“‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” 1 Corinthians 1:31
Church planting in India presents some unique challenges. Christianity is often poorly received by the local Hindus, bad roads make it hard to reach remote villages, and sometimes, the pastors are bitten by deadly snakes on their way to prayer meetings.
Pastor John is the biggest church planter in the Vision Nationals church-planting network despite also being the least educated. The residents of the village he’s from called him insane and thought he was very slow of mind, but God called him to be a pastor. Now, he plants one or two churches and baptizes over 50 people a year, and he’s one of the most highly respected leaders, by both Christians and Hindus, in the area where he lives.
In March of this year, Pastor John was bitten by a cobra snake as he walked with a friend to a prayer meeting in a neighboring village. A cobra bite is extremely deadly and can kill a victim in 30 minutes or less. After Pastor John was bitten, he asked his friend, who was using a walking stick, to take the stick and kill the cobra. The friend was scared and declined so Pastor John took the stick and killed the cobra himself. It took him an hour and a half to get to the hospital and another thirty minutes before the surgeon showed up.
While waiting for the surgeon, he passed out due to the poison. The doctors and nurses gave Pastor John anesthesia and started to operate on him. Pastor John says that, while he was unconscious, God spoke to him and said, “John, I’m not done with you yet.” When Pastor John awoke from a successful surgery he told the surgeon and nurses what he had seen and shared his testimony with them.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:26–31 that although we may be unwise, weak, or despised, God still uses us so that it’s impossible for us to boast, except in him, and he gets all the glory.
After he recovered from the cobra bite, Pastor John held a celebration at his house and used it to share the gospel. Pastor Arjuna Chiguluri, the director of Vision Nationals, visited Pastor John for the celebreation and ended up baptizing 25 people in his church.
Pastor Arjuna (holding the microphone) prays for Pastor John (wearing the yellow blanket).
Pastor John shares the gospel while Pastor Arjuna sits behind him in support.
A crowd gathered to hear Pastor John tell his story.
Pray for India
Pastor Arjuna has known Pastor Mark for years and Mars Hill has been supporting Vision Nationals since 1999. The following prayer requests are from our friend, Pastor Arjuna:
- Protection for church planters and leaders
- Favor from locals where pastors are planting churches
- Permission from the government to build churches
- For a new training center to be developed
