God is Working in South Asia

The Lord is doing some amazing things in South Asia and I am so thankful that Taylors First Baptist Church has the opportunity to be involved! While I was there in late December, I partnered with our international workers, along with several South Asian brothers, to train local believers in both India and Sri Lanka.

One of those trainings was in a coastal city of India that has about 3 million people and is only about 1.8% Christian. Local church leaders gathered to assess the health of their strategies and to evaluate their progress towards the goal of seeing every people group in their region engaged with the Gospel. It was an exciting few days with about 35 leaders from several different networks. I was encouraged by the renewal of their individual commitments to pursue this goal. I was also blessed greatly by their passionate worship of the Lord as we met. Let’s pray together for these brothers to invest wisely in those they disciple, and ask that God would multiply the harvest force in this area. 

I also had many opportunities along the way to share the Gospel message with people I met. Two of those times weigh heavy on my mind, because there was such a contrast in the responses. One was with a 60+ year old taxi driver who claimed “everything is god.” The other with a younger driver, who said, “I haven’t seen God, so I don’t believe He exists.” Both men had the opportunity that day to hear the truth, and both seemed to listen with an openness to at least consider the claims of the Gospel. That same week, in God’s providence, I would meet another driver named *Baboo, who had been radically transformed by Christ. He was from a Hindu background, but after seeing his mother’s life impacted by Christ years ago, he too would repent and believe in Jesus. In his taxi, he kept saying, “God is great, sir…our God is GREAT!!”  

As we consider these three drivers, we get an accurate picture of the confusion that is typical here regarding spiritual matters. And, what a powerful reminder that God is pursuing people for a relationship! Would you pray with us for these two men, that God would reveal Himself to them and grant them faith to repent and believe. Pray for them and for many others, that they would join *Baboo in declaring “Our God is GREAT!!”

While in Sri Lanka, I spent some time with a few fishermen that I met in the southern part of the island. In our conversation, I was able to share the Good News with them. As I think about these two men, I can’t help but remember how Jesus launched his earthly ministry. It was to a few fishermen that Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19 ESV)  Please pray that God would reveal Truth to them and give them faith to believe. And, pray that through them the Good News would spread rapidly, just as it did through the fishermen Jesus called out!

While in Sri Lanka, we conducted similar training events to those we led in India. At one of these events I met a young couple named *Duleep & *Ranjani. They left their home at around 2:00 am the night before and traveled 8 hours on a “scooter” to participate in the 2-day event. The focus of the event was to equip believers to share the Gospel, make disciples and plant churches. With a gas can strapped to the side of their scooter containing their limited ration of fuel (4 liters per week), *Duleep and *Ranjani rode through the night to come and be equipped, only to ride the 8 hours back home once the training was completed. I was greatly challenged by the sacrifice they made to participate. Please pray for them, and others that were trained at this event. Ask that God would bless and use them to multiply the number of disciples and churches all over the island nation of Sri Lanka.  

— Steven C., Reach Pastor