Arjuna’s May Prayer Requests

May 14th, 2010

Vision Nationals’ focus on church planting extends outside of India to other Asian nations. We support and promote church planters in Nepal, and Arjuna’s prayer requests this month focus on this nation.

Last month, we hosted the International Church Planters Summit (ICPS) in Kathmandu. It was a great blessing to see God building His church there, as Nepal now has thousands of churches.  It is our hope that one day we will be able to use funds raised through Vision 2030 to reach even more of Nepal with the gospel!

ICPS Attendees in Nepal

There are still many villages and tribes in Nepal that don’t have a church or have never heard the gospel. This is partly due to the political situation, which is not peaceful and sometimes results in persecution. Can you remember to pray for the nation and the church? Please pray that God continues to raise up church planters in this country, and that Vision 2030 can have a role in training and supporting them.

Church Planters: Appa Rao Kalluri

April 30th, 2010

The Church Planters series will tell you about our pastors, their families, and their churches.

Appa Rao and his wife

Appa Rao Kalluri has faced difficulties and experienced miracles in his life. At the age of 20, he began suffering from digestive problems, and although he visited many doctors, none could cure him. During this time, a pastor talked to him about Jesus Christ. Appa grew up in a Hindu family, but the pastor told him that Jesus was the only hope for his life.

Appa trusted Christ and accepted Him as savior. Later, miraculously, he was healed. In January, 2000, he was baptized as a public proclamation of his new faith.

Suddenly, in March 2001, Appa began suffering from severe allergies. Medical tests reveal that he was HIV positive. Despite the serious diagnosis, Appa knew that Jesus had healed him before, and had shown him a path of life. He had faith that God would see him through, and even out of, this situation.

Around the time he was diagnosed HIV positive, Appa felt God calling him into ministry. He also met and married an HIV positive woman, and together they serve God in ministry. Appa and his wife planted their first church in Cherlopalem, a village where many residents are suffering from AIDS.

Knowing that he needed more training and help planting churches, Appa joined the Vision 2030 program. He is excited about what he’ll learn, and how it will enable him to reach more people with the gospel. Please be in prayer for Appa and his wife, as they expand their ministry to reach more villages with the gospel!

Church Planters: Kishore

April 23rd, 2010

The Church Planters series will tell you about our pastors, their families, and their churches.

Kishore

We would like to introduce you to Kishore, one of our church planters. He, his wife Srujana, and their daughters Amrutha (16), Swarnalatha (14), and AniRoza (12) worked together to plant 4 churches in the Yandapilli-Vizag District.

God called Kishore into ministry in 2007, and directed him to Vision Nationals pastors’ training program. Shortly after graduating, Kishore and his family started a small church in Annavaram Village.

This first plant was very difficult, as the villagers had practiced Hinduism for generations. For a long while, they opposed Kishore and his family, fearing they would build religious places other than the existing Hindu temples.

Kishore dealt with the villagers by spending time with them and building friendships. Eventually, 20 people converted and the church purchased a building. Today, over 60 people spend their Sundays in the church building, worshiping Jesus. Many of of these Christians are Hindu and Muslim converts.

Vision Nationals has selected Kishore to oversee 100 church planters in the Yandapilli-Vizag District. The first 10 pastors to receive support have already been assigned to him, and will start planting churches in the local villages. We are hopeful and confident that God will work in these villages just as He has in Annavaram.

Please be in prayer for Kishore, his family, the new church planters, and all the villages that will soon hear about Jesus!

Group Change: The Margarine Tub on Phinney Ridge

April 16th, 2010

We understand the idea of a community resourcing a community might be a new concept to many of our readers. Our Group Change blog series introduces you to communities who work together to resource Vision Nationals’s church planters.

Pastor Andrew Pack prays to close the group.

Pastor Andrew Pack and the members of Anchor Church represent the hip, artsy Seattle area of Phinney Ridge. Sporting sleeve tattoos, beanies, and retro 50′s attire, church members live, work, and serve their community with a focus on introducing their neighbors to Jesus.

Soon after the church was founded, Pastor Andrew spread the word about Vision Nationals church planting initiative. Now every Gospel Community–all three of them!–at Anchor Church works together to resource pastors in India.

Pastor Andrew is the point person for the Phinney Community Group. It’s his name on our List of Donors, and it’s his bank account that is debited $50 each month. However, it is the community together that supports the mission. How do they do it?

First, they pray. They keep up to date with what’s going on through Facebook and this blog, and together they pray for the pastors and the work of the Gospel in India.

Second?  Well, they use a margarine tub. When Pastor Andrew’s group first decided to support a church planter, he took an empty Margarine Tub and cut a slit in the lid.  Each night the group meets, Pastor Andrew puts the Margarine Tub in the bathroom by the sink. Sometimes he reminds folks it’s there, sometimes he doesn’t. But the community knows that what goes in the Margarine Tub goes to planting churches. Together they make it happen.

The Gospel Communities of Anchor Church were the first to get behind Vision Nationals church planting initiative. From all of us at Vision Nationals, we thank you for your support, and for allowing us to use your story to demonstrate to others how a community can resource a community.

If you have questions about how you, your church, your small group, or your family could join together to support a church planter, or is you want to share the story of how your community supports Vision Nationals please e-mail Lauren!

Arjuna’s April Prayer Requests

April 9th, 2010

The prayer requests for April are full of good news about Vision 2030 and Vision Nationals church planting efforts!

If you haven’t already heard the news on our facebook page, BILD gave their approval to start translating their curriculum into Telugu.  This is the language most of our church planters speak, and we are very excited to have high quality training materials to offer them.  We have already finalized translators and a printer to do the work.   Please be in prayer that the process goes smoothly and that the translated materials are available soon.

We also have enough support coming in to start training 10 church planters!  These 10 men are from Narsipatnam, an area in the Vizag district.   The men will be planting at least 30 churches in this area over the next 7 years.   Please pray for God to bless their ministries, and for many to be saved when they hear the gospel.    We want to raise up 50 church planters for this area (which would allow 150 churches to be planted), so please also pray that we receive enough support to meet our goal.

We would also appreciate your prayers for an international church planters conference  we are hosting in Kathmandu, Nepal from April 27-30.  We are expecting about 400 planters coming from SE Asia, mainly from Nepal.   We request your prayers for all those travelling abroad to teach and for all our participants.

Thank you for your prayers!  We are truly excited to see God answering them and expanding the ministry.

How You Can Help

April 2nd, 2010

Church Planters

Church Planters

Did you know that you have a tremendous ability to help church planters like Thomas, Ravi, and John?  Maybe you’ve read this blog for a while, or found out about VN2030 through our Facebook page, and you like what we’re doing but you’re not sure how you can support the ministry.  Well, you can do a lot of good just by taking some very simple steps.

First, please pray. Our church planters are burdened to preach the gospel among people who have never heard about Jesus and who may persecute them. Your prayer is an incredible blessing to the pastors, their families, their churches, and their villages.

Second, talk about Vision 2030. Talk about the ministry, our mission, and our church planters to your family, friends, churches, and small groups. This seems like such a simple action, but if you’re passionate about what we’re doing, getting the word out about Vision 2030 is one of the most helpful things you can do. You are our most effective promoter!

Third, give us feedback. If you want to hear more about certain church planters, or if our ministry has impacted you or your small group in some way, let us know! We want to go beyond telling you about Vision 2030; we want to engage you in the ministry.

And, finally, talk to your family, church, or small group about supporting a church planter. For $50 a month, we can train someone like Thomas and send him to a village to plant a church. If you would like to support a church planter, you can set up monthly donations here.

From prayer, to word of mouth, to feedback, to donations, there are many opportunities to help Vision 2030 in its work. Please consider supporting us in one (or more!) of these ways!

Thomas

March 26th, 2010

Thomas Thumbi

The Vision Nationals Bible College held a graduation ceremony last month for 9 of its students. Five of the graduates will be going out as church planters, and 2 of these will be sponsored by the Vision 2030 program!

While we are excited for these new graduates, some sad news accompanied the ceremony. Thomas Thumbi, one of the new Vision Nationals church planters, learned that his father passed away three days before graduation. Please be in prayer for Thomas as he deals with his father’s death and begins his new ministry.

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