Bangalore CP

I was talking to several district leaders at our training session Wednesday about their districts, and the training centers they have setup using The Timothy Initiative (TTI) material. These men travel from all over the area to work through 10 different studies to learn about the Bible. I don’t think I have ever seen so many men talking about discipleship and thirsty to learn about the Bible – it was refreshing.

The TTI material covers topics such as hermeneutics, homelitics, Old Testament survey, New Testament survey, and a host of other topics. Each study takes several weeks to complete, and the entire series might take up to 9 months finish. The discipleship process requires starting a church to finish with a certification, and in several cases some of these men are starting more than one!

Each of the 30 district leaders I was working with had 5-45 churches that they are working with, and each church is praying about multiplying a new church with the next year – that would be almost 300 new churches! To top it off, there is no “church shopping” or “what do you have for me here,” these are new churches that are staring up with new believers! It was amazing to see, I felt like I was walking through the book of Acts.

We finished off the day with a visit to a local established church plant in Bangalore and had a great night of worship. Only 4 of us were allowed to go because of the need to keep the number of foreigners visible low. It’s wired because we are dropped off at the door and quickly ushered inside. We have to take our shoes off when entering, which always makes me think of Moses taking his shoes off at the burning bush. It definitely feels like holy ground.

Thank you for your continued prayers. I absolutely love India food and typically have a cast iron stomach. The last 24 hours have gotten the best of me and most of the guys. It appears as though the water bottles at the hotel have been refilled. Wow, we should get a discount!

On the journey together,
Richard