One Prayer

From China: A Healer Becomes Gods Missionary

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0600

Angela Wang was a well known supernatural healer with occult abilities and many people in her town sought for her help. But at the same time Angela’s own health was deteriorating from day to day. This went on for over 10 years. She was helping others but was unable to help herself. People of such abilities seldom get old and Angela was facing the same sad ending.

In 1997 Angela heard the Gospel from her nephew, the son of her older brother. When Angela accepted Christ her diseases left her. Being grateful to God for what He had done for her Angela decided to dedicate her life to God’s service. Today God blessed Angela with the joy of praying for sick people and seeing how they receive healing from God.

In 2006 Angela’s children went to university and left home. At that time Angela and her husband decided to find an opportunity to move to a different town and become missionaries. They decided not to publicize this desire but only to pray to God about it. About one year later, in the fall of 2007 their church unexpectedly asked them to go as missionaries to the city where their children were attending university, to the city of Tian Jing.

In this town they met many people from their home town who moved to the city to find work, who knew Angela from before. Due to the fact that Angela was a known healer, many knew her personally or knew of her. And precisely among these people Angela and her husband began their ministry as missionaries.

God blessed their ministry richly and within one year they have organized 6 home churches with a total attendance of over 100 people.

Angela and her husband are now part of our program. They want to learn to be more effective in their preaching of the Gospel and we hope with your help and ours they will be. Please pray for the ministry of the Wang family!

A Story of Transformation from India

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0600

My name is Bala Subramanian. I come from a Hindu family background here in India. When i was younger, I worshiped many gods, but also displayed a lot of desire to lead. I was even the president of a fan club for a famous Tamil film star, and gathered a group of young people around this icon! Everything was fine for me, or so i thought… but i began to develop some bad habits associated with a rather destructive lifestyle, and eventually began to suffer from ongoing attacks of paralysis in my legs and hands. These attacks were exceptionally painful, and I began to think that i could not live if they were going to persist.

One day, in the midst of one of my attacks, an elderly lady came to see me. She shared with me about Jesus. She said if you invite Jesus into your life, He can heal and give life. I followed her advice, and then was miraculously healed of my paralysis. I took baptism and started sharing my testimony to all my friends and relatives, but was quickly rejected by them, and even now, my family still does not follow Jesus, despite seeing my miraculous healing and conversion.

When I heard about Life Mission International offering training on planting churches through the ONE Prayer movement, I decided to apply to the process. After getting the first module training on Evangelism, I went back to my target area of Singarapettai and started sharing the Gospel using personal evangelism methods and small group bible studies.

I also started taking care of the sick people by taking them to the free government hospital, helping the elderly to get government aid, helping poor children to get in free Christian boarding schools and helping 20 young people to find employment! The leadership skills that God gave me are now being used for His glory, and i am grateful to the ONE Prayer movement for helping me to be effective in my planting efforts!

Because of my success, there is now a great deal of interest from other people in the village, and that has paved way for me to share the Gospel, using Gospel booklets and building relationships. Now, 60 people are showing interest in the material, and 20 people have accepted Christ! I have also formed 5 small groups and continuously teach them the Word of God.

Unfortunately, because of our success, there is also a group of Hindu radicals who are constantly threatening the lives of both me and my young flock. Please pray for me to win them also for Jesus.

Planting Amidst Struggles in Sudan

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600

One of the groups of church planters recently gathered for training in eastern Sudan. They praise the Lord for 143 new baptized members in their churches. Life is a constant struggle. As if the poverty of the country was not difficult enough, unexpected rains washed out many bridges and made roads a quagmire of mud. High inflation because of last summer’s oil prices has driven up food prices. Yet the churches are growing and many have built simple structures for worship.

The church planters ask our prayers for strength in the face of an increase in extreme Islamic movements. Major persecution and even murders are occurring as Muslim missionaries supported by Saudi Arabia are attempting to stop the spread of Christianity in Sudan. It is ironic that a portion of the price we pay for oil imported from the Middle East goes to those who export Wahabi missionaries. Wahabism is a particularly aggressive sect of Islam that preaches Jihad and the destruction of all western influence. Madrassas or training schools have been set up in Sudan to train Islamic warriors to seek out and eradicate churches. This has resulted in an increasing flow of refugees to the south of Sudan. Pray for these misguided missionaries that they will have an experience like Paul on the road to Damascus.

Truly Unreached

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0600

This is brother Vasanth Solomon. He is from a Christian family, and his father is a Pastor. After his father’s death, he assumed that he would simply acquire his father’s property and continue his mission, though he wasn’t exactly sure how to go about accomplishing that goal. Using basic evangelism tactics, Vasanth worked hard to build a network of over 150 new believers over a period of 5 years, but still believed that he needed additional training in order to further his effectiveness in the field.

Then he attended the Kingdom of God training (KGT) offered by Life Mission International through the ONE Prayer network. There, he learned about the importance of vision, goal setting and doing relational evangelism. He started praying for God to show him a place where he could plant a church and engage the community. Shortly thereafter, the Lord guided him to Puzhiyankannu village, where no one knows Christ. It is “completely unreached”. Here, all the people are high caste Hindus, and the village also supports two full time temple prostitutes.

When Vasanth started sharing Jesus in this village, the head of the village gathered all the people together and told them not to allow any other God to enter the village. In addition, when Vasanth shared a Gospel booklet with a member of the village, a young man pulled the booklet from his hand and tossed it into the fire. That night, however, the young man became so frightened and he quite literally went insane. This sent a wave of fear through the minds of the people in the village and gave them a high sense that they should not do any additional harm to Vasanth. In addition, Vasanth began praying for God to heal the young man.

After two months, people are showing great interest in learning about this new God. Thus far, 12 people have accepted Christ and are attending a small group Bible study. Vasanth is supervising 3 similar groups in this area, and also conducts a Children’s program in two places (currently, there are more than 60 children attending). Please pray that Vasanth will continue to make appropriate inroads for the Gospel and the Kingdom in this unreached village!

Training Church Leaders in Cambodia

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600

I have been following the plan spoken of in the Scriptures, where it says,
“Those who have never been told about him will see, and those who have never heard of him will understand.” Romans 15:21 (NLT)

A historic leadership conference was held November 17 – 19, 2008 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The theme echoed the spirit of the words above from the Apostle Paul concerning the plan of God for reaching the world with the good news of Jesus Christ. The hand painted mural of villagers taking the rice harvest toward a heavenly palace highlighted the plans of more than 350 Christian leaders in Cambodia to reach their nation for Christ. The mural is flanked by two scripture passages: the Great Commission and Jesus’ prayer for unity among His disciples. The organizers of the conference included workshops on church planting and discipleship in their predominately Buddhist nation. The conference was organized and funded entirely by local Cambodian believers from a wide range of evangelical churches.

Several of the workshop leaders in this first of its kind conference are also actively involved as trainers in the One Prayer church planting initiative. Over the past few months the One Prayer church planting initiative in Cambodia has helped bring the gospel into more than 50 new communities. As of November 1, more than 740 new followers of Jesus and another 450 of their family members and friends are now involved for the first time in regular discipleship bible studies in their homes in remote villages. Pray that these bible study groups will form into vibrant local churches that will serve the Lord within these communities to bring hope and transformation.

There are thousands of villages across Cambodia like the one pictured below from Kratie province which still have no followers of Jesus. Thankfully, Kratie province is currently the focus of Cambodian church planting teams who were able to reach this village with the good news of Christ! Members of these households are actively involved in discovering the love of the Creator God through His son Jesus Christ as they hear and study God’s word along with the church planters. They have begun their journey of following Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

Continue to pray for ongoing efforts throughout Cambodia as additional church planters are trained and mobilized to reach more than 150 communities of need over the next few months as part of the One Prayer initiative in Cambodia. Pray that the church planters will be joined by a multitude of additional “local harvesters” in sharing the good news and making disciples in villages like these where approximately 80% of the population lives. One Prayer has come along side our brothers and sisters in Cambodia with training and mobilization to help these Christian leaders fulfill their vision for God’s plan in their country. Thank you for the encouragement that your partnership in the gospel has brought to these sacrificial harvest workers!

Reaching Refugees in Sudan

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600

Kajo Keji is exploding! Two hundred and seventy thousand people have already arrived from refugee camps in the north and west, and another one hundred thousand are expected this year. Most live in tents, but the government and aid agencies have begun to help with building mud huts.

According to Enoka and Michael, there is great hunger… not for food… but for community. “The opportunity to do church planting is incredible.” Enoka and Michael head up the ministry in this area and have organized the training for the church planters.

Several pilot projects have already been completed and seven schools were set up for the children of displaced families. Now 150 church planters are starting their training. They are being trained in “batches” of 20-30 and a main focus is the emerging neighborhoods of Kajo Keji (seen from the air). Some of the refugees moving into this area come from Christian villages where their families were attacked and churches burned to the ground. They are eager to help the teams of church planters to reach the larger population which has had no access to the gospel.

God’s Amazing Choice

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600

Arthur Tian was born completely healthy, but with a hump on his back. For many years of his life Arthur felt completely useless in society. He had no purpose in life at all. Arthur was growing up secluded and reserved because of his physical appearance. Quite often people made fun of him and laughed at him. When Arthur turned 20, his parents died and he moved to live with his older brother. Later on Arthur’s older sister accepted Christ and begun to share Jesus Christ with him also.

Arthur went to church with her and discovered that people in church were different than people in this world. People in the world quite often laughed at him, but in church they showed him love and cared for him. It was here at church where Arthur for the first time in his life truly felt the love of God.

After accepting Christ as his Savior Arthur felt a deep desire to tell others around him about this newly discovered love of God. When Arthur’s parents died, they left him a small amount of money, which they were saving for their whole lives. His parents were afraid that Arthur won’t be able to provide for himself after they pass away and this money would help him a little, at least for a while. After Arthur became a Christian he spent all the money his parents left him to live on. He spent it on mission work. But God has not forgotten Arthur. God continues to bless his life.

This year God has blessed Arthur with a loving spouse, who is helping him now in his ministry of preaching the Gospel. Almost immediately after their marriage the young couple moved to a different town in China with the goal of planting a church there. In the last two months Arthur started a Bible study group and five people already have accepted Christ. PTL!

Please pray for Arthur and his ministry!

“…God chose the weak things of the world …” 1 Cor.1:27

Can a Woman Plant a Church?

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600

India is one of the oldest civilized countries in the world, and has a rich cultural and linguistic heritage. In fact, some of the languages in India (including Tamil) are estimated to be more than 3,000 years old. However, despite its depth of tradition and culture, India continues to face the difficulty of regularly practiced traditional atrocities. One of these practices is called “Sati.” Satī is a funeral practice among some Hindu communities (now very rare and outlawed in modern India), in which a recently-widowed woman would be expected to throw herself alive onto her husband’s funeral pyre, thus dying with him in order to demonstrate that life would be unacceptable without his continued presence. This practice was condemned by William Carry and then by Indian reformers, but while it is openly denounced by Indian officials, it is still practiced in many remote villages throughout the country.

In addition, in recent centuries, and due in large part to the Dowry System (a price paid by a young woman’s family as a gift to her new husband), many families have undervalued their female children. This has paved way the regular practice of female infanticide because parents know at birth that they will be unable to care for the little girl, but will also be unable to raise a dowry to marry her when she is older. Because of this, when a female child is born, the mother or the relatives will simply kill the child. This practice continues today, and is an issue that many ONE Prayer church planters are being mobilized to engage as they plant churches in areas where infanticide rates are high.

Finally, the Indian people are divided by Caste System, which has existed in India for thousands of years. The Caste System creates a social heirarchy where certain individuals are granted greater worth than others, and thus entitled to varying levels of privilege, wealth, and even access to the gods within the Hindu pantheon. Within this Caste System, women are still regarded as “lower than men” and cannot sit or walk equally with them. They are the “oppressed among the oppressed.”

However, things started changing when the missionaries started coming to India. They taught people, protected them with laws, and helped them to succeed in life. Today in India, the Church is beginning to understand the importance of women getting involved in building the family, society, the Nation and even the Church in the light of fresh understanding from the Scripture. Many parts of our country allow women to do “evangelism” but not planting or pastoring. But in Tamilnadu, where ONE Prayer church planters are being trained, the Churches are more open and thus allow their daughters and sisters to get engaged in the ministry of the Church.

One such jewel is Pretha! She once wanted to end her life because of a tragedy that occurred in her life, but came to know the Lord through the ministry of a local Indian Church. Today, along with her, her parents have accepted Christ and are assisting her in the ministry. Her uncle, who is also a Pastor, now helps them in the planting process.

Due to recent violence and government reactions, as well as increasing legal stresses and persecution, the doors for Crusades, street preaching and tract distribution in many parts of our country are simply closed. But Pretha is following the “One to One” method of basic discipleship and small group Bible study that is seen in the Book of Acts. She hopes to baptize around 40 people in the beginning of next year. God is using her mightily among the poor people in the slum area where she works. She has a big heart for them, and ONE Prayer resources are ensuring that Pretha is well equipped for her task!

From Fear to Faith to Fruitfulness

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600

The Story of Pastor Saran

My life before I followed Jesus
I was born in 1965. My early years were shaped during a time of turmoil in SE Asia, including a horrible civil war in Cambodia. I had no respect for public authorities nor did I follow the laws of society. My life was lonely, full of fear, and panic. There was even one time during the civil war when I was almost killed. I wanted to kill those who were my enemy. I saw no place for forgiveness toward other people, and my life was totally without purpose. I even hated foreign religious beliefs, and I did not want them to be practiced in Cambodia. I followed the traditions of my parents and had been brought up as a Buddhist.

When I heard about Jesus
During those difficult days of my early life, I often questioned within myself whether there even was a “god,” or a place better than the earth. I wanted to know if there really was a heaven or a hell beyond this life. In 1991 a friend, who was not a follower of Jesus, told me about he had heard about someone called Jesus Christ. I was interested in knowing more about Jesus and how His followers lived. So I looked for their meetings and attended for about three weeks. I did not understand at all what they were talking about, however, I was interested in the nice sound of the songs they sang praising to God. On the forth week of being with these followers of Jesus, I was touched in my heart when I heard them say that “Jesus can save humans from their sins.” This reminded me of a time when I was about seven years old, when I was able to read a little, I read part of a book that was saying that it was this same Jesus who created water, land, fire and wind.

I continued to meet with these people who followed Jesus, but I kept on wondering if Jesus was really a true God, and if God really existed. I also wondered what would happen to me if I became a follower of Christ. I wanted to know if others would hate me or love me. Then one day, I decided to ask a simple prayer of this God by asking Him to help me quit smoking, if he was a true God. On that very day in 1992, I felt that I did not want to smoke a cigarette at all! I was so happy because I had tried to quit smoking by myself many times, but always failed. I decided then and there to trust in Jesus as the true God. I made a commitment that I believed in Jesus always no matter whether others might hate me or love me. I started to tell my wife about the importance of following Jesus. I told my cousins and friends about Jesus as I wanted them to follow Jesus too.

The Call of God to Serve
I began to feel that God was calling me to serve him by telling even more people about Him. But I did not feel that I could do anything like that. I enjoyed attending the Bible studies and fellowshipping with other believers, but I felt that to become a leader might be a very difficult thing for me to do. I spent all my money to buy a motorbike so I could attend bible study and worship more often. But, three months later, someone stole it from me! I literally cried because of feeling so sad about the loss, and I wanted to know why there was such a bad thing happening to me. I even felt so ashamed about the bad thing that had happened to me, I no longer had the courage to share with my wife and others about Jesus.

Because of the shame, and sorrow of having the bike stolen, I knelt down and started to pray with tears, that if He gave me another motorbike, I would serve Him. About a week latter, I further prayed that I will serve Him forever, if He provided another motorbike for me. I started to believe that if God wanted me to serve Him, He would fulfill all my needs. Two months later the wife of the thief who stole my motorbike came and confessed her husband’s crime. She also brought an older motorbike to us to replace the stolen one, so we did not make a complaint to the police. I accepted the old motorbike with joy and forgiveness. I then decided to start sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with other people, and gather with believers at a friend’s house near my house.

I did not want to be the leader of the group, and I just helped to bring the new believers together to study the bible and with all my heart, I helped those who came to me for help. We met together for about six weeks, but there was still not really a leader among the ten believers. So I began leading the worship and visited the homes of the believers. I was hungry for the Word of God and I was curious to know the meaning and the good things the Word of God has for believers. I read and finished the New Testament about two times. But there were still many things I did not understand and wondered if I was really called to lead among the believers. I then met a Cambodian Christian from the US and he helped me discover many truths in God’s Word and I started to read the New Testament again with great joy and understanding. I joined with other believers to plant new churches in seven places by 1996 and as of 2008 we have grown to see churches planted in over 90 places as disciples continue to make disciples.

NOTE: Pastor Saran is a trainer and supervisor in his province for the One Prayer church planting initiative in Cambodia. There are still hundreds of unreached villages in his province without even a single believer. Pray that the Lord will bless them with an additional 25 – 30 new churches as they reach into these needy villages and that a church planting movement can begin that will spread to surrounding villages and provinces.

New Ministry Centers Launched in Sudan

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Twenty church planters and a lot of other people attended the training in eastern Sudan in September. It is becoming harder and harder to limit the training only to the church planters enrolled in the year long program. The objective is to take a group of new church planters through training that focuses on the skills needed for each stage of church planting, but as time goes on, more people hear about the sessions and just show up.

Like Jesus modeled with his disciples, the twenty church planters have been sent out two by two after each training session. At this session, all ten reported that they have started a ministry center. The three largest have between 25 and 30 adults at regular worship services, all from mixed Muslim and animist backgrounds.

Each team of workers is related to a “mother” church which takes responsibility for the emerging new congregation. The leaders of these churches met with the trainers and shared how they are encouraged to be “totally active” in the new churches. It is wonderful to see these leaders so energized by the success of their missionary teams. Many “mother” churches have been in survival mode, convinced that they cannot reach Moslems. Now with training and experience, the new groups are already talking about how to reach other villages and will bring plans and prayers to the December training session.

A Story of Healing from India

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Brother Jeyapaul comes from a poor Hindu family background, and because of that he could not study beyond 4th grade. He was doing all kinds of job like serving in restaurants, agriculture, and road work on daily wages basis. Many times he did not get any job. To add to his problem, he was born deaf. Because of that, no girl was willing to marry him. So he married an orphan girl from the nearby state, Kerala. She was a professional witch craft lady. Every week around 70 people used to come to her for solving their problem through evil Spirit. When they had a baby girl she was born dumb. Until at the age of six, she could not speak even a single word. That was the time Jeyapaul became sick and bed ridden. His wife tried all her satanic power to heal him. But every thing was in vain. During this time a group of Christians came to that village to do an open air meeting. When they heard that Jesus can heal any sickness, they prayed for him. He was miraculously healed. Then in the following year when a Christian prayed for him, he could hear for the first time in his life. Then they joined the local Church, and they prayed for his daughter, who then started speaking. So, his wife decided to follow this powerful God. They started sharing their testimony, which brought many people to Christ.

Then God called him to ministry, so he sold all his tools for half rate, and decided to do ministry. He approached different organizations to get an opportunity. But all of them rejected him because he was not educated either in secular college or in seminary. He begged them to just provide 30 K.G. rice for every month, so that he can do ministry. But they decided not to support him. He asked his wife to help him. He said he wanted to study the Bible and pray for three years, so that he would know the word of God to teach others. His wife decided to help him, by going to daily labor whenever she found work. She used to get 75 cents per day for the work. They were faithful in giving 3 rupees as tithe. One day when he was praying, his daughter asked for a few cents to buy some toffee. Since he did not have the money, he felt so bad that he started crying and asking the Lord to help. Immediately his daughter came with a sweet stuff, and when he asked how she got it, she called him to come out and showed him the crow. This continued for 3 days. When Jeyapaul came reading across the 1 Kings incident with crow, he was shocked at the continuous miracle, and his faith increased. He has led 27 people to Christ during this period.

The Lord directed him to go to Kodimangalam, a village with 4,000 houses. There are 28 temples and 32 priests serving in those temples. There are four Witch craft men functioning from this village. There are 17 prostitutes are living there. When he came to do the ministry in this village, no one offered a house. So on the first day, he had to sleep on the road with his wife’s old saree. Next day he found a house for $3 rent per month. When he started sharing Christ, the head of the village man, Palanisamy, chased him out of the village. He was there outside the village for 12 days, without any food. Then one man from that village who opposed Palanisamy let him use his cow shed. He started staying there and doing ministry. Before he came to this village, one man tried to do ministry, but they beat him and chased him out. Now they are trying to do the same to him. But since God is doing some wonders in this village he is gaining support. He is planning to plant a church in a nearby village also. There are 12 villages around this main village, where there are no Christians at all.

When he heard that we are training Church planters, he rushed to us, and was begging me to take him in the training. I am so happy to train him with our training. For the last three days he has been staying with me getting module 1 training on evangelism. He is so thrilled and said that now he has the confidence and tools that will help him to plant a Church with 1,000 people. I am so happy for him. It has been a challenge to listen the way God is doing great thing in his life.

An account from Cambodia

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:51:00 -0500

Cambodia was country divided by a civil war, a holocaust and then invaded by enemies from a neighboring country. There are far too many stories of war, of refugees and the sheer struggle to survive. But by the grace of God, some have managed to emerge from the pain with amazing testimonies to the love of God.

In 1983, Lim left Phnom Penh city to live in the Rithy Sen, and join the resistance army to fight against the army of the State of Cambodia government. He was commander of 30 soldiers in the resistance movement. He was a cruel person and dictator. He fought in many battles, there was even one time when he was surrounded by the State of Cambodia army, and was almost killed. He lay unconscious for about three days and three nights. And apart from battles with human enemies, he almost died from malaria. He finally fled across the Thai border to a refugee camp.

In 1985, he left the army, and lived in City Two, Rithy Sen refugee camp. He became a teacher at a small school in the refugee camp. He had four friends who were teachers, and one of them, Mr. Sothy, was a Christian. Mr. Sothy shared the good news of Jesus Christ with Lim saying that Jesus was the Savior and those who believed in Him would be saved from sins and have eternal life. He shared about Christ three times, so Lim got very angry with him, and had some students tie Mr. Sothy up to a cross and tickle him, humiliating him by saying “if your God is true and living, let Him help you”. Mr. Sothy was very upset at this treatment, so finally Lim’s students let Mr. Sothy go. Lim had grown up like 90% of his Cambodian peers, he practiced Buddhism and Brahmanism in the tradition of his ancestors. He had no use for Christians and their foreign religion.

In 1986, he moved to another refugee camp, and got into trouble when he broke the rules of the camp. The Thai soldiers who guarded this new camp always arrested those who broke the law in the K.I.D. camp, and moved them back to the camps nearer the border. Lim often hid himself from the Thai guards in a deep pit from which he could look to the outside only through a small hole. One Saturday in February of 1986, there was a big raid by Thai solders to arrest law breakers in the camps, so Lim and his friends got so frightened that they hid themselves in the pit for the whole night. Early in the morning on Sunday, Lim heard a voice outside the pit through the small hole saying, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and loaded down with burdens, and I will give you rest. Place my yoke on you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” It was the words of God speaking to him to seek God! He left the pit for another friend’s house and took a bath. There he met an English teacher named Chann who was going to church. Chann asked Lim to go to church with him (as he had asked once before) so Lim decided to go with him as he was curious to know about this God who could help humans and “give them rest”. At the church, he sat at the back corner of the meeting so that he could observe, but he criticized and cursed them in his heart. Despite the struggle going on in his heart and mind, he decided to read some small Christian booklets, and then finished reading the New Testament three times in one week!

Each time he read the New Testament, it spoke deeper and deeper to his heart and life. Lim had come to put his trust in Jesus Christ and opened his life to the Holy Spirit of God. Lim became full of joy, and no longer feared being arrested by the soldiers. He studied the Word of God with the pastor and a group Christians. Lim immediately went out to share the Good News with other people. Many people listened to the words of God as Lim taught them as much as he knew. Sometimes he felt like he had taught them correctly and sometimes he did not, so when he went back home, he studied even harder. He started going to share the Good News in the hospital and prison. In the villages, they had twenty five bible study groups and there were hundreds of people accepting Jesus Christ. Although Lim never studied at the Bible school, and never had a diploma, God has chosen him to serve Him in church planting ministry. Lim has dedicated himself to establishing groups of believers in unreached areas of Batambang province. Lim is a leader and trainer in the One Prayer church planting initiative.

A Story from China

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500

God’s Grace in Action… or the baptism that almost ended in tragedy.

On August 8th 2008 one of our teachers was conducting a baptismal service in one of the lakes near Yian town in the Heilongjiang province. The water in this lake was quite muddy and the lake shore was covered with seaweed.

One of the ladies had brought her little boy with her who was playing near the water. Several times during the service she had told him to stay away from the water. But towards the end of the baptismal process the boy still ran into the water and disappeared. Fortunately his mother realized it and jumped to his rescue, but when she entered the water she realized that it was deep and also went under.

The teacher who was still baptizing people interrupted his service and ran to the rescue of mother and her child, but when he jumped in the water where the mother went under he also disappeared in the water.

At that point the whole group got together, formed a line holding each other by their hands and lowered one brother into the water who started to search for the three people in the water now. He was able to get a hold of the teacher who held on to the mother with her son. All three were saved in the end. This was truly God’s grace in action. Praise the Lord!!!

Weekly Snapshot: India

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Here is brother POOVARASU, which means King of Flower, who was sick from birth. He had multiple problems: heart issues, pus coming out his ear, un-healable wounds, and tonsil problems. His poor parents could not care for this boy due to the poverty in the house.They struggled to get a hot meal every day and they had no means to take him to the nearby town hospital. Once, while he was studying 3rd standard in a free government school they took him to a hospital and the doctors said he need to undergo different operations and it will cost lots of money. Since they do not have the resources, and a bad smell used to come from his body, they left him out side the house not knowing what to do. People used to pass by this boy, it has became a routine and no one cared for him due to his miserable condition. While he was in 9th grade he became so sick, his pain became unbearable. Everyone expected his death soon. Since Jesus loves him, He had a different plan for him. On an eventful day a Christian women Rani passed by the village, saw the misery of this man, and it broke her heart. She immediately knelt down and touched him with compassion and prayed for him. God touched him immediately and he became a new man. All the wounds and pain slowly disappeared from him. People who saw him earlier were amazed by what had happened. God filled him with His love and joy that he never experienced.

He received a Bible from the lady who prayed for him, and started reading the Word of God. As he was reading about the life of Jesus, he was moved by the love Christ showed even to the persecutors and the thieves on the cross. He wanted show the same love to his parents, even though they ill-treated him. He started learning from this lady about Christ. Then he started sharing about Christ to his parents and relatives. When his parents saw what had happened they believed in Jesus. Several of the relatives and village people have accepted Christ.

Now if anyone is sick in the village or close-by village, they call Poovarasu to come and pray for the sick. Now he is the most wanted man in this area for people who long for peace, healing, and meaning in life. God is using him mightily to touch many people in this community.

Now he has joined our Training to plant churches in the villages around him. He has completed module one on Evangelism. He is using the simple Bible study booklet that we have provided to share Christ along with his living testimony. He is so happy that he found a right training to shape his life and ministry. He is thankful to One Prayer movement for the opportunity.

Weekly Snapshot: Cambodia

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Cambodia is a beautiful country of rivers, mountains, forests, palm trees and rice fields nestled in the heart of Southeast Asia. A relatively small country of 14 million people, most of them live in more than 13,000 villages spread throughout the countryside. It is also the location of the famed Anchor Wat temple ruins from the 9th to 12th century, a world heritage site.

But not everything is so beautiful in Cambodia. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. forces dropped over 2.75 million tons of bombs on Cambodia. In the aftermath of the Vietnam War and the pull out of US troops in 1975 from South Vietnam, revolutionary Cambodian leader, Pol Pot, and the Khmer Rouge army killed over 1.7 million Cambodians. They are buried in mass graves in over 300 locations throughout the country. The genocide took the lives of over 20% of the population at the time. I have never spoken to a Cambodian whose family was not directly affected by the genocide. Cambodia is a country in recovery and still has great social, economic and spiritual need.

Of the 13,000 villages in Cambodia, it is estimated that there are over 11,000 villages that do not have a single follower of Christ. These villages make up the places where over 80% of the population lives. The housing and lifestyle of these Cambodians is simple and predominantly agricultural. The villages are remote and the roads are often impassable. In fact, no one just casually visits one of these villages. Someone must intentionally go to them. That’s where you come in. The One Prayer church planting initiative in Cambodia is going to help train and mobilize Cambodian believers to go into these yet unreached villages with the gospel of peace.

Based on the testimony of a church planter I talked to in May (we’ll call him “Mark”), the journey into most of these villages in his area is not at all easy. He describes trying to find a remote village that he heard about deep in the jungle forest which rises up from the Mekong River that flows through the area. He and his companion were walking deep in the forest as dusk began to make it almost impossible to see. They had hoped to make it to the village before dark, because these particular forests are full of malaria-carrying mosquitoes. He and his companion continually prayed about what to do.

Surrounded by the closing darkness of the forest he decided to climb a tree for a better view. In the distance he saw the glow of a fire. He got his bearings and they began to walk in that direction. When they approached the cluster of small bamboo and wood homes, he saw the cooking fire of a woman outside her hut which stood on stilts above her. It was not the village they were looking for, but they were glad to find people, any people.

The strangers had no idea how they would be received by these people who rarely see anyone from outside their village clusters. However, the men were greeted by a woman with a warm smile and the aroma of steaming rice. Almost as if she were expecting them, she invited them near and naturally began to ask them questions. Off to one side, under the house, lay a man. It was her husband who had passed out in a drunken stupor, oblivious to the strangers who had emerged from the forest. Bro Mark and his companion inquired about her life, her husband and family. These men shared their own testimonies of a changed life and the Creator God who loves and seeks the people he created. News about the strangers quickly spread to the other houses and people began to come and listen to them tell stories into the night as they ate with the growing crowd. They prayed for the family and thanked the village for their hospitality. The people wanted to hear more, so the men stayed there in that village, sharing God’s Word with them and seeing many of them come to faith. What seemed like the wrong village was the right village. This “woman of peace,” prepared by God, welcomed the men of God and helped the people in her village receive the gospel and they are growing in His grace.

Thanks to the One Prayer Church planting initiative, Bro. Mark will now have the opportunity to train and mobilize at least 8 teams of church planters in his province to seek out more of the 200 to 300 villages he has heard about that have yet to meet a believer and hear the Good News of Christ. Pray for Mark and his teams as they risk malaria on their trek of faith, or even climb trees to seek out those who need the gospel.

Weekly Snapshot: China

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.”
(Mt. 19:29)

Peter Wang was a successful businessman in a small town in the northern part of China. Actually he was one of the main providers for the fruit market in his town.

As an ordinary church member, Peter attended church regularly and supported his church financially. One Sunday in church he heard a call onto missions. Of course there was no comparison of a missionary’s support and his income. Yet after consulting with his family they decided to accept the call onto missions. He decided to leave his lucrative business and moved his family into a different town in order to do missions work there. He even left his house to the church so that it could be used for church services.

Thus Peter, his wife, and their 10-year-old son became one of the first missionary families at their church. The ministry was both joy-filled and sorrowful.

One day brother Peter was visiting another small house church in a neighboring province together with two of his brothers. In small villages people are usually very suspicious to outsiders and so someone reported the visit of the three to the police. All three were arrested. During the next 24 hours while held at the police station they did not get any food or drink or sleep. They were forced to stand in a small cell and they were not even allowed to sit down or lean against the wall. After that they were called in for questioning. The brothers did not reveal their true intention of their visit, but since one of the brothers had a relative whom they supposedly had come to visit, they were released but had to leave the village immediately.

Despite difficulties like these, Peter Wang has planted three home churches with about 30 members in each. Peter has now joined our church planting program as a church planter’s trainer.

It is Peter’s greatest desire now to share his experience with other new missionaries who are starting out in ministry so they too can experience the same blessings in their daily ministry he and his family have experienced. He does not regret that he has left his business or his house. He has received much more from God – His richest blessings!!!

Weekly Snapshot: Sudan

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Mobility

Jesus walked from town to town with his disciples, but Sudan, Africa’s largest country, is more than 100 times larger than the territory of Judea and Samaria.

Fifty-five church planters in two groups are already in training and have begun to share Christ in the villages of two unreached districts. One district is on the eastern side of Sudan where the towns and villages are occupied by a diverse collection of tribes, all ethnically Arabian, and most nominally Moslem. The other district is further south and nearer the Nile. The population is non-Arabic, very rural and mostly animist. It is not possible to post on-line the specific names of the villages being reached because it would be dangerous for the church planters.

Planting churches in rural towns and villages in Sudan can be very difficult because people quickly recognize and are suspicious of strangers. The church planters learn to go first to one of the village elders and ask for permission to visit the village and start a school. The word “school” does not mean an institution with a building, but something as simple as a teacher sitting under the tree or in the shade of a hut with any “students” willing to learn.

One of the church planters, we will call him Michael, approached an elder in the village he was praying for. He asked the elder for permission but it was refused. The elder said that everyone in the village was Muslim. The elder walked with Michael through the whole village to prove that there were no Christians here. Michael left, but returned regularly to the village, always visiting the elder and reading to him some passages from the Bible. Finally he confessed that he had grown up in a Christian family, but did not know anything about the Bible. In order to live in this village he had converted to Islam and taken on a Muslim name. But now that the elder was hearing the Bible, he wanted Michael to start a school in his home. On the first “official” day of the school, almost 50 people came.

Michael and all of the church planters visit several villages each week. The bikes greatly improve their outreach. The early stage of church planting involves sowing many seeds. The scripture model and meditation of these church planters is Ecclesiastes 11:6. “Sow your seed in the morning and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that or whether both will do equally well.”

Please pray for:

Safety and health
That in each village they will find an open heart, a person of peace

Quarterly Video Update: India

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Quarterly Video Update: India

Quarterly Video from India

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Check out this video postcard that shares some of the things going on with our mission in India:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDx4bPZnQfI

Daily Devotional by Greg Dumas

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 08:04:32 -0500

One Prayer Daily Devotional
By Greg Dumas, Lead Pastor, The Crossing Church

1Timothy 2:8 I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing. NIV

I have three children, the youngest of which just turned two and a half. I often find myself asking him, “What’s in your hand”? The question is received with a host of reactions, some of which are really funny, and some not so much. When he is caught trying to put his favorite penny in his mouth, he shrugs his shoulders and hides his hands behind his back, as if to say “I don’t know what you are talking about.”

What he doesn’t yet understand or comprehend is the fact that the question is rhetorical and I often know the answer before I ask. In other words, his hands give way to the intent of his little heart. God often asks us “what is in your hand”, or in other words, “what are you holding on to in your heart?”

Hands that are Holy and lifted up aren’t just hands that are open and on display during prayer meetings. Holy hands are considered holy because the intent of the heart is holy. Jesus used the washing metaphor with his disciples and told them to “wash their hands and feet” describing the condition of their hearts after walking around every day in a pretty dirty world.

When it’s all said and done, the only way to truly get rid of anger and disputing is to admit, by way of the Lord’s fatherly promptings, what is really in our hearts? All of us are included, denominations, churches, leaders, and church members; we are all guilty of shrugging our shoulders and deflecting the look of our Heavenly Father. Once we stop pretending, He can heal us, protect us and unite us all over the world. His goal is our unity, and our unity is for His glory, but our cooperation through humility and prayer is necessary.

Maybe we could start by simply saying, “God we have all been selfish in our ambition and in our desires, we have treated each other with contempt, and have been angry without apology, heal our hearts and knit us together, through our prayers allow us to lift up holy hands everywhere, even to the ends of the earth.”

Have you ever tried to hide your real feelings from God? What happened when you showed Him what you were holding on to in your heart?