According to His Word, God has been especially faithful to us this past month as we continue to move into the fields that are ready for the harvesters. I do hope you are encouraged in your own faith as you read the stirring testimonies from India and Ghana. I am personally blessed as I receive the monthly reports from all the teams stretching from Ghana, India and the Philippines.
India Project – July 12 – 28, 2007 – South India
In just 12 days our team of ten leaves for South India to begin an extensive work that will grant us access into approximately 65 venues, including Jr. and Sr. High Schools, colleges and universities, churches and Jesus Film Crusades at night. In addition, we will have a 2 day pastor’s conference for some 100 pastors in the area. Here are some things to pray for – Our health and stamina in the heat; power for preaching and reaching the lost; protection from the militant Hindu element that is constantly around us and a safe journey in and out of the country.
This is our 37th project into India since 1990.
In addition, we also have two projects going in Ghana and one in the Philippines this month.
Special Report from India
This month I want to feature a report from Aaron John Samuel (Sam), James’ son who is in his second full year as Principal of the college and Director of the orphanage. Enjoy the report!
Dear Friend,
Greetings to you in the name of our Lord! I hope and trust that you are doing fine. I apologize for this report being late. I’m grateful for the replies from the last update. They always are an encouragement to me. Here is a brief update for the last couple of months.
OUR SPRING MISSIONS
God enabled us to go to 26 villages to share the Gospel from April 21st to May 1st. About 480 people heard the Gospel and 360 people trusted Christ. There were good responses in most of the villages, but in some villages we faced opposition.
One morning, in T.S. Palli village, I saw a man near a Hindu temple. He had just finished lighting the camphor before the temple. The Lord enabled me to share the Gospel with him near the temple and he trusted Christ. He told me that after he had trusted Christ, he felt an inner peace. Praise the Lord! Another morning, I met a college student named Sasi in Narasapuram. He said that he believed in the existence of God, but did not know that he could have a personal relationship with God. I shared with him how he can have a personal relationship with his creator God through Jesus Christ. This young Hindu boy believed the Gospel and trusted Christ. Praise God!
Another evening in Selembu Kandigai, as I was sharing the Gospel with 2 men, a man began to distract me. He said that this Christian activity was the work of the Americans who want to take over India. He told me that his Hindu gods were much older than the Christian God and that Jesus came very late. Then, I pointed out to him, the historicity of the Christian faith and the mythological aspect of the Hindu faith. He became very angry and yelled that I was a mad man and asked me to get out. May God grant grace and favor to this man and May God continue to make us bold in the face of opposition!
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL
By the grace of God, Vacation Bible School was conducted for the first time at our church in Keerasath since we began the ministry in the Ponnai area. We had 134 kids attend V.B.S. We taught them a lot of songs, stories from the Bible and memory verses. On the last day, the kids enacted drama, sang songs and recited the memory verses. God gave me the privilege to share the Gospel on the last day. I shared from the life of Zaccheus and around 100 of the children trusted Christ that morning.
One of most interesting aspect of the V.B.S was the involvement of the believers in our church. Two of our teachers, Saranya and Sangeeta are young Hindu convert girls. They have been attending our church for the past few years. We also had conducted regular Bible studies in their villages. We have witnessed their growth in Christ and now to see them serve the Lord in the ministry along with us was a great joy to us. It’s our prayer that all the believers in our church and our daughter churches would also serve along with us in the ministry one day.
MERCY MINISTRY
Just as in the day of the Apostles, the church still needs to be sensitive to the physical needs of the people. Chitti, one of our believers at Goduvarpalli needed an urgent open heart surgery. I had already mentioned about the needs for her surgery twice in my prayer letters. One Sunday, she came to me along with other believers and narrated her difficulties. She was getting tired often, had severe palpitation. She and the other believers pleaded with me for help. I encouraged them to pray to the Lord God and assured them that something would be done on Wednesday/Thursday. Humanly, I did not have a clue as to where we could find nearly $3,000 for her surgery. So, we kept on praying to God and miraculously, God honored our faith in Him. On Wednesday, my Dad called me and told me that a couple in the USA had come forward to bear the expenses for the surgery. We were all overjoyed. God is very much alive and active.
On May 7th an open heart surgery was performed. She is fine now. Her husband told me that he would have left her to die, had we not intervened. I must say that God was the one who intervened and stirred the heart of the young couple to respond to this need. As a result, her husband has also become a believer in Jesus Christ. Please pray for his spiritual growth.
HARVESTERS TRAINING COLLEGE
By the grace of God, we have completed the second semester. The students had their final exams from May 22nd May to May 30th. God has been very gracious to us. One of our students, Richard Raja Cholan was serving as a Pastor before he came to our Bible College. In one of our class, Richard said ‘One evening, when I was reading the Bible and thinking about my life, I began to weep. I wept because, prior to my coming to this Bible College, I had interpreted the Bible in my own way and taught a lot of wrong things to my church’. Richard had thanked God publicly in the church two weeks ago for bringing him to Harvesters Training College. He is trusting God to teach him more in the next semester, too.
I am glad that not only are the students learning but God is also shaping them up spiritually. Sasi Kumar, another student said ‘After going through the OT Prophets class, I have now begun to forgive people. I saw how God was so forgiving to the people of Israel’. Praise God!
The students are also very enthusiastic about the ministry that is before them. One evening, as we were going for the ministry, I felt that it was getting too dark to go to a nearby village called Selambu Kandigai. I felt that people may not want to listen because their women had begun cooking and the men in this village usually go and drink at that part of the day. However, Arun Kumar, a student said to me ‘Annan (meaning older brother), the Lord has commanded us to go, let us be obedient to his call and not bother if people will listen to us or not’. I listened to his exhortation and went to the village and God granted a great harvest. Praise God!
Friends, please pray as we are applying for accreditation this month. I am happy that things are positive. Please do pray as we take more new students for the coming Academic year.
THE FATHER’S HOUSE
For the past few months, almost every week, my wife and I have been taking many kids to the hospital. One morning, Siva Shankar complained of acute pain in his knee. We took him to Christian Medical College in Vellore and he was diagnosed with rheumatic fever. His heart had been affected. He was admitted to the Hospital for about 4 days and then discharged. He has to be on medication for the rest of his life.
We are happy that all our children have passed their exams and are going to the next level of classes. We have brought the school supplies and the kids are starting around June 25th.
We have some new addition and we are thankful to God for it. We were approached by one teacher and asked if we could admit a 4 year old girl. Latha, a 4 year old girl lost her father about 3 years back. Her mother has some mental problems and does not have a regular job. She is not able to give her food and also vents all her anger on Latha by beating her up. They are struggling even to eat. Even if there is food in the house, Latha’s mom eats the food, instead of giving her daughter some food forcing Latha to go to different houses and beg those who have compassion on her gives her some food to eat. Latha spends most of the time in the streets. Now, by God’s grace Latha has come to the Father’s House where she will have security, food to eat, place to sleep, clothes to wear, school education, discipline and love. Please pray that God will continue to grant us the grace to serve these little ones who belong to the loving Father.
GHANA PROJECTS (2) in MAY
Both our teams led by Eugene Narh and Godfried Tei were very active in May and had a very fruitful time of harvesting. Eugene was in the Ashanti Region near Kwadaso and Godfried was in and out of the Greater Accra Region. They combined to preach the Gospel in 59 venues across Ghana to 41,516 people. Over 12,700 came forward from the crowds to repent of their sins and name Jesus Christ as their newly found Savior and Lord. We wish there was space to record all their words and emotions, but here are a few of them. Both teams will be in the fields in July, so pray for them as they again go for the harvest.
“My father is a well known top clergy man and a disciplinarian at home. My child hood years were spent in the Church and its activities. At boarding school, I fell away and started taking liberties I would not dare take at home. I was quickly led into sin and a lot of new tricks which I mastered. I was able to hide these bad traits from my parents until I reached my final year when I failed my exams. My father was shocked and nearly died of heart attack but he resolved to help me go through my education if I gave up the bad habits, to which I agreed. Unfortunately I had fallen so deep into my bad habits that I could not keep my part of the bargain and eventually ended up in prison and this rather increased my descent into hell. After my release, I had a dream that I was standing in the pulpit preaching and suddenly burst into tears. This dream continued to haunt and torture me since I could not connect the pulpit to my present life. Tonight’s film has solved my problem. I prayed to receive Christ and totally give my life to Him. I am determined to pursue that dream I had and take up my father’s vocation. Please remember to pray for me and I would also welcome any help you can give me to enable me realize my dream”. Henry M__________, Accra.
L______, a 53 years middle age woman is a northerner and hails from Fumbisi near Sandama in the Upper East Region in Ghana. She and her family migrated to the Ashanti Region to engage in peasant farming. Though they came from a Muslim dominated community, they remain pagans. Lariba responded to the altar call, prayed the sinner’s prayer to invite Jesus into her heart. She is regular in almost all church activities. As she continues to celebrate her new found faith openly, her life style has become a talk of the town. She said she is praying for her drunkard husband to be convicted by the Holy Spirit so he can also surrender his life to Christ to be saved. She has also promised to witness to her three daughters who are in different communities with their husbands.
K_______ B____, 59 years of age was a palm wine taper and a drunkard. He said he was touched by the salvation message and therefore decided to take a decision to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He has put an end to his drinking habit and has also changed from palm wine tapping to farming.
K_______ A____ is a marijuana (wee) smoker as well as an alcoholic. He said all these habits have passed away and that he affirms that he is a new creature and will use his body as a living sacrifice to witness to his fellow drunkards to come to know the Lord.
E____ S_______, 51 years from Nsutem near Dwinyama was born into the Jehovah Witness sect. He convinced lots of people who have joined the sect. He became a drunkard and finally gave up his faith as a Jehovah Witness. He got converted during our January project and has since become a committed Christian and has become a member of the Church of Pentecost. He said after knowing the truth, he is going to go all out for witnessing to get lost souls to Christ.
Y__ O_____, 42 years was challenged by a friend’s conversion and said if he has been accepted by Christ then he would also surrender his life to Jesus Christ. He prayed to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior and has also joined the local Church in the village. Both these men are determined to do effective evangelism to get their folks into the Christian church.
You may not fully realize this but none of this would be happening apart from those of you who are reading this. Dottie and I and all the 39 missionaries that we support are so indebted to you all for your prayers and the generosity that flows from your hearts. I know that India and Ghana seem far away from where you live but when we get to heaven, men and women from every nation and every tongue will be represented and you will share in rewards.
Here is where we stand year-to-date through the May Projects…
Dear Friend,
Greetings to you in the name of our Lord! I hope and trust that you are doing fine. I apologize for this report being late. I’m grateful for the replies from the last update. They always are an encouragement to me. Here is a brief update for the last couple of months.
OUR SPRING MISSIONS
God enabled us to go to 26 villages to share the Gospel from April 21st to May 1st. About 480 people heard the Gospel and 360 people trusted Christ. There were good responses in most of the villages, but in some villages we faced opposition.
One morning, in T.S. Palli village, I saw a man near a Hindu temple. He had just finished lighting the camphor before the temple. The Lord enabled me to share the Gospel with him near the temple and he trusted Christ. He told me that after he had trusted Christ, he felt an inner peace. Praise the Lord! Another morning, I met a college student named Sasi in Narasapuram. He said that he believed in the existence of God, but did not know that he could have a personal relationship with God. I shared with him how he can have a personal relationship with his creator God through Jesus Christ. This young Hindu boy believed the Gospel and trusted Christ. Praise God!
Another evening in Selembu Kandigai, as I was sharing the Gospel with 2 men, a man began to distract me. He said that this Christian activity was the work of the Americans who want to take over India. He told me that his Hindu gods were much older than the Christian God and that Jesus came very late. Then, I pointed out to him, the historicity of the Christian faith and the mythological aspect of the Hindu faith. He became very angry and yelled that I was a mad man and asked me to get out. May God grant grace and favor to this man and May God continue to make us bold in the face of opposition!
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL
By the grace of God, Vacation Bible School was conducted for the first time at our church in Keerasath since we began the ministry in the Ponnai area. We had 134 kids attend V.B.S. We taught them a lot of songs, stories from the Bible and memory verses. On the last day, the kids enacted drama, sang songs and recited the memory verses. God gave me the privilege to share the Gospel on the last day. I shared from the life of Zaccheus and around 100 of the children trusted Christ that morning.
One of most interesting aspect of the V.B.S was the involvement of the believers in our church. Two of our teachers, Saranya and Sangeeta are young Hindu convert girls. They have been attending our church for the past few years. We also had conducted regular Bible studies in their villages. We have witnessed their growth in Christ and now to see them serve the Lord in the ministry along with us was a great joy to us. It’s our prayer that all the believers in our church and our daughter churches would also serve along with us in the ministry one day.
MERCY MINISTRY
Just as in the day of the Apostles, the church still needs to be sensitive to the physical needs of the people. Chitti, one of our believers at Goduvarpalli needed an urgent open heart surgery. I had already mentioned about the needs for her surgery twice in my prayer letters. One Sunday, she came to me along with other believers and narrated her difficulties. She was getting tired often, had severe palpitation. She and the other believers pleaded with me for help. I encouraged them to pray to the Lord God and assured them that something would be done on Wednesday/Thursday. Humanly, I did not have a clue as to where we could find nearly $3,000 for her surgery. So, we kept on praying to God and miraculously, God honored our faith in Him. On Wednesday, my Dad called me and told me that a couple in the USA had come forward to bear the expenses for the surgery. We were all overjoyed. God is very much alive and active.
On May 7th an open heart surgery was performed. She is fine now. Her husband told me that he would have left her to die, had we not intervened. I must say that God was the one who intervened and stirred the heart of the young couple to respond to this need. As a result, her husband has also become a believer in Jesus Christ. Please pray for his spiritual growth.
HARVESTERS TRAINING COLLEGE
By the grace of God, we have completed the second semester. The students had their final exams from May 22nd May to May 30th. God has been very gracious to us. One of our students, Richard Raja Cholan was serving as a Pastor before he came to our Bible College. In one of our class, Richard said ‘One evening, when I was reading the Bible and thinking about my life, I began to weep. I wept because, prior to my coming to this Bible College, I had interpreted the Bible in my own way and taught a lot of wrong things to my church’. Richard had thanked God publicly in the church two weeks ago for bringing him to Harvesters Training College. He is trusting God to teach him more in the next semester, too.
I am glad that not only are the students learning but God is also shaping them up spiritually. Sasi Kumar, another student said ‘After going through the OT Prophets class, I have now begun to forgive people. I saw how God was so forgiving to the people of Israel’. Praise God!
The students are also very enthusiastic about the ministry that is before them. One evening, as we were going for the ministry, I felt that it was getting too dark to go to a nearby village called Selambu Kandigai. I felt that people may not want to listen because their women had begun cooking and the men in this village usually go and drink at that part of the day. However, Arun Kumar, a student said to me ‘Annan (meaning older brother), the Lord has commanded us to go, let us be obedient to his call and not bother if people will listen to us or not’. I listened to his exhortation and went to the village and God granted a great harvest. Praise God!
Friends, please pray as we are applying for accreditation this month. I am happy that things are positive. Please do pray as we take more new students for the coming Academic year.
THE FATHER’S HOUSE
For the past few months, almost every week, my wife and I have been taking many kids to the hospital. One morning, Siva Shankar complained of acute pain in his knee. We took him to Christian Medical College in Vellore and he was diagnosed with rheumatic fever. His heart had been affected. He was admitted to the Hospital for about 4 days and then discharged. He has to be on medication for the rest of his life.
We are happy that all our children have passed their exams and are going to the next level of classes. We have brought the school supplies and the kids are starting around June 25th.
We have some new addition and we are thankful to God for it. We were approached by one teacher and asked if we could admit a 4 year old girl. Latha, a 4 year old girl lost her father about 3 years back. Her mother has some mental problems and does not have a regular job. She is not able to give her food and also vents all her anger on Latha by beating her up. They are struggling even to eat. Even if there is food in the house, Latha’s mom eats the food, instead of giving her daughter some food forcing Latha to go to different houses and beg those who have compassion on her gives her some food to eat. Latha spends most of the time in the streets. Now, by God’s grace Latha has come to the Father’s House where she will have security, food to eat, place to sleep, clothes to wear, school education, discipline and love. Please pray that God will continue to grant us the grace to serve these little ones who belong to the loving Father.
GHANA PROJECTS (2) in MAY
Both our teams led by Eugene Narh and Godfried Tei were very active in May and had a very fruitful time of harvesting. Eugene was in the Ashanti Region near Kwadaso and Godfried was in and out of the Greater Accra Region. They combined to preach the Gospel in 59 venues across Ghana to 41,516 people. Over 12,700 came forward from the crowds to repent of their sins and name Jesus Christ as their newly found Savior and Lord. We wish there was space to record all their words and emotions, but here are a few of them. Both teams will be in the fields in July, so pray for them as they again go for the harvest.
“My father is a well known top clergy man and a disciplinarian at home. My child hood years were spent in the Church and its activities. At boarding school, I fell away and started taking liberties I would not dare take at home. I was quickly led into sin and a lot of new tricks which I mastered. I was able to hide these bad traits from my parents until I reached my final year when I failed my exams. My father was shocked and nearly died of heart attack but he resolved to help me go through my education if I gave up the bad habits, to which I agreed. Unfortunately I had fallen so deep into my bad habits that I could not keep my part of the bargain and eventually ended up in prison and this rather increased my descent into hell. After my release, I had a dream that I was standing in the pulpit preaching and suddenly burst into tears. This dream continued to haunt and torture me since I could not connect the pulpit to my present life. Tonight’s film has solved my problem. I prayed to receive Christ and totally give my life to Him. I am determined to pursue that dream I had and take up my father’s vocation. Please remember to pray for me and I would also welcome any help you can give me to enable me realize my dream”. Henry M__________, Accra.
L______, a 53 years middle age woman is a northerner and hails from Fumbisi near Sandama in the Upper East Region in Ghana. She and her family migrated to the Ashanti Region to engage in peasant farming. Though they came from a Muslim dominated community, they remain pagans. Lariba responded to the altar call, prayed the sinner’s prayer to invite Jesus into her heart. She is regular in almost all church activities. As she continues to celebrate her new found faith openly, her life style has become a talk of the town. She said she is praying for her drunkard husband to be convicted by the Holy Spirit so he can also surrender his life to Christ to be saved. She has also promised to witness to her three daughters who are in different communities with their husbands.
K_______ B____, 59 years of age was a palm wine taper and a drunkard. He said he was touched by the salvation message and therefore decided to take a decision to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He has put an end to his drinking habit and has also changed from palm wine tapping to farming.
K_______ A____ is a marijuana (wee) smoker as well as an alcoholic. He said all these habits have passed away and that he affirms that he is a new creature and will use his body as a living sacrifice to witness to his fellow drunkards to come to know the Lord.
E____ S_______, 51 years from Nsutem near Dwinyama was born into the Jehovah Witness sect. He convinced lots of people who have joined the sect. He became a drunkard and finally gave up his faith as a Jehovah Witness. He got converted during our January project and has since become a committed Christian and has become a member of the Church of Pentecost. He said after knowing the truth, he is going to go all out for witnessing to get lost souls to Christ.
Y__ O_____, 42 years was challenged by a friend’s conversion and said if he has been accepted by Christ then he would also surrender his life to Jesus Christ. He prayed to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior and has also joined the local Church in the village. Both these men are determined to do effective evangelism to get their folks into the Christian church.
You may not fully realize this but none of this would be happening apart from those of you who are reading this. Dottie and I and all the 39 missionaries that we support are so indebted to you all for your prayers and the generosity that flows from your hearts. I know that India and Ghana seem far away from where you live but when we get to heaven, men and women from every nation and every tongue will be represented and you will share in rewards.
Here is where we stand year-to-date through the May Projects…
We have preached the Gospel in 305 venues,
to 149,808 people.
We have seen 59,435 come forward to receive
Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.
We have also planted three (3) new churches.
to 149,808 people.
We have seen 59,435 come forward to receive
Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.
We have also planted three (3) new churches.
Every blessing and much love until next month…Mack & Dottie
PS --- Please keep the India Project in your prayers!!!!
Dates – July 12 – 28, 2007
PS --- Please keep the India Project in your prayers!!!!
Dates – July 12 – 28, 2007
