Participants:
Series Code: JFAN
Program Code: JFAN000045A
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00:21 Hello and welcome to Jesus for Asia Now.
00:24 I'm Natalie Wood, 00:25 and I have my husband with me today 00:26 and we're going to be talking about 00:28 one of our favorite projects, 00:29 actually, it's from when we started. 00:32 Yes, it is the beginning of Jesus for Asia. 00:34 Yeah, and it's exciting 00:35 because God has grown the program, 00:37 and He's shown us so much fruit, 00:39 and we know there is other fruit 00:41 that we don't even know about. 00:42 Absolutely. 00:43 But in case our viewers are wondering, 00:45 we're talking about our native Bible worker program 00:48 in India today. Yes, in India. 00:50 It started out on a beach 00:51 right after the tsunami of 2004, 00:54 and people saw the need there and they started donating. 00:58 And we had found out that you can sponsor local 01:01 Indian Bible workers and so we started doing that. 01:05 And from that humble beginning, 01:07 I still remember the feeling of Lord, 01:10 there are so many unevangelized people in India, 01:15 I mean, hundreds of millions, 01:16 I mean, 400,000 towns and villages 01:19 still have no access to the gospel, 01:20 never heard the gospel before in their lives. 01:22 And it's like just few Bible workers, 01:26 it's like what difference is that going to make really? 01:29 And... 01:30 But it makes the difference for one. 01:31 Exactly. 01:32 And it makes a difference for the next one. 01:34 And that's the key. Yeah. 01:36 Christ would have emptied all of heaven 01:37 for just one or two. Right. 01:39 So that gave us courage to go forward. 01:42 Right, right, and to see the value of the soul 01:45 as Christ puts it in, in perspective. 01:48 Huge. 01:49 So we started just hiring a few and now we have over 250. 01:53 Yeah, and they're scattered 01:54 throughout different parts of India, 01:56 the northeast, the northwest, the west, the north, 01:59 the south, southeast, southwest, 02:03 and some islands in the far east, 02:05 so there is a lot of different places with needs. 02:08 And most of the places are small, 02:10 like what they'll do is in India 02:13 they have a unit like either conference 02:15 or a section or a region, 02:17 then they'll take a section that is grown and they'll see, 02:21 "Okay, we've got a lot of work here, 02:22 got very little work here," so they'll split in half 02:25 and they call that bifurcate. 02:26 Okay. Like two parts out of one. 02:30 And then they'll put like a pastor, 02:32 the president, and a secretary in that one field... 02:36 Where there is nothing happening. 02:37 Where nothing is happening and they'll say, 02:39 "Okay, you start the work." 02:41 And then we start getting phone calls, 02:42 our director in India tells us, 02:44 "We've got a request from over here..." 02:46 Correct. "For Bible workers." 02:47 And sometimes we are able to move forward 02:49 and say, here, and they start off 02:51 with five Bible workers. 02:52 I know in Rajkot, they started out 02:53 with 10 Bible workers 02:54 and they had those three people, 02:57 the secretary, the pastor, and the president. 02:58 And within five years, 03:01 they now had 15 different church groups 03:06 throughout the state, throughout that area 03:09 and it was flourishing. 03:11 Yeah. And it's so rewarding to see. 03:13 I mean, I can understand when Paul says, 03:15 you know, I want to go over 03:16 where no one has preached before, 03:17 build on no man's foundation because... 03:20 That's where the gospel is needed the most. 03:24 Right, right, 03:25 where there's no one else sharing it. 03:26 Exactly. 03:27 So at this point, I mean, this isn't where they started, 03:30 but today a Bible worker makes $90 a month. 03:33 And that's less than some other places 03:35 and that's really a lot less than 03:37 we'd like to pay them. Yeah. 03:38 But at this point that's what we're paying. 03:40 And it's a lot less than I could survive on... 03:41 Right. Even in India. 03:43 Yeah. Yeah. 03:44 So that's a little over $1000 a year 03:47 and if you think about it I mean, that's so effective 03:50 because a airplane trip for me just to go there, 03:53 just for one person to go there 03:55 would finance a Bible worker for an entire year. 03:57 We have a lot of different donors 03:59 that give either part of that 04:02 and so God adds it together enough to pay each worker 04:06 or they give the whole amount... 04:08 But a lot of our donors have set up 04:10 monthly automatic donations 04:12 and so, we have several different ways 04:14 that people can do that but... 04:16 Right, so they don't have to remember to write a check... 04:18 Right, and they can always know 04:20 that their Bible worker is sponsored. 04:21 That's right. 04:22 And so their part is going in automatically. 04:25 Yeah, and every time they go to bed, 04:26 they can pray for the Bible worker 04:28 and know the Bible worker is getting up 04:30 and going out to witness for Christ. 04:32 Right, there are some areas 04:33 where they don't have the Bible in their local language, 04:36 and then there are many areas where they don't have 04:38 any portion of Ellen White's writings. 04:40 Correct, very few pastors actually have 04:42 on Ellen White Book. Right. 04:44 And very few in their local language. 04:46 Right, so they don't have a depth 04:47 of understanding of Christian theology. 04:50 They don't have all the knowledge 04:53 that we take for granted. 04:54 Take for granted, yeah, absolutely. 04:56 How many translations of the Bible do we have? 04:58 Yeah. Yeah. You know? 05:00 And if we want to know what the origin of the word is, 05:03 we can just do a right click and, oh, there is the Strong's, 05:05 you know, this is what it means in the original Hebrew. 05:08 Yeah. Those kinds of tools are not... 05:11 And then the rich history of Christian history 05:15 of our country goes back centuries 05:18 that when you grow up in a non-Christian country 05:24 that kind of what we take for granted a lot 05:26 really isn't there. 05:27 Yeah, I mean, I know many places 05:29 people get excited to send the Great Controversy out 05:32 in these different languages... Right. 05:33 But they don't think about the idea 05:36 that there's a lot in there 05:37 that it's based on a Christian culture... 05:40 That's based on Western history. 05:41 Right. 05:42 Now these people don't study, when they study, 05:43 they study their own country's history, 05:45 they don't study the history of America or even of Europe. 05:49 Correct. 05:50 So they don't understand, 05:51 so some of those basics that we take for granted. 05:55 Right. 05:56 They don't even have any sort of exposure to it. 05:59 Yeah, in addition to their soul winning work, 06:02 the Bible workers are often asked to carry 06:05 the church responsibilities 06:07 and to fill the roles of pastors 06:09 because there are so few pastors. 06:11 So this next clip is from the secretary 06:13 of one of these regions at Coimbatore, Tiruppur region 06:16 and let's listen to what he has to say. 06:28 A Coimbatore, Tiruppur region was started in 2009. 06:35 This region was under North Tamil Conference 06:39 and it was fabricated 06:42 from North Tamil Conference in the year 2009. 06:46 We have two districts in our region, 06:50 Coimbatore and Tiruppur. 06:53 Coimbatore district has more than 06:55 35 lacs of people. 06:58 From 35 lacs of people, 07:01 we have about 7.5% of Christians 07:05 in Coimbatore district, rest on the people are Hindus 07:09 and some of them are Muslims. 07:12 And also in Tiruppur we have 25 lacs of people. 07:18 In Tiruppur district we have only 2.5% Christians. 07:25 In our field, we have nine regular pastors, 07:31 two administrators, 07:33 and 20 Jesus for Asia lay Bible workers. 07:38 When our region was started, 07:41 we had 2,232 members. 07:45 At present as of March 31st, 2017 07:51 we have 4,342. 07:55 I must say that around 60% baptisms 08:00 came from Jesus for Asia lay Bible workers. 08:08 Pretty amazing, huh! 08:10 Yeah, 60% of the church growth. 08:13 Right. Wow. 08:14 Okay, so in their region which is two provinces, 08:19 they've got six million people... 08:23 Right. They have nine pastors... 08:25 Wow! 08:26 Out of six million people, 08:28 and then they have 20 JFA Bible workers. 08:30 Wow! 08:31 That's all the workers they have for that entire 08:33 six million people. 08:35 And they need more. Yeah. 08:36 And so we figured out 08:37 that it would cost about $113 per soul. 08:41 If those numbers are all correct, 08:43 it's about $113 to bring somebody into the church. 08:46 Wow! That is awesome, that is a God thing. 08:49 Yes. 08:50 And God's money converted into souls. 08:51 Yeah, and so this is why we believe 08:53 that this is one of the most effective, 08:56 cost effective ways to bring the gospel 08:58 into people's homes and into people's lives. 09:02 Today, we want to talk about a worker named Jayseelee. 09:05 And can you tell us a little bit about her? 09:08 Oh, she's been working for us for many years 09:11 and she's always a quiet one, 09:13 when we have Bible worker meetings, 09:15 she's always quiet. 09:16 But I love to listen her pray. 09:18 When she starts praying, it's just the faith, 09:21 the strong faith and just the passion for God. 09:25 You can tell that she has a connection to Him, 09:27 She's got a connection and she knows 09:29 God is going to hear her and she knows God will respond. 09:33 And just the faith is there, just really, I love to... 09:36 I don't understand what she's saying 09:38 but her spirit is just beautiful, 09:40 and so this is a story of Jayseelee. 09:42 Okay. 09:58 Hinduism is the major religion in India, 10:01 that somewhat build the walls to reach the Hindus. 10:04 Nevertheless, one of the powerful ways 10:06 to get in touch with them is through prayer. 10:10 Jayseelee, a Bible worker has significantly influenced 10:14 people's lives through her earnest praying. 10:22 Everyday she would travel by bus 10:24 to Indranagar Village or Kadhathur Village 10:27 because of her desire to show that there is a living God. 10:31 She would visit the sick 10:32 and those who are in difficulties. 10:34 She would usually open the Word of God, 10:37 fervently pray with them and God would answer 10:39 in His most miraculous and marvelous ways. 10:43 That is why most of the people would rather call her 10:46 to pray for them than go to the doctors. 10:50 And, with the answered prayers, people eventually believe 10:53 that there is one living God who cares for them. 10:57 As a result, Jayseelee's answered prayers 11:00 have brought more souls to the feet of Jesus. 11:28 Ain't that beautiful? 11:29 It is beautiful to see how God can move when we pray. 11:34 Their hearts, the people's hearts were moved. 11:36 There was tears and just needing God... 11:41 Yeah. And finding Him. 11:42 So Jayseelee is in charge of three churches 11:45 and she visits people in all those villages, 11:48 but our next video is showing 11:49 how she travels from village to village. 11:52 Yes. 11:53 We think about traveling as getting in a car, 11:55 but this is a little bit different. 11:57 Yes. 13:51 It's just a small church there 13:53 that she goes to here and there. 13:54 But sometimes there would be a lot more members, 13:57 sometimes there would be a lot few members, 13:59 that really depends. 14:00 You know, the people don't have very many things 14:03 to nourish them during the week. 14:05 They don't have Bibles to read, usually, 14:08 they don't have Christian radio programs 14:12 or television shows or anything, 14:14 anyway to bolster their faith during the week 14:17 and so they just depend on her 14:19 for their entire spiritual food. 14:22 Right. 14:23 And she has to make a commitment 14:25 and it's quite a bit of travel... 14:27 And walking three kilometers, 14:28 that's like a mile and a half, right? 14:29 That's a big investment in the morning to go 14:32 and meet those people, you know. 14:33 Right. 14:34 So this next video we're going to see 14:36 what the traveling has done to her feet. 14:38 Yes. 14:39 Long... 14:42 Indranagar, long walk, going, coming, going, coming. 14:53 For a long time she's been going and coming like that. 14:57 Yeah, she looks like 14:58 she's walking in pain a little bit. 15:00 Yeah, so pray for her. 15:02 I talked to Israel about getting her motorbike, 15:05 but he says that she probably won't use it 15:07 'cause the longest part of her travel is by bus. 15:10 It's the bus ride. 15:11 And riding a motorbike on those roads 15:14 is kind of a challenging. 15:15 And so this next story is a story of a lady 15:17 that was brought to Jesus by Jayseelee and her prayers. 15:20 Amen. Okay, here we go. 15:23 Her name is Karthamal. 15:25 After she accepted Jesus, took baptism, 15:29 they have named her Elizabeth. 15:30 Now she's no more called in that Hindu name Karthamal, 15:34 her name is Elizabeth. 15:36 Previously, before coming into this church 15:38 and accepting Jesus, 15:40 she was very, very thin, very weak. 15:43 She cannot go for her work. 15:45 She was at home, couldn't do anything, 15:48 couldn't even do her personal work, 15:50 she was very sick. 15:51 That is when our pastor Mrs. Jayseelee 15:55 went and met her in her home and she shared the love of God. 16:00 And, you know, that is her younger daughter 16:05 and that is her elder daughter, 16:07 the man next to her is his son-in-law, 16:10 the whole family. 16:11 And the younger daughter Amuda was the one 16:14 who accepted Jesus Christ first. 16:16 And through her, her whole family accepted Jesus 16:21 as their personal savior. 16:22 And now she is called the Elizabeth, 16:25 and God has restored her health back, 16:28 she's in normal condition now. 16:30 She's going every day for her work 16:33 and she can work as normal ladies, 16:35 like other ladies. 16:36 God had blessed her, so she's very thankful 16:39 that just Jesus Christ had given her 16:42 this healing in her life. 16:45 So notice how he talked about the Lord healed her, 16:48 that's like that's a normal thing, 16:49 like everyday occurrence there, 16:51 but Jayseelee went and shared the gospel with her 16:55 and the whole family accepted it... 16:56 Yeah. Which is beautiful. 16:58 It started with the younger daughter 17:00 and then went through the rest of the family. 17:02 Yeah, so praise God. So God is good. 17:04 All time. Yeah. 17:05 Now Jayseelee also has another ministry 17:07 that she does besides Bible working... 17:09 Okay. 17:10 So she collects clothes from people 17:12 to give to other people that need clothes. 17:14 Awesome. 18:29 Oh, that's beautiful. 18:30 Yes, all out of love. 18:31 Yeah. And people can see that. 18:33 Right, right, it shows God's love too. 18:35 But you notice, she's not asking outsiders, 18:37 she is just with her friends looking for clothes 18:40 that they can then donate. 18:42 Right. 18:43 So they're part of this ministry, 18:44 they invest in this ministry themselves, 18:46 they're not there just for the pay, 18:48 they're there because they're called... 18:50 Right. 18:51 And they love Jesus and God puts that love 18:53 for others in their hearts. 18:55 Yeah. Yeah. 18:56 Well, last time when we were in India, 18:57 we got to go to one of Jayseelee's churches, 19:00 the church at Kadathur... 19:01 Yes. 19:02 And they were asking for an evening school there. 19:04 Yes. Now what is an evening school? 19:05 An evening school is where the children come 19:08 for several hours in the evening 19:09 and they receive an hour and half to two hours 19:12 of tutoring in their local language. 19:14 There is class work from the government school. 19:15 Arithmetic, social studies, things like that. 19:18 Language. 19:20 And 'cause the first evening school 19:22 and many of our viewers 19:23 may remember hearing this before 19:25 that the first evening school out of 60 children, 19:27 only 12 could read and write. 19:29 Right. 19:30 And so it's very important 19:31 and it makes the difference for their community. 19:33 Correct. 19:34 For their education and their livelihood. 19:35 Yeah. 19:36 So then they have a worship time 19:38 where they learn Bible verses and songs 19:41 and all these children. 19:42 It's wonderful to go to one of the evening schools. 19:44 Yes. 19:45 And then at the end of the evening 19:46 they have a meal, and their meal includes 19:48 rice and vegetables. 19:50 So it's a healthy meal, nutritious. 19:51 It's a full nutritious meal. Full of vitamins. 19:53 Right. Right. Yes. 19:55 So there and this church in Kadathur was selected 19:58 and we've been asked to come and look at it 20:01 and so we went to look, and what we found was 20:04 that the church needed a fence... 20:07 A toilet and a kitchen. A toilet and a kitchen, right. 20:08 Yes. 20:09 And they were cleaning it up while we were 20:11 and they were burning a pile of leaves 20:13 while we're talking there. 20:14 So this video is with us there. 20:18 So we're at Kadathur 20:19 and this is a village about 30 minutes away 20:22 from the main town of Udumalpet. 20:24 And we are here because... 20:25 We have a donor 20:26 that wants to start another evening school. 20:28 So we asked Brother Israel, our director here in India, 20:32 what would be a good village and he talked to Brother Thomas 20:35 who is in charge of our evening schools 20:37 in this area and he suggested this village 20:39 because there are a lot of children here. 20:41 Yeah. 20:42 We had a group of young people from Ouachita Hills 20:44 that came and do the evangelistic series here 20:46 and there were so many children. 20:48 Yeah. 20:49 So they would like to do in here. 20:50 Yeah. 20:51 So anyway there's a great need for an evening school here, 20:54 especially out in this village. 20:56 The education probably wouldn't be 20:58 as high as in the city and stuff, 20:59 so the challenge though is that there are several needs 21:04 before we can really do this well. 21:05 Right. 21:06 They need a toilet area, they need a kitchen 21:09 because with the evening school, 21:11 there is a cook and there are meals provided, 21:13 so we need a kitchen. 21:15 And then also this church needs to be fenced. 21:17 Yes. 21:18 We've been told that because the church is out here 21:21 kind of away from a lot of houses, 21:23 there's no light here and so at night 21:26 the alcoholics in the village come and drink here. 21:29 So they're cleaning the church property right now, 21:32 you might see them behind us and... 21:34 See the smoke from the fire and they're burning 21:36 all the leaves, and trash, and stuff. 21:38 Yeah, just the basic evening school 21:40 usually cost $300 to $400 depending on where we are 21:44 and we're going to be... 21:45 Right, and how many kids. 21:47 So we're going to be doing this in an Adventist church, 21:49 so that saves rent. 21:51 But we do help pay the electricity 21:53 because normally the church doesn't open 21:56 six nights a week extra... 21:57 Yes. 21:58 So we'll be paying the electricity 22:00 and things like that. 22:01 It's usually about $7, $7 to $10 per month 22:04 per child which is amazing. 22:08 We figure that we serve right now 22:10 about a thousand meals per month in our project. 22:15 And so God is really moving, we've seen, we're starting, 22:17 it's been in operation long enough, 22:19 we're starting to see the fruit of this investment, 22:23 young lives, some of our kids are now chief of police 22:27 in the towns and villages that they grew up in. 22:30 And so pray for Kadathur... 22:32 Right. 22:33 A brand new evening school that we're praying the Lord, 22:36 we can fix up and open. 22:38 So we're excited to see what God's going to do here, 22:40 but God is moving in this area. 22:44 Isn't that awesome? Yeah, that's great. 22:46 And, you know, a fun story that happened 22:47 right after when we were there. 22:49 It's like we had to leave and then they told us 22:52 that like the next day or the day after, 22:54 all the children had heard 22:55 that there was going to be a school there, 22:57 so they showed up at the church in the evening. 22:59 Yes. They were ready. 23:00 It was locked. 23:01 It was locked 'cause there was no wall, 23:03 I mean, no fence yet, and no toilet and no kitchen, 23:06 nothing had been built. 23:07 And so, they went to another Bible worker's house 23:10 that lives nearby and they said, 23:12 "Where's our school? We're here for school." 23:14 So the Bible worker heard it, hears a knock at the door, 23:17 he opens the door, there's 45 kids, 23:19 "Where's our evening school?" 23:22 So I think they just had some kind of like 23:24 school there at his house 23:26 and I think I'm not sure what happened, 23:27 but I think they went ahead and opened 23:29 and started providing food somehow for those kids. 23:33 Yeah, that was awesome. 23:35 And since then it's been opened in there 23:36 and they're doing regular evening meals, 23:38 and the whole program, and so the kids are loving it. 23:41 Yeah, the Lord provided for the fence 23:44 and everything like that. 23:45 It was amazing how He provided. 23:47 Yeah. 23:48 So it's really neat, I can't wait to go back 23:50 and see that school actually in operation. 23:52 Yes. 23:53 And see those kids singing and hearing their... 23:56 Their memory verses in Tamil 23:58 and seeing their bright little eyes 24:01 looking up at the teacher, learning more. 24:04 And their excitement when they get to share with us, 24:06 the songs, and the Bible verses 24:08 that they've been learning in the schools. 24:11 Yeah, I love it there. 24:12 My favorite Friday evening 24:13 is sitting in one of those kids, 24:16 one of those schools, 24:17 the kids singing at the top of their voices, 24:20 songs I have no idea what they're singing, 24:22 but some of them we've learned over the years. 24:25 Yeah. 24:26 And, well, I can demonstrate that right now. 24:28 No. 24:30 But some of my favorite memories 24:32 are being with those kids. 24:33 Yeah. 24:34 Just gives me joy to know that these kids are learning 24:36 about Christ and they're getting, 24:38 they're fighting malnutrition. 24:39 Right. 24:40 They're not having to succumb to malnutrition. 24:42 Right. 24:43 And so this, the evening school being in this village, 24:46 in this church where Jayseelee works 24:48 will help to extend her ministry even further. 24:51 Correct. 24:52 And, so we're excited about that combination, 24:56 the pairing together of the Bible worker being there 24:59 and the evening school being there to encourage the people 25:02 and be a witness in the village day after day. 25:05 Right, and that's the key is like, 25:07 if you send a pastor there, they're like once a week, 25:12 but with an evening school, 25:13 you're in the village every single night. 25:15 And over the course of 5, 10 years, 25:18 you break down the prejudices towards Christianity 25:20 that are very strong in many villages... 25:22 Yeah. 25:24 And it opens the doors and it makes an impact in ways 25:26 we'll never know until we get to heaven. 25:28 Right. Yeah. 25:30 So we just enjoy that program so much. 25:32 Yeah, so combining the Bible worker 25:35 with the evening school 25:37 and, of course, the television, it's a win-win 25:41 and it's a powerful combination. 25:42 We need to remember to pray for our Bible workers... 25:44 Yes. 25:45 Because they are on the front lines 25:47 and there's a lot of possibility 25:49 for discouragements, 25:50 there's a lot of challenges for them. 25:53 And, you know, people like Jayseelee, 25:55 it's physically challenging as well. 25:58 Yes, they face challenges that we don't know about. 26:01 Right. 26:02 Persecution in different ways 26:04 and I mean, we've had Bible workers 26:06 that people demanded that they not live 26:08 where they were living because they were Christian 26:10 and things like that. 26:11 So we don't understand that kind of thing 26:13 'cause that hasn't happened to us yet. 26:14 Yeah. 26:15 But those days are coming for us also. 26:17 And they're also going out there 26:19 with very minimal material. 26:20 Right. 26:21 They have a Bible, they know how to pray, 26:24 often that's all they have. 26:25 Right. 26:26 And they may not have things to share with the people 26:28 and leave a track or pamphlet 26:30 or series of Bible studies, they don't have those. 26:32 Yeah. 26:33 They don't have a series of Bible studies. 26:35 Sometimes they'll have the Steps to Christ 26:37 or something like that that people can read through, 26:39 but it's mainly just the Bible 26:41 and so pray that we can have more literature. 26:44 A few years back, 26:46 some people donated funds for literature 26:48 and that was a huge blessing, 26:50 so pray for more, pray for the Bible workers, 26:53 pray for literature, pray for the evening schools, 26:55 pray for television ministry, all those things. 26:58 Yeah. 27:00 If you want to be a part of sponsoring 27:01 your own Bible worker, it's only $90 a month. 27:05 And any partial amount adds together, 27:07 God adds it all together and pays the worker's stipends. 27:11 Don't forget also that 100% of your gift 27:14 will go to pay their Bible worker stipends. 27:17 We don't take anything out for overhead. 27:19 Everything goes over and enables them 27:21 to devote their full time to God's work. 27:24 When in earth's history has this been so easy 27:27 and think of our reward in heaven 27:29 for being a part of His work. 27:31 What an exciting thing that will be 27:33 to get to meet the people that we've been a small part 27:36 of bringing to the feet of Jesus 27:38 when we get there. 27:41 Only a little bit of sacrifice on our part, 27:43 but eternal reward. 27:48 If you would like to be a part, 27:49 you can send your tax deductible love gift 27:51 to Jesus for Asia, 27:52 PO Box 1221, Collegedale, Tennessee 37315. 27:58 Call us at (423) 413-7321. 28:02 Or visit our website at Jesus4Asia.org. 28:05 May God richly bless you 28:07 until we see you again next time 28:09 on Jesus for Asia Now. |
Revised 2018-03-22