Last Day in Goa

On Thursday we wrapped up the Pastor's Conference and had the graduation for the men who had been in residence for the last ten weeks at the Pastor's Training Institute. India is a country of many languages with several thousand tribal dialects. Each state has their own language and then the national languages are Hindi and English. Most Indians speak two to five languages. On the last day of the conference we had groups of pastors from different parts of the country sing "special" music in their native tongues. Although the words were unrecognizable (to me) the tunes were often very familiar. Pictured below are the men from Karala singing their special.

The young man pictured below was at the conference each day with his father who is a pastor. He sat on the front row and was always attentive and taking notes. (Parenthetically, his little five year old sister was there also and she was just as attentive.) This boy closed out the conference by singing "Here I Am to Worship" in Hindi.

This is a picture of one of the city streets in Panaji, Goa. This is the city we stayed in while in Goa. It is actually quite beautiful. This was taken outside the restaurant where we ate lunch on Thursday.

I left my camera at the hotel when we returned for graduation, so all I had to take pictures was my phone. The seventy graduates were incredibly excited. This was the biggest day of their lives for most of them. A good number of the graduates will be returning to Orissa where persecution against Christians has been the worst.

Below is a picture of the children from the Gilgal children's home singing at the graduation. It seems that pom-poms are an essential part of worship for the children. They are obviously not Baptists.

The young man below is one of the boys at the children's home playing for the choir. Notice he is wearing the "Ranger" T-shirt I gave the boys this week.

P.S. - I'm sitting in the Newark airport finishing this blog at 7am on Saturday. I'm glad to be almost home, but grateful for the opportunity to minister in such a meaningful way for the Lord.

Trips like this soon fall into a routine of their own. I feel compelled to share what is going on and yet at the same time there is not a whole lot to report about. We preach and teach from 9:00 am until five-thirty in the evening. We have a worship service at 7:00 and then get something to eat before getting back to the hotel in time to go to bed.

One of the things that is always a blessing is seeing how the Lord puts our team together. There is always a variety of men with different personalities and gifts. A business man from Atlanta has been the greatest blessing to me. His name is Mark. He is one of the most gracious and humble men I have ever met. He is on his first mission trip and is having the time of his life. You would never guess by the way he conducts himself, but Mark is the treasurer of a multi-billion dollar company. I labeled Mark "King of the Conference" because his humble attitude and graciousness endeared himself to the students like no one else. Mark is pictured below teaching a class on leadership.

Bro. Ron preaching to the pastors.

We had dinner at Jaison Job's house (our host pastor in Goa) on Wednesday night. His wife had a whole kitchen crew helping put together our meal. It was wonderful!

Notice that Jaison is standing while we eat. It is customary for hosts to wait until all the guests have eaten before they dine. This is a practice that I won't be bringing to America.

Jason, his wife Melona, son Answan, and daugther Rachel

The twelve orphan boys that live in Jaison's home.

Monday in Goa

Here are a few pictures from Sunday night and Monday at the Pastor's Conference in Goa:

Pictured below is Dr. Ron Herrod the founder of RHEMA - Ron Herrod Evangelism Ministries Associaton. His son Joseph and Pastor Jaison Job are to his right. Jaison is the pastor in Goa who is responsible for doing all the groundwork for the Pastor's Institutes and for the conference we are having right now. Dr. Herrod is conversing with three of the attendees who are sporting the tee-shirts commemorating the event that all of the men were given.

Monday Morning Worship

Pictured below is Dr. Herrod speaking with a pastor and his wife from the state of Orissa. Their church and home were both burned to the ground by Hindu radicals. The Christians in Orissa are under incredible persecution and need our constant prayers.

This is a group providing special music at the Sunday evening worship service. All of them are from the state of Manipur in far east India. I had the privilege of going to Manipur and starting the Pastor's Institute in 2005. Manipur is so far away that it took this group 4 days to travel to Goa by train.

We have had an absolutely wonderful couple of days here! These servants of God are so appreciative of the instruction and encouragement that we are trying to bring to them this week. Despite the fact that so many of them are under persecution, they all have hearts that are filled with joy.

Of Swine Flu, Security and Sunday

There has been so much overkill on the reporting of swine flu in the US that I have thought it to be in many ways a case of Chicken Little crying "the sky is falling." But it is obvious that they are taking it quite seriously here in India and for good reason. The swine flu has reached epidemic proportions in many parts of this country. In fact, when our plane landed in Mumbai all passengers were put through a swine flu "screening." We also had to fill out a form swearing on the penalty of death or imprisonment that we did not have nor had we been exposed to anyone who has symptoms of the flu. I'm not sure what they would have really done if we had said yes to their health questions, but the word "quarantine" does come to mind.

The situation is serious enough that it will affect the attendance at the pastor's conference. A number of the states in India are restricting travel from one area to another. Consequently, many of the pastors were not able to get tickets (train) to come to the conference. Others are staying home because of fear of getting the flu. Can you see that Satan is at work trying to hinder what we are doing here?

When we arrived at our hotel in Goa on Friday we had to go through a number of security checkpoints just to get into the hotel. Our car was stopped outside the hotel and they ran a bomb-sniffing dog around it checking for explosives. Then our bags had to go through an x-ray machine and we had to all go through a metal detector like at the airport. This is the price you pay for being in an area where the threat of terrorist activity is very real and present.

This morning (Sunday) we had worship at the conference center. Most of those present were men who have been attending the pastor's school. I was given a one hour time slot to preach. To those of you who call me their pastor, you know that was like throwing a bone at a hungry dog. After the service, I met two men who pastor in the province of Orissa. Both of them have had their churches and homes burned by Hindu mobs. They are undergoing incredible persecution and yet are determined to remain faithful. If you think that you have anything to whine and complain about - especially as a Christian - think again.

I'm writing this at two in the afternoon, which means that most of you are still asleep. With that in mind, I want to wish you a blessed day of worship. I already have!

Saturday Morning in Mumbai

If you saw the movie "Slum Dog Millionaire," then you have already seen some of what we saw today. Our flight to Goa didn't leave until one this afternoon so we had the opportunity this morning to visit with one of the local pastors, which afforded us the opportunity to get out onto the streets of Mumbai. I woke up this morning to the sound of a turkey gobbling. For a moment I thought I was back home. This turkey was in the yard on the grounds of our hotel. It's a good think there is a high fence around the place or he would have been on someone's dinner table long ago.

I've wanted to take a ride in one of these 3 wheeled taxis since I first saw one. This is what we took to ride over to Pastor James Thomas house this morning.

Here's Joseph Herrod getting out of the taxi in the middle of a pouring rain.

Pastor James Thomas and his brother-in-law.

Breakfast at Pastor James house.

Pastor James' church is located on the first floor of the building that serves as the church, office and his home. When James first started the church it was only one story and the rear wall ended where the curtain is now. A few years later he added the upstairs which served as living quarters for his family. Shorty after the addition was build the city came unannounced one evening and demolished the upstairs. (They were succumbing to political pressure being exerted by those who oppose Christianity in the area.) The city made a lame apology two weeks later and said they shouldn't have done that. Of course the damage was already done. However, God is good and after much prayer money was donated to the ministry to build the living quarters back. James' ministry has purchased property out of town and there were 32 orphaned boys housed and schooled there. I continue to be amazed at how these faithful men like James are able to do so much with so little.

The Journey Begins. . .

This is the third trip that I have made to India. Both times, it has proven to be quite an adventure. My first two trips I had major difficulty with securing the my visa into the country. The first time that I went, the Post Office lost my passport. (And we expect the government to run healthcare? I digress) The post office found it the afternoon before I was scheduled to leave for India. I had to drive a 150 miles to get it so that I could leave on time. Fortunately, it was in the city where I was scheduled to fly out of. The second time I went, after submitting my application for a visa some 2 months ahead of time, I had to fly to Houston and retrieve it from the "lost and found" at the consulate a few days before I was scheduled to leave.

I had no problems with my passport or visa this time - thank the Lord! But when we were getting in the car to go to the airport this morning, we discovered a flat tire on the car. Judy got me to the airport in my daughter's vehicle and then she had to go back and get the tire fixed (which she did) before she could get back home. The most difficult part of this trip so far is having to leave these two behind:

I'm sitting in the Newark, New Jersey airport with a six hour layover before I start the 15 and a half hour flight to Mumbai. I will be meeting up with two other people here in Newark before we continue on. We should arrive in Mumbai at 9:00 on Friday evening. We will spend the night in a hotel before we journey on to Goa on Saturday afternoon.

Please keep us in your prayers. And pray for the hundreds of pastors who are coming to Goa from all over India for this time of spiritual renewal.

There Is a God in Heaven

In a little over a week I will be traveling to India. The ministry I am involved with is going to bring 800 to 1,000 pastors from all over India to a retreat where they will receive a week of pastoral training and spiritual renewal. Many of these men are serving in places where there is great persecution of Christians. As a consequence a number of these men are suffering greatly for no other reason than that they have committed their lives to serve the cause of Christ.

If you have been reading these posts you should realize by now that no one is exempt from trials, heartache, and suffering. But you should also realize by now that there is One who brings hope in the midst of seemingly hopeless situations. One of God’s choicest servants was a man by the name of Daniel. The guiding principle of his life is found in this declaration in Daniel 2:28 as he stood before the pagan king Nebuchadnezzar, “But there is a God in heaven.” Understand also that God is the God of the Bible, manifested in the person of Jesus Christ His Son. I love the apostle Paul’s description of the relationship a Christian has with the God of heaven, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col. 1:27) There it is - the only real source of hope in the midst of suffering – “Christ in you.”

The late Ron Dunn was an evangelist and Bible teacher who wrote the book When Heaven Is Silent which details the journey Ron went through when his teenage son committed suicide. I pray that the following excerpt from the book will serve as a source of encouragement for those who are in the midst of suffering:

One of my best friends, Manley Beasley, died in 1990. I guess the only thing that surprised his many friends is that he lived as long as he did. Stricken in 1970 by five serious diseases, three of which were terminal, Manley spent the next twenty years on life-support systems—not the medical kind, but the spiritual kind. Jesus literally became his life. In Manley's words, he was alive by His life. There must have been a dozen or more times in those twenty years when Manley came to the brink of death only to come back, stronger than before. I remember going to hospitals at least six times to say good-bye to him because the doctors said he wouldn't make it through the night. I said to him once, "You're the hardest man to say good-bye to I've ever known." Yet, in spite of his physical condition, he carried on a worldwide ministry and taught thousands what it means to walk by faith.

The next to the last time Manley was hospitalized he was confined for several months to the intensive care unit. When Kaye and I visited him in the hospital we were certain it was the last time we would see him. You can imagine our surprise, therefore, while we were away in Georgia, to learn that Manley had once again astonished everyone, including his doctors, by living.

I called him at his home, and we talked for a long time. After our conversation, I wrote him this letter. It's dated November 4, 1988.

Dear Manley:

Our phone conversation a few minutes ago spoke to my heart in several ways. God has been so good to grant us the desires of our hearts—namely, to keep you here. I believe your greatest ministry lies before you, and few people will ever realize what it cost.

I have been for some time immersing myself in that great passage in Romans 8:31-39, and I am being forced to rethink my idea of "victory." Paul enumerates all the evils and the not-so-evils that threaten us, and he says that in all these things we are more than conquerors—supra-conquerors is the word. It means to go beyond and above mere conquest. In the midst of these things we do more than conquer; we go beyond that to something greater and better. It is not necessarily deliverance from famine and slaughter that demonstrates divine victory. The Marines could save us from slaughter, and the Red Cross could save us from famine. In verse 35 Paul lists things that are evil, catastrophic: “tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword. . . .”

And then in verse 38 he names things that are good, natural, or neutral: “death, life, angels (not fallen angels), nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing”—these things are forces of everyday life, neither good nor necessarily bad, but neutral.

Now what do both categories of powers try to do to us? They try to separate us from the love of God. This is surprising. I would speak of the pain, the suffering they inflict, the danger of death, the fear, the terror they bring

to our hearts. But Paul does not say that the conquest consists in escaping these things, nor in their removal. To Paul, the conquest is that even the most horrible of powers and events “cannot separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.”

What is the greatest exhibition of the power of God? Not to remove the pain or take away the slaughter, but to keep us in the love of God through it all.

Now my point: The despair of the sufferer is not caused by the depth of the suffering but by the depth of his sense of separation from God.

You said that when you were finally able to get hold of God, the peace came. The suffering didn't diminish, it was as deep as ever, but the sense of separation had vanished. You no longer felt separated from God.

On the cross Jesus never cried out about the pain of the nails or the agony of the sword or the shame of the nakedness. This was His despair “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”

I believe it is true that the fear and despair I feel lying on a hospital bed, not knowing if I will live or die, is caused, not by the pain or the fear of dying, but by the fact that I seem to have lost contact with God. I can't sense His presence, I can't get hold of Him. But when I do, the sense of separation from God is dispelled; the despair, the fear is relieved. The pain may remain, but the despair does not. It is not the suffering but the separation that undermines our confidence in God.

What do you think?

In the Best of Bonds, Ron

Well, what do you think?

I think Teilhard de Chardin was right Joy is not the absence of pain but the presence of God.

Let me just agree with Daniel, “There is a God in heaven!” – Pastor Steve