Pantano Christian Church

It is so good to be home. I’m an adventurer by heart and I love the challenges of international travel, but this trip to India was hard. Sleep deprivation, cold, mosquitoes, long travel, illness and the poverty everywhere added extra challenges. But our partnership with BORN (Bihar Out-Reach Network) is nothing less than miraculous. Bihar is one of the poorest states in India, with over 90 million people.

Pantano Christian Church has adopted the Bhojpuri peoples (a people group in Bihar, India). There are 20 million of them. We attended a conference with around 600-700 Bhojpuri-speaking people. I had the privilege of meeting with the church leaders and church planters for several hours. Let me share with you the miracle of what God is doing among a people that is almost totally untouched by the Good News of Jesus:

555 churches (large and small) have been started
12,363 people have been baptized
86 workers (evangelists, pastors, etc) have been developed

Now, that is still a drop in the bucket of 20 million people, but a movement has started. The Kingdom of God is advancing. Next year they hope to double the results!

Our team heard testimony after testimony from people who found hope and peace for the very first time in their lives as they encountered Jesus. We heard stories about God’s miracles of healing and amazing transformation of character.

During the conference, the District Supervisor of Education came to visit the church leaders. He was an older man who was clearly a Hindu. Here’s what he said to the Christian leaders as quoted from my notes:

“We have failed to help the poorest of the poor. The government and other religions have failed. But you are succeeding. You are doing our part. There are those who say your missions are bad for India. I will challenge those who oppose you. They are wrong. Those who are against your mission are against the good for our society. I have found you better than the politicians. You’ve done the best work for our people.”

Please pray for the BORN staff and the Bhojpuri people. If you want to be a part of the India Focus Team, contact Dean and Donna Gudgel: email hidden; JavaScript is required

Together to make a difference in the world,

Glen

I can’t tell you how grateful I am for our freedom. I get reports from our mission partners all over the world. They tell the stories of sacrifice and total commitment to Jesus. They tell the stories of the church growing and the Kingdom of God advancing in the face of adversity. Below is a small part of an email that is coded to protect the individuals. I did take the liberty to clean up the broken English. For the sake of the faithful believers there, I won’t risk telling what Muslim country this from. The person in the email is a woman we’ll name M_. The other names are also coded.

M_ was called by the workers of National Security Office for interrogation. She was asked to give names of people who give her lessons on Christ. “Tell us who teaches you? R_? O_?” M_ answered: “No. God Himself teaches me. If you are interested in R_ or O_ go to them and ask. I can answer only for myself.” One of the workers of the National Security Office put a sheet of paper in front of her and told her to write. M_ put her hands on the table and answered: “Here are my hands. If you need to you can cut them off and start writing with my blood. But I will write nothing of my free will.”

M_ has two children (a son and daughter). Both of them could not speak. God healed them and they were able to speak. After such God’s miracles, M_’s belief became even stronger. Recently M_’s daughter got sick. M_ took her to the doctor. The doctor prescribed a course of treatment for 10 days. In a hospital M_ suffered from offenses and a feeling of disgust from the side of the medical staff who said “You’ve sold your belief…” M_ was crying, praying and reading the Bible. She prayed that God would give these people peace and love in their hearts. On the third day the attitude of the medical staff unexpectedly changed. The doctor came up to M_ and apologized for such treatment. Nurses became friendly and came to communicate. They were amazed by M_’s testimonies and became interested in the Scripture.

I am reminded of one of the greatest scriptures of encouragement found in the entire Bible. It is Revelation 12:11 (NIV):

They [martyrs] overcame him [Satan - the accuser]
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.

Together to overcome evil in the world,

Glen

I’m with our team in India as you receive this. I came across some research reported in a recent LifeWay Research study as reported in BP News 1/9/08:

• America’s unchurched are willing to hear what people have to say about Christianity.
• But 72% of those interviewed think the church “is full of hypocrites.”
• Yet 71% said they believe Jesus “makes a positive difference in a person’s life” and 78% would “be willing to listen” to someone who wanted to share what they believed about Christianity.
• 64% think “the Christian religion is relevant and viable for today.”
• 72% of unchurched adults believe God, a higher or supreme being actually exists.
• 22% of Americans say they never go to church (This is up from 17% in ‘04 and the highest ever recorded by the General Social Survey).
• 79% of unchurched Americans think Christianity today is more about organized religion than about loving God and loving people.
• 86% believe they can have a good relationship with God without being involved in church.
• 44% said Christians “get on my nerves.”
• Yet, 89% of the unchurched have at least 1 close Christian friend. And while turned off by church, 78% are willing to listen to someone who wants to talk about their Christian beliefs. The number rose to 89% among adults ages 18-29.
• Additionally, 78% said they would enjoy an honest conversation with a friend about religious and spiritual beliefs, even if they disagreed.
• Only 28% think Christians they know talk to them too much about their beliefs.

I’ll let you draw your own conclusions about this but what is glaring to me is that many people hate church but not Jesus and the best way to reach people today is by living like Jesus, talking about Jesus (more than the church) and not being afraid to share our faith without being pushy. Jesus has been, is and always will be compelling if we, the church, don’t get in the way! May we all find ways to live like Jesus in our actions first, followed by words when necessary. May we simply love God and love others.

Together to love God and our neighbors,

Glen

Tears came to my eyes as I read the email from Tom Taylor, our Director of Operations and Disaster Action Team (DAT) leader. The email from Monday January 28th at 10:19pm read: “Lights just went out in Towne Hall and our ten guests are bedded down for the evening.”

The ten guests were homeless guys who were here to find a warm place to sleep. They also got a hot meal, watched a video and had some wonderful interaction with our team.

Tom and his team have been making amazing connections throughout our city. We not only are a part of a disaster response but our campus is serving homeless folks on cold nights. Should there be a major disaster, our campus would be turned into a staging place for the first responders as well as a place of shelter for those who might lose their homes or be forced into an evacuation.

That Monday night last week is just a picture of what Pantano Christian Church is all about. Seven year old Alice was there with her parents playing pool with these homeless guys – wow! The team listened to the stories of these men. Everyone has a story. The question is who will listen to the story? Who will listen to the story of the man wounded during the first Gulf War? A few weeks ago, one of the team members was able to help a guy begin the journey of following Jesus.

That is our mission – loving people to Jesus, launching passionate people to make the world different.

Word on the street is that Pantano is the place to be. Isn’t it interesting that so many here on the Eastside who are basically “up and in” don’t see a need for the church, but these guys who have seen their share of “down and out” love this church. They see us as a people who are open and serve.

Jesus tells a parable of blessed people who served Jesus in practical ways. They didn’t even realize they had served Jesus. They said to him: “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you…see you a stranger and invite you in…?” Jesus replies: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:34-40)

May we continue to reach outside ourselves and never forget that we don’t exist for ourselves, but for those who don’t know Jesus and need the love of Jesus practiced through us, his followers. May we all find ways to serve Jesus by serving “the least of these brothers.” I am so grateful to be a part of a church that is living out the mission of Jesus.

Together to make the world different,

Glen