What an encouraging event for me. These are our team members. You can't see them all but there's a lot of them (and not all of them could be at this meeting as they were preparing for an outreach event in Nagercoil that I'll tell you about later). About 60 of our volunteer and full-time staff were at this meeting to share with each other and us what God is doing in their districts of Tamil Nadu, India. The level of commitment in this ministry is amazing. A lot of these guys receive nothing in terms of finances from us but God is pouring out the most incredible blessings on their ministries. The testimonies of growing churches are simply to numerous to retell. But each of these guys had dozens of stories to tell. The solution is really quite simple - you need to meet them yourself!
What I was so impressed with, and I don't know why it surprised me so much, was the level of organization and accountability there was to this ministry. As the ministry grew I really thought that there would be a few details that would fall through the cracks but the people shown in this room have certainly filled the cracks. Every single church (and there's well over 800 already) that we work with is visited regularly by a network of supervisor like you see hear. They encourage the churches in their work, provide materials for youth council programs and follow up the various ministry goals set by the church. Then these supervisors report all that God is doing in these churches to the district coordinator in their area who reports to Antony and the IBCM leadership team.
Prayerfully with this information the leadership team decides where funding goes for children's camps. So we all can be confident that every dollar is wisely invested only in churches that are passionately and are committed to reaching out to their communities (and they run a pretty tight ship).
Day 6 & 7 - Visits to Trichy and Tanjure
That's when we saw these inner workings of the ship. We travelled south to our home base city of Trichy. Here we visited the office and saw just how thorough the team out there is. It's obvious they spend a lot of time doing what they do - maybe that's why many of the staff live right there at the office! Antony's bedroom was behind curtain #1 in his office! Imagine if I were to move into the office. I think people who tell me that my work owns me. In India the attitude is, "this is not a job, this is who we are!"
In the evening we had the opportunity to visit Pastor Pandian's church and a couple follow up programs.
I need to say a little about Pastor Pandian... If there was a person in life that I could be more like, Pastor Pandian is certainly one of them. I guess it's really up to me because the things I admired about him the most revolve around his character. I don't know that he had specific talents but just meeting him you were overwhelmed by his deep humility and obvious connection with Christ.
Unfortunately Pastor Pandian passed away suddenly less than 2 weeks before we could see him again. In the picture here you see him standing at the Jan 3rd prayer and planning meeting. Perhaps the picture is too small but he's got the biggest smile on and you can see everyone is laughing. The next day he went to be with the Lord after he suffered a heart attack.Though it was a pretty big blow to the ministry and to Antony personally (as he played a very significant role) he left an amazing legacy. He told Antony just a little more than 2 weeks prior, "When I die don't cry for me - I'm a soldier of Christ. Just bury me in a military uniform with the IBCM flag over me." It's the cause he fought for and I wonder if that's how I'll see him next time I see him. He certainly fought well and gained a lot of ground for Christ's Kingdom. We went to his church to remember him, say our goodbyes and spend a few tender moments with his wife and church. He certainly deserves a better tribute than a short entry on my blog but maybe honor his memory better by living like he did.
That night we met some of the most precious children and heard some of the most amazing singing. It was truly incredible to take in a couple of the most incredible follow up programs. It's hard to get the magnitude of what's going on but this picture can be multiplied by about 800. That's how many of these programs there are. It was something else to see the eagerness of these kids to share the bible passages (sometimes entire chapters) they had memorized. Probably one of the most moving things is to listen to them pray. I know God love to hear this kind of thing. How they pray for their churches and families and friends really puts me to shame. And to think, till a few short months ago their only option was to pray to a stone idol that neither heard nor cared about them.Are your eyes sore yet - mine are. Probably more from writing about Pastor Pandian than anything but I'll try to pick up the pace a little.
At this event in Nagercoil about 4,000 young people came together to hear the message of the gospel and be challenged through a variety of speakers, skits, dances and songs. It was really
an amazing event and again we really saw God at work. But His work is not without opposition. By mid afternoon of this day long 
event about 200 students had to be asked to leave the event as they became extremely disruptive of the program and openly mocked the message. The ironic thing was I think the illustrated every point that had be made that day and for the remaining 3,800 people I think the reality of the message shared was that much greater. So again God uses what was intended for harm to build His kingdom again.
event about 200 students had to be asked to leave the event as they became extremely disruptive of the program and openly mocked the message. The ironic thing was I think the illustrated every point that had be made that day and for the remaining 3,800 people I think the reality of the message shared was that much greater. So again God uses what was intended for harm to build His kingdom again. Day 9& 10 - Back To Tirunelveli For A Youth Training Event
It was the last event to take in on our agenda for this trip. And again it's amazing to see what God is doing in the lives of the youth that are working with this ministry. It was so neat to hear the testimonies of the many youth who shared that they had experience God at this program and heard Him calling them to ministry among their peers. Does this sound repetitive? It sure is!
In 2007, Lord willing, each of the young people will be multiplied by 21,000. Those trained by 10,000. Campers by 100,000. So we covet your prayers and support. We've got a lot of work to do! Perhaps you want to join this team.
Then it was the long trip home...
