India Mission trip a great success

Martha giving a child a pair of flip flops.

This young fella was very excited about his new flip flops.

Jim talking with Servant of Christ (left) and Pastor Prasad.

Pastor Prasad interpreting for Keitha.

How do you put everything you experience on a mission trip into words? You really can't, but I'll give it a try. No matter how many mission trips I go on, God never ceases to amaze me. Our trip last week to India was no different.

It was our first mission to India, a huge country with more than 1.3 billion people, and more than 95 percent of the people are unreached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The state we visited, Andhra Pradesh, has a population of more than 57 million, and more than 98 percent are unreached with the Gospel. That means we, as followers of Jesus, have much to do in India.

Our trip was five-fold. First, to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Secondly, to train indigenous pastors, missionaries, and lay church members, how to make disciples who make disciples. Thirdly, to distribute Bibles. Fourthly, to distribute new flip flops to children. Fifthly, to distribute and install new water filters to provide safe drinking water. 

Thanks be to God, I can report our mission was successful.

We saw 28 people come to Jesus from an unreached people group called, "Khond." We trained 45 indigenous pastors, missionaries and lay church members. We used the Training For Trainers (T4T) method. It is the most powerful and easily reproduced discipleship method we know of, and it's used all over the world.

Bibles were given to all of those we trained. They were so excited and thankful. More Bibles will be distributed to new believers as our brothers and sisters in India continue to fulfill the Great Commission.

We were blessed to distribute hundreds of flip flops to children. Eighty percent of the children there do not have shoes, so they were thrilled to receive flip flops. To see their little faces light up and hear the joy in their voices was awesome.

The lack of fresh water is a huge problem in India. They have many health issues due to unsafe drinking water. We brought 25 water filters with us that instantly turns their muddy, bacteria-filled water into clean, safe drinking water. It was amazing to see the transformation of the water.

From safe drinking water to the Living Water, we saw a lot of transformation in India, including within ourselves. God always does something in His people when we respond to His call. There is nothing like living life by our Lord Jesus Christ's Great Commission.

I will continue writing about our India Mission trip in upcoming blogs. Consider this an introduction. I'll break down the five-fold mission in upcoming posts.