Determined to help spread the Good News of Jesus Christ, SGWM Pastor 12 has led his congregation to be strong in spite of painful persecution for the past three years. But looking back, only a short time earlier, Pastor 12, like Saul, was angry and determined to do just the opposite-Stop the Christians!  However, God had instilled in him a hunger for the truth.

Struggling Within

 

Pastor 12 and Pastor 13 Receiving Bibles

My name is (undisclosed). I am from the 10/40 Window. I was born into a Hindu family. My parents are still Hindu.
When I was Hindu, I, like my family, used to follow all of the Hindu rituals like idol worship and offering different sacrifices. Even after doing all of these things, my family did not have peace. So, I had the question in my mind, “Why is there no peace in my family even though we are doing everything to please the gods?”
 
I began to try to find out how I could please God. Because of all of this, I got depressed.
I did not talk to people. Instead, I would quarrel and fight with others. This change in my personality caused my family to be worried about me.

Combating the Christians

After I finished high school, I left home and went to a city to continue my education. During this time, I went back to my village on holidays. I heard that my younger brother had become a believer. At that time, I had wrong beliefs about Christians.

When my family worshiped idols together, my brother would not participate since he had become a believer. There were times I would beat up my brother because he refused to worship the idols.
I was really upset and angry because I knew that there were people who came to our village and talked about Jesus. I made plans to figure out how to keep them from coming to our village. My brother used to tell me, “Just go and hear them one time to see what they have to say-then decide what you want to believe.”
So, I decided to go to their place and hear what they had to say. I went and heard about God and asked about the wrong beliefs that I had about Christianity. I did not find the bad things in Christian people that I had believed about them.

Hungering for the Truth

Pastor 12 got saved while visiting an SGWM pastors school.

Earlier in my life, I had two questions: “Who is the true God?” and “How can you get real peace?”

When I heard about Jesus and how He came to save sinners, I began to think, “Maybe He is the true God.”
Slowly I realized that He has eternal life. When I fully realized that Jesus is the only true living God, I gave my life to Him!
My whole life had been full of sin and anger. Slowly, God changed me. I saw changes in myself. I had always had a desire to learn more, and when I got saved I wanted to know more about God. For this reason, I decided to go to Bible School.

Surrendering to God’s Call

Having Bible Study in the Forest (with those for whom it is too dangerous to attend my house church)

At the beginning of Bible College, it was difficult for me. Earlier, I had planned to join the army. I left Bible College for two days to take the physical test to apply for the army. I was selected. [It is hard to be allowed to join the army.] Then it was even more difficult for me-I had to choose between the army and Bible College. God put it in my heart to continue Bible College and not to join the army.

Another time, I was struggling and planned to run away from Bible College. But the night before I planned to leave, I decided to read the Bible one last time. I read Matthew 22. In verse 14, God really spoke to me. That verse says, “Many are called but few are chosen.”
Right then, I decided that just like I have come out from the darkness into the truth, I also need to bring people out of the darkness to the true living God. God gave me a burden to share about Him with others.
After I graduated from Bible College, God showed me a place to do ministry. I went there to start a church. For the first nine months, no one came to Christ. I got really upset and thought, “I must not be called to do church planting ministry.” But, after I ministered nine months in that town, one person received Jesus!
Now, many people come to my church. All of them are new believers. It is challenging at times to be a good shepherd to these believers. But, God’s grace is always there for me to do the work He has called me to do.
Please pray for me. Pray that I will be used mightily by God to do His work and to share the Gospel in both the town I live in, and in many nearby towns and villages. Also pray for my parents, that God will change their hearts that they may turn to Him.
–Pastor 12

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