India: October 25

Destination: OM (Operation Mobilization)
Team: Aaron Bailey, Luke Greenaway, Tim Barley, Adam Burke
Duration: October 18-28, 2009
Assignment: Education, Encouragement, Evangelism, Adventure
Today’s Log: October 25
Submitted by: Luke Greenaway

This was a big day for our team! We woke up, had breakfast, then Tim, Adam, Aaron and I prepared for our parts of the worship service at the Gundla Pochampally church (Pastor Solomon).

Before we left we went to the OM service where we were able to hear the VBC missionary, Dr. Joseph D’Souza, preach part of his sermon. We had hoped to spend time with Joseph, but due to his hectic schedule and some family health issues, we were unable to do so. Although it seemed that spending time with Joseph was supposed to be a priority for us, we all began to realize that there were other important matters to occupy our time and not seeing Joseph was going to be okay with us.

We were greeted so warmly at the Gundla Pochampally church by a round of applause and an introduction. There was a lot of singing, and a time spent for each person in the church family to present an offering to the Lord. Then many church members shared testimonies and prayer requests. We couldn’t understand a word that was being spoken but the Spirit was definitely prompting us to pray as we felt led.

We presented a skit demonstrating the way as humans we often find ourselves rebelling from God’s plan and rejecting our need for the Jesus. Yet Christ always waits for us with open arms and patient love. Adam and Aaron did a wonderful job sharing and challenging the church to grow in their faith as they have grown in theirs. Tim gave a powerful message on what it means to give our full lives to Christ not just bits and pieces. We all sensed by the reaction of the people that they received the message with open hearts, judging by the line of people wanting to talk to us and have us pray for them.

The love and message of Christ has been shared profoundly during our week in Hyderabad, and this team from Valley Bible Church now has some wonderful new friends/brothers and sisters in Christ in India!