few days together before we return to the US and dive into a pile of work to get ready for the future. Thank you for partnering with us.

Al

Teaching in Bangalore

Our teaching here in Bangalore has been going very well. I have been teaching on our design as human beings and how in Christ we have a new identity. We are working our way through Romans 5-8. I am teaching them how to use these truths in counseling. The pastors and their wives have been super responsive and already making applications to their lives. Several mentioned that they wondered why their bible schools did not teach them these things. They are so thankful for what they are learning. One woman, Neena, was sitting with Edie and wrote a note saying, "deep and meaningful, a different perspective. I will use this in my counseling." It is a privilege and delight to teach them life-changing truths.

The women are warming up to Edie and becoming more open. They tend to be a little reserved at first. They responded well to her teaching. She has especially connected well with Neena and Beth, the leader's wife.

One interesting thing happened as I taught the first day. A pastor sitting in front began strongly shaking his head side to side as if in strong disagreement. However as time went on I realized that was not the case. It turns out that if the Indians are really engaging with what is being said they tend to shake their head that way, just the opposite of what we do in our culture. We all had a good laugh together about that when I mentioned it to them.

Some of the couples in our group have recently experienced strong persecution, with some of them being actually beaten and threatened for their faith. It impressed me that they are acting so ordinary, laughing, singing, engaging in conversation. I realized that they are just like us, ordinary people who are experiencing a cost for their faith. Pray for them.

We are enjoying the Indian food which is a bit spicy. We have tried a lot of new dishes and quite a few new varieties of fruit. We did walk down to the local KFC last night for a little bit of America again and it was so good! We have been invited to one of the pastor's homes for supper tonight, which will be fun.

Thanks for praying,

Al

First week in India

We are now in Bangalore and it is much cooler here, probably in the high 70's. It was up to 100 in Ahmadabad. We had a great time with Wilson and his wife there. Wilson and his son Nish and I had great discussions about our plan to train current and future pastors in their movement. We made a lot of progress but the issue is quite complicated. Training up to 20,000 pastors in the next 10 years is a logistical challenge. We still have some work to do to get the system worked out for training multiple levels of trainers to accomplish the task. You can pray with us for wisdom for all of that.

Here in Bangalore we have had a good time meeting with Charles and Beth who are the leaders of the Southern India EFC affiliate churches. We start our training this morning on biblical counseling and then this afternoon we speak on marriage. We look forward to a great week. Our hotel has internet so we will update regularly on the blog about what we are doing.

Al