SO THAT Missions Podcast | FBC Boerne
So that...God's ways may be known on Earth.
"So That" is an FBC Boerne podcast focused on what God is doing around the world with missions and through FBC Missions partners.
SO THAT Missions Podcast | FBC Boerne
Episode 77: India’s Unreached And Why FBC Boerne Sent It's Lead Pastor! PT2
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A dusty road, a two-room house, and eighty neighbors pressing in to sing at full volume. That’s where we watched despair give way to freedom and a young farmer—months into his new faith—open his home night after night until ten house churches sprung up along a single stretch of road. We went from the weight of ritual in Bodh Gaya to a leader gathering that pulsed with joy, and the contrast reset our hearts: three million gods demanding payment versus one Savior who gives grace first.
We dig into why northern India remains one of the most complex mission fields on earth—thousands of distinct people groups, layered by caste and language—and how the gospel is still moving with surprising speed. You’ll hear about a humble network leader quietly coaching more than 8,000 verified churches, the role of audio Bibles and oral storytelling among low-literacy communities, and why healing testimonies have become a frequent doorway to faith. We also unpack the daily devotional rhythms that sustain these movements: hours of worship before sunrise, field work, then evening gatherings that turn simple homes into hubs of discipleship.
Back home, the stories sharpen our own calling. Prayer isn’t an intro; it’s the engine. Equipping everyday believers and releasing them quickly—before everything feels polished—can unlock growth we rarely see in traditional models. If you’ve felt a tug toward the unreached or wondered how your ordinary skills could matter, this conversation will help you take a next step. Join us as we explore the tension between spiritual hunger and cultural barriers, the beauty of house churches, and the courage it takes to say yes.
If this stirred you, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more listeners can find these stories. Then ask God how you can pray, open your home, or take the next Perspectives course—and tell us what step you’re taking.
Visit our website at www.fbcboerne.org for more stories, information, and service times.
Welcome Back And Setup
SPEAKER_02Hey there, friends. Welcome to First Baptist Church Missions Podcast. Today we have Pastor Jason with Pastor Chad, and they are here to share with us about their recent trip to India.
SPEAKER_01Welcome to FBC Missions So That Podcast. This is an encouraging place to hear how God is working in and around us. We know that He blesses His people so that they can bless the world around them. Join us as we discuss how to join God and all that He is doing. Why is God working in our life, church, and community? It's so that through us the world will know that He is new.
SPEAKER_02Well, hello there, friends. Welcome to the FBC Mission Sew That Podcast. This is Brittany Whitworth, and I am just so excited for you to be coming back. If you missed the first part, we did do a part one where we're just hearing amazing stories and just information regarding the spread of the gospel in India with Pastor Chen and Pastor Jason and how cool is it that we're able to hear all these incredible stories. So if you miss part one, please go back. But we're going to dive back into where we left off for part two of
India’s Unreached People Groups Explained
SPEAKER_02this podcast. So thanks for joining us, and here we go with some more information from India. Could you both think about what you saw and and what you might want to share with our listeners in terms of a story that shocked you, rocked you? I mean, y'all were we were talking a while ago about just the things that that are sometimes shocking that we're hearing about. I mean, that that is God. Most of what we read in the Bible is is a little shocking, you know, it's just incredible. So what would you say is a highlight or something the Lord highlighted for each of you on the trip that you'd like to share with listeners?
SPEAKER_01Well, there's so much I want to share. I don't even know how you get into something. Part one of 537. Some of the stories would take some background to try to explain the impact of them. Um, but there's I hope I hope Jason, I don't know which one you're gonna share. I'm hoping it's the house church and the guy that we prayed for there. Um, but maybe not. Uh you share what you want to share. That's my recommendation. Anyway, no precedent. I'm gonna share for Jason now. Um there's there's a couple things that just really strike me as every time I've been to India, but this one was just again overwhelming. One is we were working in these these states in the northern part of India, which is the highest concentration of unreached people group within the country. So the country is unreached, but within the country, there's these places where there's least number of believers.
SPEAKER_02And Chad, can I can I share really quickly? Um, in India, there are 2,272 people groups. People group meaning we define a people group force, Chad. It's not a geopolitical nation.
SPEAKER_01No, no, a people group is like a tribe. So if you think about American tribes, American Indian, Native American tribes, so you're gonna think about Cherokee, Navajo, those kind of groups. It's like that.
SPEAKER_02Shared language, culture, kinship.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, unique language, unique culture, um, unique customs. Yep.
SPEAKER_02And uh so then there's 2,041 unreached people groups in India.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, out of the 2,200 plus, yeah, 80%, 90% of them are unreached. Um and then you also have the the complexity of the caste system in India. So those those those barriers and even the ethnic breakdowns are also complicated by socioeconomic stereotypical breakdowns as well. So like it within one community, you might have as many as two or three hundred castes that also divide the people. It's not just ethnic blood, it's also your caste that you've been given for a thousand years. You know, so if you're a street sweeper, you're always a street sweeper and you don't hang out with bankers. You know, like it's impossible to hang out with bakers. It wouldn't be possible, you know. So there's all these different breakdowns. So India is an insanely complicated place, which why it is unreached, right? It's the reason why it's been so hard. You know, you're sorry to jump into this, but 1780 is the beginning, what we call the modern mission movement, when William Carey left London to go to India. Like the very first place where we see modern missions focus is in India in the 1700s. So you might say 300 plus years of missions work in India. Why haven't we seen it explode across the country? Well, it's because it was captured in one people group or within one caste, and largely the uh the lowest caste, the untouchables, is where most of the movements within India have happened. And uh, so what remains is the large percentage of the people that are not poor, they're not struggling, they're not, they're not disenchanted with the entire government and all of its workings. Um they're just they're they were treated like animals before. Now they have some some subsistence, they have some some utility, and uh, and they've been open. That's the group that has been most responsive to the gospel. But what remains is all of the rest of India that largely um fit into a certain place that they have been taught is the place they fit in life, so they feel normal. Anyway, there's a lot of a lot of pieces there. Um but yeah, the the overwhelming needs among all those unreached people groups, it takes a lot of work for the gospel to go beyond your people to another. So again, if you were thinking about as an uh English-speaking Anglo-American, let's just assume that's who you are for now, and you were gonna go speak to a Cherokee-speaking Cherokee American Indian, what would it take for you to share the gospel with them in a meaningful and powerful way? It takes a lot of work. Learning Cherokee is really hard, finding Cherokee is really hard, understanding where they might even live in our state or culture is really hard. Much less moving and living among them and sharing the gospel in a way that's that's uh that's powerful and meaningful and and uh relevant to their lives. So that's the work that has to happen 2,000 plus times within India, even though they live in the same place, they might even look the same. Um, and so so yeah, I I don't know if that answers that question. When I what I what I started with was this story that when you go to India, you also don't necessarily realize that it's the birthplace of several world religions. You know, we know that it's Hindu, and everyone knows that. Um, it's the vast majority, 95% Hindu in the country, I think is the statistic. But beyond that, you don't realize
Religion’s Grip Across North India
SPEAKER_01it's the birthplace of Buddhism. Buddhism is another one of the major five world religions. You know, almost two billion people claim Buddhism as a faith, and it's mostly in China and Thailand and all those uh South Asian countries, but you don't realize that that was birthed and started out of India. We visited the town, it's called Bodh Gaya in India, where that was birthed. And what was in one way shocking, I've been there once before, but what just stood out to me this time was like Indians kind of the Hindu kind of take on the they just believe that because it started in India that it's just an outflow of Hinduism. So they just kind of consider all those Buddhists as like like they're part of the Muslims, part of the Hindus, but just a little different. But there's also the Sikh faith, and we visited its birthplace too, another temple in Emirstar, and in an unbelievable beautiful place, very different than Bodh Gaya. And uh, and you realize the Sikh faith, which which looks and feels a little more Muslim, uh, has little more Christian tendencies and the way that it has one true God kind of a kind of thing. And you you're like, how did you figure out all these things? There's there's Jaism, there's all these different things that started in India, and you just realize like people's lives are so complicated by what they've worshipped their whole life that they don't even know how to see what might be true. Yeah, like the the the faiths that they adhere to so uh encompass every element of their life that they don't even know that there could be something outside of it. So at the Buddhist temple.
SPEAKER_00Well, just to interject real quick, like one of the things we commented was that the the Indians as a people are very religious and and very serious, right? So so Western culture has kind of gone post-religion, uh, we're entertainment driven. There, they are I I mean their their religion is their worldview and is their entire existence.
SPEAKER_01It permeates everything from the anklet that you're wearing to the way that you decorate your clothing to the the type of decoration you put in, the makeup you're wearing. All of it has spiritual significance, and in many ways, for Hindus, they're trying to avoid offending a specific god. And if you need something, then you go to a specific god and you make some sort of offering to it to appease or to try to get the f the favor of that god. But Hinduism worships over three million gods, so imagine trying to figure out how you're gonna please them all.
SPEAKER_02That sounds really stressful.
SPEAKER_01And it is, you you see the burden on people's lives. Yeah, but Buddhism is not that different. So you we when we went uh Bodh Gaia and we walked around the Buddhist temple, you there are people who are meditating and they think that they're honoring the Buddha, they're trying to, but they literally are doing self-flagellating type things. They're making themselves hurt by doing push-ups until they can't do any more push-ups, and then they stand up sweating and they pray, and then they back down and do as many more push-ups or sit-ups or whatever it is that they're gonna do. There's people that have spent an entire year there just sitting cross-legged with their hands out, you know, asking the God or the gods to bless them, to show them favor, to give them wisdom, to help them achieve enlightenment, all the things that they're asking for.
SPEAKER_00And chanting in a rhythm over and over.
SPEAKER_01Rhythmic prayer. Like it's the same words over and over and over again. And it just makes you go, their whole world is literally lived out in a way to try to get God's favor or the God's favor or a God's favor. And we know a God that already favors them, He made them for a purpose, and they're so far removed that if you were to say that to them, they wouldn't hear it for what it is for one. And honestly, they may be offended that you're even trying to tell them about a God that loves them. Um the gods are it feels like ancient Greek, they're to be feared, they're they're to be, you know, scared of because they might destroy you, you know, and those kind of things. And and it's just it's just messy. So one of the, let me just I'll tell this, tell my story was uh when I was there in 2018, I met a guy who was a church planter, and at the time he had a he, I think he had a couple hundred church plants. I went to a church planter training and they were trying to train first-level planters. So I think his network that he was working with was around four or five hundred churches. And uh we spent three days with him, we were interviewing new believers within his church network, trying to understand how God was using them within that network. And it was there in Bodgaya. Um he had a children's home at the time, and we heard the stories that he and his wife and uh some other guys he was working with had seen that there were children uh at the bus station who were addicted to glue.
Burdens Of Ritual And Fear
SPEAKER_01They were orphans, they were kind of they were pretty rough. They we beat each other up, they they were kind of at the mercy of people in the city who didn't like them or did like them. They were arrested by the cops at times. There's just generally a harassed population that was not very kind, right? So through their interaction, they started doing a feeding program at the bus station, trying to get to know these kids. Well, they ended up bringing some of them home. He told us about the girl was the first one, and there's some guys, and there's this whole in the end. By the time I met him in 2018, he had close to 60 kids living in his house as his wife. And uh and they were this was a missionary? Yeah, yeah. Well, no, no, he's he's an uh a Hindu. I'm sorry, Hindu. He's a Indian. He was there. We learned a lot more about his story this time, and we should do a podcast specifically about his story. Um, but just to be brief, between 2018 and now us going back in 2025, their ministry has just blossomed. Like the the children's home itself, I think had around 90 kids now, maybe even a hundred, and they're about to finish a really large project that's gonna expand their children's home capacity to around 200 kids in the next few months.
SPEAKER_02Aaron Powell So again, relationships make a big difference.
SPEAKER_01For sure. But here's the crazy thing is when I was there in 2018, he as a church planter I thought had a really big heart, but I assumed and really thought that his network would would probably not go any further than it was because his heart for these children was so big that it took up all of his attention and effort and and and and uh capacity. But I was wrong. We we met him and they introduced us to Ani, and we hear about 8,000 plus churches that are verified within the network that he is he has continued to grow and coach and care for. We met 110 plus leaders that were his key leaders, kind of mid-level leaders from throughout these regions. They're launching into other places, and they showed us these heat maps in Bihar State, and you could see the entire state broken down by county, and they're talking about how many basically level six movements are working within this space, and they're all green.
SPEAKER_02Wow.
SPEAKER_01This is a place that was dark red, there was no known movements among them eight years ago, and now there's movements that are thriving uh all over the place, and it took us going all the way down to like a almost neighborhood by neighborhood level to see red patches that are still being worked on. But but it was incredible to see how
Meeting A Movement Leader In Bihar
SPEAKER_01God has used him since 2018. This is I have to you ask yourself, what am I doing as a believer that is multiplying the gospel among the lost, among the unreached, among the places the gospel's never been. When I know this man, I've known him for some years. I'm not close to him, I'm not coaching him, he's not my disciple by any means, but I kind of wish I was his disciple because something's going on there that I'm I'm lacking. At least that's how you feel, right?
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, same chad. There's there's there's days when I'm walking around in Bernie and I'm just like, I've I've not told anyone about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01You come home and you say, Lord, help search me. See, search my heart and help me to understand how you've called me so that your name is made famous among the people where I live, work, place, uh, interact, and engage. And and again, I just am so thankful to be at a church like First Baptist that is opening the our hearts to that. The community of our church is interested in growing and even at timing, in some ways, aggressively dipping their toes into this space right now. And uh, and it's really exciting to see how God is is opening those doors. So, to me, the Boat Gaia picture, I just can't get away from it. Uh I can't get away from Annie's story. We should, again, we'll tell it sometime. He'll tell you he was a slave, he was captured. There was all kinds of wild things that just make you go, how in the world did God take that guy and make him into what he is?
SPEAKER_00But that's what he did. Yeah, additionally, uh Inarud is uh one of the most humble men you'd ever meet. Uh personality-wise, he's not someone you meet and you would say Oh, that guy's a church planner. Oh, yeah, that that guy's leading right a network, a movement of God that that few in the entire world have ever seen. Wow. Um yeah, so it's awesome, his humility.
SPEAKER_02Well, and that I mean, that is just how the Lord works over and over. I mean, we see that with so many characters in the Bible, so many people that made profound impact in the Bible or who's that, you know?
SPEAKER_01Exactly. That's awesome. Rarely the people that we would pick, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And uh and yet it was just it's it's such a powerful thing to look at and see and know that God is working. God is working in so many ways that are unfathomable to us. It reminds me of the Joel passage, like just imagine what God is doing.
SPEAKER_02That's so encouraging to hear. Well, what about you, Pastor Jason? A story, a highlight.
SPEAKER_00Well, the the one I was gonna tell uh piggybacks on where Chad was, so that'll free me up to tell the the other story because there were there were two that rise to the top. But that morning when we uh are we're in Bodhgaya, um and we and we went to the the Buddhist temple where where Buddha found enlightenment, um we walked and uh it was everything about India that uh India for me is the hardest place on the planet for your flesh. I mean it's it's overpopulated, it's it's filthy. Uh there's there's animals and and poop all over the place. It's uh it's uh overpopulated, like I said. There's there's lame beggars, the poor, the destitute. Um it's uh sensory overload. Sensory overload. Sight, smells, feeling, it's human, you're sweating all the time. There's like everything. There's there's a caste system, there's oppression, there's all those things. And so that morning, uh then going to the Buddhist temple, seeing, seeing their their meditation, their working to earn the Lord's favor, uh it all hit at once. And uh with my past uh with those three months of being in India, it was kind of like it all came back, and so it was it was an over it, it was just this wave of of really kind of depression and anger. Uh uh I process and I keep things to myself, but that morning I was uh I don't know, pretty pretty dark in my spirit. And then uh about 11 o'clock we we walked in to this uh leader meeting. Annie Rude had a a hundred plus uh leaders and we walked in and they were already there and they were already in worship. And the moment I walked in the door, and you you could just sense the spirit of the Lord. Wow. And uh in their worship, they I mean they are they are expressing. I was gonna say, tell me about worship. They are alive. I love other cultures worship. Yeah, it opens it opens me up. I mean they're they they had this this funny kind of Indian instrument.
SPEAKER_01It doesn't sound anything like what our worship sounds like. Like that's the first thing you should notice.
SPEAKER_00I mean they they have this instrument that that they know how to play, uh, and it and it brings in all in all those Indian sounds. But uh it it seems like every every every time every culture we go to they have the the music at the maximum volume.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, whatever implication is, it's at the highest. So it's cracking, it's it's it's uh it's loud.
SPEAKER_00But they're but they're on their feet, they're clapping the entire time. Yes. Uh they they want to worship
From Hundreds To Thousands Of House Churches
SPEAKER_00is that fair to say like just free, like, the word freedom was the word that washed over my soul. And so it's such a stark contrast that it it lifted my spirit in an incredible way, where it's like, look at the light in the midst of the darkness. So the story uh he wanted me to share. Uh we had the privilege of going to uh multiple house churches. We we just wanted to check these out and and meet people and and just see like what it looks like in in the normal everyday setting on the ground. And so uh the fun thing is driving around with these church planners, you drive by a place and they're like a a church meets there, and then you drive a little further, a church meets there. Like they they know all these people, these people and places. So we we drove about I don't know, 45 minutes out out of town, and it's a it's a rural community, as Chad said, very agricultural, and so you know everyone around there is pretty much a farmer. And uh it it's about 11, 12 o'clock, so it's it's hot. Uh picture me in this scene and Chad, all of our team. I mean, we're sweating profusely in this entire scene.
SPEAKER_02So we and your flesh is already screaming.
SPEAKER_00Your flesh is screaming. Uh but but we go into it's it's just a home. It's a it's a it's a two-bedroom home, and it it one of those bedrooms is concrete, and the other bedroom is just uh uh you know a wooden lean to structure with hay on top that they've made the second the second room, but but it's large enough to be a meeting place. And so it's the middle of the day, so it's it's mostly women and children, and and we're in there and they are worshiping. Um we asked this this church would gather three, four times a week. Uh uh the the couple uh whose home it is, um, they they meet every night with other couples in the community just for for Bible study. So we're in there and and they're singing. Uh we're we're guests of honor, so they they want us to say a few words and Chad talks to them about uh about Jonah.
SPEAKER_02Um and they're speaking English. No, you have a translator.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, everywhere we went we had a translator.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_00And uh so I I don't know, hour-long service, uh time of prayer. They they wanted us to to pray with people, and then and then afterwards we uh we just wanted to talk to some people. So we picked out one of the men that was there.
SPEAKER_01Um randomly, by the way. Like we didn't know, no one said, Hey, this is the guy you need to talk to. We just he was there. We said, Hey, can we ask some questions about how you came to faith? And the interpreter was with us.
SPEAKER_02Randomly with Holy Spirit air quotes. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so so it turns out this this was his home. We didn't realize that. Wow. And he was the first person that came to faith in that village.
SPEAKER_02Wow.
SPEAKER_00And uh and so he tell he tells us about his home, and uh, like I said, that that they're meeting there uh nightly, that their the church is meeting there weekly. Um But as as I'm he uh He had uh he had a stomach issue that he wanted us to to pray for. Now one one of the most incredible things about uh about the movement that we discovered while we were there is the the Lord is is more than willing to uh to move with power and signs and wonders. Um we probably talked to, I don't know, 20, 30, 50 people that we came in contact with that came to faith because of healing. Uh either they themselves or someone in their family uh was healed simply because a Christian prayed, usually a Christian pastor, someone said, I I will pray with you. Um and and so the testimony that
Worship And Freedom Amid Darkness
SPEAKER_00uh uh yeah, the Christian God heals and the and the Hindu gods cannot heal. We heard that over and over and over again.
SPEAKER_02Signs and wonders.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So in in the Muslim world, we we hear very often the the dreams and visions of the man in white. Uh in India, we we heard over and over again that the Lord gives gives power to heal. So he wanted us uh to pray over him. Um and so we did Chad Lettuce in that prayer, and I was just behind him and had my hand upon him. I will tell you personally, the the Lord uh I felt the Lord in a power and in a way that uh I don't always feel. Um and so I've checked up since then just to say, hey, what what happened to that guy? Anarod's like, yeah, he's 100%. Whatever whatever stomach issue he had, uh the Lord has healed him, he's he's moved forward. Um but I I set up that scene because uh after praying in his home, um it was a it was a powerful, important moment for me because uh as I was processing, here is this man who uh he's a farmer. He's the poorest of the poor, he's the bottom cast. Um he he has less education and will his entire life than than my sixth grade daughter. Um and and he stands there and we are interacting with him, and he has so much dignity and purpose as I'm interacting with him, as Chad and I are asking him questions. Like this church meets in his home, and he was the first in his village, and now there's 80 in the village that now believe, and and here he is, and they meet nightly for discipleship, and they roll up their sleeves and they're reading this Bible, and the Lord is moving. Here is a farmer that is a peasant that has no education, so cool, and we are so honored, right? Chad and I are honored to be in his home. And and so, so the Lord just spoke profoundly to me about the gospel, the dignity, the purpose, what his church, right? His church is not a building, his church is a people. And his that church was beautiful. That church was we were we were blessed to be there and and to see and to participate. And and you know, they wanted to honor us as guests,
Inside A Rural House Church
SPEAKER_00but afterwards, like right, we walk away so blessed because we um because we learn so much about who God is and what God does and the way that he you know, he calls the the least of these, the the right, uh 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Uh God has taken the base things of the world, the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and it's it's the power of the gospel. So to have that the Lord just drilled that in the depth of my soul uh to see just just that little snapshot, a home church, uneducated, the poorest the poorest on the planet, and me leaving there going, wow, I was blessed to be in his home and in this church today.
SPEAKER_02I mean, I knew we would go long, and it's we're fine, we're fine. And in fact, we have, but I'm like listening to y'all, and it is so apparent that you can see the light and the darkness and the light and how it is dispelling the darkness in India, and y'all saw that firsthand. And I mean, I'm thinking about what you were describing as you're walking around and you're seeing people um engaged in these rituals that are very religious in nature, and yet Jesus offers relationship. And this believer whose home y'all were blessed to be in shows what happens when we enter into that relationship with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01Let me fill in just a little context, too, from that same guy. Like he's like probably 30. Wow, he's a younger guy, skinny as a rail. Yeah. You tell he had a stomach issue. Okay. He's so skinny. And uh, and the the guy that was interpreting for him and for us was the pastor of that place. So I asked, is this guy the pastor? When we found out he was oh he's no, no, no, like I would never. It's like this, like, no, I'm not. But then he's like, 80 people meet here every night. You know, and he starts like, okay, this guy has definitely opened his home, his heart, his life to these people. But then he said he's a really good gospel sharer. So what do you mean? Well, he led his sister and brother-in-law to faith and lead it down the road, and they have another house church. And then they said there's like there's actually like 10 house churches that he's planted since he came to faith. I was like, How long has he been a Christian? And he said, Well, six months. What how long have you been? Yeah, yeah, just about eight months now.
SPEAKER_02Or like okay, I have to like how did he this whole thing?
SPEAKER_01You're like, this guy, he was a farmer, came to faith because he heard of how God was moving in a miraculous way and probably somebody else's life, and then he starts sharing this faith with others, and it's just something he does.
SPEAKER_02And the community story is what you're saying. He heard a story that brought him to the I don't remember.
SPEAKER_01I remember him talking about a miracle. I wasn't sure if it was in his life or in I think it I think I remember him saying it was in his sister's life, but I'm not positive. I can't remember. We took notes, but I don't have them in front of me. And all of all of it was just overwhelming to think a new, fairly new believer, in my in my understanding, has such a vibrant 80 people, 10 churches. And and you know exciting faith that there's 10 house churches. So there's all along this one road, you know, there's several house churches within a couple miles of each other that have all started in the last six to eight months as this family, and then their relational network has been exposed to to the gospel, it just continues to move outwards.
SPEAKER_02And when you say, okay, so exposed to the gospel, do they have Bibles? Like what does that look like?
SPEAKER_01They do have Bibles. Uh, there's a lot of different language groups. Some of them are audio Bibles, they listen to scriptures, they might listen to sermons, they might listen to some of them can read and they'll have Bibles in their language that they read. Uh they definitely work to provide Bibles where it's possible. But a lot of the leaders in these house churches are um they're untrained. Their education is extremely low. So audio Bibles is typically what they're using. But because of their history, they remember everything they hear. Yeah. So it's another thing. The oral engagement causes them to have a high level of uh capture, information capture
Healing And Conversions Through Prayer
SPEAKER_01through an audio source. So they know scriptures. Like when we ask them, this is another norm, how much time do you spend seeking God in the day? And they'll go, well, I get up at five o'clock in the morning and we worship together for two hours. Then when the sun comes up, we go to the fields, but then we finish in the fields by one or two, we come home, we have our lunch, we do this. Then we invite the community into our house. They worship together for some time. And then when they leave, they pray together as a family and spend some time. Well, give us a total. Three, three hours, four hours, five hours a day, daily in in communal and personal worship. Like uh, it's just then on the weekends or time they have they go visit family and tell them. So that's how the outreach is like they're they do it on their off time, so to speak. They'll go and visit other family nearby and share their faith with them. And it really is just a remarkable thing. Again, you take all of that religious attention that they did before Jesus, and now it's applied to Jesus. And so, like, if that was permeating their life as Hindus, it just kind of flips, and now they're permeating what's permeating their life is their love for the Lord. And uh, and and and it feels unencumbered. Like they just this is what they do, this is who they are. We are followers of Jesus, and and uh it's it's amazing. It really is incredible to be a part of and to see and to feel and to experience.
SPEAKER_02Aaron Powell The fact that they already have the margin for religion, but we know I mean we we know Jesus isn't religion, but the fact that they already have the margin for that and they can take what is already in place and transfer it to building that relationship with Jesus, it's very possible we will see major movement um in India. I mean, that that's pretty incredible, right? They're imagine. I mean, three to four hours ago.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, their devotion is is unparalleled. Um I do want to say that they have the same days that we have, right? They have the same amount of time that we have. Um and while while our days I feel very hectic, my day is always busy and I'm always trying to find space and time and to focus on what I think the Lord has planned. It really takes that kind of effort and discipline for us to to build that kind of margin. I don't know that any of us is gonna get to five hours a day. Um, but even if we could carve out that half hour, that one hour, like it you got to start somewhere.
SPEAKER_02I mean, even if we believed we had a half hour or an hour.
SPEAKER_01Well, it it really is, I think, one of the unique reasons why the gospel is exploding within some of those regions is their devotion is extraordinary. And um and even at a very what we would consider your basic level disciple level, the devotion is really high.
SPEAKER_02Wow. So as we as we do start to wrap this up, um, first of all, incredible stories. Thank y'all so much. Not just for going We do have to do this again.
SPEAKER_01We had a whole nother area we went to, and we should tell you about the the stadium that bridges Pakistan and India. It's one of the craziest things I've ever seen. It'll be a ton of fun. We should do another podcast and really focus on the Andrew Star version.
SPEAKER_02I'm good for another podcast with y'all.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, because that Sikh family was another just an incredible story. There's there's the story about a network that is uh trying to uh that is training church planners in Afghanistan and Pakistan uh because they they cannot go. So there's there's Zoom training and uh uh there's there's so much more to be explored.
SPEAKER_01So we need a part two on this.
SPEAKER_02Let's do it. I'll find someone to get a hold of both of y'all's calendars and we'll do it. Um what would you as a result of what we've talked about today? Obviously, yes, we'll do another part two, three, four, whatever. Um, what would you like the church here to know um as a result of what you've shared today?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'll start. Um for me personally, the Lord has has uh rekindled uh a growing passion for prayer, seeing the Lord move um through through prayer, healing people. Um seeing that firsthand um has just uh right okay, so that's really cool because we're in the middle of a we're in the middle of a sermon series on prayer. And I didn't
Dignity, Discipleship, And Daily Devotion
SPEAKER_00plan that, the Lord did. Uh so yeah, I I I have come back uh incredibly uh uh passionate and on fire for for for prayer. I I count it such a privilege to uh to have been able to go and and to see to see the gospel moving and spreading, like you read about in the book of Acts. Right? So that simple story that Chad told of a believer six months old that is already uh, you know, there's a network of four or five churches in in this area uh like to see that and uh like we we touched it, we were we were there. Um and uh we got to pray with them and and they pray with power and and passion and and they they believe there is power in Jesus' name to uh uh to to heal and to uh to continue to do amazing things. And so um the Lord's lit that fire in me, and uh uh I s I certainly pray that it's infectious within our church because uh um I mean God God is moving and God wants to move, and there's no reason that that should stay uh in India, right? Uh yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well I I I will give a plug for the 21 days of prayer what today's day eight on we're in relationships and it it is powerful. I mean, I've seen some pretty cool things happening just in my home with the power of prayer. So thank you for for this sermon series, and then thank you to the Lord that He's highlighted that for you. That's awesome. That is really awesome. All right. Anything else, Pastor Jason, before we pass it to Pastor Chad and what he might hope that our local church here would know as a result of what we discussed today.
SPEAKER_00I mean the only the the only other thing uh I would add that the Lord has worked in me is uh just a uh a continuation uh uh to be very open-handed with um with with our people um and the gospel and and to call our people into kingdom work. Uh that's that's something uh when it's Ephesians 4, uh it's our job to equip the saints for the work. Uh but but you get a a renewed passion for that when you see someone who's six months in the faith uh has his entire village covered and come into his house. So um yeah, just to continue to a passion to deploy our people and to uh to call out whatever the spirit is calling them to do and passions to run into uh into that kingdom work, it's just it's just that much more intense.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'll I'll raise my hand to that because I know like a simple yes can go a long ways. And you even talked about how for us here, whatever it is that it already is maybe our um what we do, you know, in terms of what we do every day, that how the Lord can use that in his kingdom and going abroad or wherever. But I mean we we develop tremendous skill and passion throughout our life that can be then used for the kingdom. And so, you know, a lot of times it's really easy to sit here and hear a podcast such as this and go, yeah, but I don't really know what the Lord would do with me. Well, that's the thing you don't really know until you say yes. And it starts with the yes. And you know, I I ended up a guest sent me to Africa last summer, and who knew that my first grade teacher skills of doing the chicken dance would be well played out for building relationships on a field in Africa? Like you just don't know what previous experiences um will be used in a yes for God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, my Mike Kenshin would say the same thing. He'd say, Who would know when I'm leading FUDRS around the country that this is gonna be giving me tools to help me open up doors for for this kind of work that he's doing now?
SPEAKER_02So I keep seeing that the Lord is doing that right now, and he's been doing that personally. Sounds like he's doing that in your life as well, Pastor Jason. Is he he is using so much that maybe has been used for secular to now be used for the kingdom? And I mean, not not necessarily recently in your life, but certainly in mine, and it's just like wow,
Rapid Multiplication In Months
SPEAKER_02that is so cool. Nothing is wasted. Nothing is wasted.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so our podcast has gone close to uh over an hour now. So we uh we'll probably break this in half for all of you listeners. But I do want you to know that probably the single best way that you could partner with us as we consider what we've been talking about this whole thing is pray, pray, pray for us, pray for, pray for God to speak uh to us as leaders of the church, how to empower and release leaders like God has given us, like a mic or others who who God has given us uh that have a passion for these kinds of work, maybe even pray then ask God to speak to you about how you you participate and engaging the unreached. There's a lot of ways to do that, but the very simplest, and I would say the most the most impactful at the beginning is prayer. Just sending, asking God, beseeching God, begging God to open the hearts of the lost that they could find him and see him. That God would send his workers into their presence so that they can respond to the gospel in a present incarnational form. I pray that God would open the hearts of these believers wherever they are to again engage the lost around them. Pray that God would protect them. There's there's issues of persecution in their regions, there's sicknesses around them. They live in areas where there's malaria and other things. Like they have there are very real risks that they are living among as a normal part of their life. So pray that God would sustain their lives, protect them and engage them, pray for them. And ultimately pray that God would use his gospel to make the light of and the hope of that gospel available to all men everywhere, where they live, where they are. So, you know, we're in a season of prayer. I'd like for us to even close out the podcast with uh with maybe Pastor Jason leading us in a word of prayer. And if you're driving or doing dishes or whatever it is you're doing as a listener, you know, just take take this moment and uh and bow, may not bow your head, but just pray along with us uh for these people where they are. Yeah, if you're driving, don't close your eyes. Don't close your eyes if you're driving.
SPEAKER_02Well, and before before you do close us in prayer, Pastor Jason, one thing is is if you're listening to this and your heart is already stirred just a little bit, um you you know, just keep your eyes and ears open for the next perspectives class coming up because if that if this has opened opened your heart a bit, you will learn so much. I don't know, Chad, if you want to say anything about that.
SPEAKER_01I could say way too much.
SPEAKER_02I know you could you have 30 seconds.
SPEAKER_01If you're an FBC member, we would love for you to consider taking it. And uh and everyone that I've seen take it have said it's very worth it. And uh we know it's uh time commitment, we know that it uh it it it's a it's a season of of focus, but man, uh no one that I've ever had take the class has regretted it. So if you're interested at all, uh definitely check it out. We'll have a booth this weekend about it. But at any point, if you want information, send me an email or at the church and I can help you get connected to what's going on with perspective.
SPEAKER_02So awesome. Thank you, Chad. Okay, so yes, let's definitely pray and learn a little bit about praying for the unreached as we close with Pastor Jason. And gosh, what an awesome time this has been.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thank you, Brittany. Yeah. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, uh, we come in the mighty name of Jesus. Uh it is only by his blood and by your grace that we can come into your presence. And the amazing truth is we are fully covered. Uh nothing that we have done would ever make us acceptable in your sight. And so, Father, we praise you for that truth. We praise you that that truth is uh is so simple and that truth is accessible to all men, uh, regardless of their their race, their economic status, uh uh education level. Uh, Father, you have sent your son to uh to purchase for yourself every tribe, tongue, and nation. And so, Father, we pray to that end. We pause to thank you for
Why The Gospel Is Spreading Fast
SPEAKER_00that we are the ones that get to go. Why us, Father? Who are we, that you are mindful of us, and that we are so blessed that we not only have the gospel in our lives and in our culture repeatedly, um, but we have the resources and access to go. We live in a day and a time that we can hop on a plane and and go to the other end, go to the ends of the earth, uh, to places that have never heard your name. And and Father, prick our hearts, God, break our hearts for for what breaks yours for those that will uh that have never heard. Father, we want to be a part of the solution. We want to be your hands and feet. We want to come alongside what you are already doing. Uh, Father, you are not dependent upon us, and and yet you are gracious enough to use the means of allowing us to enter into your kingdom work. And so uh we we do so with courage and with confidence. Uh we pray, as your son taught us, that your kingdom would come, that your will would be done, uh, that the name of Jesus would be high and lifted up uh here in Burney and uh in India as we have focused now, uh, Father, that that you would continue to move in power and might and uh that the name of Jesus would spread. We pray for our brothers and sisters who are being persecuted, we pray for our brothers and sisters who um are going so against their their culture. Father, we pray for courage, uh, we pray uh for uh a boldness, a perseverance. Uh, we pray that you would continue to heal. Uh we pray for a maturity in their faith, um, as they step into uh putting you first, King Jesus, as they need Bibles and and resources and uh um as they set aside um their sin and their cultural influences to to pursue you. Father, would you continue to build your church? And would you show us as a church how to how to come alongside and and to to partner with, not to get in your way, but but to partner with what you are doing so that we might bear fruit one to another with with the partners that we have met in India. And Father, we know that you are doing so much else all over the world. I pray for those listening to this podcast that the experience and the giftings, the passions that you have placed in in each of them, as they, as Britney said, lay their yes on the table. Father, that you would begin to stir in their hearts what you are calling them to. And that they would press into a time of prayer. And Father, that you would that you would show them, that you would show them their part in your kingdom work, and God, that you
Lessons For Our Church Back Home
SPEAKER_00would teach them and that they would grow in their courage to walk out their faith, God, that they would realize how short our days are and and how incredibly important and eternally valuable your kingdom work is and that they would invest in that which is eternal and not that which is temporary. Father, forgive us for being so short-sighted. Give us a heart of wisdom. We pray all of this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.
SPEAKER_02Amen. Well, thank you again both so much. Psalm 67 says, May God be gracious to us and bless us, and make his face shine upon us so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. This has been the So That Podcast with FBC, and we are so grateful that you joined in to hear stories from India from Pastor Chad and Pastor Jason. Thanks. See you next time.