Blog Archive

A few weeks ago, after I had prayed for some time, I talked about Nepal with Manny III, and mentioned it also to our ministry board. I sensed that the time was ripe and the time was NOW. This was my message: “I think we have reached the moment. We need to start on Nepal now. I am making plans to go, start, and get going.” 

Two hours later, Manny III brought phenomenal news: “I just heard from a church in Birmingham. They’ve committed the initial funds. They said, ‘Go start in Nepal already!’” 

As our plans for Nepal came to light in our meetings, I felt Nepal’s beautiful potential was the best news of my whole week. But from the perspective of the church-planters and national leaders at our conference, it’s the best news in decades. 

One of the goals is to launch education and feeding programs to express the love of the Lord. The few Christian pastors in Nepal have struggled to get people to give up on their sterile religions and their faith in millions of gods. But these same pastors have now told me, again and again: If we launch this ministry strategy, the parents will be the ones sending their children! They will see the great worth of what is being offered, and they will not want their kids to miss out on it. 

Response to our “Evangelism Through Education” strategy (ETE) was so powerful I called Dr. Sam in India, our partner who founded ETE in India, and told him everything I was witnessing in Nepal. Sam was astounded that I was in “next-door” Nepal. “If I had known you were so close,” he exclaimed, “I would have flown up there to be with you!” (Sam has a “day job” as professor of English literature in a university. I assumed he couldn’t get time off.) 

So, at lightning speed, arrangements and connections have been made. Sam will come to Nepal and help to teach our “Bible Training Center for Pastors” curriculum (BTCP). He’ll serve as consultant for Evangelism Through Education in Nepal. 

We can now believe God for miracles in Nepal like we’ve already witnessed in India. . . . 

Sam remembers how God started us in India with 50 kids in Education through Evangelism (ETE)—now there are 500 kids in the program. We’re training 100 church-planters in BTCP. This summer, 300 teachers will minister to 5,000 kids in VBS. 

For more information on how you can get involved, email us at info@wlink.org.

Join us for a journey to Nepal, to see the work that is happening, starting with 150 new church plants. If you watch the video, you’ll see why we are on Cloud 9! To read May’s Newsletter click here.

On one of my trips to India, I met an interesting man. I’ll call him Rajiv. To look at him, you might not find him exceptional. But then you learn the truth—beginning with this surprising fact: Rajiv cannot read or write. Yet he is one of the most powerful and effective pastors in the Bihar state of India! 

How does it happen? Through his faithful wife. She does all the reading for him every day, and as he speaks, she does his writing too. It’s an absolute partnership of Bible study and sermon preparation! 

But of course, while an illiterate pastor is extraordinary, Rajiv is not alone in his illiteracy. He grew up in a tribal culture where education was not a high priority. From his earliest childhood, Rajiv learned to relate to forces both natural and supernatural. He became a good farmer, a good shepherd, and ultimately, a good witch doctor! Rajiv became what the Indians call a “spiritual man.” He could literally walk on fire and not get burned. He could stir a large boiling pot of rice with his hands and arms. And he could teach these practices to others. 

But there was a lot of sadness and darkness to life. It was oppressive. It was harsh in its treatment of people. Ultimately, even though he was a “spiritual man,” he was spiritually empty. Then one day, by the grace of God, Rajiv heard someone talking about a man who had lots of powers: power over water, power over nature, power over life and death. There was no literature to read about this strange phenomenon—and if there had been, Rajiv couldn’t read it anyway. But he wanted to learn more about this man—and about His followers. The more he explored, the more impressed he was. Until finally one day he decided to give his life to Jesus Christ as His personal Savior and Lord. 

From that day to this, Rajiv says he has found those original stories to be totally true: Jesus is everything he heard about and much more! 

Rajiv and all his family are now involved in ministry and he has devoted his life to helping others hear the story of Jesus. Teaching others He’s real. He’s alive. He’s the Son of God. He’s all-powerful. He’s all loving. He’s totally available to give the gift of abundant life—and eternal life—to anyone who comes to Him! Glory to God.