Join me in boasting in our God, “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” I say this because He has given us a great year in 2007 in terms of fulfilling His promises through all the multifaceted ministries of GHI. Here’s what I mean:
Matthew 28:19 and Acts 1:8 say, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…and you will be my witnesses…to the ends of the earth.”
Our final 2007 figures show that we have preached the Gospel in 651 locations to almost 349,000 people with over 135,000 making first time decisions while planting seven (7) new churches. Again, we went to where the people were with the Good News never expecting them to come to us. Over 400 times we presented the powerful Jesus Film before we gave them the Gospel. This “we go to them” approach was the way God led Whitefield and Wesley during the great 18th Century Awakening and it is what God is again leading many of us to do in this day. At this very moment we have engaged 8 unreached peoples groups throughout Ghana and India and they are receiving the gift of salvation with gladness and joy.
As Paul said in Galatians 2:10, “we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was willing to do.”
We are now in our 10th year of educating 35 poor children in and around Chennai and Ponnai where our offices are located. Many of these are now in the work place, some have gone on to college and nursing school and some are moving toward the ministry. Apart from our assistance and giving them a chance in life, they would most likely have been condemned to a life of day laboring for $1 a day. This is the second ministry that God opened up for us in 1998.
2 Timothy 2:15 says, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and correctly handles the word of truth.”
We are in our 5th year of educating young men and women for the ministry at Harvesters Training College in India. Because we give them a free education, they give us back one year when they finish. But in the meantime, they are not only studying but are sharpening their skills in the villages during the weekends bringing their own people to Christ in record numbers. This college became a reality because we did not have the necessary people to look after the aftercare of the people making decisions for Christ in 2002.
James 1:27 says, “…to look after orphans and widows in their distress…”
Many of you remember the tsunami of December 2004. The Fathers House came into existence in March 2005 and we are now starting our 4th year of caring for the helpless, hopeless and abandoned in India. It is the last ministry that God has given us. We now have 45 children and are blessed everyday to see how they are coming to Christ and blossoming into great students while they live in a safe and nurturing environment.
I have listed the ministries in the order that they come online with us. Over the last 18 years God has led us to become more holistic in our approach to reaching people but we have never lost sight of the goal of presenting the Gospel to as many people as we can until our Lord comes again!
What happened in December in India? I have enclosed Sam’s report for the month…read on!
Dear Friends,
Greetings to you in the name of our Triune God! I would like to wish you a ‘God centered New Year’. Thank you for praying and for supporting us. The month of December was a month of great harvest. I hope and trust that you will be encouraged as you read this update.
Sharing the Gospel in the flag hoisting ceremony
One of the customs among the Christians in this North Arcot District is to hoist the flag with the cross on the 1st week of December to mark the advent of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Christians as well as non Christians assemble together for this ceremony. By God’s grace we hoisted the flag in five of our churches and preached the Gospel by explaining the birth of Christ and meaning of the cross. Around 60 people placed their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ out of the 400+ who gathered.
Personal and Mass Evangelism in 10 villages
Our pastors, students and lecturers of HTC went to around 10 villages for personal and mass evangelism in the last week of Nov and first week of Dec. The people were very receptive to the Gospel.
One day, when my wife and I were leading two women to Christ, a believer invited us to her home. As I was praying for the believer’s family, another woman was also present. I did not realize that the other woman was demon possessed until I began to pray. Suddenly this woman became very restless and began to convolute. The devil has been ruining the lives of these people. Please do continue to pray for her deliverance.
The film ministry was also very rewarding. Many came out in the night, saw the Jesus film, heard the Gospel and responded.
Believers Meeting
It is my Dad’s desire to have a special meeting exclusively for the believers. The believers from all our branches churches and house churches were invited, but transportation was not provided. However, many believers came for the meeting on the 9th of Dec. The church was not sufficient to accommodate them and many had to sit outside the church. We praise God for the faith and love for God of the believers. 98% of them are first generation Christians! We worshiped the Lord together, heard testimonies of God’s work from the lips of the believers, heard the preaching of God’s word from a missionary and partook of the Lord’s Supper.
Christmas get together for GHIndia staff, HTC and Father’s House …
By God’s grace our total GHI family has grown to around 100 people. We had a wonderful Christmas celebration on the 16th of Dec. We had a sports meet for the children and also for the pastors and their wives. Later we heard God’s word, enjoyed the dance and drama which the children, college students and the GHI family put up. All the children, students and faculty of HTC, pastors and their families, cooks, drivers, agricultural workers received Christmas gift. We also enjoyed some tasty South India meal. Our celebration went on till 11 p.m. It was a good family time!
Semester Exams were conducted
Our college semester exams were conducted from the 15th to the 21st. The 3rd semester students preached expository sermons as part of their required studies. I was very glad to see their growth. I was impressed a lot by one student, the youngest of all. I had even sent him out of the class on one occasion for failing to keep up with a class requirement. However, he was the best preacher that day!
Sharing the Gospel through the carol rounds
In our carol rounds we do not go to the believers home and inform them of the birth of Christ, instead we go to different villages in the night and share the Gospel to non believers. We went to 10 villages and preached the Gospel to 1,328 and 760 people took decisions for Christ. We heard and saw the people pray with seriousness.
In one of the village (S.N. Palayam) people who come under the unreached people group live here. Many responded to the preaching of God’s word and trusted Christ. Our pastor Jayaraj went to that village the very next day after our carol rounds to do the follow up work. About 20 people gathered and 8 of them are ready for baptism. By God’s grace a house church was planted in this village as a result of the carol rounds.
Christmas Celebration for the Lost
Our pastors and students invited people from the surrounding villages for the Christmas day celebration. By the grace of God around 1,500 people, mostly Hindus came for the Christmas celebration. We set up a tent and had the celebration in an open ground. Three former Hindus shared their testimony. All of them had one theme in common - ‘The Lord Jesus Christ is the true God and the other gods are just mud and stones’.
Our children enacted the nativity scene and also danced. We also served South Indian delicious mutton briyani for everyone. Before we concluded, my Dad preached the Gospel and over 500 people took decisions for Christ. We praise God for using our children to communicate the Gospel story to many people. We thank God for bringing so many people to hear the Gospel.
New Year Eve’s Service – December 31
We had a wonderful New Year Eve’s service. I preached the New Year sermon. I exhorted the believers to leave behind all their superstitious belief that something strange and good will happen in the turn of the New Year. I pointed out to them that God is not bound by time, month, season or year and none of these will influence Him. Then, I exhorted them to fear the eternal God and keep his commandments at all time and in all seasons, as this is the whole duty of man.
Friends, I am amazed as to how the Lord God granted us the grace to share the message of Christmas to many people and how he has worked in heart of the hearers. Let us continue to pray for all of them.
May the Lord grant you a wonderful New Year!
Your Brother in Christ,
Aaron John Samuel (Sam)
Principal, HTC
Ponnai, South India
In all of the various meetings in December, they preached to 3,228 Hindus and 1,320 came forward to receive Christ with many coming for baptism, praise His Name!
GHANA IN DECEMBER
While one of our teams had finished their last 2007 annual project in November, the other one led by Evangelist Godfried Tei was moving around the Eastern Region of the country bringing the Gospel as they showed the Passion of Christ and the Jesus Film in 22 locations. God blessed them with a rich harvest as they preached to 13,800 with 5,956 making first time decisions for Christ.
Here is a testimony from one of their meetings:
I was born into a so called Christian home and was coerced into attending church against my will. I saw my father drinking and smoking and manhandling my mother only for him to go to church and even dare go for communion. My rebellion and resentment came to a head when I left home and went into the boarding school. I fell into bad company and before I realized, I was into the occult. We abandoned school and went into the cemetery at odd hours to practice. I enjoyed hurting others and seeing them suffer and so made a lot of enemies. My relationship with my siblings grew worse until my father sacked me from home. I went into drugs and only felt happy when I was high on drugs.
This evening when I was on my way to get a supply of drugs, I chanced on this showing and it seems a power that is stronger than me made me stop to watch. The most touching part of the film to me is when Jesus is being beaten. I felt the eyes of Jesus looking straight into my heart and telling me “I went through this for you and so do not punish yourself for nothing.” When I came to myself, I was weeping uncontrollably and calling, “please help me.”Jesus is truly the light of the world. This is how the Lord found Justice A______ and brought him home.
Friends, as I finish composing this prayer letter, I have been reminded of the faithful friends through the years who have obeyed God and stood with us to make this ministry a reality. You have prayed for us and given sacrificially and Dottie and I as well as the teams in Ghana and India want to say a big thank you again for all you do.
Please continue to keep our finances in prayer. The monthly receipts are still not where we need to be but we are not discouraged. God has never let us down and we are trusting Him!
We have only 60% of the annual budget for THE FATHER’S HOUSE commited at this time leaving us a balance of $12,000 for the remainder of the year. Would you please give this some prayer? These little children must have our support!
Until next month, join me in saying, “O LORD, our LORD, how majestic is your name in
all the earth!”
Grace and peace…Mack and Dottie
