empowering locally, sending globally, reaping eternally

Post by: Pastor Mark
It is now Sunday morning here in Itarsi and we are headed for church in just in a bit. Then we drive to Bhopal and will fly out this evening to come home. It has been an amazing week. CFAN Worship Team has done an amazing job! The anointing was so strong in the services. We have gathered some great video footage of the meetings and different aspects of the ministry.

The greatest impact of these trips for me is always the people. Their humility, their love and hospitality and most of all the depth of their commitment to the Lord is life changing. It is always a humbling experience for me to have the privilege to minister to these precious people. My dear friend Pastor Mike Cowart shares that same feeling as we talked after the services.

Thank you all for your prayers and support to make this trip happen. Even though there is a great deal of tangible fruit that we can see now only eternity will be able to reveal the full scope of it. The vision here in India is growing, the ministry is expanding and the harvest is being reaped and yet we have only just begun. It is my desire to see the doors open for many of you to make this trip with us in years to come-you will never be the same!

We are all ready to be back home and looking forward to seeing you all again soon!

In Him,
PM

This years trip to India has been a completely different experience than last year. I am a completely different person this year than I was last year. Sometimes the times and seasons of life can completely change you as a person. Our desire is to have the heart of God in everything we do and God cares about one thing and that is people. God first wants people to come into his Kingdom. Ezekiel 18:23 says ” Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Lord. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live.” God’s desire is that every man and every woman and every child find the truth of his Kingdom.

Second, God wants us to know Him intimately and to love people like we love ourselves. If we can keep this cycle going in the earth it will not fail. If we are saved and enter into God’s Kingdom and the grow in our relationship with Christ then we will love people and see the weight of eternity and share God’s love with them and then the cycle starts with them. They get saved and grow in their relationship with Christ and then see people the way God sees them and shares His love with them. We have such an awesome opportunity at this conference to effect eternity. There are over 800 pastors and their wives at this conference getting poured into and filled up and empowered to go back to their churches and their cities all across India and change the history of India. Let’s say that at every church there are 50 people this year that get saved and discipled into Gods Kingdom. That’s 40,000 people this year in India that will be saved from an eternity in Hell and brought into the love and grace of Christ. If every church can add 100 people into God’s Kingdom this year that will be 80,000 people saved this year. It is time that the body of Christ begin to see the importance of lives being changed.

I would rather play music and minister to 10 people and see their lives be changed than play a concert in a stadium for 20,000 people and see no lives truly changed. It is amazing to look out across the congregation and see all of these precious pastors who don’t drive nice cars to their church and wear the trendiest clothes and have all the freedom to study the word when they want or fly to the next big conference to learn about how to better connect with their church. None of this stuff is bad, but these pastors do what they do and because of that their lives are in serious danger many times.

I look out and see the passion for God in their eyes and see them connect with God during the worship time and I cannot help but think that we could very well be a huge part at this conference of touching the lives of what could possibly be thousands if not hundreds of thousands of precious Indian lives this year. That is what it is all about. There are 1.3 billion people in India and only 2.6% of them are saved. That means that there are millions and millions of people in India that are hurting and sick and God wants to heal them. There are millions of people that are stuck in poverty and God wants to prosper them. There are millions and millions of people that if they died today would spend eternity separated from God in Hell and God wants them to spend eternity in paradise. We are a part of that today. You all are a part of this by sending and giving and praying. God bless you all.

Continue to pray that these pastors get filled up and equipped to go into their cities and change the lives of people. Continue to pray for health of the team and for a easy trip home. And please everyone eat a nice big juicy hamburger for me or maybe go to Texas Roadhouse and eat a 12 oz. ribeye with grilled onions on top and those sinful rolls with cinnamon butter or just thank God for America and pray that we never take freedom for granted.

God Bless

Well we are half way through being here in India and the time has flown by. I’ve traveled the world but have never been to a country such as India. My emotions race constantly with the glory of God and I find myself closer to Him than I’ve ever been. We wake at 4:30 am for pray accompanied by 8 of the bible students doing worship for us sitting Indian style with a drum (Dholok), tambourines and voices and leave early in the morning for the conference meetings. The atmosphere is electric and the speakers are awesome. What I enjoy most mornings is the friendly greeting from all the Indian families and the orphans. What an honor to be here and I’m moved with emotion for the privilege of being chosen for this trip and monumental event. Last night Dr. Thomas had all the Pastors come up on stage and set the example for worship and they dance and praise the Lord like I’ve never seen. I want to speak Hindi so bad. I try my best to sing the songs with them and catch a hallelujah here and there. I feel like Paul on his missionary journeys except we are not on a ship but on planes and cars. Wish you all could come and be with us but you are in our hearts. God is Great and greatly to be praise!! Hallelujah!!!

Written by: Pastor Mark
Today (Wed) we started at 4:30AM with morning prayer until 5:30. There was a very tangible presence of the Lord in our prayer time felt by all. After breakfast we started the morning sessions at 8:00AM and had 5 very powerful sessions. Pastor Mike Cowart, Dr. George Thomas, Dr. Daryl Merrill, Pastor Mark Batrand and myself had the privilege to minister the Word. The CFAN Worship team is doing an awesome job ministering several times per day and it is wonderful to see our precious Indian brothers and sisters enter into Praise and Worship. As always Dr. Matthew and Elizabeth Thomas are amazing hosts and take such good care of everyone.

During Wed evening service Dr. Thomas brought one of the pastors from another area onto the platform. He recalled how this pastor came to his dad (Dr. Kurian Thomas) many years ago when he was just 16 years old and asked if he could come to the Bible school. Because he had a such hunger to learn the Word of God he is now a pastor over 45 churches in another part of India that has 5000 members between those churches. It is amazing to think of how many believers in India may be represented at this annual conference!

Thank you for sending us! You made it possible to fill these chairs with precious men and women of God who are changing India. You are also sowing into the Bible school students by sending us so that the number of chairs may increase. We think of you all often and thank you for your prayers!

Pastor Mark and Pastor Mike arrived safely to Itarsi today. Their bags came with them as well. Sometimes when you travel long distances the bags get left behind. Everyone is getting ready for services tonight. Nathan Schraner isn’t feeling very good right now so please pray for healing in his body.