Soon after being born again, I realized the fact that I have to know God more personally. As a Catholic, it was a kind of ritual going to Sunday mass, just repeating the same prayers over and over.  As a new believer I came to realize that if I need to know God, I have to read and meditate on His Word, speak to Him as to a friend, and obey what He tells me.  This was life changing and I am so blessed to be able to say that twenty six years of walking with the Lord has been wonderful. I am still hungry for the Word of God and eager to share it with others.
I was born again while I was working in the Middle East.  As I started studying the Word, I was so blessed that I started getting Christian books from different places and reading them. As I continued to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord, the people at the prayer group that I attended, sometimes asked me to lead the group,  till one day I was doing a Pastor’s job.  This continued for eight years when a friend of mine sponsored my wife and me to Bible College. We studied at Calvary Chapel Bible College for two years during which God was preparing me for ministry in India. Though we had offers to stay on in the US, we knew India needed us more.  On our return to our home, we started a Bible study which later turned in to a small church. We do find it difficult to reach out to Catholics and Hindus. Our state of Kerala is predominantly Catholic with churches at every nook and corner.  Nowadays they have family units and are very closely knit, so when we share the Word with a Catholic family, people come to know and unless a person is convinced and God works in him, he is likely to shut his door on us. But we do have people who like to listen and pray with us but choose to remain in the Catholic church.  Majority of people in India are Hindus and now we have a Hindu based government.  Within months of taking over, churches are being burnt and Hindus who converted to Christianity are being forced to reconvert, they call this ‘home coming’.
After his recent visit to India, President Obama commented about the religious intolerance in India.  One newspaper clipping we reads: “Obama should have rather asked Christian missionaries to stop conversion.  It is because of their antics that there is communal disharmony in India.

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Please pray for the people in our fellowship, to be rooted and grounded in the Word  and if persecution comes to stand firm.
• Please pray for our Prayer Hall and for funds to complete it.
• For people to open their hearts to Jesus, the living God.
• For the safety of Christians and Christian churches.
• Please pray for our country and our people.