Thankful to Teach God’s Word in India

One of the many reasons I am thankful this Thanksgiving season is the opportunity God gave me recently to travel to India and teach at a student conference in southern India and a pastors’ conference in northern India. 

We had a team of eleven from our church go on a mission trip to India to preach and teach God’s Word, dedicate three orphanages that our church helped to build, encourage pastors and church members, and give financially to support pastors with motorcycles, biblical resources, and church and house items. It was a great blessing to visit India, meet fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, proclaim the gospel, and encourage the body of Christ as we, too, were encouraged.

The team first went to southern India for two days to help lead a student conference of over 600 students. The conference was held in one of the newly built orphanages that will house over 100 children. These children are typically from off the streets and are orphans or have been abandoned. The church raises these children with shelter, food, education, and medical care. Many of the boys become pastors or work someway in Christian ministry. Many of the young girls also are raised knowing the truth of God’s Word and grow to be godly wives, mothers, and women in the church who serve in Christian ministry.

There are thousands of these Christian orphanages throughout India and multiple generations of Christians have been raised with the grace, truth, and love of Jesus Christ. Neighborhoods and communities that were once steeped in darkness and idol worship have been transformed by men and women who grew up in these homes, who love Christ, live as followers of Christ, and proclaim the gospel.

After the team dedicated two more orphanages in surrounding cities, most of the team flew back to Florida, but Pastor Jay Holland and I traveled from Delhi by car for over eight hours to the pastors’ conference. To say driving in northern India is “unbelievably crazy” is a serious understatement. Driving at night dodging scooters, avoiding cycling rickshaws, pedestrians, other oncoming cars in your lane, and cows walking across the road, can be somewhat dangerous! However, we arrived safely at our destination around midnight, had a good night’s sleep, and woke up refreshed to teach the first session of the conference.

The pastors’ conference had over 1,000 attendees with approximately 650 pastors. For three days I had the privilege of teaching five main sessions in the church sanctuary to everyone, and then five pullout sessions for pastors and wives in each language group with the help of a translator. There were six main speakers including me and we were all blessed to be asked to travel to India and be part of the conference.

Throughout the years, I’ve had the opportunity to travel to many places with students and adults on mission trips proclaiming the gospel of Christ. Some places are considered harder to reach and more lost in darkness than others. India is one of those places. As I reflect on the trip, I thank God that He guided my steps to India and gave me the wonderful privilege to teach His truth.