The Future of Hyderabad

Last night we had the priviledge og attending the youth/young adult service at Baptist Church Hyderabad. This is a service similar to Kairos, with skits and testimony added. About 100 or so youth gathered to worship on this Monday night, as they do each week. One girl called it a festival as she gave her testimony of being from a Hindu family and attending this service for the first time. How did she get there? A friend invited. Hmmmm, what a novel idea.

Jeremy was the speaker tonight and used his unique personality and sense of humor to relay an awesome message of how God always sees things at the end of the story from the beginning. He found a great way of bringing the point accross.

After the service there is the mass prayer. This is where anyone that wishes goes up onto the platform and sits in a circle as they share their prayer requests and concerns. I tried to count and I think there was close to fifty people praying. Many were so open about what they wished to bring before God.

I titled this the future of India, this is the reason. Through out the night we saw young people that are trult and wholly soldout to Jesus. It was very rewarding and inspiring to see how they express their worship. All through this week we have seen how these young people live their faith, they don't just tell you they follow Jesus, they show you Jesus through their actions.

So many lessons can be learned from the youth and the rest of the people we have been in contact with. I think the future of Jesus in India is in very good hands. God has chosen the right people to work in this place. I just hope that we as a team can somehow find a way to bring accross what we have experienced and learned.

The one word that everyone keeps using is surreal, so we have to process everything and find a way to realy it to all of you.

The future of India looks very bright from a Christian standpoint. I definitely feel this a worthwhile partnership. I look forward to returning and seeing how things have progressed.

Another Day, Another Plaque

I think Kim is really starting to get used to this now. There better be something with her name on it when we get back home.

Why Are We Here?

Yesterday, during the morning service at Baptist Church Hyderabad, each member of the team was asked to introduce ourselves and to tell why we chose to come to Hyderabad.
After we returned to the platform it hit me just how surreal the entire moment was. Here we were 10,000-12,000 around the world and all eyes were watching us. I relaized just what awesome responsibility we were given. We were here at that moment not only representing Brentwood Baptist, but also our country, christians, and ultimately God. I don't mention this to draw attention to ourselves or out of pride. I only say this to try to portray to you just how humbling each experience is for us.

Thank you again for your prayers and support. We can tell that we are being lifted up in prayer.
We are off this morning for another church dedication, then tonight Jeremy will speak at the young adult service, which we hear is similar to Kairos. Hmmm, if that is the case, then Jeremy must be our version of Uncle Mikey ;-)

Thanks again for reading our comments and for your prayers!

When we arrived at the church dedication service this morning, Kim had a little surprise in store for her. She had been asked the night before to say a few words at the dedication, which she graciously agreed to do.

When we arrived at the church, she was rushed to the back to change into a sari. Once she was fully adorned, she was brought out to the church wall to make her remarks. She said a wonderful blessing over the building, and then the curtain dropped to reveal this plaque.

Scott, you're going to have to give this woman a raise.

Sunday Morning

It's Sunday morning and we are a few minutes away from leaving for a day full of dedications and worship services. Kim will be speaking this morning , then Nelson will deliver the message at tonight's service.

Yes, we are going to be very busy again this entire day, however it will be most rewarding.
Last night we had a wonderful prayer time and debriefing. It seems this team is really up to all the challenges and open to whatever God has in store for us.

I'm so amazed at how selfless each team member has been. We could not have assembled a better group of people on our own.

We are leaving now, so I'll have to close and continue later.

The Windows of The Soul

As we visited one of the outreach centers on Friday we were allowed a glimpse into a ladies soul thorugh her eyes. Those eyes I can not forget. After we finished a service , a lady was brought to us for prayer of healing. Her son had been born blind and she was also a widow, she desperately sought God and his healing touch. We layed on hands and prayed for her and her son. I caught a glimpse of her as we prayed. She was wringing her hands and her eyes were frantically scanning for any sign of her son's restored sight.

God did not chose to perform a miraculous healing, at least not instantly. One of the pastors explained to her that God works through many ways. He told her maybe healing would be through an eye donor, a miracle, or other means. She was very grateful for our prayers and concern, yet those haunting eyes.......they showed a soul desperate for God and for His intervention.

Looking into her eyes, i could see a troubled soul. The thought hit me, aren't we all like this lady? We long for God and for that moment when we connect with Him. It was so obvious as to why we were here. When people have seen us they immediately know we are in India to represent God. They come to see us knowing we can help show them more how to connect with God.
I'm not saying that to brag, instead more out of shame. How many of us really expected the boy to be healed instantly? Were we just being courteous and hoping God would work, or did we really expect a miracle? I can't speak for any other team member, however I have asked myself these questions many times. Just this one encounter has led me to many self inspecting questions.

We are here to offer hope and love through God's word and our own stories of how God has worked in our lives. My prayer is that we can let everyone see God and not see us.
One thought I had about the prayer for the 8 year old blind boy. Had God chosen to heal him on the spot, who would have the glory gone to? Would the lady have thought we healed him or would she have known it was God and NOT us?? God knows what is best and He will chose to work in whatever way best brings glory to Him, as it should be. I pray we NEVER take credit for anything God has done.

The Work Begins

It is Friday morning and we will be leaving shortly for another full day of activity. Yesterday we were able to visit some of the outreach centers in several villages. Some of the villages were near and some not so near. We were able to see quite a bit of the beautiful country side of India. During the longest strecth of our drive I noticed a few things as we passed through villages. The people I saw were very diligent workers, busy in the fields or on the side of the road.

A few would stop and look at us as we passed through, others just continued on with their work. Some of the more rural areas seemed very poor. It was evident there are many needs to be met.

I'll jump to our experiences with the village churches. We have been most welcomed when we arrive. The people want to meet us and talk with us. Some have even wanted to have us pray with them for physical healing and spiritual needs as well. Most have been prayed for without the use of a translator. This seems to indicate they know we are talking to God and he is the only one that needs to understand the actual words.

It's been very rewarding and humbling to visit among the people of these villages. We will be leaving shortly to visit and share in a few more similar areas today. Yesterday, Leigh Ann and Nelson shared their stories with 2 of the outreach centers (village churches). It's an amazing system Baptist Church Hyderabad has used to plant the new churches. Maybe this can be discussed in a later post.

Who Needs Sleep

As you read we did finally arrive about 12:30am Wednesday morning. We had a wait of about an hour for our luggage to make it off the plane. We were taken to our hotel by Sarah's brother David and checked into our rooms. We got everything settled about 2:00am There was some last minute details to workout with the room Dick and I are sharing, so we talked with David as we waited. 4:00am we decided to try and get some sleep. 7:00am I still had not slept yet.
We had our team meeting at 11:00am and we discovered no one had really slept yet.
So far our day has consisted of meeting Pastor Samuel and family at Baptist Church Hyderabad and buying some food supplies for the next few days' work.
We have some meetings later this afternoon and dinner with the executive team from Baptist Church Hyderabad. Tomorrow we should begin some very full days of activity.

We Made It!

After many long hours, we have finally arrived at the Hampshire Plaza Hotel in Hyderabad, India. We were given a royal welcome, and everyone has gone out of there way to be friendly and helpful. We have a few hours now to sleep and then our adventure will begin!

Hello from the India 2008 Mission Team! From left to right, Jeremy Crady, Nelson Nyman, Roger Sigmon, Laura Amstutz, Kim Cox, Leigh Ann Swords, Ashley Fowler, Charmaine Jamieson, and Dick Cathey.

We were supposed to leave Nashville at 1:06 p.m., but unfortunately our flight is coming from Chicago and has been delayed. We are now scheduled to leave somewhere around 4:00 p.m. Our flight to Germany has been changed to a later one, so we should be okay once we get out of here. But here's some fun pics in the meantime.

Dick and Ashley were our token body search candidates. Ashley was very pleased with this.

Here's Kim, our fearless leader, going through security. She's taken everything in stride, as usual. We are in great hands.

Please keep us in your prayers!