Dead American

So I’m on the bus away from Incheon Airport listening to the best from 1982 as I write this. Honestly, ‘82 wasn’t the best of years, yo. The flight from Singapore was uneventful. We all slept most of the way or watched a movie. I watched The Producers, a very over the top musical, which I would have expected had I seen Mel Brooks in the credits earlier.

Of the three missions trips that I have embarked on, each was unique and of God in a different way, and God taught me many things each trip. This trip to India, however, has impacted me more than either of the previous.

While Fiji introduced me to the call and the concept of Spirit-borne and led trips, I did not feel the impact was as real or clear as it was in India. My favorite aspects of the Fiji trip were how the Spirit put the trip together in a week, literally, and the time we spent in the village building relationships, feeling connected to others in another culture. I don’t know if any trip will ever match the purity of those aspects as we experienced them in Fiji. A group of us were planning to go on vacation to Australia and God completely changed our hearts, our plans and blessed us beyond measure.

But did we have a lasting impact? We went to Fiji, caught the vision of Summer and Ratu to minister in these villages, chose to support them financially and attempted to encourage them however we could. This trip had really impacted US, so we wanted to continue that relationship. But within months of our trip, Summer and Ratu had left the village for a more comfortable lifestyle and have not returned, despite the intense “call” that was expressed to us at the time.

We started a relationship with others in Fiji who are no longer there. We would love to go back to Fiji, and I actually longed to go back this year, but God has not specifically called us back and we no longer have relationship there that would facilitate our going.

Will we have lasting impact on India? I feel in many ways we were an encouragement to those we spoke to and shared with. I believe we spoke and taught what the Spirit had for the people there in India. Only time will tell the lasting impact, adn only Eternity will give us a true picture of our impact on this trip. And I will say that the personal connection was a little lacking on the India trip. We connected with those we spent time with, but we were not able to spend time with people as much … even after the meetings we were honored by a special lunch, but it was away from everyone else. Language was a barrier, I know, but God is in His people, and the time we spent at the Mercy Homes and fellowshipping before and after meetings was always a blessing.

As for the 2nd trip, the one we took with students to the Phillippines, that was unique in its own way. After Fiji, many of the teachers wanted to share our experience with the students. Because of the immaturity of so many of our students, spiritually, we planned and organized a work trip to build some things at a Word of Life camp in the Phillippines. It was great for the kids and was a fairly contained and controlled environment, very safe. But we were also pretty isolated from any real Phillippino people. Where in Fiji that’s all we did, in the Phillippines there was none of it except for a couple local kids that came to play with our kids. We were seen as basic slave labor b the ministry there, so there was intimacy and connection within our group, which has immense value, but the Phillippino community was largely untouched by us and even those in the ministry were aloof from us.

Besides improving the facilities, which is an honorable thing I don’t want to diminish in the least, we left no lasting spiritual impact and most of the kids just had a cool experience.

Don’t get me wrong, visiting and encouraging missionaries in Fiji and improving the facilities of a camp dedicated to converting the youth to Christ both have eternal value, but doesn’t lasting change have more eternal value? Obedience has all eternal value, and I believe we were obedient on each trip. My heart, and maybe my gift, is to see lasting change, discipleship, seed that produces fruit, a work of God that builds the Kingdom on Earth.

And I guess that’s what pulled at my heart here in India. My heart is for leaders and pastors and teaching the Body and strengthening the Body, and India was one whole week of that. It was a heavy responsibility and a joy.

It was sobering, but the scope of the ministry in India was overwhelming on 2 levels. First, Voice of Gospel was much bigger than I percieved. 700 churches, 4 Bible training schools, 38 Mercy Homes with a vision for so much more. It is a well organized and administrated ministry led by the Spirit and a true apostle. It was an honor to see it, much less teach in it.

But there is so much to do. With so many unreached in India, the mission is overwhelming. But God is able if all answer the call as they are led.

It makes so much sense to me that Indians should be missionaries to India. I mean, come on, $50 a month for support? A one time gift of $1000 and the dude has a motorcycle to hop around from village to village. The learning of the language and customs and cultural communication takes no time since they grew up there … they are also more acquainted with what customs the Spirit requires one to lose in repentance, as well, than an outsider who may not understand the innocence of some customs that seem destructive and the evil of some traditions that seem . One who grew up in the culture knows immediately as the Spirit convicts to holiness.

Pastor Daniel’s vision is a church in every village. There are thousands of villages that have never even heard of Jesus. But God is working in India. I have seen it.

Because of the village lifestyle and transportation limitations in India, the megachurch is completely impractical (not like it really works in America, either). House churches are the norm. I heard of many villages with 60 people meeting under the shade of a tree! I wonder if building them a building is really a blessing at all.

We worship too many false gods in America to call ourselves Christian. We are no more a Christian nation than India is. At least in India they have the decency to openly worship the idols and Christianity. Too often we have those who give lip service to Christ and then serve themselves. Not everyone who says, “Lord, lord …”

India is a beautiful country, but we are citizens of Heaven. We are not of this world. It is time we started acting like it was true.

I have been fortunate enough to see the hand of God. On men. On ministries. To many define revolutionary as how we think and what we believe.

This is an important aspect, to be sure, but its only half the battle. You know what? Being a true revolutionary isn’t believing some new doctrine or joining some new movement within the Church. For the thinking side of it, its very simple. You follow God. You allow Him to break you and remake you. You catch His vision. You die to live. You give to recieve. You follow the Spirit at all cost. You minister to God first and let Him do as He will through you.

To believe those things is only half. Some might read those statements and raise a fist of “yes!” in the air and say “amen!” But that doesn’t mean you really believe it. Do you live it? Do I? Too many times, no. To really be a revolutionary is to live all that out. You obey and live it. You count it all lost and then physically and emotionally give it up.

God does amazing things through people like that. I’ve seen it many times. From the first century until now, men and women have laid themselves on the altar and the world has watched them burn with Holy Fire. It is an aroma pleasing to the Lord.

Man can take no glory in that. No title or label or name a movement can make it holy. What is of the Spirit must be born of the Spirit. God is Spirit. He will only be worshipped in Spirit.

This week in India has had one central theme: the Bride of Christ purifying herself for her Husband. She keeps herself pure. She clothes herself in white robes of righteousness. Her hair is the Glory of God. She veils not her face, as Moses did, and all see the Light of one who has been intimate with God. She works faithfully at what is before her hands, the work God has given her, delegated to her. She adorns herself with character. She only wants to be beautiful in the eyes of her Husband. Only His eyes have value. She sees herself reflected there as she truly is.

She forsakes all others. She cleaves to Him. All she has is His. But she also knows that all He has belongs to her.

And her wealth through her Husband gives her joy. That joy is her strength.

Amen. Let it be.

It’s our last day in India. It has definitely been a wonderful time and God has blessed everyone involved. So often I ask myself, why does God do things like this? Why does He send 7 people from Korea to minister to those in India? His Spirit and Presence are just as real in both places.

And that’s part of the answer, I think. His Church is worldwide. He has true believers filled with His Spirit all over the globe. But all of these believers are truly citizens of Heaven. Oh, they might be citizens of America or Korea or India on paper, but that is not where their life truly is. Their life is in Heaven, and when we travel like this and put aside those things which are superficial and could divide us but shouldn’t, we make Heaven more evident on Earth. The Eternal reality becomes more clear to us here. Were people blessed by what we shared? Sure. Were we blessed by who they were and what they were doing in India? Absolutely. But the greatest blessing came as we shared the same Spirit that seals us for adoption, regardless of skin color or styles of dress or Earthly heritages. For all of us the blessing came as our vision was lifted higher and Christ was lifted up. Because then we are drawn closer to Him. That is an unspeakable blessing.

Well, we finally went shopping (from the spiritual to the material, heh?). First we went ack tothe mall to buy some Indian pants suits. I’m not sure what they’re called, but they are pretty common. There’s a longer shirt with a pair of loose pants underneath and a matching scarf. Then we went down a block or two away from the mall and bought some sarees, traditional Indian dresses.

Then we went back to the mall and ate a meal that wasn’t very good, but we needed to eat. Then I bought some shoes, we got some jewelry, then scoped out the supermarket again and went back to the hotel with all of our booty.

I have to say the saree place was pretty interesting. You picked out what you wanted, you got the bill, then they ran it downstairs to where you paid. Then they packed your stuff up and gave it to you.

We made our way back to the hotel to rest and to pack some of our stuff up for a few minutes before going back out to another Mercy Home.

Around 4:30pm, we were picked up by Jose and taken back to Pastor Daniel’s house. We had tea with him (he showed the girls how to make it) and then walked down to the only Christian bookstore in town. Yes! They actually have one. I wanted some Indian praise music. Most of it was on mp3 though, which was fine with me ’cause I was just gonna put it on the ipod anyway. They sell most of their music on mp3 CDs. I bought 3 CDs of Indian praise music, a VCD about Wesley and two books for under $20. I had to get out of there before I spent more money. The books were brand new and super cheap. Many were in English and Malayalam.

We made it out to the Mercy Home around 5:30pm. They had recently renovated this one. Running a Mercy Home is a lifetime commitment. You are essentially becoming parents of 10 children. This one was also a girl’s home, but the couple running it had two beautiful children of their own, a boy and a girl. The girls loved Micah, of course. We visited with them and saw the renovations. They had added an extra room for the girls on the side and a large 2nd floor as one large room to accomodate the growing church that met there which now has 60 members. They had just purchased the adjacent property to build a separate building for the church. It just keeps growing!

The girls were sweet, and we spoke with them outside after touring the house and the renovations, making ourselves a spectacle with the neighborhood. They sang for us and we for them. There was one girl, Raji, who was very shy but wanted to be a preacher when she grew up. She practically glowed with God. Laura Forner gave out some games her students made with paper and Becky showed the kids how to play the game. You choose this number and then fold it that many times and eventually read something … which in this case was a scripture. The kids enjoyed it.

We prayed with them and over the pastor of the Mercy Home and his wife.

There seemed to be some concern in the car ride home, but no one openly mentioned it until we got to the hotel. A couple of us noticed lice on the kids. We prayed we wouldn’t get it but still shared wisdom how to handle it. Even if we did get it, it was worth it to visit the 2nd Mercy Home.

Jose dropped us at the hotel where we thought we would say goodbye to him. We went up to our rooms to shower and finish packing. As Becca and the girls finished packing and bringing the stuff downstairs, I gathered the money and went to pay the bill. We had plenty of money for it. For the 7 of us, 3 rooms and either dinner in the restaurant or room service once a day for 6 or 7 days, it all cost about $900 total or a little more. I handed Pastor Daniel some of the money left over, about another $200. We also gave some money to Jose. He earned it!

When Pastor Daniel arrived at the hotel to see us off, I gave him a T-shirt that said, “religion sucks - Jesus rules” on it in Korean and English. One of Larry Trammell’s favorite T-shirts said that and we had some made in Korea. They don’t wear T-shirts often in India, but I thought he needed one.

We embraced Pastor Daniel as we left, told him we’d keep in touch and got in the car to go to the airport. We were supposed to have another hired van, but something happened to that one, so Jose drove our luggage to the airport while another driver took the 7 of us.

Since it was about an hour to the airport, we took the opportunity to reminisce about the week. I asked most of the questions. Since I was the “leader”, I wanted to see things I might be able to look out for in the future if I ever lead another trip, which I hope to do. What was your favorite moment? What was the most challenging? Things like that.

We arrived at the airport in record time. This turned out for the good because the line for immigration took forever. We got on the flight in time, of course, and we slept our way to Singapore.

Unfortunately, we were pressed for time at the Singapore airport. We needed to get new boarding passes and exchange money and get some snacks and water and other things. We barely made the plane, but it all worked out.

It’s going by so fast, and yet we feel so at home. We all want to come back … some don’t want to leave! … but of course we’ll have to see what God has in store.

Here’s a good place for a couple observations:
Indians do not nod when they agree, they have a strange head bobble that seems more unsure than agreeable, but it means “yes.” It’s actually very endearing. It can almost look like they are shaking their head if they passionately agree.

Most Indians wear collared shirts. This seems strange to me, but it is the culture here (I’m assuming handed down somewhat from the British style and mixed with Indian development). Dress in general is far more modest and conservative in India, which is nice in a way.

We were picked up around 9:30 am. We met Pastor Daniel at the house and spoke with him briefly. Before we were able to speak with him, they were having a baptismal service behind the house. They had this stone tub there behind the house filled with water. They baptized a couple young men while everyone watched. It was very sweet. They sang, “I have decided to follow Jesus” with their cool Indian accent.

Then we waited while Pastor Daniel changed and we talked with him for a few minutes in the sitting room. We gave him most of the money at that point, around $1,800! Praise the Lord!

We then went to the service, which was just getting started, and we sat near the front. The opening prayer ended and they began to sing. It was a much more somber song today. Then Pastor Daniel preached a message about the cross of Christ and Gesthemane. They sang another song and prayed and Pastor Daniel turned it over to me.

Quite frankly, many things were on my heart to share, but I was able to focus and choose what God had for the people that day. I spoke on being outside the camp where Christ is, where He was crucified and rose again.

Pastor Daniel closed the service with communion and we went back to the house to have lunch. I got a good picture with Maju before we left.

We have really connected with Pastor Daniel. He likes a good joke and to laugh. To give you an example, we were getting our lunch at the house when Pastor Daniel came in. He told us not to wait on him as he moved into the other room. Becca Mooney and Emily mischeviously shook their heads and whispered that they would not wait on him. Then Pastor Daniel shouted from the next room, “not that you would wait on me anyway!” We all laughed really hard.

When we have lunch at the house, the ladies there take Micah and play with him as we eat so no one has to have him in their lap. They have a lot of fun with Micah, and he enjoys it.

We have decided Pastor Daniel is Joe Hale’s Indian twin brother. For those who don’t know, Joe Hale is the founder and president of NICS, the organization out school is associated with all over the world. They are both balding men with beards and mustaches. They are both men with a very jovial personality. They are also both men with a very revolutionary vision from God, and God continually increases their ministry and blesses it.

After gathering some things at the hotel, we went back out to go shopping. Being a state holiday (Good Friday in a Hindu country … weird, I know), almost all the stores were closed. We looked around a little, got a couple things, but decided to come back tomorrow to really shop. I did get one cool Indian outfit, though.

So we rested in the afternoon and met up again in our room for dinner. A thunderstorm blew in and we went out to the window to see the rain come down. We sang some somts while we waited for the food to come.

We had dinner, reflected a little on our trip that had flown by, then went to our rooms for the night.

Another early morning, this time we got started around 6:30 am. We headed south again but then veered east bbefore we got to Cochin and went another couple hours in the car.

Taking the long rides has been very interesting. There are always cars, trucks, lorries (autos), scooters, motorcycles, bicycles or people just walking. Quite often we pass people wearing orange and carrying a cross walking south. Since it is Passion week, some of the Christians take a pilgrimage some 30 miles south of Trichur to a place associated with St. Thomas, different from where we took a tour on Sunday.

The people are generally thin due to lack of food, vegetarian diet or a combination of both. They have darker skin there in the south and much more secularized in their society due to a higher average aducation. I commented to Daniel my pleasant surprise that many of the women in ministry at the meeting the day before had their own Bibles and could read them. He explained the literacy rate in Kerala is much higher and the most educated people come from this area.

There is lots of random trash on the roads and there is always construction going on. It slowed us down on the major roads many times.
At the same time, though, the landscape is breathtaking. The grass is very green and there is a lot of vegetation and palm trees. Its more tropical and not jungle. We cross many bridges over rivers and train tracks. The land is more uneven and hilly and the sunsets paint the sky pink.

We stopped and had breakfast at another hotel on the way, egg curry this time with flat bread. The cost for our breakfast has been about 150 rupees for 6-8 of us. That’s about $3-4 total, and it would be cheaper if we didn’t get tea or juice.

This time the women’s meeting was in a community center that they rented out for the occasion. It wasn’t in as much of a rural area and the room was about twice as big as the day before. When the meeting began we had about 50 women and five pastors. In another hour, the whole room was packed. There had to be 130 women or more in there with another 15 pastors. The team sang again, Pastor Daniel shared, and then we were introduced. I played the guitar while the girls sang a song or two inbetween times of sharing. Becca Mooney was last and shared many things about what it meant to be a pastor’s wife and the wife of a leader. She shared practical things and the ladies were really blessed. After Becca finished, I handed Micah back to her (he was hungry) and closed out the last ten minutes or so before the meeting ended.

As the meeting ended, many people came to speak with us, which was very humbling, and Pastor Daniel was taking care of some administrative things. As he was finishing up, I asked him what all the transactions were that were taking place. He explained that since it was the Passion week, there were several holidays and so people weren’t able to work and have as much of an income to pay for their travel. Therefore, he offered to pay their travel expenses if they would come out to the meeting. It was also more practical than traveling to see each pastor and ministry individually.

We got back in the car and went down the road to get lunch. We had chili chicken, which was pretty good. I ate with my hands for the first time. Most Indians eat with their hands. They scoop it up in their right hand then push it in their mouth with their thumb. Micah was tired and fussy at lunch, but when he finally settled down in the car, he slept for the next two and a half hours until we got back to Trichur.

Pastor Danial generally slept while we travelled and Jose drove. Daniel would be in our conversations and joke around with us and answer our questions, but at some point he would lie back and sleep, even snore. The rest of us talked and got a little silly on the ride back.

Everyone but Becca and Micah went for a little walk before dinner. We were definitely the center of attention. Everyone stared at us, most quite openly. I thought a couple would break their necks as they drove by. We wound our way behind the hotel and found a Muslim Complex there in Trichur, about a block behind our hotel. Built in 2001, it was still very nice. A guy came out of the gate and spoke to us, asking us where we came from.

After we walked back, we had dinner in our room so Micah could play in the Pack n’ Play. He’s seven months old and already knows how to work a crowd. We had some great food and fellowship at dinner.

Tomorrow was another service at the church there in Trichur, the last service we’ll be participating in while here.

Wednesday started off better, if not early. Micah’s eyes had stopped the weird watering thing they were doing, and he was coughing less. The new room had completely fixed the mosquito problem.

We got an early start since we would be traveling. Jose and Pastor Daniel showed up around 6am. Becca and I were just a little late because Micah had done us a favor by filling his diaper before we got on the road. Good boy.

There are 8 seats in the Voice of Gospel ministries car. We filled every one with Micah on a lap. We headed south past Cochin to a more rural area and at a higher elevation. The twisting and turning on those mountain roads combined with Indian driving (constant breaking and aggressive passing) to cause a very long 3 1/2 hr trip and a little bit of nausea. We had breakfast at a little restaurant around 7am, which was basically a curry mix with flat bread, and we continued on our way.

Around 9:30 am we arrived at a little church in the mountains. This was a larger room about 10ft wide and maybe 30 ft long. To get to the church, you had to walk up this stone path with a shoulder high wall on both sides. We walked into the woods and the church was under the shade, so it was a litle cooler there. Chickens and roosters were around, and Micah was very interested in the rooster.

Everything in the building was concrete and stone with a thatch room. The big room was connected to a small house where the local pastor lived. Pastor Daniel took Laura and me out behind the building to show us the renovations being made. More than 100 people attend that fellowsip, and many stand or sit outside during the meeting. They are extending the room another 20 ft and adding three rooms opposite the pastor’s house for Mercy Home kids to live in.

It was another meeting for women in the ministry. This week was the first week that Pastor Daniel had arranged for special meetings for the women in ministry to come together and be encouraged. We really felt as if it was a success.

The meeting began with a prayer by the local pastor. Then a woman got the singing started. The room was already packed and more women came trickling in. A few male pastors were sitting up at the front and a few more were outside sitting near the door so they could see. There were close to 100 women and pastors there.

After the singing, the team was introduced. One by one the ladies got up to share. We also sang a couple songs while I played the guitar. Emily had a good message bout being the Bride and fixing yourself up for your husband.

Last I shared about abiding in Christ and how Christ is your primary ministry. Our first obligation is to please Him, then all other ministry to others will flow from that. I led them in spontaneous song before I shared, and it was glorious. They just kept on going. Pastor Daniel facilitated the end of it only because he wanted to have time for us to share before people had to head back.

The greeting here is “praise the Lord” among the saints. They may not know much English, but that is their greeting. They are hungry and on fire. They traveled hours to get here, as did we.

I’m going to be one of those annoying missionaries that will body slam anyone who complains about what their “church” doesn’t have. All this fellowship had was a concrete room and they were thankful for it. They sang without any instruments and many were off key and and off beat. There was no PA system, no A/C, barely any lighting and pnly two ceiling fans. But I saw more joy in that fellowship while they sang and worshipped than most fellwoships I’ve ever seen put together.

Micah is officially the most passed around child in the world. He has been loved and grabbed by people in 3 countries and 2 continents so far, Korea, US, and India. How can you not love Micah? He’s the cutest guy in the world and he smiles at everyone. He did get tired of it after a while on this day and lunged at me and gave me a great big hug. It was nice.

Right after the meeting, the workers placed the large stone door frame on the new extention. I helped them lift it up (the frame was made of stone!) and Pastor Daniel had me pray for the new building. I mostly prayed for the spiritual one.

Everyone was eating, so we joined in. Pastor Daniel provided food at these gatherings since most had to travel so far. Unfortunately another meal was being prepared for us. So some ate twice.

We said our goodbyes, made a last potty stop in the outhouse near the church, piled in the car and started back to Trichur. After the long trip back, we met David and his brother from Andhra Pradesh at the hotel restaurant when we returned. Micah and Becca were tired, so they went up to the room early. Becky was also not feeling well, so she stayed back and rested.

David desperately wanted to share about his ministry with us. Communication wasn’t the best between my exhaustion and his English, but he really is in a tough place to minister. They have four churches there in one area, two in a separate building and two in house churches. Between some violent Hindu threats and witchcraft, they are in a battle. He and his brother shared about an attack of witchcraft on one of his other brothers who eventually died but after five minutes was brought back to life while the church was praying over him. David also has a heart for some isolated villages where there is no education or health care and horrid poverty. He had already shared about his children’s ministry. I encouraged him to get connected with Pastor Daniel. David kept talking about me coming to train him and visit him and help him, but I explained how we didn’t have the time during this trip or the resources in general to come back soon, nor is it really on our hearts to do so at this point. We would definitely pray for him, but it seemed to make more sense to be connected to someone locally, at least in the same country, and Daniel also has connections there in Andhra Pradesh, some churches and Mercy Homes. I counseled him that Voice of Gospel ministries was closer and had much to offer in training (training at the VoG Bible schools is free!), so he could at least see what Pastor Daniel had to offer as far as wisdom and assistance.

I prayed for them before they left, but unfortunately I don’t know if he’ll move on any of my counsel. We will pray and hope that God moves in his life and ministry.

I got to bed early because we were going to get another early start!

Jose picked us up around 9:15am or so. We went to the house first where some got to check email. Then we went to the church where there was a special meetinfg for the women in the ministry. A few were pastor’s wives, but most were part of the Sisters of Jesus ministry that does humanitarian aid and evangelistic ministry in India. They had to be involved in ministry at least two days a week to come to this meeting. These were women who, like the pastors yesterday, came from the surrounding area within a morning’s traveling distance. There were maybe 60 women there.

After Pastor Daniel introduced me, I spoke about our coming to India. Maju was my interpreter. Then I introduced the ladies on the team, and they came up and shared some things that were on their hearts that God had shared with them. It was beautiful. The ladies were really blessed by my wife, Emily, Laura, Becky and Becca T. Becca Teat shared a wonderful word about dying to old dreams and living for God alone and how sometimes in order to live for God we have to give up what we want in order to have what He wants for us. After she finished, I shared with the women the importance of fellowship and discipleship in the Body of Christ. As I closed, I made Maju say nice things about himself, and he got emotional. He was such a servant and his face radiated with the light of God. I told the sisters, through him, how he had the face of God.

Oh, and this time, I got the time right!

We had lunch again at the house and checked more email. Pastor Daniel came back and we spoke with him for a few minutes before returning to the hotel.

Micah was not feeling very well, so he and Becca stayed back at the hotel while the rest of us went down to the lobby to wait for Jose to take us to another Mercy Home. We got a call, however, from Pastor Daniel and a change of plans. Another pastor from another state, Andhra Pradesh, ahd wanted to meet with us. Pastor David was acquainted with Larry and Alice over email, mostly with Alice. Alice suggested that he come to Trichur and meet Pastor Daniel and get hooked up with him. David was supposed to come down on Monday, but he had run late and was here now.

We instead went back over to Pastor Daniel’s house and met with David, whose older brother had also come. David shared his heart about starting a Children’s Home, which he had already done. He had 21 children living in his home with him. Pastor Daniel suggested contacting an organization that might fund such a project. Praise the Lord! Within minutes a need had been met. We spent some time sharing with David, and Pastor Daniel ended up sharing his amazing testimony.

Daniel grew up very poor becaues his father was a minister of a small Pentecostal church there in Trichur. Many times they just went hungry. Daniel fainted twice in school from lack of food. He told God he would never be a minister because he saw how God’s servants were treated. Instead we wnet to college and got his masters (on a scholarship) and was about to get a job as a professor when God gave him a vision and called him to be a pastor. His father’s church became something new as Daniel took it over. He called it Voice of Gospel aand after 20-25 years, 700 churches have been planted, 4 Bible training schools are running to train pastors and missionaries to other parts of India and there are 38 Mercy Homes, not to mention the Sisters of Jesus movement and other ministries to the poor in India, all through the Voice of Gospel ministry. It was a blessing to hear his testimony.

While we were sharing, it was cool to hear singing and clapping in another part of the house.

We returned to the hotel after passing on books and CDs and money from Alice to David, even though we would probably see him the next day. We went back to my hotel room to see what Becca and Micah were up to. We ordered from room service, but after seeing there was still an issue with mosquitoes, I went down to the desk and requested a new room. After showing them the number of bites on my arm (I counted the next day … I stopped at around 50), both the door man (who looks about 14) and the manager said, “oh, my God.” After eating, we moved to a new room with the help of the team and the door man, which basically consisted of throwing most of our stuff into the Pack n’ Play and rolling it down the hall. We said good night to the others and we went to bed.

The day for Becca and me began at 4am. Micah woke up hungry, but as Becca put him in the bed next to me, he was burning with a fever. He was coughing, too, but he had been doing that for a couple days. We took his temperature and it was over 102. We gave him some Tylenol and began to pray. We prayed for close to 2 hrs and the fever went down to about 99.5, which was much better. We went to sleep around 6am. Micah had been asleep the whole time. I really felt like God had others praying for Micah at that exact moment, which would have been Sunday evening in the States and Monday morning in Korea.

When he woke up at 7:30am to eat again, we took his temperature and it was 98.5 exactly. Praise the Lord!

After breakfast, Jose came to pick us up. Micah wasn’t acting very sick, but he was still coughing a little bit. As we went to the church, we were invited into Pastor Daniel’s office and I asked if we could take Micah to the doctor. One of the women working back at his house is a nurse, so Micah, Becca and Emily went back to Daniel’s house to rest and look at Micah, possibly to take him to the doctor.

Pastor Daniel and I spoke in his office while the meeting was getting started. He explained who these men were that would attend the meeting that day. They were other pastors and missionaries from the surrounding area of Trichur, the ones who were within a couple hours traveling distance. Many of them have house churches in smaller communities. There were close to 150 pastors in the meeting that day.

And here I was supposed to teach them.

Many of these pastors live in villages with no electricity or running water. Many times they are not welcome or wanted in a predominantly Hindu state and country.

The weight of the moment was immense. I felt as one with much to learn, not much to teach. Quite frankly, I don’t know if I’ve ever missed Larry Trammell more. I felt like he would know what to say, his heart is what these pastors need to hear. Larry would have blessed them and taught them awesome mysteries of God.

As I was on the brink of tears, I realized that God didn’t send Larry. God sent me.

So after Becky, Becca and Laura shared a song, Agnes Dei, I got up and spoke. I told them about how being a pastor or a leader in the Body of Christ is the most important position in the world. It is more important than governor or CEO or president or prime minister or king. A pastor is an eternal position and we should be worthy of the call.

I explained how Stephen should be our model of leadership within the Body of Christ. First, he was ready and willing to serve. Second, he was filled with the Spirit of God and God worked supernaturally through him. Third, he lived a holy life in such a way that his accusers had to make up stuff about him in order to persecute him.

We took a break and then I shared how to lead their meetings in a spontaneous, prophetic way. We looked at 1 Corinthians and then I led them in spontaneous singing. It was good to lead them in a pure expression to God. After that, Pastor Daniel led them in taking communion together. I think it was real wine, too, even though it was really sweet.

We had lunch again at the house. Micah had been to the doctor. The doctor had a sign that read, “I treat, He cures.” It was a Christian doctor and he prescribed medicine for Micah for an infection in his throat. I had tonsilitis the week before the trip, and I think that’s what Micah had as we travelled. Micah slept the rest of the afternoon, which was good for him. He also got to play in the front seat of the car with Jose, his new friend. Micah also made friends with the women of the house, Theresa and Lissa. Lissa has a son named Effi, who was about 3 or 4 and had more energy than you could ever bottle and sell. He was very cute.

The team went back to the hotel where I took a little nap before we went back out.

Pastor Daniel and Jose picked us up around 5:30pm and took us out to a Mercy Home. On the way, emily asked Pastor Daniel how I did today, since she was with Becca at the doctor (which really was a comfort to me), and he said it was great but too long! Sometimes you just can’t win.

We parked on a dirt road and had to walk a little way down to the Mercy Home. Later that evening I asked Pastor daniel how God gave him the idea of the Mercy Home.

He was visiting churches in the States associated with Voice of Gospel, and God gave him a dream. In this dream, dump trucks were coming and dumping loads of children of every age and color into a pit. Babies, young girls and boys of every age were thrown dead into a mass grave. God told him to save these children, that they are the next generation of the Church and they are being thrown away. Daniel was overwhelmed and asked how he could do this. God told him to start a home where a family took in 10 kids and raised them in a godly home and educated them. These are orphans one way or another, but Mercy Homes would not be orphanages. Daniel decided to test the dream, so the next day he was speaking at a church of Indian believers in the US and shared this vision. He then asked if anyone would be willing to sponsor one of these homes, even though he had no idea how much it would cost. If they were, they should contact the pastor at that church and he would refer them to Pastor Daniel.

For two days, no one called. Then two people called and each wanted to sponsor one. But Pastor Daniel had none of the details, just the concept. So when he returned to India and spoke with his fellow ministers, they figured it out.

Get this. For $200 a month, 10 kids and the family they live with have a home and food and education. They go to school. They are either all 10 boys or girls, no mixes, party because of Indian government law. They are not adopted because it is very difficult to adopt in India, due to child exploitation when it happens. They are allowed to live with these families through the Voice of Gospel ministry.

But wait, there’s more! (Can you hear the deep, excited voice?) This also serves another purpose. The people who run each home are pastors who begin a house church from the Mercy Home. It becomes a testimony and an outreach to the community as they see the lvoe of God through these homes.

To me, this is revolutionary. It is practical, genuine, and effective. People talk about being revolutionary. Pastor Daniel just is.

We went to one of these homes on Monday night. What a blessing. 11 little girls, half of them 14 years old, the other half 10 or 11, came out to meet us, smiling and wide eyed. They loved Micah, of course. they sang songs for us and we for them. We shared about who we were, and they about their life. They were amazed that Becky was 14 years old, too. We asked them about their favorite subjects. They said the best of the chores was watering the garden. The worst was dishes. Most of them were involved in atheletics, as well. They sleep on a concrete floor, all in one room. There is a second room for changing and storing of things. Each room might have been 10-15 ft square. The couple lives in a different room. They have no children of their own, but they have plenty now! Pastor Daniel said they were going to renovate the house soon and add a 2nd floor to give the girls more room.

He also shared with Becca that two of the girls had been bought out of prostitution by the ministry. They had been abandoned or sold into it by their parents. The price? Each girl was $500.

There are 38 Mercy Homes throughout India. There are children on the waiting list, as you can imagine. It broke my heart and filled me with joy all at once. A strange feeling.

They took us back to the hotel, and I asked Daniel if there was a good restaurant nearby or if we should just eat again at the hotel. He suggested that the hotel was best and told us a story of how someone went looking around and ate somewhere and were in the hospital when they returned to the US for 21 days.

OK, we said, you conviced us.

We went up to Emily and Becky’s room and ordered from room service. They thought it was funny to have me order and pronounce the Indian dishes over the phone. While we waited, Micah tried some seltzer water for the first time. He made a really horrible face, then got excited and wanted some more. We did this with him many times and laughed really hard at him.

I had some Ginger Garlic fish that was super spicy and very good.

Then we went back to our rooms and went to bed, but not before I had to call just about every hotel number to get a mosquito repellent that you plug into a wall. It didn’t work very well. You could play connect the dots on my arm the next morning.

Becca and I woke up early, and not by our choice. First of all, Micah was off his schedule, so he woke up hungry twice in the middle of the night. Then he woke up for good around 6am. I was already up, so I got up with him hoping to allow Becca some extra rest, which didn’t work so well in our one-room hotel room.

We played with Micah for a while then took a shower while Micah was playing nicely in the Pack n’ Play.

The free continental breakfast was open at 7am, but the whole team met around 8 in the lobby to see where it was. We made it to their restaurant where some cereal with warm milk, sweet toast with jam and some Indian curry dishes were available. Curry for breakfast was interesting. We had fun at breakfast.

John, the worship leader at the main church, picked us up at 9 and we went over to Pastor Daniel’s house which was a block away from the worship center. We sat in his living room, gave him some books and materials from Alice and Ablaze Ministries, then walked over to the church.

The meeting was just getting under way. The men and women sit on different sides of the building, and the women have their heads covered in these long gowns that are wraps around their bodies. Traditional Indian dress for women is very beautiful. There were about 200 in attendance that morning. They do most of their services in two languages, English and Malayalam, the native tongue for the state of Kerala, where we were. The speaking is generally translated, although the “testimony” time was only in the native tongue. The service began with a prayer by one of the associate pastors, a very serious looking shorter man with a booming voice.

Then Pastor Daniel stepped up to speak to the congregation. As he spoke in English, a man translated into Malayalam. Since Sister Lilly is in the states visiting different churches that support Voice of Gospel ministries, Maju was his translator. Maju looks like Gandhi. He wore a long white shirt with a long white skirt called a dhoti. He was taller and thin with a white mustache, balding white hair and glasses. He was very cool.

Then they got into singing. I was sitting on the front row with some of the other congregational leaders, so I had to look around to see how others were singing and worshipping. That was difficult to do since I was praising God myself! They only had three instruments, keyboard, violin and these Indian drums, which were very cool (I forget the name of them) because you used the palm of your hand to change the tones after hitting with your fingers. The keyboard also had some loops on it that drove the music.

Over an hour of singing and we sang three songs, all in Malayalam. Everyone clapped and sang at the top of their lungs in a very intense driving rhythm. There were also times of spontaneous singing, which blessed me to see, even though I made up my own words most of the time anyway except when they sang a refrain that repeated “hallelujah”. It’s interesting to me that word is used all over the world. It’s a great word.

About halfway through the singing, the children were released for Sunday School. Laura and Becky went with the kids and they had a special big class so Laura and Becky could sing with them. Laura brought her guitar, Peter, and they were a blessing, I’m sure.

After the singing in the main service, Pastor Daniel allowed for a time of testimony and sharing from the congregation. The women went first, and as I said, it was all in Malayalam. I gathered the women mostly gave testimonies about healing or provision from their hand gestures. They came to the front, got in line and waited to share on the microphone. About for or five women shared. One sang a song; I’m not sure whether or not it was spontaneous but I suppose it was. After the women, the men. A couple men led in song and taught something based on the song, I think. Others gave a short testimony. Again, this was just what I was percieving since I couldn’t understand the language.

Then one of the Voice of Gospel Missionaries from another state in northern India shared about what was going on in his region. He was the leader over several missionaries in that state, and he spoke for a while, in Malayalam, and he really seemed to bless them.

The kids started to trickle back in, Laura and Becky with them, of course. Becca T. sang “the Air I Breathe” while Laura played the guitar.

Then it was my turn to speak. I quickly introduced everyone to the congregation after Pastor Daniel introduced me. Pastor Daniel was my translator. I shared what was on my heart, which was about purifying yourself to be a vessel of honor to be used by God for every good work.

It was my first time speaking with a translator, but it went really well. In some ways I actually prefer it. It helps me gather my thoughts for the next statement. When I was done, I stopped and handed it back over to Pastor Daniel. He continued teaching for another twenty minutes or so, based on what I had said. Later on he told me that the people were used to a longer teaching time, so he filled in the rest of the session. One of the few times anyone said my teaching was too short!

We sang another congregational song at the end, and then the team of us went back down the street to Daniel’s house to have a lunch that had been prepared for us. The lunch was incredible! We ate well and visited with Pastor Daniel. After lunch, we went back to the hotel to clean up and cool off. India is hot. And southern India is very close to the equator, so you can imagine the heat and humidity.

Then the driver for the afternoon (and the rest of the week) came to pick us up with Daniel’s brother in law, Sister Lilly’s brother. Jose (pronounced jos with a long O like hose without the E) was our driver. He was a taller Indian man with a mustache. He was very good natured. Later on in the week I asked and discovered that Jose is a Catholic but has worked with Pastor Daniel, a Full Gospel minister, for about 8 years as his driver. They took us sightseeing a bit. First we went to the elephant park where we got a little education in elephants, especially that Kerala elephants are the most beautiful ones. It was a large park and it was fun. Several elephants were being washed that day. They use water and coconut shells to scrape and scrub the elephants, who were definitely enjoying their bath.

Then they took us to where Thomas the Apostle supposedly landed and started a church in southern India in AD 52. The story is that Thomas travelled by trade routes to India, and upon landing saw some Hindu priests (Brahmins) sitting in a pool and throwing water in the air to worship the sun god. Thomas asked them what they were doing, and they explained it to him. Thomas counteredthat his God could make the water stay in the air, resting in a column. They did not believe it was possible. Thomas threw the water in the air and it froze in midair just like he said. The Brahmins believed in Jesus Christ and were baptized right there.

Thomas was later martyred, but the churches he started were still ctive when the Catholics arrived in the 13th or 14th century. They tore down the old churches, built cathedrals over them, of course, and made them Catholic Churches. Many of the artifacts and images we saw were from that time. The one of Thomas conducting “mass” was particularly intriguing. I wonder if he performed it in Latin.

While the guide was telling us the story of Thomas and the water and the Brahmins, Daniel’s brother in law tried to help him and our guide got a little angry, which was funny. Later in the car, Daniel’s brother in law (I forget his name … but he was also the violin player on Sunday) told us that our guide didn’t really know the story because he’s a Hindu.

The 47ft statue of Thomas being built was interesting. We laughed at the iconic painting of Thomas that made him look like Maude (Bea Arthur from the Golden Girls).

We then went back to the hotel and ate at the hotel restaurant. We had their buffet, which was around $3-4 each and consisted of nice Indian cuisine. It was awesome. We went to bed that night after an awesome day!

God put it on my heart to do a different missions trip this year, one more speaking and sharing ministry oriented. I wasn’t sure what that would look like, but I prayed about it and waited for God to open doors. I recieved some contacts through Alice Trammell. Many people from around the world have been blessed by Larry Trammell’s articles or ministry and desire to have a visit from him. He is gone to be with the Lord, now, but they want a visit from Alice or someone else through Ablaze Ministries. I contacted the one the Lord directed me to, which was Pastor Daniel with Voice of Gospel ministries. I was continually drawn to his ministry. After contacting him, he shared that there had been a prophecy the week before during worship that God was sending a team from another country to minister in India. This was further confirmation, and so we began to put a trip together.

I wanted to bring a few teachers and a small number of students, but also only wanted what God had planned. So even though many were interested in the trip, the team that ended up going consisted of myself, Becca and Micah Mooney, Becca Teat (ICS music teacher), Emily Wiltshire (ICS high school English), Laura Forner (ICS 4th grade) and Becky Hennessy (9th grade ICS student). Of the handful of students that I spoke with, Becky was the only one who really felt called to go. So I was the only man with five young women and a baby. God was going to do something interesting.

Alice came in March to visit me and Becca and Micah, and we used some of her time here to get her acquainted with those going on the trip who did not know her. It was a blessing to have her and for the community here to get to know her a little bit. We took one afternoon and prayed together with Alice.

We got started pretty early on Saturday, April 8. We met the bus around 4:30am. It was a chartered bus that the Thai trip put together and we tagged along. The bus pulled out around 5am and got to the airport in record time, by just after 6am.

Our flight was delayed two hours, so we had a little more ofa wait when we got to the airport. This wasn’t that big of a deal since we had a long 6hr layover in Singapore ahead of us. As an added bonus, however, Singapore Airlines gave us a voucher of 72,000 won to use at the airport to buy food (12,000 each). Since they gave it to us as one voucher, we had to use it all at one place and they don’t give change. We used the 72,000 won at Subway (about $72) for 6 people. We “bought” a couple extra drinks and some granola bars to use up the voucher. We each got a footlong sandwich and saved half for the plane, which was a blessing for me since I hate airplane food. What a blessing!

Singapore Airlines rocks! I have been on several different airlines over the years, but Singapore is the best by far. In fact, I would say the Asian airlines are better than any American airline, and Singapore is the best of those. Each seat in Economy class had their own personal screen with the choices of thirty movies, thirty or forty TV shows and fifty full albums that you could choose from or make your own playlist out of whatever you wanted. They also had arcade games. I watched Fun with Dick and Jane and Ice Harvest with John Cusack on the plane.

They also gave Micah a little stuffed animal and gave us a menu of baby food. The service was excellent, as it normally is on an Asian flight with an Asian crew.

Singapore Airport rocks, too! Its definitely the best airport I’ve ever been in, as well. There is a great variety of things to do and all pretty affordable. Its pretty well designed, although it took us a little exploration to get to the main foodcourt area. They have a really cool garden area in the main terminal area with nice shops. Upstairs there was a free movie theater and places to sleep or shower or even exercise, but those cost money. The restaurants are very diverse and not that expensive at all. There was also free internet for about 15 minutes at a time. I’ll take a layover in Singapore anytime.

Becca and I had some freshly squeezed pineapple juice. Micah enjoyed the Singapore Airport if only because he was finally free to get down and crawl around and play!

We got on our flight to Cochin, India 8:15pm Singapore time. It was about a 4hr flight from Singapore to Cochin in Southern India, and I slept about 3 of them. I was out.

We arrived in Cochin just about 10pm India time. Micah slept most of the flight, as well.

Cochin airport is small but fairly new, so it was pretty nice. We filled out some immigration paperwork and got in line to get through immigration. Just beyond immigration was a metal detector at a security checkpoint. After getting through immigration, we were the last passengers through, and the security guard was headed down the escalator, telling us to come on through as if he didn’t care anymore. It was late and he was done for the night!

We made our way downstairs to pick up our luggage, which was all there, praise the Lord, and we could see Pastor Daniel on the other side of customs, smiling and waving at us. Pastor Daniel is a middle aged Indian man with balding grey and black hair. He also has a beard and mustache. He is average height and stocky, stout. He and I embraced and I introduced the rest of the team.
Pastor Daniel had hired a large air conditioned van for the ride up to Trichur. It was fairly warm and humid as we got out of the airport. We could see palm trees and lots of vegetation through the dark night.

Driving up in the van was very interesting. Trichur is about an hour north of Cochin, and it was mostly 2-lane highways that were still very busy at night. There are lots of slower vehicles like scooters and big trucks, so passing is common, and if there was room for three vehicles wide, then you passed whether or not traffic was coming. Seeing a bus coming at you head on was a common experience. Very Asian mentality. There was lots of communication, as well, between drivers with the horn and flashing high beams. It seemed as if it were its own language.

We passed many things on the way, but the funniest were either the big advertisement for a marble manufacturer that featured Hulk Hogan or a hotel called Hotel Runs. Hotel Runs. In India. Pretty funny. We got a picture later.

I saw a hammer and sickle sign and asked about the Communist Party in India. Pastor Daniel said that the Communist Party is very supportive of the Christian community in the state of Kerala because the Christians are seen as a minority and more humanitarian towards the poor. Either way I found it rather odd.

Along the way I was told I was speaking in the morning, which I had suspected even though I had not been told. Pastor Daniel then asked, “what’s your program?” I explained I would say whatever the Spirit had on my heart, which was nothing at the moment but would be in the morning.

We arrived at our hotel, Trichur Towers, about midnight. We checked in, got to our rooms, then switched them around to accomodate everyone. We were told about the plan for the morning, and Pastor Daniel prayed for us. Becca and I set up the Pack n’ Play for Micah, Becca fed him, and we all went to bed!