Good Days & Other Days

Time has gotten away from me, it has been a week since I last wrote. We finished well in S. India. Thursday morning we spent an hour of our training time going over all the places these men are training and talking strategy about the future. They now say that they are training in 35 different locations and have 9 more in the planning stage. One man continues to talk about needing a training center and more funds to carry out the trainings since they are footing the bill for all the trainings they are doing. I had a frank discussion with them about our financial policies and how I thought they should proceed with the resources they have. One man said that I had an American perspective on all that and I agreed but reminded him of the scriptures we have looked at previously concerning finances and that perhaps I also had a biblical perspective. He quickly saw my point. I talked about how through multiplication they could do more training while doing less themselves. They are just beginning to get that concept in practice. All in all it was a very good discussion. They have a big vision but need guidance to carry it out well in a non dependent way.

As well as the training went in S. India it went in a different direction here in N. India. Only a few of the students had done their pre-assignments so they were not well prepared. I was quite surprised since they had done well in the past. I am not sure what the problem was. They had a meeting to talk about it after we left for the day and I am told they were quite repentant and made commitments to do better in the future. But it still meant we had to train with the students poorly prepared. This is the way ministry goes. Sometimes it is great and sometimes not. But God is gracious. I had to remember all the times the Lord has been gracious concerning my inexcusable failures. Overall, I think that we accomplished a lot in spite of the setbacks. We made significant progress in understanding how to preach the Psalms. The students are going home with renewed commitments and a fresh look at the grace of God.  

We had planned to do a conference with the Church of North India pastors starting tomorrow. But last week a major lawsuit by one of the constituent groups within the CNI was settled, after decades of fighting. The small group took many of the church buildings and parsonages and many pastors were put out in the street. The whole denomination is in turmoil. So, the conference was canceled. We now have 3 days to kill until we travel on to Thailand. We do not understand but as usual we just follow what the Lord provides.  

Al

Multiplication

We finished the last day of training today and I consider our time here to be very successful. I can see good progress in the men's ability to study the word. Today we spent some time talking about all the places they are training. I think they were even surprised about how many locations they are working in collectively. They now tell me they are working in 35 locations and have 9 more in the planning stages. We talked about developing a good strategy for reaching as many with the training as possible through multiplication of trainers. This is a new concept they are learning from us and although they agree with it, some time will be needed before they really practically will be able to implement the needed changes. They complained a bit about needing more resources since they are funding all the trainings they are conducting. I told them that this was a gift from God to them to set boundaries on what they could do themselves, forcing them to develop a better strategy of training others to carry the training forward. I think we made some progress toward that goal.  

There certainly is no lack of motivation or vision with them, they want to train all the pastors in S. India, 10's of thousands. This is a great example of what we dream of, multiplying our ministry through others. I told them there was no way I could possibly train in 35 locations in India but that I am doing just that through them. Now they can train in hundreds of other locations, not by themselves, that would be equally impossible, but through those they train. I really think this may happen because they are motivated men of faith and God is empowering us to train His pastors to preach the Word effectively to God's people. It is an exciting adventure to see all this taking place. I want you to know that through your prayers and financial gifts to us the work is being amazingly multiplied here and in other places to the glory of God. Thanks again for your partnership with us.

Al

Teaching the Women in India

Alan has asked me to write about my training with the women in Trichy. I believe it is my 4th time to be with these ladies and we are becoming real partners in discovering God's message for us in the passages we study. I have a skilled translator who is one of the pastor's wives and very much a full participant as well. Our study this time has been of Joseph. I am able to get just so far with the study tools I have, but the real work of identifying the message statements is the beautiful activity of the Spirit of Christ working through each of us together. Monday we struggled some, but Tuesday was a day of revelation for us all. From seeing the titles come and then gathering our insights for message statements and concluding with the II Tim. 3:16 exercise of teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness. We all were in awe of what we could see of God's application of His truths in our lives today.

 

Monday I wore an African dress including jewelry. I usually dress Indian so this was welcomed with enthusiasm and laughter. You must know that this was a total God thing. I was going through my Indian things when I came across this dress and thought I would surprise them. Well the day before I was going to wear it they had asked about my trip to Africa and said that they had prayed for me there. I told them I would share the next day. The women loved the videos on my ipad of the African women dancing and singing. With the story of Joseph being set in Egypt, it was especially meaningful. It was a Suzanne icebreaker, She must be rubbing off on me.

Today is our last day. We gave Sherry and Pastor Titus the gifts for their orphanage and their first response was to lay hands on the money and pray. Alan said Titus knows the danger of money and wanted his heart protected. They were surprised and in awe that our church did this. They will pray faithfully for our church and send their love and deepest felt thanks.

On to another long day of pressing on in Jesus for the glorious purpose of understanding His Word better and then being doers not just hearers of His Word. Thank you for lifting us up to His throne of grace today 

Edie

Training Adventures in India

Tuesday, 10/22: It has been a good second day of training. I so enjoy the men here. They have such open hearts and a real passion for passing the training on to many others. Today they were talking about how they are strategizing about how to take the training to many groups in S. India over the course of the next several years. They had such vision and need only a little advice and help in organization to carry our ministry far beyond us in this needy land.

We are studying the Psalms in our current workshop and today spent some time thinking through lament psalms, the most common type of psalm. They begin with a complaint or problem and eventually end up with a statement of hope in God, often in the absence of all earthly evidence but in the face of His word. We talked about how this kind of lament was part of the worship experience of Israel but is often so foreign to our cultures, both the Indian and the American. We often feel that such things as showing doubt, fear, frustration or hurt publicly or in the congregation is taboo. But as I said this is the most common form of the psalms and was meant to be sung and contemplated by the congregation of God's people. Perhaps that is a great loss to us in helping one another know how to take our hurts and troubles to the Lord in authentic ways, but also in ways that lead to real hope.  

We looked at Psalm 42/43 today in which the author shares his struggle of being in trouble, we are not sure exactly the nature of his trouble, but how those around him harass him with ridicule saying "where is your God?" The psalm records his progress in understanding as he repeatedly preaches to his own soul about hoping in God, that he will once again praise Him. That is a good model for us. Face trouble honestly, sharing our feelings with God but then preaching to ourselves that in spite of the evidence around us, God is faithful. We can know that because the Word says so.  

We also spent considerable time over the past couple of days studying the theology of salvation, but not by studying a systematic theology book but by studying a passage of scripture. We looked at Ephesians 1 where we are told that all of the blessings of salvation, and everything else, are found in Christ. It was a fruitful time to help these dear men begin to build their theology around the Word of God and especially around the concept of "in Christ" which is so prominent in this passage. I was encouraged myself looking once again at these great verses and their wonderful, rich message. We are fully blessed, in Christ.

As good as our day was, our night was not so good. Edie and I are still struggling with jet lag, having a worse adjustment than normal. Sometimes it is just like this, we have no idea why. Last night we had electricity problems. That is nothing new here in one sense. The electricity goes off for awhile everyday. It appears that the city has not kept up with the power supply as city has grown. There simply is not enough to go around for everyone at the same time. At our hotel this is usually not a great problem because within a few seconds a massive generator kicks in a supplies power until the city power returns. Our brothers here are not as fortunate. We ate with another pastor last night, again we ate while they watched, but we did so by candle light because they had no power. They apologized for the sparse meal, fried chicken, chapati and dahl. I am not sure how you spell that, it is a soupy type sauce made from lentils that you pick up with pieces of the chapati, which are much like corn tortillas. We are getting pretty used to eating with no utensils as the Indians nearly always do. We thought the meal was great.   

Back in the hotel we had electricity and felt bad for them, for awhile. At 12:30 am Edie awoke to a loud buzzing noise coming from the switch plate where you put the key card to keep the electricity going in the room. I had not heard it because I wear ear plugs.  I woke to see her fumbling around in the dark flipping switches and pounding on the switch plate trying to make the noise stop. I had no idea what she was doing until I took out my earplugs and heard the loud buzzing.  

We also had no idea how to stop it so we called down to the front desk. They came up, after we quickly put on a few clothes and finally said that the problem was that the city's electric supply was coming in with very low voltage and had ruined the key switch. They suggested we move to another room across the hall, which we ended up doing. One bright note was that the room was larger and better arranged for us to get around our suit cases, etc. Anyway, we had to wait awhile for the voltage to get straight so the air conditioner would work, of course it was hot in the room because the air conditioner had not been running since no one was staying there. We finally got back to bed around 2 and then woke up around 4. I went back to bed around 6:30 and was back up at 7:30 and Edie then took her turn until around 8:30. What fun. Needless to say I dragged a little today but I remembered that the 3rd or 4th day was usually a down one so I am hopeful for tomorrow.  I am sure it will be better, but if not, I am thankful for the Lord's provision of strength, and for my caffeine pills. 

Al

October Training in India

Sunday 10/20: We arrived safely to S. India yesterday. As usual it was two hard days of travel but we held up pretty well all in all. It was such a delight to see our Indian brothers at the airport. We have come to love one another so much it was like a family reunion. On the way to the hotel Seth chattered on and on about how he had taken our Pathway training to Malaysia and Singapore. We are so proud of him and the others. They have now taken our training to 13 different locations and have yet 4 or 5 more in the works. Their enthusiasm for the training stems from the great benefit they have seen in their own lives and ministries. In their view it is only natural to pass it on to as many other pastors as possible. We talked about how the men they train need to be encouraged to pass the training on as well. Seth talked about one group that is going to do just that and that he is going to "mentor" them as they train the next group. I told him he was the answer to my prayers and a real partner in the training ministry.

I preached in two churches this morning, preaching in Seth's church first and then immediately leaving to go across town to preach in Saju's church. It felt a little ragged the first time adjusting my message down to about 35 minutes with translation but the second time it went much better. The Lord definitely showed up as I am still a bit jet lagged. We went to bed about 8:30 pm and awoke around a quarter to three. It will take a few days to settle in to this time, almost 12 hours different than at home. If you would like to see what it is like, just try to stay up tonight until around 10 tomorrow morning and then sleep until about 4 in the afternoon.  Then maybe you can go to bed around 7 the next morning. Subtract an hour or two each morning and after 4 or five days you will be back to your normal times.  

We will have supper at Saju's home, which is also the church and location of our training, about 100 yards from our hotel. Rather, I am sure we will eat while they watch us. It is always a little odd to be served by an Indian family for dinner. They stand around and serve us like kings while they watch. Once you get the idea that this is Indian hospitality, then it actually becomes fun.  

Edie and I will try hard to stay up until 9 or 9:30 pm and hope to make it until 4 or so in the morning before we rise. One great thing about this schedule is that I have plenty of time to be well prepared for training, being up for 4 or 5 hours beforehand. We will be doing the workshop on the Psalms this time and I am excited to work together with the men through this marvelous book. We will try to keep you up to date on how it is going. Thanks for your interest and partnership with us in this great work.

Al