Allen Hill and I have just returned from an incredible mission experience in India. It was my first time to be in India where a little more than one-sixth of the world’s population lives. Perhaps I should say it was my first time to be physically in India. Actually, I have been there for a long time, and so have you, through your mission gifts through the Cooperative Program.

While in India we had opportunities to meet and learn from SBC leadership about the mighty work of God in this place. The SBC is hard at work with between 400 and 600 persons making a great difference among the 1.2 billion people of India who deserve to have an opportunity to hear the Gospel. Religious persecution is rampant in this Hindu-led country so we must be consistent to pray for God’s protection for our personnel who serve there.

You will be excited to learn that following the horrific tsunami that swept the coastlines across that part of the world, between 200 and 400 churches have been started in India alone. The relief work provided by the SBC, such as that done by numerous persons from Georgia, opened doors for new work and ministry.

I remember so many asking the question, “Where is God in all of this?” when the tsunami took hundreds of thousands of lives so quickly. The answer is clearer now. God was hard at work changing hearts and lives and blessing His church through multiplication.

Allen and I both rejoiced in the privilege of preaching the Gospel in churches and schools and seeing many come to faith in Christ. Numerous persons came forward in worship services with tears streaming down their faces. Professions of faith in that part of the world can spell disaster for oneself and one’s family, so the decisions are quite serious and deeply moving.

We heard the testimony of one believer who visited our Baptist Hospital in Bangalore where he heard the Gospel for the first time. He trusted Christ and for his faith was beaten with a chain and taken to the hospital where he stayed for many weeks. This was thirty-five years ago. Since then, he said, all of the Hindu men who did this to him have apologized and one has been saved. He now serves as a chaplain at the hospital where he is able to share his story and his faith with others who need the Lord.

The Baptist Hospital in Bangalore is a two hundred-bed facility. The day we toured the hospital the hallways were filled with people seeking treatment. We were deeply impressed with the outstanding ministry taking place at this mission hospital where the SBC has been working for thirty-five years. Every patient who comes to the hospital has the opportunity to hear the Gospel and one-third of them become believers. Across these thirty-five years support for this hospital has come through the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

The purpose of my being invited to India was to teach my book, “Healthy Kingdom Churches,” at a pastors’ conference in Bangalore. Four hundred pastors attended the conference and each received a copy of the book that has been translated into the Kannada language.

It was very encouraging to see the hunger of the pastors for teaching. They soaked up the information like dry sponges and wanted us to stay longer. One pastor came to the conference from as far away as 700 miles. The pastors made a public commitment in the conference to study the book and to implement the qualities of a healthy church in their churches.

Each received posters that had been printed with the ten qualities listed and have placed those posters on the walls of their churches all across southern India. Of course, our prayer is that God will bless our teaching about the church and the result will be an even greater evangelistic zeal.

Please join me in praying for India. Pray for SBC leaders who are there working diligently on a daily basis. They have invested their lives there for the sake of the Gospel. They deserve our prayers and our support.

Wherever I have been in the world and witnessed the faithfulness of our mission personnel, I have wondered how any person or church could keep resources at home when there is such a great need and such great sacrifice taking place around the world today. I remind you that you can be right in the middle of what God is doing through your mission gifts through the Cooperative Program and through the special mission offerings.