Pastor Post

Pastor B* (name withheld) serves as a pastor in northern India. He’s married, and they care for five orphans as they prayerfully desire biological children of their own. Recently, a ministry colleague betrayed Pastor B* and stole money set aside for the orphans. So too in the last year, Hindus have broken into his church services to batter and bruise the worshipping Christians. Pastor B* presses on. He preaches the Bible. He disciples the saints. He pastors the flock. When I think of Pastor B*, I think of Hebrews 11:36-38

36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated– 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

My two week trip to India began with 1 one-week pastor conference where Pastor B* served as my translator. Serving with a few other state-side trainers, I worked through a preaching training module through 2 Timothy. I also preached 3 sermons in the Book of Acts to encourage the pastors and to demonstrate expository preaching (where the main message of the sermon derives from the main message of the biblical passage in its original context). Nearly all these northern Indian pastors face persecution, deal with heretical perversions of Christianity, and labor with meager resources…the world is not worthy of them.

In my second training, I flew to an Indian state close to China. There 12 men and women received training on an advanced module looking at the prophet Habakkuk. I listened to many sermons that proclaimed the glorious message that “the righteous shall live by faith” (2:4) and that the knowledge of God will one day pervade the earth as the waters cover the sea (2:14). The LORD plants new churches in India. Preachers are being raised up; pastors developed. Glory to God.

One superstar in that region of India is Pastor Q*. Pastor Q* is a single man in his late 30s who travels up and down mountains, into neighboring countries, and across the 28 states of of India. Pastor Q uses the same training materials every single week to raise up pastors, preachers, and Sunday school teachers. He’s a hero to our training team, and I was privileged to pray with him and serve beside him.

This is my third international trip in 7 years with Pathways (the international training organization under our denomination’s global missions’ arm, Reach Global). Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your support. Thank you for the love you poured onto my family. Thank you for your own heart to see the good news of Christ preached among the nations.