All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. 2 Ti. 3:16 -17
Dear Brethren,
Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
We pray this email finds you all well. We are thankful to our mighty God always for His great kindness and mercy through which we are dwelling in this world with a hope of eternity to dwell with Him in heaven forever and ever.
Brethren, we are thankful to our God for blessing us in the expansion of our ministry through preachers who are being sent out. ‘Furnished for all good works,’ things they have learned while going to school now they are putting into action. As part of the schooling, our students go through some practical training program besides preaching and teaching; that is how to organize certain church related programs/activities such a conducting a Thanksgiving meeting, Memorial service, Wedding ceremony etc. Our students have been doing very commendable work in the Lord’s vineyard. We are very much encouraged by attending these programs to see how these equipped men are doing every good work.
Wedding Ceremony: We are thankful to God for blessing us to perform and participate in various programs in the northeast region of our state, Andhra Pradesh. A Christian marriage is what one always would like to attend in our society with lot of excitement. While there is nothing other than just idle watching done in other religious weddings, where as in Christian marriages there is a lot taught from the Word of God about the system of marriage, who established it and why it was established, how the wife and husband are to live together etc. Since materialism is overtaking our good traditional Indian culture now a day’s, divorce/separation has become an easy thing. It is very essential that God’s system of marriage needs to be educated more in our society; we take these occasions of Christian marriages as an advantage to proclaim this.
Preachers Fellowship @ Viswasi: We had two Preacher’s Fellowship meetings in two different places. Most of our students in Vijayanagaram district along with some preachers in that area attended these programs. We were very much uplifted by the attendance. Besides the inconvenient weather, we also praised God for blessing their efforts for the growth of the Church in this area. Brother Viswasi who is one of our graduates is working in two different places and helping with two other preachers in this area. We really witnessed a great deal of teamwork in this area. Through these meetings we help them stay united to accomplish some wonderful things for the glory of God.
New Baptisms: It has been a great blessing to witness the baptism of brother Cornelius’s family. He is one of our graduates and has been very influential in drawing people to the Church. His son, who is going to medical school, wanted to be baptized. Brother Cornelius’ wife also wanted to be baptized after several months of hesitation. Now the whole family has become a complete Christian family. John Dean held a Bible study with them before they proceeded for baptizing them. Malleswar Rao: One of our faculty has reported a couple of baptisms recently in their home congregation. Director of the school, brother Samuel Raju, has witnessed several baptisms during these two months.
Public Meetings @ SR Kavitha: Besides the dominance of the predominant religion in our country, Christianity has a ray of hope because of what it teaches. However, it sure does make a difference in the way it is being proclaimed or said. What we mean is….the way of approach makes the difference. Certainly this is what happened in one the suburbs of Visakhapatnam. Brother S.R Kavitha, who is one of our faculty that recently joined our school, held a gospel meeting in a Hindu community. He has been preaching in this area for several years, held Bible studies, conducted personal counseling, and several charitable services, too. However, drawing several to the Lord is still a challenging task as part of reaching this community with the Good News. Their local congregation held two days of Gospel meetings where our faculty members were given opportunity to preach. The way of approach does make a difference to make these meetings more pleasing to the community here. As a result couple of families began to study the Bible with the preacher, we pray that they would come forward to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.
New Course Material: We thank brother Jerry Bates for sending almost all the material that is required for each student in the Bear Valley International School. We downloaded this material and made them as spiral notebooks to distribute to our students, as required. Definitely this is an enhancement in the teaching material we have provided students so far. We thank brother Bob Turner for enabling us to have this material for the school; it has been a blessing to our school.
Short Course : Since the cancellation of Brother Bruce’s visit to India to teach in the school, we made some modifications to share the job of teaching the subjects Bruce wanted to teach. We are happy that our faculty were willing to share the burden.
Dear brethren, very commendable work is being done by our students. Thank you brethren for being part of this glorious Lord’s work. We thank the brethren at Lake Houston for helping with us to train our men. We do thank the elders at the Strickland Church of Christ for overseeing the school. With all your prayers and encouragement we continue to do the very best in training the men to become effective evangelists at our school.
Thank you all so much for your prayers. May God continue to bless you. We shall be coming to you with more exciting news in our following newsletter.
Greet all your family and the church family you worship with…Glory be to God..…!!
In Christ and His service
Samuel Raju Muppidi, Director
John Dean Muppidi, Dean of the School