November 27th -- Bangalore, India
The conference is off to a good start although several of the pastors experienced travel difficulties and are continuing to arrive late into the night after the first day has already ended.
I (Matthew) had the great privilege of opening the conference along with Kumar S. who is one of the General Secretaries of the Good Shepherd Community Churches in India (GSCC). My opening remarks were based on 2 Chronicles 7:11-16 regarding God’s promises to “heal the land,” if…
It proved to be a very emotional session for me as we ended with everyone kneeling in an extended prayer of confession and yearning for the Holy Spirit to be present in this conference. But mostly, we prayed for God to heal the land of India! I won’t try to explain it any more than that…you just had to be there.
Arnold taught the first regular session during which he focused on spiritual growth and holiness. He adjusted very quickly to the use of an interpreter, which requires some getting used to as it completely alters a speaker’s normal flow. Later in the evening, I heard pastors talking about Arnold’s explanation of God’s grace and how it is manifest in the life of a believer before we come to faith all the way through our final glorification, which is yet to come.
I then taught my first session on church history which focused on the persecution of the church during the early centuries. During the discussion time, I asked them about the role of persecution through history and even today. One of the pastors, Edwin M., spoke passionately about how persecution has always strengthened the faith of believers and empowered the church. I could only smile and thank God as I listened—I know Edwin and his story…he has been beaten to the point of hospitalization 5 times because of his ministry. My words are just academic compared to his real life experience. This setting is always incredibly humbling for me.
Stan taught the last session of the day and focused on personal prayer. His real life examples using his relationship with his own father and his hopes and dreams for his son were really powerful. He did a great job reminding us all that what our Lord wants most of all is a deep, meaningful relationship with each one of us. It was a great ending to the day.
Christopher has also attracted no small amount of attention. They are all fascinated that a 13 year old would travel to India to be with them. As I knew would be the case, he is seeing the Body of Christ in a whole new way after experiencing a church service and an extended time of prayer with these church leaders. I think his journal has received several pages from him already.
Everyone is healthy and doing well…Thanks for your continued prayers!
I (Matthew) had the great privilege of opening the conference along with Kumar S. who is one of the General Secretaries of the Good Shepherd Community Churches in India (GSCC). My opening remarks were based on 2 Chronicles 7:11-16 regarding God’s promises to “heal the land,” if…
It proved to be a very emotional session for me as we ended with everyone kneeling in an extended prayer of confession and yearning for the Holy Spirit to be present in this conference. But mostly, we prayed for God to heal the land of India! I won’t try to explain it any more than that…you just had to be there.
Arnold taught the first regular session during which he focused on spiritual growth and holiness. He adjusted very quickly to the use of an interpreter, which requires some getting used to as it completely alters a speaker’s normal flow. Later in the evening, I heard pastors talking about Arnold’s explanation of God’s grace and how it is manifest in the life of a believer before we come to faith all the way through our final glorification, which is yet to come.
I then taught my first session on church history which focused on the persecution of the church during the early centuries. During the discussion time, I asked them about the role of persecution through history and even today. One of the pastors, Edwin M., spoke passionately about how persecution has always strengthened the faith of believers and empowered the church. I could only smile and thank God as I listened—I know Edwin and his story…he has been beaten to the point of hospitalization 5 times because of his ministry. My words are just academic compared to his real life experience. This setting is always incredibly humbling for me.
Stan taught the last session of the day and focused on personal prayer. His real life examples using his relationship with his own father and his hopes and dreams for his son were really powerful. He did a great job reminding us all that what our Lord wants most of all is a deep, meaningful relationship with each one of us. It was a great ending to the day.
Christopher has also attracted no small amount of attention. They are all fascinated that a 13 year old would travel to India to be with them. As I knew would be the case, he is seeing the Body of Christ in a whole new way after experiencing a church service and an extended time of prayer with these church leaders. I think his journal has received several pages from him already.
Everyone is healthy and doing well…Thanks for your continued prayers!
posted by CUMC Team | 8:46 PM
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