James D.
North East India
Grace Hima. Mission
of Southeast Asia
& RAA
Ministry of Trinity B. C.
Manipur, India
Home Church:
Community Baptist Church
5697 Labus Road #1
Elmendorf, TX 78112
Pastor:
Kyle White
Email:
cbcelder@juno.com
Web site:
www.cbcweb.net
Latest Report - December 2007
Dear Prayer Warriors,The year 2007 is fast passing away without our notice. It is truly a matter of pain to realize that our life is only a fleeting shadow in the screen of life. But we are deeply thankful to God for giving us another profitable year of opportunity to labor together with you in His Vineyard. Indeed, we have taken a deep plunge to venture into the farthest ends of the earth with the hope and confidence that the Lord's people will surely hold the rope as we continue to go down.
The year 2007 was a year of mission explosion. The notable highlights of our mission for the year are:
- 1. Six months training of Grace Himalayan Mission's missionaries from six different nations in South Asia.
- 2. Baptism of new converts from Hindu, Muslim, Animist and Buddhist backgrounds.
- 3. Extensive mission field exploration and church planting ministry.
- 4. A record spiritual and academic excellence among the students of Royal Ambassadors Academy.
We want you to know that this newsletter is only a gist of what the good Lord has done for us in the past one year. A decade mission strategy along with a detail mission report for the year will be sent to you all in the month of January 2008. It will show you the battle lines that the Lord has drawn for us.
BAPTISM OF NEW CONVERTS:Apart from various news of conversions and baptisms from different mission fields, the Trinity Baptist Church at the Royal Ambassadors Academy campus conducted three baptism services in the year 2007. The converts were from almost all religious beliefs and faiths prevailing in South Asia. Among them was a former Buddhist monk by the name of T. Lama. He trained and served in a Buddhist monastery for eighteen long years. The Lord saved him through the ministry of our missionaries who were laboring at the Indo-Tibetan borders in September 2007. He is now undergoing intensive English language classes and Bible training here at Trinity Baptist Church. He has a genuine burden for his lost people in Tibet and Bhutan. Please pray for him. He is learning at least 50 English vocabulary in a day. It is amazing to see that he could easily memorize all the names of the books of the Bible in just a few hours. His father used to own hundreds of yaks and cows for meat and milk/butter. He used to trek over the Tibetan-Bhutan Himalayan ranges for six days in a month on horse/yak-back to sell his parents? finished products of butter and cheese. He also mentioned three kinds of disposing the dead bodies in his native village. The first one is to cremate, the second method is just to bury in the grave and the third is to cut the body into small pieces and throw them into the lakes. They still practice the marriage system in which 3-4 brothers of a family have the same wife. His village used to be covered by snow for three months a year and no one dared to come out of the house till the snow season was over. Thus he spent his three months rest in reading Buddhist literature. We are still waiting for more converted Buddhist monks to join us here at Trinity Baptist Church. Please pray.
MISSIONARY TRAINING:In 2007, Trinity Baptist Church had the privilege of training 20 new GHM missionaries. They represent six different countries in south Asia. The missionaries were well screened, tested and trained. They are now properly settled in their respective fields. We hear exciting news from many of them. But there are some places where no communication is possible for months. But we will surely try to give you a full report in January 2008. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
EXTENSIVE MISSION FIELD EXPLORATION AND CHURCH PLANTING MINISTRY:The scope of the Great Commission is the ends of the earth. GHM?s burning desire is to reach the uttermost parts of the world. With Trinity Baptist Church as the launching pad, our trained missionaries have ventured to make their missionary journeys from the soil of Manipur to the farthest corners of the globe, namely, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Indo-China and Indo-Tibetan borders, Northeast India and mainland India. Doors of opportunities are opened everywhere and their detail field reports and their immediate needs will be sent to you all in January 2008.
ROYAL AMBASSADORS ACADEMY:This educational institution was established in the year 1988 with a vision and burden to provide Scripture-based education to children in Manipur. From the very year of its inception, the Lord has been gracious enough to use this school as a mighty instrument to save many students and their parents too. The Lord gives us the full liberty to include the teaching of Scriptures in their weekly class-schedule. All the activities of the school are focused only on one theme, that is, BY GOD'S GRACE AND FOR HIS GLORY. The Lord faithfully continues to add blessings after blessings to our school year. In the past 20 years (since 1988), Trinity Baptist Church which shares the same campus with RAA has seen the baptism of many students.
Dear prayer warriors, we thank God for your prayers and encouragement for our GRACE MINISTRY in south Asia. This brief report is the outcome of your tireless and relentless prayer support and also your financial assistance. To God be the glory! In His service,James and Kom. D.
Latest Report - May 2007
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
We thank God for your prayer and patient endurance as we labor together in our Master's Vineyard. We humbly bow down before the living God for all the marvelous things He has done for us. We stand amazed at the way the Lord has been leading us together for achieving His mission. It took forty long years for the people of Israel to reach the Promised Land, i.e. walking at a pace of three miles a day. How rebellious His people were. The Lord was faithful to them to the very end of their journey. Things seem to move so slowly over here, nevertheless it is firm and not still. The whole wide world is His field of harvest. The Lord is showing us more and more horizon of mission fields. We must march on to possess them.
CHURCH PLANTING MINISTRY: Planting of new strong churches is our first priority. There are wide open doors everywhere. People are so eager to hear the Gospel of salvation. The problem is not who will hear, but who will go and tell the untold millions. A true follower of Jesus Christ should be a mourning Christian: THE HARVEST IS PLENTEOUS, BUT THE LABORERS ARE FEW......
In the past few weeks, we have seen the emersion of some new churches in the valley of Imphal. Now I (James) personally supervise all the field works and we witnessed the breakdown of Satan's strongholds in various places. It was on April 15., 2007 (Sunday) when I went to visit a group of Hindu converts at Singjamai (a posh Imphal city colony). There was a particular Hindu convert by the name of Tomba Pishum. He used to worship both the Hindu god and the god of his forefathers called Sanamahi. The Lord saved him recently but he did not really know what to do with the heathen temples and altars in his house. All the neighbors were watching him carefully with the anticipation that something serious was going to happen in his home. They considered him to be a cursed man by his gods. Taking all the risks and possible backlash from the local people, I (James) personally dismantled the whole heathen infrastructure with Scripture reading and prayer. God also gave us the courage to sing a particular song for the occasion: JESUS SHALL REIGN.......Thanks be to God, Tomba Pishum has dedicated his plot of land where the heathen temples were located - to build a house of prayer. Praise God.
CHINGA MAKHA: (Imphal valley) is the second place where a new Baptist church has been established. It was partly because of our constant joint home evangelistic crusade (all the 12 Imphal valley missionaries). Like Lydia in the book of the Acts of the Apostles, Mrs. Loidang had become the first Hindu convert in the locality. She is a widow but we have 9 believers who are meeting every Sunday morning in her small house. Trinity Baptist Church/Grace Himalayan Mission is considering renovating one of the rooms in her house for worship. Details will be coming in the next News Letter.
OUR KEISHAMPAT: Grace Baptist Church which was established a year ago is flourishing [photo 3, 4]. The believers have a strong desire to proclaim the Gospel of salvation to their neighbors. Vikram is the present leader of the new fellowship. He offered the upper room of his house as the place of Sunday worship. Trinity Baptist Church sponsored an open air Gospel Crusade on April 15, 2007. A few hundred Meitei Hindus and Hindu converts came to receive the Words of life. It was so wonderful to see the newly converted Hindus lifting up their hands boldly and joyfully to sing praises to God.
BAPTISM: Many of our Imphal valley missionaries have become good fishers of man. They know where the fish are and they use good evangelistic methods and tools to win the lost souls. Under the code name of OPERATION AGAPE, we have launched an intensive joint evangelistic campaign in Imphal valley (99% of the people are either Hindus or animists) since last year. Most of the places are pioneer mission fields and proclaiming the Gospel of salvation has never been done by any church or mission group in such a bold and open way. One of the effective methods we apply is to first convince the local leaders/elders/youth leaders/women leaders by giving them small gifts and invite them to a simple meal in the pastor's house. They expect acknowledgement and honor from us which is a rightful claim according to the custom of the land. Once this normal procedure is over, we are free to go anywhere and openly witness the Lord Jesus Christ. Reports of new conversion use to pour in every month from different missionaries. Since there is no proper place for baptism in their localities, Trinity Baptist has the joy and pleasure to host these churches and baptize their converts [photo 5]. Trinity Baptist Church at the Royal Ambassadors Academy feeds them and hires buses for them.
NGACHAO MISSION FIELD: Ngachao is the most recent mission field of the Trinity Baptist Church/GHM. Situated in the southern side of Manipur (not Imphal), there are 6,000 Hindus in this locality. Their forefathers were originally Bangladeshis and they are very resistant to the Gospel. But the Lord opened a door for us and the first ever Baptist Church in the locality has begun.
Rameshor, a partially lame person is the first convert. But he will soon be qualified to take care of the little flock that is fast growing. Allen Chiru has been lately posted there as a fulltime field supervisor. Please pray for a great harvest. The believers need to come out and boldly show their stand for the Lord.
THE MAIBA BAPTIST CHURCH: Maiba is the birthplace of James D. Maiba Baptist Church is the pioneer Baptist church in James D's tribe [photo 8]. The tribe has over 85 Baptist churches today. But unfortunately, there are hardly any Bible believing grace churches in the whole tribe. The foundations of the churches were not laid on the solid Scriptural teaching and hence the churches have become the breeding ground for cults, sects, liberalism, easy believism and divisions among the brethren. The pulpit which is supposed to be the throne of the Words of God has become a place of entertainment. The Maiba Baptist Church, the oldest church in the tribe with over 120 families can hardly attract 60 to 70 worshippers on Sundays. Wednesday evening worship and Sunday evening worship services were cancelled. The few people who came to church are tired of the old repeated sermon that has no spirit. Sensing that something really important is missing in the church and which is really serious, an initiative was undertaken with much prayer by a few concerned church leaders to invite James D. to intervene with prayer and Bible teaching. James did not give a second thought to make his decision for a positive response because of the urgent and compelling circumstances. The Holy Spirit moved in a mighty way. The church members who are residing/working outside the village came with hired buses, trucks and taxis. The new church building (photo enclosed) which accommodates over 1,000 people was packed to maximum capacity. Everybody was sure that something drastic was going to happen in the church.
The Lord also opened the hearts of the people and James had the full liberty to teach and preach the Words of God, especially the doctrine of grace and the need of local church autonomy. The Maiba Baptist Church is going to take the leading part to boldly teach the doctrine of grace and implement the Baptist practice of church autonomy. Trinity Baptist Church is going to organize joint leadership training with Maiba Baptist Church in August this year. Then the Trinity and Maiba Baptist Churches will be (God willing) sponsoring a church leadership training seminar for 40 other like-minded churches at Trinity Baptist Church. If (by God's grace) we can get hold of 40 such churches, the impact will be tremendous.
ROYAL AMBASSADORS ACADEMY: The Royal Ambassadors Academy is the education wing of the Trinity Baptist Church, new Makhan. The Lord has blessed the school with so many new converts in the last few years of its education ministry. The Academy has the opportunity of giving free education to orphans, pastors and missionaries children, widows (especially missionary's wives, photo 9), rural underprivileged and poorest of the poor -- including Aids orphans and children who lost their parents in the ethnic clashes. In the context of Manipur state, education is one of the best means for earning, but it can also be the most expensive institution if one has to do it with a missionary zeal and vision. The school has 200 students with 160 in the boarding. It staffs 16 faculty members, 100% of which are on-campus teachers. It has an excellent spiritual atmosphere. The school has a future prospect to upgrade to the Christian college level. The whole infrastructural establishment is scheduled to be completed by 2008 and it is to be followed by its official inauguration. A separate brochure for the school is coming to you shortly.
MISSIONARY TRAINING 2007: By the way, a two month Missionary Training is scheduled to commence in the month of June 2007. It is in fact, and in all respects, the answer of two decades of prayer by the people of Asia. At least 45-50 missionaries representing six different countries are going to participate. These missionaries will be trained, sponsored, commissioned and sent out by the Trinity Baptist Church and its overseas and native supporters. Please pray for us. We will keep in touch with you.
James and Kom. D.Latest Report - May 2006
India
As India goes, so goes the GREAT COMMISSION, comments a Christian strategist. It is really so because 97% of the total 1.07 billion people in India are yet to be reached with the Gospel. Think of those 40,000 Indians who are dying everyday without ever hearing the good news of salvation even once in their lifetime. It is indeed a country that is totally neglected.
Manipur
Meitei Hindus in the state of Manipur (North-East India) constitute 70% of the state population. They are included in the "LEAST REACHED PEOPLE'S GROUP" of the Joshua Project. The fact is, that out of 1.5 million Meiteis in the capital city of Manipur (Imphal), there are hardly three thousand baptized believers. It is a big challenge for World Mission today.
Presently, we send 9 Meitei (native) missionaries to work with their own ethnic people group. There are severe persecutions and yet the believers have hazarded their lives for the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Persecutions include isolation through public boycott and some of them have been deprived of their rights to enjoy facilities from the government. By nature the Hindus vehemently oppose the burial of the dead. They are actually scared of the fact that the ghost of the dead would come back and haunt and torment them at night. There were cases when such Hindus exhumed the dead bodies and left them at the doorsteps of the believers. (NOTE: Christians need a separate and private place to bury their dead -- please pray for this.) In the midst of all these trials and threats, our newly established Churches remain vibrant and obedient to the Lord. It is with great joy and blessing to let you all know that the Lord has added three more Churches with forty five new converts and baptisms during 2005-2006. Praise the Lord.
Kindly pray for our three pioneer fields at Heirok, Keishampat and Meitram where new additional Churches are coming up.
Mishing Tribe In Northeast India
Our Missionary Hal. Dar. Mil. has been laboring among his 1 million Mishing tribesmen (with hardly 300 baptized believers as of today) for the last three years. Some of the people are open to the gospel and by God's grace there was a tremendous harvest in the past few years. Even though distance and time do not permit us to meet on a regular basis, we receive his monthly reports in detail. As a full time laborer, he has an average of 2-3 new contacts a day. He has already established 2 new Churches with 15 baptism in 2005. Please pray for an additional co-laborer for him.
Mainland / Central India
Most of the Christians in India are found in Northeast and in the southern part of India's sub-continent and so it is with any Christian Mission. However, one of our top priorities is to reach the majority of Hindus. Lovi. is the chosen servant of God for this urgent task. He already has fourteen years of field experience among the Hindi speaking Indians. He still goes from house to house preaching and helping the low caste and the Hirijans (outcaste). He is a mighty man of prayer and there are genuine cases of providential healing of the sick. Though he does not accept it, there are occasions when the Hindus who were saved and healed want to touch his feet as a sign of gratitude. He needs much patience, tolerance, and understanding to work with them.
Nepal (Nepalis Field)
As an officially Hindu kingdom, it is constitutionally illegal to change one's religion in Nepal. There is large scale discrimination against the believers both in the educational institution and on the job or in nearly every social activity. Because of relentless political turmoil in Nepal, it is next to impossible for us to work directly in that small Himalayan kingdom right now. Jo. Ken., Rit. Ran. and Bethsh. are laboring among the Nepalis in India. The new Church they established in 2005 at Dwarik. and Machang. (Manipur) area is slowly coming up. Even though the progress is painfully slow as anywhere in the world, they never cease to sow the seed of the Gospel. Please pray for an early open door in mainland Nepal.
Indo-Tebetal Mission
Our missionary Mik. still labors in this farthest frontline of our mission. It is true that many Churches in Asia are under the threat of traditional religionists. In the present day, a new force, even more powerful is sweeping across Asia, namely, secular materialism. Tibet falls under this category. Mik.'s works concentrate on the Monpa tribe at Tawang, a border town with Tibet/China. Tawang has the second largest Buddhist Monastery in Asia. Mik. has so many open doors because he is one of the first missionaries to work in this remote Himalayan town. He has five families who have joined the regular worship services and weekly Bible study. Please pray for this new venture. Please pray for health and education ministry to expand his ministry.
Myanmar (Burma)
With a total population of 42,520,537 (2004), only 1.15% are evangelical Christians. Although officially closed to outsiders since 1966, there is a vigorous native missionary movement in the northern tribal areas.
Three such native missionaries, namely, Thanm., Moungt., Mrs. Mar. (working among women) and Samuel P. (from India as a field supervisor) are working hard to penetrate with the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the northern border. Presently, they work among 13 clustered Buddhist villages. They have established three small Churches at Lichi., Mint. and Thung. .
Training and Bible Translation
Depending on the availability of provisions and the need of the Churches, we used to conduct periodic Discipleship Training, Church Leadership Development Seminar and Mission Conferences in different parts of the region. They proved to be extremely essential to further equip the leaders as well as the saints and defend the churches from the attack of false teachers and easy believism.
Joseph K. assists me for training and other mission enterprises. He has been much challenged to see the needs of the newly established Churches who need the care of a nursing mother. Apart from spiritual feeding, their physical need ranges from hospital treatment to providing shelter and clothing. The needs are there also for Church hymnals, benches, etc. Presently Joseph also helps the Bible Society of India in translating the Old Testament into his tribal language.
RAA
This Academy is the Education wing of the Trinity B. C., New Makhan. Komuni D. and Mary K. are assigned to take care of this Academy under the supervision of the Trinity B. C. There are nearly 200 hundred students representing all the tribes and communities in Manipur. RAA offers free education to orphans, destitute children and children of Pastors and Missionaries. It is a very tiresome ministry. But it is also our joy and blessing to see them growing in the saving knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Please continue to pray for us. From the very beginning of 2006, Trinity B. had the harvest of 21 souls (RAA students). Pastor James D. administered the ordinance of water baptism for them in March 2006. Intensive Bible classes are going on for these new converts on a daily basis so that they will become more mature and be His witnesses. A separate newsletter will be arranged for RAA. Please pray and wait.
In His Kingly Service,
James D.
Fall 2005
Dear Prayer Warriors,
We take this opportunity to greet you all through this humble personal letter before the end of the year. We thought of writing a long news letter but time is running out and we decided to quickly dispatch this letter to highlight some of the things that the Lord has done for us.
All the Grace Himalayan missionaries are terribly busy in their respective fields. As the works rapidly progress, the need also increases year by year. Thank you for your sincere prayer and relentless efforts to reach out to the unreached millions around the world. When we turn around and see the world and its needs, we can hardly sleep and the question that always troubles me is,"Who will go for me?" But when we realize our human limitations, we remain helpless and speechless. Oh, the only thing we can do is to turn to Him for the filling of His Spirit's power. We think of you all as we struggle along and each step we take is a step of challenge and opportunity.
Our missionaries bring their monthly report to us every month on the 3rd Saturday and it is the day when we also distribute their monthly support. They are very regular, punctual and hard working. One of the latest and most encouraging news is the establishment of a new believer's fellowship at Dwarika for Nepali Hindu converts. The new task is undertaken by Joseph Kennedy and Ritesh Ranah. They go there every Sunday for worship and they are preparing for an open air evangelistic crusade on December 24, 2005. The people are very open to the Gospel. Since these Nepalis are all daily wage earners, many of them are compelled to work even on Sunday. Hence the family members take turn to attend the church on Sundays. They are very poor bread earners and there is so much to do to meet their physical needs.
Our missionary at Tibetan border is a lonely missionary. Mike Yinyo is his name. The people he is working with are Monpa (Tibetan) tribesmen. They are all Buddhists and are very hostile to Christianity. He recently wrote me and also told me over the phone that unless we use all kinds of back door methods, it is really hard to penetrate into these areas. Some of their greatest needs are education and health care. Please pray for him. He will not be able to come home for Christmas because of the snow that blocks the roads. We hope to visit him again in March next year.
Kindly recollect Lamlongei Baptist Church, one of the persecuted churches of our mission. Thank you for your prayer. Now seeing the firm stand of the little flock of God, Satan has started loosening his grip over them. Some of the active leaders who spearheaded the campaign against the believers have started visiting their church. Johkumar, the pastor is a mighty man of faith. He is also assisting our missionary Sanathoi to establish a new church at Tera-Urok, a Hindu community.
Halla Milli who is working among the missing tribe at the Indo-China border has a great harvest of soul in 2005. Mising tribe has over 1 million people settled in North East India. There are hardly 2000 converts so far. They belong to Tibetan-Burman group of people. Many of them still live in primitive condition. More information on his tribe and his ministry will be given in our next news letter. He recently wrote me that the Lord saved more than 30 souls through his ministry in recent months. Milli belongs to Mising tribe and he has unlimited opportunity to reach out his own tribesmen. Please continue to pray for him.
You will be glad to know that Grace Himalayan Mission is on its way to train and send more missionaries in 2006. The countries we plan to cover are Bhutan and Bangladesh. We need your prayer and encouragement. We are waiting for the visit of some of supporters in 2006. Till then BYE and God bless!
James & Komuni D.