Change the Rules; it’s the only sane thing to do!

I coach inner city baseball at a local city park. It is run through a recreation center by the city and all rec. centers have the same program with the same set of rules. I’ve done this for over five years (when my kids were younger in the 90’s and then again the last 4 years in a row). The rules are not generated by the local rec. center but by the city’s governing body which sends the rules to all the centers.
This is not normal little league baseball. Most of the kids don’t have gloves or balls and don’t have a clue how to use them. Since this is inner city, many don’t have nuclear families and there is no one to show them how to throw or catch or hit. My job as coach is less of a strategist than a glorified dad who teaches the basics like how to hold a bat or how to throw with your shoulder instead of your elbow.
The rules then are slightly different than little league baseball. First, there is a pitching machine, not a human pitcher. Secondly you only get five pitches regardless of whether you swing or not, no walks. Thirdly, and most significantly to this story, no player can play the same position twice in the same game. This gives the kids a wide spectrum of playing possibilities and experience. No one gets “stuck” all season playing catcher or right field.
I tend to be rather anal when it comes to following rules. I use my turn signals, I come to a complete stop at corners and I seldom speed up during a pink light to beat the signal. With that said you can understand that I follow the rule of rotating the kids every inning; and from game to game. One mother told me her child wasn’t going to catch but I said, everyone will catch at least once. She gave in and saw that this was the fairest way of dealing with the kids.
I’m telling you all this background because of a recent incident I had with another coach. We generally play a four or five inning game due to time constraints. I know baseball is one of a few sports that doesn’t use a time clock and it can go on forever, but we try to limit the games to one hour. The first three innings we were getting pummeled. We were losing nine to nothing when one of my kids mentioned to me that the other team had never changed player positions for the first three innings. I went to the other coach and told him that he was exerting an unfair advantage over my team. He wildly protested but I appealed to the Rec. center director and he sided with me. The final inning they didn’t score a run and we scored eight! We didn’t win the game but when we played on the same level it radically changed the dynamics of the game.
After the game the other coach came to me and began ranting about the rule. First he claimed he had coached for three years and knew nothing of the rule. I dismissed this politely in that every year we got a packet of coaching information and the rules are clearly stated, not only that but we are given a chart to show how to rotate our players. We also have a coaches orientation each year in which this rule is brought up to remind us.
The other coach then changed his tactics by arguing that he didn’t want his children (two were playing on his team) to play catcher and that is why he ignored it. I stared at him amazed at his rationale. Because he didn’t like the rule, he felt it his obligation to ignore it. Not only ignore it, but to play ignorant when he was confronted by it. He then wanted to negotiate with me that we both not play by the rule or that we lobby to change it immediately!
I informed him that I have successfully played by this rule for more years of coaching than he has in this league. I felt no need to change it for my advantage, in fact, I had learned how to coach around it by placing my better players in key slots in the later innings when the kids started hitting better.
My point in this diatribe is that what this coach was living by and promoting is the major opinion of most people in North America. Rules are relative and are meant to be bent or ignored based on how I feel about them. This is evidenced in how people drive, when they cut in line at the store or theatre, or how they treat other people. Just this past Wed. I was almost broadsided by a woman who decided that her red light didn’t apply to her and my green light was less important, as I was deemed less important, she ran the red light while talking on her cell phone and I had to slam on my brakes and turn out of the way.
People act in the manner of “rules are for others but not for me”. I am the measure of all things and I base my behavior and practices on my needs and feelings. No wonder we have a hard time with values and morals when it comes to life in general. Since all things are relative, so is God and His values. There is no right and wrong anymore, just what I can get away with. If you challenge me, I have a right to lie and distort the facts to defend myself.
May God have mercy on us, we’ll need it when He comes to judge the living and the dead!

Smoking ministry

I know before I write this that what I’m about to share is controversial. I know some will read it through their own filters and see things differently than what I’m interpreting this from this event. But I am willing to take that risk. My eyes have been opening up in the past year or more to the workings of the Holy Spirit and I’m more willing to see His work in ways that I wasn’t prepared to see in the past.
We had a walk in visitor to our church last Sabbath. He just walked in during our Bible study time (Sabbath school class) and asked us if this was church. We invited him in and tried to integrate him into the lesson study. He seemed somewhat disoriented and it may have been because of drugs or a mental condition it was hard to tell. He seemed to have a hard time following the discussion.
Suddenly, without warning, he burst out in a diatribe of accusations against God’s character that would make a committed Christian cringe! He said God only loved special people, not everyone. He inferred that he, himself was not one of the special people that God loved and he based this on the fact that God hadn’t chosen to make his life easy. He inferred that if God loved him He would have taken away his alcoholic tendencies. He also referred to natural calamities as evidence that God doesn’t love everyone.
Listening to his complaints was hard and the first reaction was to defend God’s character. But as some tried to defend God, this young man’s agitation grew. He couldn’t see beyond his own pain to hear anyone’s rebuttal. Several people tried to explain their own journey with this young man to describe how God had loved them into His kingdom. He responded that no one could possibly know his life and his trials and therefore had no right to justify God’s actions. One person, a recent convert not yet baptized, was in tears as he shared how God had removed his addiction to weed that he had for 20 years as justification of God’s love for him.
It was interesting to watch as this new convert was literally in this young man’s shoes not six months before this time. Now he was defending God! There were three people who adamantly defended God verbally through rational, Biblical and testimonial evidence to no avail. I watched as all this unfolded and I saw in action something I have been preaching on for months. I saw something that has taken me years for fully comprehend. All the talk in the world has little effect until people see a difference in our actions and our lives.
The reason this young man came to church that particular Sabbath morning was he was hungry. He was out of work, out of money and out of food and he came with the hope that we had donuts and coffee. We found that out through his conversation and immediately we worked to get him some food from out food bank and we promised him lunch if he could stay till after the service.
He did stay and I was pleased at how the church treated him. Not with contempt or scorn but with genuine concern and love. I don’t know if he heard anything from the lesson or sermon, but he did see Jesus in the way people treated him.
No problems so far right? Now is when you will have to put on your sanctified vision of God’s love in operation. Very little of what transpired in worship and study affected him. But after church he stepped out on the front steps of the church. There stood another new attendee not baptized. This person I will call Jim was recently released from prison. His wife is a member and the church supported her while he was gone. The church also supported him while he was in prison with cards and visitation. He was trying to turn over a new leaf in his life and was attending church with his wife and kids. He was standing on the front steps having a cigarette.
The new visitor bummed a cigarette off of Jim and then Jim began to tell the visitor his story of drug use, prison time and the history of his failed life. He then told the young man, this church accepted me and cares for me, and they will do the same for you if you let them. Jim was witnessing for Jesus while smoking a cigarette with this man. Now you may not think much of his actions and look down on him for smoking, but that day, on the steps of an Adventist congregation, God reached out to connect with a young man where he was in order to show him how much God cares.
God loves humanity too much to not reach out to us at our level. But He also loves us so much that He won’t leave us in the pig sty either.

Too Dirty to be Cleaned?

What I’m about to share with you is a true story. You can’t make this stuff up sometimes. Last fall I went out to a friends place in the country to target shoot some guns. Now I know that some of you may not approve of this activity and I understand. The point of the story is not the shooting, but where this took place.
We drove to the back of his forty acre farm on a wet fall day. Halfway up the small hill, my truck was throwing major amounts of mud all over the place. My truck was only 3 months old at the time with less than 5000 miles so you can probably understand that I wanted it to look nice. Coming back down the hill after our little afternoon excursion added even more mud to the already caked on stuff from a few hours before. I am sure that there was eight inches or more of mud in the wheel wells when we finished.
Driving down the road threw off some of the mud especially from the tires but the wheel wells were not really cleaning up. As we drove home my kids asked if we were going to wash the truck. “Of course” I said, as we drove along; “I go to this drive through car wash all the time, in fact I have a special card.” When we drove up to the entry of the car wash we all jokingly noted a car in front of us that didn’t look like it even needed to be washed. An old lady was driving this car that looked as if it hardly ever left the garage. We laughed about the irony of her car and my truck in line at the car wash.
We didn’t realize that we wouldn’t be laughing long. The manager took one look at my truck and came over and said: “I’m sorry sir, but we can’t wash your truck, it’s too dirty.” He said we needed to go and pre-wash it somewhere and bring it back and then he could wash it.
I responded, “Why would I come back if I had to wash it somewhere else?” He became defensive and told me I didn’t need to take such an attitude. My daughter then said, “Dad, there’s a sermon in this story.”
There sure is! I wondered how many people have left a church, any church in any town of any denomination, and were told in various ways they were too dirty to attend and that if they got cleaned up, they could come back and worship with them. Maybe someone commented to them about their dress and adornment? Maybe someone mentioned something about their children’s behavior? Maybe something was said about food brought to potluck? Maybe nothing was mentioned at all and that sent a message?
Body language is louder than anything we say. In fact studies show that body language is 80% of our communication. This can happen with our eyes, our posture or facial expressions. If we think it, it shows somewhere in our body language.
Have you ever done a check on your dirt limitations of your church? Ever done one on your self?

Seventh-day Adventist

I had a recent epiphany that I want to share. It may not be profound for you or it may even seem ridiculous but I’m going to share it anyway. I am a Seventh-day Adventist. Some may not know what that entails so I want to give a brief explanation of the meaning of the name.

First of all, Seventh-day refers to Genesis 2 where God blessed the seventh day and made it holy in the Garden of Eden. He not only designated this day as holy for unfallen man, but God allowed man to take this gift out of the garden and into a world of sin. The day was to be a day of relationship with God. Mankind would need that reconnecting day of relationship in a sinful world. There is another reason that man needed this day. It was to be an eternal reminder that God is the creator and man is the creature. It is a day that was intended to center man in his creatureness. Seventh-day then refers to the beginning of scripture and to a perfect world that became marred by sin, but through God’s plan of salvation would one day be restored. In fact, the rest of scripture would document the process that God uses to bring about that restoration.

Adventist means someone who is awaiting the advent or appearance of the Messiah. In this case since we believe as most Christians; Jesus has already come once. He became incarnate through the womb of a human and took on human nature to live with us and become the second Adam to pay the price we couldn’t pay. The Advent I’m talking about here is His re-appearing or what the Bible refers to as the second coming. Many mainline churches that celebrate the liturgical calendar know of the season of Advent. This season refers to the first coming of Jesus as a babe in Bethlehem. But the term Adventist in the name of our movement refers to Revelation when Jesus comes in glory to claim as His own what He won at Calvary.

So, the name Seventh-day Adventist has reference to Genesis and Revelation and therefore implies that we teach and believe in all that goes between the two. We are a people of the book. We believe God has revealed His character and His plan in the whole of Scripture and He is a God who does not change. He is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow. That’s why we take serious the prescriptions of the Bible.

As I was thinking about this my epiphany came. There is another group in scripture that could accurately be called Seventh-day Adventists. That is the people of Israel. They took their scriptures (what we call the Old Testament) very seriously. They were Sabbatarians and they looked forward to the advent of the Messiah.

This led me to all sorts of comparisons and contrasts. Israel is still waiting for the first Advent, while modern Adventists are still waiting for the second. Israel become steeped in their traditions as most religious movements do, this is also true for modern Adventists. Israel became so legalistic in their approach to God that they missed the Messiah; it is possible that modern Adventism is heading in the same direction.

The problem doesn’t lie in the revelation of Scripture nor in the God we worship. The problem isn’t inherent in religion per se, the problem lies with people. People tend to put God in a box and limit Him. It is an effort to control our environment. Humans don’t want a God that is too big because then we are not in control. All religious worship seems to boil down to controlling the deity. We attempt to do it through our prayers, our offering and our worship services.
I don’t have a solution to the problem, just questions. What if we let God be as big as He really is? What would that do to our response to Him? What would our religion look like if we stopped trying to control Him and let Him be in control? What if?

Orthodoxy vs. Orthopraxy

Recently I’ve been confronted with reading material and a seminar that has challenged my long term belief systems. No, I’m not throwing everything out and redefining my theology. Instead, my theology has been expanded, stretched, and challenged to make me look at my religion in a new way. The title of this week’s blog is from a sermon I did a couple of weeks ago and since I that time, I’ve read two different books that have used the same concepts.

Let me first deal with definitions. Orthodoxy, as found in the term Orthodox Church, means right thinking. Orthopraxy on the other hand means right doing. These two are not in contrast to each other but should be in harmony. Unfortunately Christians today spend most of their time and energy on orthodoxy. Let me share a quote from one of the books I recently read regarding the three great religions that have descended from Abraham: “It must also be recalled that beliefs and doctrines are not as important in Islam as they are in Christianity. Like Judaism, Islam is a religion that requires people to live in a certain way, rather than to accept certain creedal propositions. It stresses orthopraxy rather than orthodoxy." (Armstrong 2002, 66)[1]

Othropraxy, or right doing or behaving seems to be a missing element in Christianity. But it is and was a major component of Judaism, or the chosen people of God; the people to whom the Messiah came. Modern Christians have a hard time understanding how the Pharisees and Sadducees could work together in the Sanhedrin with such differing theological positions but this view helps us to see that what they believed was less important than how they lived their lives.
It seems that what you do is more important than what you believe! How you live your life speaks volumes regarding your belief system. The interesting thing about this is a Bible verse that comes to mind. Revelation 20:13 (NIV) says: “The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.” Notice it doesn’t say you are judged by what you know, it says you are judged by what you do!

Another verse that comes to mind is dealing with a parable Jesus taught regarding the second coming and judgment. The parable is found in Luke 12 starting in verse 37. But I want to reflect on the commentary that Jesus gives regarding this parable found in verses 47 & 48. Jesus says: “That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. "

To whom much has been entrusted, much will be asked. In this parable Jesus is speaking of both orthodoxy (knowledge given to people through God’s revelation) and orthopraxy (what you did with that knowledge). From this I must conclude that the pagan who lives and behaves up to the level of knowledge he is given through nature (Romans 1:18-20 speaks clearly of this) is better off than the Christian who has access to Scripture but refuses to do what Scripture says.

This is pretty heavy for a blog I know, but it is Biblical and this is where I’m being stretched. As Christians we have an obligation to live what we have been shown through Scripture. In fact, the parable of the sheep and the goats is quite clear on this matter. The separation of the sheep and goats is not based on what they believed, but on what they did with what they understood. How does the Gospel impact your actions? That is the question in the judgment. To say you are a Christian and to act like a heathen is misrepresenting God.

Why is this line of thinking pressing me at this time you might ask? Well it has a lot to do with a seminar I attended and the subsequent reading I did afterward. The seminar was on Islam and a Christian’s response. I was blown away by some of the concepts presented. Imagine that God loves Muslims and is working right now in their culture for their salvation! This is where the rubber meets the road. Many Muslims are living their faith (orthopraxy) better than most Christians!

We look down on some customs and teaching of the Islamic faith as barbaric; but what do they think of us? When you mention a Christian to a Muslim, they think swine eating, wine guzzling, adulterers. That’s their definition of a Christian. What does that image convey to you? What image should they have of Christians? Maybe Christians should be known for our modesty, our temperance and our healthy life styles as indicated by our Holy Book.

I want to use an illustration that might shock or trouble some of you. It has to do with the Catholic Church’s teaching on lent and the eating of meat on Friday. Whether you agree with this teaching or not is not the issue or the point I’m trying to make. Below is the news article found on the web on Tuesday, March 13, 2007. Read it and see if you can find out why this illustrates my point.

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Catholics Denied Hot Dogs For Home Opener
First game falls on Good Friday. Bishop won't grant dispensation to eat meat at Jacobs Field.
By Darren Toms, Newsradio WTAM 1100Monday, March 12, 2007
(Cleveland) - What's a Catholic to do on opening day? Enjoy a fish sandwich. Cleveland Catholic Diocese Bishop Richard Lennon tells Newsradio WTAM 1100 he will not grant dispensation for Catholics to eat hot dogs at Jacobs Field on opening day. This year, the Indians home opener falls on Good Friday. There was a similar case last year when St. Patrick's Day was held on Friday. Then Bishop Anthony Pilla allowed Catholics to eat corned beef on St. Patrick's Day. This is a tradition that goes back to the 1880's. It varies by diocese on whether to grant dispensation. But while St. Patrick's Day celebrates a saint, the same can't be said for the Cleveland Indians. So for the home opener, Catholics need to limit themselves to things like peanuts and cracker jacks.
(Copyright © 2007 Clear Channel. All rights reserved.)
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It appears from this article that when a teaching of the church or the Bible interferes with our desires or passions, we look for a dispensation. A dispensation only means an exemption from a law or oath. Christians spend all their time looking to define their orthodoxy only to request dispensations as to why they don’t need to practice orthopraxy! Let’s stop looking to define and let’s start living our faith. It seems to me that we should use both orthodoxy to listen to what God says and then, by the power of the Holy Spirit, use orthopraxy to do what God is calling us to do. Let’s hear the voice of God and obey. Not obedience that attempts to gain salvation, but obedience because of the great salvation we have been given. Recent trends in Christianity denigrate obedience as legalism. Was Jesus a legalist? He was obedient to His Father in far greater ways than we can conceive. Shouldn’t Jesus be our example? Having a faith relationship with Jesus is not a dispensation to live a life of rebellion and sin, defining what we want or do not want to do in our lives.

“All of life is a test, a test whether we will do it God’s way, or do it our own way!”

Remember, the issue in the judgment is not how much you know, it’s what have you done in practice with the knowledge you have. Are you following the Lamb wherever He leads or are you following your own sinful desires? There is only one path that leads to eternal life and the Bible says that path is narrow and few will find it (Matt. 7:13, 14).

[1] Armstrong, Karen, Islam; A short history. Chronicles book, 2002

HOW BIG IS YOUR GOD?

I haven’t written a blog since returning to the states from my evangelistic trip to India back in February. I’ve missed writing it. So I’m going to attempt to write a blog a week as opposed to a blog a day that I was doing while I was gone. It seems like the blog was easier in India because there was always new stories and content to provide for those “back home” who were seeing India through my eyes and experience. But if I were to be honest, there is much content here to write about too; I just get too narrow focused and don’t see the big picture as I was doing while in a different culture and country.

I want to begin this blog by giving an update. I received an email from my new friends in India with some pictures that I want to share. There are two pictures that are very meaningful to me. Before I left India, I gave the local pastor enough money to purchase four goats for Kanatha and a bicycle for Danny to use to get to work and to school. Both of these people are very poor and they would never have been able to obtain these things on their own.

I don’t want this to come across as arrogant or prideful, but this was an important part of my experience and I want to share it with you. I walked in the midst of this village’s poverty and my heart constantly went out to these people as I compared my wealth to their poverty. I knew I couldn’t help everyone in the village, but I could send a message to others of how Jesus loved them and cared about them now, not just future salvation.

When I gave the money to the pastor, I took Kanatha aside with the pastor and talked to her about the gift I was giving. I told her that I couldn’t help everyone but I had chosen to help her. With the gift came responsibility I told her: “to whom much is given, much is expected and now she had an obligation to help others in her village as she had been helped.” I asked her to serve her Lord (Kanatha, if you remember, had been one of the first I baptized) and her village by sharing Jesus with her neighbors and the pray for the village.

I hoped she understood the lesson, I had a hard time reading her facial expression and I asked the pastor if something was wrong. She was lamenting the fact that her husband had died before this time and she wanted to share this with him. She was happy, but many emotions ran through her head.

How big is your God? This was the title of a sermon I preached two weeks ago at Walk of Faith. I had seen and experienced a VERY BIG God while I was in India; a God much bigger than most of Christianity seems to believe in. This big God that I got a picture of is bigger than the toothless, elderly grandfather who spoils his grandchildren and shows no discipline. The big God I experienced deserves more honor and obedience than the God most of Christianity portrays. The God in a box is what most Christians have defined and feel they can control. A God that many Christians feel little need to truly serve with all their heart, mind, and bodies.

I fear that as Christians, we have lost sight of the bigness of God as demonstrated by our spiritless and powerless lives. A small God that Christians have defined and give lip service to but hasn’t caused real life changing service in their lives. This God no longer speaks to them or has authority over them, but they go on living and defining their lives as the pagans do. NO, worse, they live a life that is less devoted than a pagan. In fact, I would submit, pagans who know less than what many Christians claim are less guilty than the ones who claim Jesus as LORD and Savior!

How big is your God and how is it shown in your life of devotion and service?

Until next week, may your God be bigger and bigger as you grow to love Him and serve Him.

Pastor Kevin

farewell to village

It’s Sunday night as I’m writing this and we have traveled all day. We got up at 5:30 a.m. after I went to bed at 1:00 a.m. and I’m really tired. We are in Delhi tonight but we are leaving for Jaipur tomorrow where the palace is located. We leave at 6:30 a.m. and take a four hour bus ride. We will stay overnight in Jaipur and then leave for Agra on Tuesday for the day. Agra is where the Taj Mahal is. We return to Delhi on Wed. to spend the day sightseeing before we leave for home. We fly out of Delhi at 3:30 a.m. on Thursday and arrive back in the states around 2:00 p.m. Thursday. Remember there is a 10.5 hour time zone difference and our air time is 17 hours. I won’t get home till the late hours of the night on Thursday.
Let me tell you a little about what transpired yesterday. It was a full day to say the least. I went to the English speaking church with another Pastor yesterday morning not expecting to preach, but to sit back and relax. When I got to Sabbath school, the Pastor of the church asked me to preach. I had met him earlier in the week and he was more than willing to give up his pulpit to me.
I want to tell you the whole story about what happened in worship that morning but it might be better left to tell in person. But there was a reason God asked me to preach. And there were people in the congregation that needed to hear what I spoke on. I spoke on the cross of Christ and its importance in our preaching and evangelism. AND, I didn’t need a translator!
Right after church I was escorted to the home of one of the team members for a farewell party. I ate home cooked Indian food and was treated like a king. They gave me gifts and I gave them gifts for their support of me at this village. We took lots of pictures and there were speeches. When that was all over, I was informed that I needed to visit each home of the group members (eight of them) and to say a blessing for each home. That took the rest of the afternoon.
We then went to site for the last time. I was tired before I got there. When we arrived at the site, our host wanted to have a tea party for me and the team. Needless to say I did no visiting in the homes last night. We finished the tea party just in time to start the meeting.
We set up the equipment and there were more speeches. I was honored again with a shawl and a necklace. The team gave me an engraved plate as a memento of this experience along with a national Indian flag. I was wondering where I was going to pack all of this stuff they gave me? When we finally began, we were late. We showed the Jesus DVD in its entirety. It was longer than I expected and we didn’t finish the video till 9:15 p.m. We normally ended at 8:30 on other nights. Then it was time for me to say goodbye. I’ll leave it up to your imagination as to how I held up.
Then we had another round of goodbyes and pictures. Many from the village wanted to have a photo taken with me. Kanatha and Ambiga had tears in their eyes when they came to say goodbye. They even shook my hand which is the closest thing of physical contact between men and women that is allowed in this culture.
The driver took my translator and Bible worker and I back to the hotel. There I asked the two of them to come up to my room where I had another special gift for just them. At the room, Pastor Prince my translator stuck out his hand to shake mine then fell into my arms hugging me and I think he even wept a little (like all good strong men he hid it well). My Bible worker, Amani, couldn’t hide it. She cried like a baby. Once again, I wanted to hug her but it was not going to be. Amani always bowed low to me when she met me or said goodnight but never really spoke to me in English before last night. She said: "goodbye pastor and thank you".
I was really exhausted and emotionally drained after they left. I then started to try and pack all the stuff I was given plus some souvenirs. Even with leaving some stuff I brought along, I had a hard time closing my bags; plus they were really heavy.
I hope to get this posted before we leave the hotel tomorrow. This will be the last post until I get home. I can’t wait! I miss my wife and I’m ready for some home cooking, my own bed and to play hockey again. I’m even ready for some snow! (sorry Jack but I like the stuff) I am going to hibernate for a couple of days when I get home to recover from the jet lag. I may or may not see you on Sabbath depending on how tired I am.
May God bless you and keep you.
Pastor Kevin

Kanatha's goats

This will probably be my last blog from Madurai where we are doing evangelism. There may be another one Monday, but it will be touristy in nature. Tonight was my last speaking engagement and I spoke on heaven. It was well received. I have another story to tell you from tonight’s meeting, but before I do I want to explain the picture.

Wed. just after breakfast, another pastor and I went to the local flower market. This is where the bulk flowers come in for the local vendors to purchase to make wreaths and other floral arraignments to be used primarily in Hindu worship. These flowers are cut no earlier than the day before they come to market.

It is an awesome sight of colors and wonderful smells. People are bartering all around to get the best prices. There is a large variety of flowers, greens and all the raw material to make the elaborate wreaths and garlands like the one you saw me wearing in an earlier post.

Since Trish loves flowers so much I couldn’t help thinking of her and wishing she were her to experience this. If we lived close to something like this, she would have fresh flowers everyday.

Tonight was a bit of a circus at my sight. Some Bigwigs from the Columbia Union (the boss of my boss) came to visit and they showed up at my sight with cameras and video. Needless to say, we had to recognize them and honor them by allowing the Union President to say the opening prayer. Then they were off the see other sights.

We got down to business (oh, by the way, did I mention that I had my fourth different translator tonight?) and started the program. Things went well and the sermon was well received. As I look back over the past 16 days, I wish I would have done a few things different as far as the sermon content and sequence of sermons. I should have gone with my heart instead of following directions. But tonight I really felt that many understood what I was presenting.

We are baptizing four more people tomorrow afternoon from this village. Once again, I’m being given the privilege of doing the actual baptizing. There are a few others that are almost ready but a couple of things need to be cleared up for them before they are ready.

One of those who have been coming regularly is an older lady who loves to sing with the children and do all the hand motions. She is just too cute. Her reason for not being ready tomorrow is that she had planned a special Hindu ceremony at her house called a Puja. She had invited friends and family and this was going to be a big deal. Well she planned this before she came to the meetings. With what she has learned, she now knows that her Hindu worship isn’t worshipping the true God and she wants to be baptized. She told my Bible worker that as soon as the Puja is over, she will be baptized and never do it again. I told you she is cute.

The real story tonight is what happened after the meetings. You may remember Kanatha. She was one of the first I baptized last week. She is the young, 28 year old, widow with four children and a collapsed roof. Well, I had decided I wanted to help with her situation. I was trying to buy her a cow or some goats so she could make a living.

This enterprise has been driving me up a wall. I have had a difficult time getting cooperation from the local church and my translator. Finally, I brought the subject up with our host who honored me on Wed. I told him he would honor me if he would assist me in helping get 4 goats for Kanatha (3 females and 1 male). I told him that I needed his expertise and influence to get me the best deal and to get the goats to Kanatha’s house.

He was proud as punch that I asked him. I did this in front of the local pastor last night while we sat on our hosts’ porch. I asked if the two of them would take Kanatha to market, help pick out and purchase the goats and then make sure they were delivered to her house. We got it worked out but I wanted the two of them to be there when I told Kanatha. I wanted a three way accountability connection so that no one could cop out on me.

Well having any conversation in India in private is nearly impossible. Not only are there too many people, but the people aren’t aware or even care about privacy issues. After the meeting and praying for my line of people who always wait for me, I finally got them aside (after out right telling people to leave us alone).

This is what I said to Kanatha: “My heart breaks for the people of this village. I hurt for them and want to help them but I can’t help everyone. I have chosen to help you because of your situation with your children and no husband. But with this gift comes great responsibility. This gift of goats is intended to make you independent in earning money to care for your family. But not only that, I am placing the responsibility on you to help others as you have been helped. I’m leaving this village after tomorrow and I am asking you to help your neighbors in this village by sharing Jesus with them.”

I then pulled out a new Bible in Tamil to give her as a gift. As I was handing it to her, she shook her head no. I asked what was the matter? She then told my translator that she couldn’t read. I’m not making this up. If my heart wasn’t torn up before, it was now. Here is a young woman without any real means to support her family, no husband and now I find out she can’t even read! (the local pastor said someone in his church will teach her)

As I watcher her face I had a hard time reading her emotions. She didn’t seem too happy with this news. My first thought was she didn’t want the gift because she may feel it was too hard to care for goats or she didn’t know how to care for them. She could have been angry, sad, confused or frustrated or all of the above for all I could tell from her expressions. I asked through the translator what was wrong.

Now I have been married to a woman for three months shy of 29 years. You would think that would have trained me for a moment like this. I came to find out from what my translator told me that Kanatha thinks just like my wife and I assume most other women. I’ll bet that the women who are reading this blog already know what every guy who is reading this is still guessing at. Kanatha was thinking about her life with her husband before he died how her life had changed at his death and now how she was getting a second chance. She was sad, happy and confused all at the same time. As she was explaining her feelings I saw her eyes well up with tears, she had been fighting them back for the whole conversation. It’s at this point you want to hug her, but as a man in this culture I couldn’t even think of it. I just bowed to her as is the normal greeting and watched as she bowed back. Now I could see the gratitude in her eyes.

It will be along time before I can get the images out of my head from this trip. I have seen the wild, the grotesque, the sad and the disgusting. I have seen the physically deformed, the starving, the begging, the sleeping on the streets at all times of the day in all kinds of places. I have seen houses that wouldn’t qualify as barns in America yet people are living in them and sleeping on either block or dirt floors. I have seen what a mass of humanity lives like when it is forced into too small a space to handle it. I witnessed extreme religious rituals and ceremony that resemble the pagan worship that God warned Israel to stay away from. But I have seen God’s kingdom here and the working of the Almighty to call His children home.

May you be blessed this Sabbath and remember to keep me in your prayers as we begin our journey home. We leave Sunday morning early to head to Northern India for a few days of sight seeing before heading home to Ohio. The weather here is quite warm and I understand that you’re finally having winter. Hopefully I can bring some warm and sun with me when I return.

Pastor Kevin

I glory only in the Cross of Christ!

Just when you think the well is drying up for stories, something else happens. I am winding down and didn’t think there was too much left to talk about, but God had another surprise for me tonight.

I went prepared to preach the next assigned sermon; Holy Spirit and the Unpardonable Sin. It wasn’t the most exciting sermon I’ve ever preached, but it would have to do. My interpreter changed again tonight and he was late picking me up. We didn’t go visiting because of his lateness.

The meeting started on time and went according to the normal pattern so far. After prayer and song we normally play a short segment of the Jesus DVD with Tamil language. Tonight’s section that we played was on the trial and scourging of Jesus. The response of the crowd was amazing. Normally there is chatter by the kids and lots of movement and noise. Not tonight.

It occurred to me as I watched the crowd that even though I had spoken of Jesus death for them, they had no idea what that really meant. I have felt all along in these meetings that we needed to start with the basics. All the sermons we have preached seem to imply some knowledge of Christ but the reality is they don’t know anything! They don’t even have access to the Bible in their Tamil language in these villages.

As I stood up, I felt impressed to drop the whole sermon and share with them the whole story of Jesus, including the great controversy theme of the crucifixion. I explained to them that the cross wasn’t God’s idea, but Satan’s plan to get Jesus to give up which would then mean Satan would win the battle for earth.

I preached freely and at times I felt goose bumps as I spoke. I really felt this was from the Holy Spirit. No notes, the Bible texts flew from memory, the story flowed even with a translator. It was the best sermon I preached since I started. It was from the heart, it was my thoughts and my words, not someone else’s sermon. Instead of preaching about the Holy Spirit, I preached with the power of the Holy Spirit.

I asked them to make a choice between the God who was willing to give up everything for them; or the enemy who was all about their destruction. I don’t know what the outcome of this sermon will be; but I know God led tonight and Jesus was lifted up.

To switch gears a little, we went to a new temple today. It was the new moon festival and pilgrims came to this temple to pierce themselves with hooks and spikes. We weren’t able to see many because we came too late. We found a couple of women with serious tongue piercing. Hence the picture attached.

Might be one or two more posts before I get home. Can’t wait to see you all, especially my wife!

Pastor Kevin

Honored by the homeowner

Sometimes if I will have anything to write about; then other times I have so much content that I don’t know where to begin. Let me start by updating some local issues.

Seems that the local paper, The Hindu, wrote a piece on the Americans who are in the area proselytizing. They print two versions; one in English and one in Tamil. The article was in the Tamil edition, not the English one. It was not a favorable piece. Another tidbit is a local Pentecostal church has heard about us also. Rumor has it from our local pastors that they have declared a fast to pray about our evangelism. Now the question is, are they praying for us or against us? One more site was closed down by radical Hindus who said that too many people are coming and wanting baptism. Guess something must be happening if they feel threatened by our presence and our preaching.

Now on to the story of the picture attached to this blog. I know I have a silly look on my face, but I’m looking into the lights toward where the picture is being taken and the person is standing in a dark spot. I began to tell you the story of the wealthy man on whose property we are holding the meetings. Well tonight he chose to honor me for coming to the village. He gave me a huge wreath of flowers that dragged on the ground. Then he gave me a shawl made from silk which I’m told is a very high honor. He also gave me a book of poems written by a famous Tamil Indian.

I continue to pray for people in their homes before the meetings; and near the pulpit after the meetings. Tonight I got to meet two elderly women that I had prayed for earlier in the meetings. Both had gotten much better and one of them fell at my feet as if to worship me. It was uncomfortable and I told my translator that she shouldn’t do that, but to give honor to God. This was one of the few prayers I could actually saw the answer to and thanked God that He had directly answered.

The last three days I have preached on the second coming, the millennium and tonight on hell. I lifted up Jesus in every sermon and called people to a decision each night to chose Jesus and to be on the inside of the city and not to reject God and be on the outside. I’m told that the last couple of sermons have really impacted people.

I can’t help but see their faces after I leave. Even though they don’t understand me, God is getting through to them. There are serious looks on their faces as they face the choice of joining Jesus or continuing to live in fear and poverty as they have been.

This Sabbath will be more baptisms in the afternoon and I’m told that I will be given the honor to officiate them. Very few of the Americans have been allowed to actually get in the water and do the baptisms. I feel greatly honored. Sabbath will once again be very busy. After worship, I’m invited to one of the homes of the team members who work in my village, then on to the baptism, then directly to the village where we will stay till 10:00 p.m. Our flight leaves for Delhi early Sunday morning. I’m already anticipating being exhausted!

I must tell you, as I preach my own personal conviction to serve the King grows each day. I pray for my church family and my own family. I seek to grow closer to my Lord and serve Him with all my heart.

Pastor Kevin

Monkey Temple

It was field trip day today. One of the team members for my village and his pastor took me and their six children sightseeing today. We went to a temple in the mountains that was covered with wild monkeys.

The monkeys were everywhere and they weren’t shy! They climbed on top of cars or buildings to get an advantage. If you had food, whether in your hand or a bag, they were on you like flies on dead fish. They would run up and grab your bag or food or even you! The bigger males were very aggressive and the females were around but not as bold. The females (those that have given birth have a bright red face.

I took some video of Isaac (one of my village team members) throwing bananas up in the air or taunting the monkeys by jerking stuff away when the monkeys tried to grab them. It was good. The six children surrounded me and kept the monkeys away with their sticks. They were my body guards.

We walked halfway up a mountain and when we got tired, came back. On the way up we saw places where there were piles of hair. I saw a holy man shaving heads as a means of worship. Men, woman and children had their heads shorn bald. The hair would be left lying on the ground where it was cut off. There were little streams coming down the mountain and people were taking a holy or ceremonial baths; women in one location and men in another.

We also saw a tree where women would tie pieces of fabric or hang small replicas of cribs as a means of asking the gods for pregnancy. While taking a picture of the tree, a snake came out of a hole at the base of the tree and slithered up the hill. It was my first snake that I’ve seen in country. I couldn’t run up the hill fast enough to get its picture though. Think of the symbolism of the snake living in a hole in the base of the tree that they believe will bring them fertility.

At the entrance to the main temple on the bottom of the hill I saw something that could have come right out of scripture. A man was sitting by the gate begging and he was blind. His eyes were clouded up and he was crying out for help. I couldn’t help but think of the story of blind Bartimaeus in scripture (Mark 10:46). I couldn’t help but give him coins.

We ate a picnic lunch at the car. We had to sit inside because the monkeys were all over the place; under the car, on top of the car in the trees above the cars. And then there were the beggars. I’ve never had a picnic lunch like that.

Driving home I saw winnowing of barley on the roads. They were beating out the grain and laying it on the road to dry. It blocked a whole lane. Again, except for the paved road, this was something you might envision from the Bible. We went to the palace and another temple in the middle of a man-made lake. I took so many pictures that I ran out of room on two memory sticks.

We got word today in our meeting that as of Tuesday, there were 1,860 baptisms from around all the sites. We have baptisms scheduled at various locations every day this week. We may not hit the 5000 projected but no one seems disappointed.

One more quick story that I want to share that is in process. The man who is letting us use his property to hold the meetings is not the chief of the village, but is the wealthiest man in the village. He has a lot of authority; he is also Hindu. At first he didn’t attend any of my meetings but late last week he started coming late. Each day he has been coming earlier and earlier. I asked my translator how he is responding. My translator said he is a very smart man and is understanding and agreeing with our teachings. But, he will not quickly respond to baptism because of his status in the village.

Reminds me of Paul when he stood before Agrippa found in Acts 26. Paul almost persuaded him. Think of the ramification if this man accepts Jesus and our message. This will free those in the village who are afraid of the Hindus to make an open confession of their faith. If only one is converted, that one will become a witness to the village. The God who began a good work will bring it to its proper conclusion.

There will probably only be one or two more blogs after this one because of the schedule. I really hope to write one after Sabbath but we leave very early in the morning to fly out to Delhi and I don’t know if I can get it on the web or not. I will continue to write as it avails me and post when I can get on. Sorry that the novel is coming to an end, but I’m ready to come home and eat food other than Indian, take a hot shower whenever I want and to sleep in my bed (not to mention drive on streets where my anxiety level is greatly reduced).

God bless and keep your eyes on Jesus.

Pastor Kevin

The Great Controversy

Just when you think life is getting boring, you go to the village! My original translator came back today and we went visiting around the village again. One of the women we baptized last week is quite the evangelist already. We stop at her house and pray, then she leads us through the village to pray for all her friends and relatives that she feels need prayer.

We must have stopped at half dozen or so houses when we came to a home that had three younger women standing outside with their small children. I was told they needed special prayer for health and problems in the family. I pray for specifics when I know them, but I generally pray a common prayer for each home. I pray that God would remove any satanic forces from the family and the household, and that Jesus would reign in their home and their lives.

It was at the point in my prayer where I mentioned Jesus coming into their home and lives that one of these women went into convulsions and fled into the house. I sensed what was happening but everyone else seemed confused. It was at the very point when I mentioned the name of Jesus that the convulsions began. She ran into the house and you could hear the noise as she went. Even my translator didn’t see the connection or understand the spiritual connotations. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned. I do not doubt for a minute that there was Satanic powers at work.

I have felt uncomfortable before when I have prayed for different people, but this time I was sure of it. There is a reason this village is so difficult to present the Gospel in, there are unseen forces at work that are attempting to hinder our work. I do not fear it, but I have a healthy respect for the battle.

My God is bigger than any enemy and as I continue to trust in Him, He continues to show me my role and His. Some of you remember from our Sabbath school class that faith is a verb and requires that we do something. When we listen to God, He leads us into “the what” and gives us the power to do what He is calling us to do.

My favorite author once said: “we have nothing to fear for the future, except we forget how God has led in the past.” If you aren’t letting God lead and you follow Him now, how can you remember His leading when things get really difficult?

Your prayers are requested for the workers here and our villages. The battle is raging; the dragon is angry with the woman and makes war with her offspring (Rev. 12:17).

Pastor Kevin

Today is the 15th day since I left home; I have 11 more days to go before I return. I have preached every day for ten days (twice on Sabbath) and I have five more sermons to give before I’m done. This Saturday night I won’t be preaching but showing the complete Jesus DVD and saying farewell. I think I hit the wall yesterday. My energy is down and I spent a good deal of time napping and resting.

The pace is hectic and all of us are wearing down. I’m going to need several days recuperating when I get home just to get my bearings straight. I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world, but it is lonely without my wife.

Yesterday there were baptisms all around the area for various villages. At one site, they baptized 153 people (several villages together). I struggle sometimes wishing I could have a site where more people are baptized, but God gave me this assignment for a reason. I love my village and the people there seem to love me (I’m not sure why?). The children throng about me wanting me to touch them. When I arrive they follow the cab and shout hello to me. When I leave at night, they all yell goodbye and wave and try to stick their hands in the cab to shake my hand (or give me five, which I taught them and now all they want to do is slap my hand).

When the adults come to the meeting and I either bow (don’t touch a woman!) or shake the men’s hands, their eyes light up like a child’s at Christmas. The church workers and the villagers want to know when I will come back; they don’t want me to leave. For the first time in many of their lives, they have been given worth by the presence of a white man from a far away country.

Although the caste system is officially illegal now in India, it is practiced widely. The Hindu religion and the people of India have a clear prejudice that isn’t hid. The highest caste in India (Brahman) has the lightest skin of the people. Therefore, I’m seen as the highest caste, yet I’m visiting their simple homes, playing with their children, touching them and giving them respect and honor because they are a child of God.

There are scenes here that remind me of stories in the Bible. When Jesus heals the man born blind from birth, all the people around know him; why? Because the man sits at the same place day after day begging. I see this scene replayed time after time. A sick or damaged person sits at the same location day after day begging. Everyone around knows this persona and either helps out occasionally or walks past without acknowledging them. I’m astounded at what seems apathy to me, but this is life to them.

The streets are dirty, people throw their refuse out on the curb. At night the cattle and goats roam the streets picking through the trash to eat. The beggars do also. There isn’t much animal dung on the streets because it is picked up to dry for fuel. Humans are seen urinating anywhere and everywhere without the slightest hint of embarrassment. The traffic is horrific whether it is foot traffic, bicycles, scooters, cars or busses. There is such an enormous congestion of people that it is hard to find a quiet place of solace. Even in the countryside, it is rare to see a field that doesn’t have people in it.

The TV shows are a hoot! There is a great love of the music video but its nothing like in the US. All the videos are choreographed and looking like a 1940’s Roger’s and Hammerstein musical. The leading ladies are always light skinned and look nothing like the general population; the leading men always have an Elvis haircut with sideburns and a big bushy moustache. The content is always of a sexually suggestive manner but not overt; no nudity, only suggestive movements.

One can hardly begin to understand a culture after only 2 weeks, but I’m getting pieces of the puzzle that is taking shape. The world I walk in and see is the world of the extremely poor; that makes up almost half the population. There is a world I see only on TV and that is the world of the wealthy and there are many of them in India too.

I want to clear up a couple I of items that I’ve mentioned before. First is the sponsorship of children to a boarding school. The qualifications for the children to be sponsored are: they must be 6 or 7 years old, they must come from a baptized member’s family, the sponsorship is $300.00 USD per year for 10 years. It’s a long commitment, but it is the only way we can ensure that the children will get a good education and are well fed before they go back to their village. This money doesn’t have to come from a single person or family, but can be combined from several people. This sponsorship can be done after I return; I will bring the paperwork with me.

A second program is being offered that is a little less money but just as significant. You can buy a cow! For $375.00 USD, you can buy a cow for a widow so she can make a living. She will use the milk and sell the extra, she will collect the dung and dry it for sale as fuel, and eventually she will build a herd as her cow has calves. This is a one time expense and is offered to SDA widows in the villages who have no support. Right now there are 17 widows waiting on this program. I will bring the necessary paperwork for this project when I come also.

Life is becoming a routine now and maybe the shock of some things is lessening. I don’t have any wild or radical stories to tell today, just that God is faithful and He is working. I pray He is working in my church back home like He is here.

Right now, one of my major concerns it that the local church officials find property where we will build the church. I’m not getting straight answers; they assure me we will have something but I can’t pin them down. There is something prevalent in this culture that is difficult to comprehend or accept from a western world view. The people here don’t really give you a yes or no answer. When you ask a question, they bob their head in a cross between a yes and a no which leaves you wondering; which is it?!?

Sorry I don’t have more content today. I hope that things are going well with you. Keep us in your prayers and remember our village of Varichiyoor. The picture on this blog is me praying for the people after the preaching service.

Pastor Kevin

Busy Sabbath

The last two days have been the most hectic and exhausting since I’ve been here in Madurai. I haven’t had time to even sit and collect my thoughts to write the blog. So I’m going to try and catch you up on what has been happening.

Friday, I went to look for a digital camera shop where they could take my photos and make prints for me. I wanted to give the newly baptized ladies a picture and I wanted to give some to my translator. People don’t have cameras here like back home. A camera is an instant draw to people. They will literally stop you on the street and ask: “photo please?”

While wandering the streets I was accosted by many of the local carnival hawkers trying to take me to their shops; do you want shirt, pants, suits, rugs, etc they ask and they know a mother, sister, brother, uncle who will make one for you. As I was walking down a busy street with a hawker by my side encouraging me to follow him to a local jewelry store; a bicyclist was struck by a taxi right next to me. The man on the bike was thrown to the pavement where he struck his head. The bike was demolished. People came out of the shops and began yelling at the driver. I stood there astonished at what I was seeing. Traffic continued to blow their horns and drive right around the accident scene.

I’m told that if a driver hits a bike rider or pedestrian and the person is killed, there is a standard fine of 2000 rupees; equivalent to about $50 USD. If the person is just injured, you must pay all medical costs until they recover.

I did find my photo shop and had the prints made. Also, Friday was a holiday in India, much like our 4th of July. There were special activities going on and everyone was wearing or carrying an Indian flag. I stopped at a local shop and bought 100 small flags to give to the children in my village. Giving small gifts like this or balloons go a long way to create good will. I went to my site and began visiting. Each day there are more houses for me to go to. We sit, they stare at me, I pray a blessing on the family and the house, sometimes pray for specific needs such as health, jobs, family issues; then we move to the next house.

Got to the meeting site a little late and quickly set up. As soon as we were ready to begin, it began to rain. This is the dry season and it seldom rains this time of year; I wonder why it is raining now (maybe you can figure it out)?

We covered the equipment and they took me into the house. We waited for 20 minutes till the rain stopped and we resumed the meeting. I had to shorten my sermon a little but it worked out OK. We gave the flags to the children and their eyes were huge. I had some left over and gave all of the adults one too; they were almost as happy as the kids.

Sabbath morning at breakfast (7:00 a.m.) the local Indian conference President found me and asked me to speak in the church where I held the baptism on Thursday morning; nothing like getting plenty of advanced warning to prepare. I said yes. At nine they came to get me with a scooter and we were off to church. They treated me like royalty as they introduced me during Sabbath school. I was taken to each of the classes and asked to say a word or two. At the teen class, they wanted to ask me all sorts of deep theological questions. It was fun. Then during church you would have thought I was an envoy from a foreign government. When I preached I came out in front of the podium, they had never seen a preacher not stand behind the pulpit before. Some spoke English but they translated my sermon. I gave a modified kingdom of God sermon that I had done at Walk of Faith before I left and inserted my testimony into it. They loved it. Three of the four ladies I baptized on Thursday were in church, the fourth was home sick. They all were so proud to be connected with me.

Right after worship I walked back to the hotel. It’s almost 4 miles by cart but less than half a mile to walk. Railroad tracks and the road system make it quite confusing. After eating at the hotel, they picked me up at 2:30 to go out to the village to see what they normally do with the kids each Sabbath. I wouldn’t get back to my hotel room until after 11:00 p.m. Needless to say, I was exhausted last night.

The picture you see above is one of the Sabbath school classes I attended. There were four of them that I visited. The local team, from the church where I preached, moves from place to place conducting a short program at each. The kids (about 50 at teach site) are given something to color with a Bible verse on it to memorize. If they color the picture and memorize the verse for the next week they get a small gift. They sing songs, a Bible story is told, there is prayer and all the children get a small treat to eat.

They sang their songs for me, I was asked to tell a Bible story through the translator. The only time you see kids sit this quietly and with rapt attention in the States is when they are playing video games or watching a movie. Their eyes were large and focused on me when I talked, then their heads turned and the stared intently as the translator spoke. I told each class the story of Daniel and his faithfulness to God, both as a child and when he was older with the lions den. When I finished the story, I asked the children if they would like to be faithful like Daniel. All hands were raised. Remember, all these children are Hindu; this is their only experience of Christianity.

It rained on and off during the afternoon and these little classes were held in the street, in the dirt. The rain slowed us down but did not stop us. We ran late and couldn’t have a complete program at the last site, but we still showed up. The local leaders had me give out the treats to the kids and they lined up and politely said thank you. I felt a little like Santa Claus at the mall as I sat in a plastic chair (the only chair at any site and I was always told to sit in it) and the kids lined up to receive their treat.

As we moved from site to site, I was taken to parts of the village I had not seen before. I took over 100 photos of people that I had not met in the village, both adult and children. I entered over a dozen homes to pray with families. I was taken to one home where they brought out a set of twin infants that were extremely small and undernourished. The babies were ill and the family wanted prayers for the children. They wouldn’t let me photograph them and maybe its best. The picture would have haunted you; the memory does me.

I was taken to a home of the lady who was sick and couldn’t come to church, Kannatha. When I saw her house, I felt sick to my stomach. I wished I brought my tools. She had one room, no electricity and a roof that was over half caved in. If I ever come back to this village (God willing), the next time I come back with tools and money for materials and the Gospel I preach will be with my hands to help them with their living accommodations.

Once again, we got to the preaching site late, but the visiting was important. Many of the people I visited have not come to the meetings for one reason or another, but they are listening. The bible worker visits these people every day and to see me as I walked among them and entered their homes was an honor to them.

Just as we finished setting up it began to drizzle. I just covered the equipment with a tarp and kept right on preaching. It drizzled on and off for the rest of the night, but the people sat and listened to me, so I wasn’t going to leave them. As the meeting was going on, the local Hindu temple was blaring music as loud as our speakers. There was a controversy going on between the forces of good and evil. Satan has found a variety of means to keep this word from being preached, but we continued. I prayed the whole time I was preaching that God would stop the noise, about 20 minutes into my sermon, the music abruptly stopped. God is good, all the time!

I’m well over half way finished with the preaching assignment and barely halfway done with my visit to India. I am homesick for my wife and friends back home, I’m fatigued, both physically and emotionally and need your prayers for continued strength. I have developed a great respect and love for these people and will be sad to leave them. I don’t know if I will ever be able to get the memories out of my mind of the things I have seen or experienced. I have a slight taste of the passion of Mother Teresa and her work with the poor in Calcutta.

I look forward to the reuniting that will take place when I see these people again, whether in this world, or in the Kingdom of God. I think of you back home frequently and enjoy your responses to my posts. At least it tells me somebody is reading them.

Pastor Kevin

Kannatha's home

This is a picture of Kannatha's home with the roof falling in. Can anyone say mission trip?

New Brothers and Sisters in Christ

Before I get into my main topic today I need to update some items from the other sites and correct some information I gave you yesterday. First, the cobra story; the event happened but the characters were wrong. A mother with two small children was bitten and killed, not a child. The children are now orphans, their father had left the family.

The second item is at another site where tragedy struck. Seems that another village was having some visits from a radical Hindu group that were attending but not really disturbing the meetings. That is until yesterday. A severe motorcycle accident occurred near the meeting site and one young man was killed and the other was critically injured and in a coma. The radical Hindus blamed the tragedy on the Christians and their meeting and they forced the meeting to shut down. The team is attempting to move to a nearby village to resume the meetings. It will not be the same though, the audience will change.

Now, for my good news; this morning I was taken to a local Seventh-day Adventist church and 4 women from my village bused in to be baptized. There are at least six more that are requesting baptism but could not come today. My translator arraigned it so I could do the baptisms.

The pastor of the church where we did the baptisms told me that the village I was working was considered the hardest village in the area and their church has been sending a team to work there every Sabbath for 2 years trying to get conversions. The local church was willing to give up and felt this village should not be part of the meetings. With a smile on his face the pastor said that our God is tougher than that village! Can you say Amen?

I did nothing except show up. That’s all God asks of us. I didn’t convert a soul; they couldn’t understand a word I said. But they saw Jesus in me as I walked in their village, played with their children, sat in their hovels of homes and prayed with them. As I have said before: “evangelism is the easiest thing in the world but most difficult sacrifice you will ever make.”

In the picture above you see from left to right: my Bible worker, Ammani, Leelavathi, (Kevin), Ambiga, Panavarnam, Pastor Prince, and Kannatha. There are stories for each.

Leelavathi has been attending the church in Maduria for about a year and takes a one hour bus ride to and from her village to attend. Although unbaptized till today, she has helping Ammani the local Bible worker. Leelavathi is always trying to feed me or give me something to drink and is always disappointed when Pastor Prince tells her I have a weak stomach. Yesterday she gave me the package of crackers and today after the baptism she gave me some fruit.

The beautiful young 23 year old mother of an infant child Ambiga is married to a man that abuses her and threatens her if she comes to the meetings. She is there every day and was the second one to make her stand for baptism. When she came up out of the water her face was beaming and I almost thought I saw her eyes well up with tears. She made her decision against severe stress and pressure from her family. But in the end, Jesus was more important to her than anything. What a testimony of great faith!

Kannatha is a young 28 year old widow with 4 children. She works in the rice fields each day and her oldest child helps to support the family but it isn’t much and they’re barely getting by. She is courageous in her stand for Christ.

Panjavarnam has not attended a single meeting that I know of but she sits at home in secret and listens to the blaring speakers on her front door step. Unfortunately, her difficult life has caused her to be aged beyond her 42 years. I visited her home yesterday and was surprised to hear she wanted baptism since I had not seen her before. This message is going forth with power in ways we cannot measure by human standards. God is faithful and will not suffer any to be lost.

As I spoke to them before that baptism, I told them that it was customary in my country to hug a person after I baptized them. But this is a horrible disgrace for a man, not your husband, to hug a woman ever. I told them that I didn’t want to bring disgrace on them but I was going to hug them in my heart. They all smiled at me. Oh how I wanted to bear hug each of them like I did Robbyn and George.

One more thing, I gave each of them 100 rupees for bus fare and a meal on their way home (about $2.50 USD). This is more than a week’s income for them in the village. Think about that the next time you go to spend on something frivolous like a candy bar or soda! Ambiga had never spoken a word to me in the six days I’ve been here. After I gave them that gift, she said in clear English “Thank you Pastor Kevin!” I think my tear ducts are almost dried up from over use.

I was told by Pastor Prince that there are 6 more that have committed to baptism but could not come today. We haven’t set a date for when we will baptize them but it will be soon. All this is taking place and we haven’t reached the half-way point of the meetings!

The conference President of the South East Asian division told us that a church will be built in a village if there are at least 10 members there. Just like the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, if there is at least 10 Lord, will you spare the city? There should be 10 and we will have a church built in our village. They will begin to search for land immediately and will attempt to at least show me the land and let me get a picture before I leave.

As I contemplate my day and this whole experience it is hard not to tear up. God has used this cracked pot to reap a harvest of something I did not plant nor water. And, my harvesting was done through a translator in a barn yard. God’s ways are not man’s ways. God sees what we cannot or will not and He works where we know little of.

Matthew 9:37, 38 says: “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

God is looking for a few more harvesters; won’t you join the blessing and enter into His service? I told you a couple of times that I expected this trip to change me. I hope it is permanent. I pray for the same holy boldness back home that is growing in my here. How about you? Is reading this blog opening your eyes? Are you hearing the voice of God over the loud speakers of the internet? Are you one of the unseen multitudes that haven’t come out of the shadows and taken a stand to serve the King?

Pastor Kevin

The ox from Hell

The oxen from hell; that’s what my interpreter called him. I have to back up and explain to get the full story, but before I do I must relate something was shared from our group meeting this morning.

It seems that at one of our sights there was a major tragedy that occurred 2 nights ago. A young girl attending the meetings, about 10-12 yrs old, had come up for prayer afterward. On her walk home, she stepped on a cobra lying in the road. The cobra bit her 5 or more times on her legs. She was rushed to the hospital but she died last night. What a blow to the village and the workers. We all understand that this is a battle zone of good an evil. The enemy will not give up his ground easily. All of us were saddened and a sense of the reality and enormity of what we are doing and the potential dangers that surround us.

Cobra snake bites are common in India. If the snake bites you near your neck or spits its venom in your eyes, death is not only certain, but swift. You can be saved from death by quick action of applying milk to the eyes or a charcoal compress to the bite wound, but many in the villages don’t know these things and death is frequent.

Now back to my demon ox story. We arrived at the village a little early yesterday so my interpreter took me on a walk through the village. We stopped at several homes and went in and sat on plastic lawn chairs. They are the major furniture of the poor. Everywhere you go you see them being used. I sit there and smile while the villagers stare at me and wonder why I would come to their village let alone sit in their homes. They try to give me food or drink and are greatly disappointed when my interpreter tells them that it will make me sick. One woman tried to get me to come to her house and eat every day since I’ve been here. Yesterday, she gave me a prepackaged carton of crackers. These people will steal your heart.

While in one of the houses, the matriarch asked if I would go and cast a demon out of a piece of property that they wanted to build a house on for one of her kids. She claimed a man committed suicide by hanging himself there 20 years ago and the property is possessed. She knows this because several of her cows have died on the same piece of land over the years (think about that for a moment and realize she is demonstrating a common logical error). I agreed to pray for her and the land and we started to walk to the back of her house.

Here is where it gets even better. An ox, the one you see in the picture, is tied up along the path and he sees me. Now you need to put in context that cows and oxen are everywhere roaming free in India, even in the major cities. When I walk around the streets near the hotel after 10:00 p.m. there are more cows on the streets than people and they are roaming around eating in the trash heaps. They are docile and totally oblivious to traffic and people. You can walk right up to them from any direction and they will ignore you.

Not this ox! His eyes glared at me and he became agitated. They stopped me from going any farther and they had me go another route because this ox had a serious issue with me. I was then told by my interpreter that he was dedicated to the local Hindu temple and many people in the village felt he was possessed by a demon. I had to get passed a demon possessed cow to get to a demon possessed piece of property. I don’t know if I could make this stuff up. This is my new reality folks.

We visited several homes and I talked (or sat and smiled while my interpreter talked). We always prayed for the home when we left. Several homes we visited have people I had never seen at the meetings, but they were listening to the meetings via the large booming speakers we were using outside. Untold numbers in the village are hearing the preaching, yet fearing to come out to visibly take a stand. One such home, the woman wanted to be baptized and accept Christ yet she had never stepped into any of the meeting areas.

This demonstrates to me that God uses ways and means that we know nothing of. If I were to get disappointed due to the lack of attendance, I would be missing the bigger picture of what God is doing all around. I wonder how that relates to our work at the teen center. Could God be doing things that we don’t see with our meager offerings there?

We spent so much time with visiting and the people really didn’t want us to leave that we lost track of time. It was 7:00 p.m. and we realized we should be starting the meeting and I hadn’t set up any of my equipment. We showed up in the barnyard and everything was ready including the chairs and they were full to overflowing. When we showed up the kids were patiently waiting and they shouted out with approval. Now I know just how the Beatles felt when they landed in the U.S.

The interpreter started singing with the kids while I quickly stet up. As soon as possible I got the slide show running of the pictures of the people in the village. This is a real crowd pleaser. It doesn’t matter how many times they see their face up on the wall it gives them great pleasure. They’ve seen it enough to know when their picture is coming up next.

One note of interest that I must add before I get to the meat of this blog. You know that I’m basically preaching in a barnyard. Well, the animals aren’t in fenced areas or tied up so at any time you may have a visitor. Last night while I was preaching, a baby goat (kid) started to go around and through my legs foraging. No one in the audience was distracted by this or even noticed it except me! I guess I should be glad it wasn’t a snake. After this experience, it will take an earthquake to distract me when I’m preaching back home.

After I finished with the prepared sermon, I transitioned into a different topic. Hindu’s don’t pray like we understand prayer. They believe only holy men can pray to the deity and the regular people are unworthy for their prayers to be offered up by them. Part of the temple worship ritual is to serve as a mediation of prayers through the priest, idol or icon, but for a common person to talk directly to God is foreign to them. Unfortunately, many Christians don’t have a much better idea of what prayer is and how it works than a Hindu.

I want to share with you a condensed version of what I told them:

“I am honored and humbled when you come to me seeking prayers, but I have no power in myself. My God is all powerful and answers to prayer come from Him and not from anything I possess. I am no better or different from you. In God’s eyes I am equal to you as a child of God. You are my brothers and sisters. I may look different from you and my skin color is lighter, I speak a different language and have different customs. I live in a distant land but in the eyes of God I am no different than you (this was spoken to untouchables who are deemed the lowest of the low in Indian society).”

“I want to teach you tonight that you have the ability and authority to speak directly to God as a child would to their parents. He will listen to you and respond. You don’t have to go on pilgrimages, grovel on the ground or beat yourself. All you have to do is to ask Him. He may not always say yes, just as a good parent doesn’t always say yes to all the requests from their children. If your child asks you to give them a sharp knife to play with, most parents will say no because the parent knows that the knife will hurt the child. We don’t say no because we want to punish our children, we say no to protect them. God is no different with His earthly children.”

“Tonight I want to teach you the prayer that Jesus taught His followers to pray as a model.” (I then went through the Lord’s Prayer and explained it). “There is one prayer that God wants all people to pray and He will never say no to, that prayer is to ask Jesus to come into your lives and live in your heart. Will you pray that prayer with me tonight?”

How about you, readers of this blog? Are you praying for Jesus to come into your life today? If not, what is stopping you? There is nothing on this earth worth the cost of eternity. My evangelistic heart is burning for the harvest. We are going to see a harvest here because the Creator God of the Universe is doing everything within the legal boundaries of rightness to save His children. They only thing left is for us to accept such a great gift!

Pray for us and our protection here, pray for the family and village of the girl who died of the snake bite, pray that God will be glorified through the mighty work He is doing in India and around the world, pray for workers for the harvest is ripe. Pray that His kingdom will come.

Pastor Kevin

I must tell you about my abduction. No it wasn’t an alien from space; it was a local Indian kidnapping me, the alien, and taking me on an adventure. As Bilbo Baggins once said (paraphrase) a good adventure is something we all must have once in a while.

Near our hotel, which is classified as a three star hotel, there are a couple of kinds of people constantly roaming. They know that wealthy foreigners stay at these hotels and we become their prey. Two of those types are the beggars and the marketers. I now have experienced both.

The beggars are easy to detect. The rub their stomachs, show you their small child or show you a damaged body part and hold out their hand and wail. It is heart wrenching and tough to say no. But if you were to give at least a rupee to each beggar you saw each day, you could easily drop $100 USD.

The second group isn’t so easy to detect. The Indian people are extremely friendly and helpful. If they see a wandering foreigner roaming the streets looking lost (which I must seem to look like a lot!) they ask if they can help you. I happened to be looking for an extension cord so I could use my equipment at the site.

A very helpful Indian took me from shop to shop and translated for me to help me get what I wanted. He was really helpful. That should have been a clue, but I’m a little slow. He then used guilt, seems to work well on me, to get me to go for a ride with him and his driver in their scooter to what he called was “his shop”.

I had to be at a meeting for our group in 20 minutes and I told him so but he assured me it was close and it would only take a minute. I told him I would go but I couldn’t stay. If he showed me were it was I would come back at a more convenient time. He agreed, but what I soon found out was that he agreed to everything but understood very little.

When we got to the store I was impressed and amazed that he would own it. It was a high class Oriental rug store. He urged me to go inside but I protested that I must get back for my meeting. “Yes, yes” he said, go inside and look.” I went inside and explained to one of the salespeople that I needed a card and would come back when I had more time. I stepped outside and my “host” was very disappointed.

I tried to explain again that I needed to get back for a meeting. He pressed me for when I would come back to shop. I told him in within two days but that wasn’t good enough, he wanted a day and a time. I tried to give a vague time estimate and he continued to press me, he said he would look for me to take me back. He paid the scooter fare and I hurried back to the motel, with him following me.

I sort of forgot that episode until yesterday when I was walking back from the temple. He saw me and ran up to greet me. “Are you ready to go to my shop?” he asked. No I really wasn’t and I tried to make up an excuse. He once again pressed me as to the time and place we could meet. I said tomorrow and he asked what time. I said 1:00 p.m.

I went into my hotel and sort of joked to myself that I probably wouldn’t see him again. Well tomorrow came today and I went out to look for a bank so I could use the ATM. On my way back to the hotel he found me (I was an hour earlier than I told him).

I had time so I agreed to go, hoping that he would be appeased. I found out that he didn’t own the other store, because he took me to his “new” store, another carpet place but in the opposite direction. I went in and started looking around while he and the driver sat and waited.

The experience in the store was part of the adventure. It was a high class place. I was the first customer of the day and they treated me like royalty. I had no real burden to purchase a rug, but I thought I would at least look. Maybe I could get a good deal or something and use it as a wall hanging. I have no place in my house where I could trust to put an expensive carpet with two golden retrievers.

The sales pitch was fantastic. They sat me down and paraded rug after rug out and displayed them on the floor. The showed me how they were made and explained the difference between silk and cotton. I was shown the durability and utility of the carpets. It was amazing. I happened to glance at a price tag on the back of one of the silk carpets and it said 4,000. Now 4,000 rupees is less than $100.00 USD and even though I know little about oriental rugs, I figured that wasn’t too bad of a price. This particular carpet was 4’ x 6’.

I looked at a few more carpets and checked out their prices only to notice the USD after the price. I asked the salesman about it and he confirmed my fear, it was in U.S. dollars. My enthusiasm for purchasing a silk oriental rug diminished rapidly. Now with 16 carpets on the floor and an hour of demonstration, I had to figure out how to get out of there with my pocketbook and honor intact.

As he pressed me to choose, I tasked if I could take some pictures of my favorites and email them to my wife for her input. He said I could take pictures but he stilled tried to get me to make a choice. Finally after another 15 min. he relented and gave me a card and told me that he was the most honest dealer in town and I could look elsewhere but I would be back. Not likely. Even if he came down significantly, I have a hard time spending even half of the list price on a carpet.

When I emerged from my ordeal, my “kidnapper” was waiting. Excitedly he wanted to know if I bought anything. No I didn’t and his whole demeanor fell. It was evident to me that he was a freelance street sales rep who got a commission for every sale he brought into the store. All the way back to the hotel, he promised me he would work out a good price for me. Once again he pressed me as to when he should come back to get me and take me to the store again.

I don’t think guilt will get me back there. The cost is too high. The picture above is my kidnapper and his driver with their scooter. Everyone is very excited to get their picture taken. Even if it will be posted on a webblog with a warning!

Trish when you read this, I can email you pictures of the carpets but that’s as close to the real thing as you will get. J

Pastor Kevin