Dear brethren,
Greetings in Christ’s name. How wonderful and marvelous it is to see the blessings being shared with the brethren who were devastated by ‘Hurricane Hudud’ in the month of October. Certainly it was a heart-breaking incident in the lives of thousands of people living in the Visakhapatnam area and some parts north east of that place. There were people who lost homes, crops, cattle, business, and even some of their dear ones, it was a catastrophe.
We are truly blessed with the greatest concern shown by the brethren at Lake Houston. It indeed helped these preachers and congregations who were affected by the hurricane very much. As I see, and from what I heard, it was a big occasion when all the material was distributed. After the materials were purchased, they were transported to Visakhapatnam last Friday (for the US it was Black Friday). Local political & public leaders were invited as guests for this occasion. This is indeed giving an opportunity to help the leaders understand that we as Christians are not trying to spread the religion, rather striving to share the love of God by caring for others. “Absolutely,” this is one of the remarks by those public leaders attending this occasion. They are very appreciative of this charitable activity.
Thank you very much brethren for sharing your love with us. Our Lord God is glorified by this…..
Material Distributed were:
500 bed sheets & blankets
500 sarees for women
200 pairs clothing for men
Bibles - This is what made this occasion unique, because we were the only ones who distributed 500 Bibles, 750 New Testaments
2 - bicycles to the preachers
3 - tricycles to the older women who were injured during the Hurricane.
Rice bags including the Blankets were distributed to some of the people living in the coast of Visakhapatnam. We are mindful of the verse Gal. 6:10.
Monetary gifts to the preachers whose prayer sheds and church building were damaged. Some of these gifts were given to those individuals whose houses were damaged. 80 preachers benefited from this.
Books & Stationary to the students
120 families were benefited from our efforts, glory to God.
Mission accomplishments in this year 2014 so far:
Villages visited – 126
Bible classes & gospel meetings conducted – 148
Preachers seminars – 2
Leadership workshop – 1
Preachers fellowship meetings conducted – 20
People obeyed the gospel – 387
Number of preaching students graduated - 13
New congregations established – 18
Church meeting places dedicated – 2
We thank you brethren for your kind concern towards the preacher training work in India. By the grace of God, the Lord’s work is progressing. We are excited about the 14 students who will finish their school by March 2015. We are excited about the graduation program that is scheduled for the 10th of April.
Persecution: Please be mindful of the religious take-over by the predominant religion in our country. Recent incidents taking place in our country compel one to believe that those people want to show their dominance. On average daily, one congregation is being persecuted in the nation of India. What I mean by congregation is Christian believers in general. Kindly pray that our government performs the duty of keeping peace. We pray that our country continues to have religious freedom as a democratic, secular nation. We appreciate your kindness.
Ref: http://persecutedchurch.info/2014/11/08/karnataka-hindu-fundamentalists-attack-innocent-christians/
In Christ,
John Dean M