go.make.baptize.teach

Jharkhand, India - Nov 2009 from Tom Jaski on Vimeo.

That’s gonna be my slogan for my devotional time in the new year.

As each year ends, I always like to have a Bible reading plan in place to begin the new year.  That’s just the kind of person I am.  I believe that if a person doesn’t have some kind of plan to systematically read God’s Word, he/she is more likely to be slack and inconsistent in their Bible reading.  Each year, I tend to focus either on breadth (reading through the Bible for a more panoramic perspective) or depth (a more focused study of a particular book or doctrine).  Barring anything unforeseen, I am on pace to finish reading through the Bible on December 31 of this year.  That means that for 2010, I will change things up and go a little deeper in my study, probably choosing several books of the Bible to dive into.

John MacArthur, Bible teacher and preacher extraordinare, has suggested a very effective and profitable way to study the Bible (in particular, the New Testament) that I have employed in the past.  He suggests picking a short book (Galatians, for example) and reading the entire book every day for 30 days.  Through repetition, you will become very familiar with the book - the themes, key verses, doctrines addressed, etc.  You’ll be able to read the book as a unity rather than just focusing on isolated chapters or verses.  You will be able to memorize key verses or passages and will become intimately familiar with almost every aspect of that particular book.  Then at the end of 30 days, you’ll choose another book.  If you choose one of the larger books (like Matthew), you’ll just want to tackle approximately 7 chapters per 30 days (so it would take you 4 months to get through the 28 chapters of Matthew).  At this rate of approximately 7 chapters per month, MacArthur claims that one can completely study the entire NT this way in 2.5 years.  At the end of that time, not only will you have read through the NT, but you will have combed through each book thoroughly.  Rather than forgetting what you had read, you will be able to recall specific verses and topics covered in each chapter.  In other words, you’ll be equipped to apply what you’ve studied.  For the full transcript of MacArthur’s message on “How to Study Your Bible,” click here.

Do you have a Bible-reading plan for the new year?  If not, I’d encourage you to choose one of these strategies and commit to it.  If we will faithfully study the Bible, God will bless us (Ps. 1:1-2) and we will be better equipped for Him to use us (2 Tim. 3:17).

As we drove around India last week, our team experienced the chaos that is Indian traffic.  There is certainly a pecking order regarding the various modes of transportation, with the smaller modes having to yield to the larger ones or be driven off the road.

One of these modes of transportation is the ox cart.  Farmers would sit atop a cart pulled by a team of two oxen yoked together that slowly sauntered down the roadside.  When vehicles approached from behind and sounded their horn, the farmer would simply tap the right ox on the right side with a stick (the “goad”) which would cause both oxen to move the cart to the left, further to the side of the road.  It was interesting to me that with all the chaos of all the vehicles that were on the road at any given time, a simple tap by the farmer would guide the team to safety.  As I watched the oxen, it occurred to me that the reason they were so sensitive to the light tap of the goad was probably because at times in the past, they had received not-so-light taps from the same stick.

In Ecclesiastes 12:11, Solomon writes, “The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd.” This one Shepherd has given us his Word, the Bible.  The wisdom of the Word of God goads us just like the stick the farmers use on the oxen.  It guides us and directs us, out of harm’s way and into safety.  At times, God’s Word stings as the Holy Spirit uses it to show us areas in our lives that are not in conformity with the will of God.  If we are slow to respond, the Spirit will continue to poke us with the Word.  As God lovingly chastises us and encourages us toward personal holiness, we become more and more sensitive to the Spirit’s leading.  Eventually, where once we needed a sharp rap to lead us to Christlikeness, a simple prompting from the Spirit accomplishes God’s purpose.  If we will let it, the Word of God will guide us away from dangerous paths to paths of righteousness.  It just may take some painful prodding for us to get there.

Friday was our last ministry day, and we spent it in the Bengali village of Aminpur. This was a village in which there was a small cell group of 2 Christian families who had recently begun meeting. Like yesterday, we were greeted by the villagers with some music and dancing, and several of the village children also showed us a few gymnastics moves. You could tell they were very grateful to see us.

Things in the medical clinic moved smoothly and seemingly less rushed than in previous days. All of the villagers who came to be seen by the medical personnel were able to be seen. I don’t know the exact number of people who were seen today, but we have the numbers for the week and they are pretty staggering. For our ministry in Jharkhand and West Bengal combined, our team was able to see over 975 individuals through the clinic. That’s pretty remarkable considering we only had 2 doctors and a nurse practitioner who were able to see patients. Even more remarkable than the medical figures was that of those 975 people, just over 550 of them made first time professions of faith in Jesus Christ! Nevermind the fact that these were deeply religious Indian people, or the fact that the Bengali people are known as a hard people to reach with the gospel. Through the prayers of many, many people and the obedience of 11 Americans and our national leadership, God placed his indelible mark on these 2 Indian states.

In yesterday’s blog entry, I recounted how Biva, one of the unbelieving university translators, had come to faith in Christ. When she came to serve with us today, you could tell she had a joy that was impossible to surpress. Today, two other translators also came to faith in Christ. One of them, Gautham, was one I spent a lot of time with yesterday. When I first began talking with him, he was adamant in telling me that there is no one true religion, and that people can get to God in many different ways. He also told me that for Indian people, their religion was more than just a one-day-a-week experience, but that it was a lifestyle for them. I had mentioned to him that in America, we do have those “Christians” who compartmentalize their faith and only appear to be Christians on Sunday, but that the Bible teaches that true Christianity is also a lifestyle. Through the witness of many on our team yesterday and today, Gautham could see that the Christianity he had heard about was not the same as the Christianity he was seeing. After praying to receive Christ, he said he felt a freshness and a freedom.

After dinner, we met as a team for our final time of worship together. As always, it was a sweet time of singing, sharing God’s Word, and testimonies of all that God has done this week. I never get tired of seeing how a week of sharing the gospel and engaging in church planting in India affects the American teams, as well as myself. This team was a special one to me - because I personally knew many of the team members but also because of how the team came together so beautifully in order to do something (the medical clinic) we had never done before. I felt it was a great picture of how the Body of Christ was designed by God to function. It was truly a privilege to be a part of it.

Tomorrow, we will be doing some local shopping for souvenirs and then heading to Kolkata to see some sights before we head to the airport. Please pray for strength for our team. We have a long trip back to our respective homes, beginning with our Kolkata flight at 2:45am on Saturday. I don’t think anyone will have any problems sleeping on our flights.

Today began our ministry in West Bengal, the state in which our hotel is located. The village we were heading to, Kamardanga, was only 40 minutes away by car. Ranjeet told us that the Bengali people were notoriously resistant to the gospel and that Jesus had never been proclaimed in this village. He said it would be one of the greatest joys of his life to be able to plant a church there.

After we arrived and quickly surveyed the school building where we would be holding the medical clinic, the village wanted to officially welcome us. We were led on a procession from the school to the middle of the village by dancing women and a couple of drummers. In less than 10 minutes, we arrived at the village square where the entire village was assembled. They seated us in chairs, danced a bit more for us, and then presented us each with garlands of marigolds. Their hospitality was truly humbling. They were very appreciative we had come to conduct the medical clinic. After they had me say a few words on behalf of the team, we walked back to the school and got to work. Our translators for the next couple of days we were to be in West Bengal were students from the university in Santiniketan. None of them were believers, being typical liberal-minded college students. So that they would understand what they were translating, all of the counselors shared the Ecube with their particular translator. When Nancy, a team member from Wisconsin, shared with Biva, her translator, Biva began crying and eventually accepted Christ. When I later asked Biva about it, she told me, “I can’t believe that he (Jesus) did all of that for me.” It was a great start to the day.

The clinic moved smoothly and so did the counselling. For the day, we saw about 175 patients. We did find the Bengalis to be more unreceptive to the gospel, but over the course of the day, we did see many professions of faith. This was despite a Hindu priest who showed up and tried to discredit what we were doing in the eyes of the villagers. It was a long, tiring day, but well with it. Please pray for our team that we would finish the week strong. Friday we will going into another Bengali village where there is currently a small cell group of 2 believing families. Also pray for Ranjeet. Since there had previously been no believers in Kamardanga, he must do all of the follow up and discipleship on his own. He is excited to do it and to finally have a church in that village, but it will be a lot of hard work. Ranjeet is such a devoted Christ-follower. He shared with our team last night that a few years ago, he was run out of the neighboring Muslim village after sharing the gospel there. The villagers had looked for where he lived in order to do him harm. Now, just a few years later, he is going to be shepherding a new flock of believers in the adjacent village. God is good.

Today (Wednesday), we were to travel to another remote Santali village in what would be our last ministry day in Jharkhand. As we arrived at the site this morning, we saw that the tent that had been constructed yesterday had been disassembled, moved several miles, and reassembled for us by the pastors and Christian brothers. The setting was a pasture in the midst of mountains, lush foliage, and numerous rice fields. As usual, when we approached the clinic site, there was already a long line of villagers waiting to be seen by our medical crew. The line didn’t appear to be as long as the previous days, but at day’s end, we ended up seeing nearly 250 people.

I’m so proud of our team. After just a few days of working together on our first e3 medical trip in India, everyone moves right to their places minutes after we arrive on site. It’s amazing because we are at a different site each day with a different layout. The workers at the registration desk are constantly busy asking questions and filling out the patient forms for the villagers. The doctors and nurse practitioner work tirelessly in seeing patient after patient with very few breaks. The pharmacy is always scrambling to find the prescribed medicines, distribute them in the proper dosage, and counsel the villagers through translators about the ordered dosage. And the counselors see person after person, taking the necessary time to share the gospel with each individual and pray with them for their needs. I’ll have to wait until my next update to give the number of professions of faith from today, but God really did some miracles in peoples’ lives.

After our 2-hour ride back to the hotel, we staggered into the eating area to have dinner. No matter how exhausted we are at the end of a day in the field, there is something about our worship time together in the evenings that juices everyone up a bit. After singing several praise songs, sharing stories from the field of how God moved, and hearing a brief devotion from God’s Word, we’re all ready to head back out into the villages. Please pray for us tomorrow. We will be shifting our ministry emphasis from the Jharkhand villages to the West Bengali villages. The good news? We don’t have to leave the hotel until 8:00, so everyone gets a little more sleep. The bad news? Ranjeet has informed us that tomorrow’s work will be hard as the Bengali people are not very open to the gospel. He said if we have a few professions of faith, it would be a good day. But after seeing all that God has done already this week, I don’t think our team is going to settle for that.

Our plan for Tuesday was to head to a different Santali village to conduct another medical clinic. In order to be able to see more people, we decided we needed to leave an hour earlier for the field. After breakfast, our convoy headed out at 6:30 and made the 2-plus hour drive. Upon arriving, we found a beautiful tent constructed of bamboo poles and beautiful tapestries, which would serve as our clinic. It had 4 different sections - one for the pharmacy and eyeglasses, two for the exam areas, and one for counseling. The rest of the counseling was done outdoors near the rice fields.

When we had arrived, there was already a long line of people, much longer than the day before. Over the course of the day, we saw a variety of medical conditions - from colds and menstrual cramps to cerebral palsy, polio, and malaria. Some of the folks we could treat with medication and others we could not, but we prayed with all of them. For the day, we were able to see over 230 people. The sad part was that we had to turn away over 100 people since our team had to get back to the hotel before dark. However, before we dismissed them, we were able to hand out multivitamins to all of them. Also, Ranjeet had them sit in a semicircle and shared the Ecube with them. Many people made professions of faith in Christ. In the words of the famous philosopher, Ice Cube, it was a good day.

In just a few short days, God has really moved in the midst of our team of Americans and Indian nationals. We’ve seen nearly 350 people in the first two days of the medical clinic. Of those, over 200 of them have made professions of faith in Jesus. It is such a high for our team, but please pray for them. I can tell that some fatigue is beginning to set in as we approach hump day in our ministry week. The travel to get to India, the hard work, the long days, and the lengthy travel over poor roads are taking a toll on all of us. Yet each team member has a joy in serving Christ that is overcoming their physical fatigue. It is inspiring to see.

This morning (Monday) after breakfast, our team loaded up with all our medical supplies and drove to a remote location in Jharkhand. Man, was it remote. It took us a little less than 2.5 hours to reach it. We went from paved roads to dirt roads to ditches where roads used to be. We had to stop our 4 SUVs twice to fill the road in with dirt and stones just to make it passable.

When we arrived, the villagers were very hospitable, grateful that we would come that far to meet some of their medical needs. I feel safe in saying we were probably the first non-Indian people they had ever seen.

Let me brag a bit on our team. I have been told that this is e3’s first medical trip to India. Whether it is or not, we really didn’t know what to expect as far as the facility we’d be working in nor how we would lay out the clinic. In about 20 minutes after arriving, the team had assessed the situation, unpacked the medicines and supplies, and set up the flow of the clinic to maximize efficiency. After a person was registered on the front porch, they would then be seen by one of our 2 doctors or our nurse practitioner. Then they would proceed to a room where their prescription would be filled and where they could choose from a variety of eyeglasses if needed. Lastly they would be escorted outside under a shade tree to meet with a pair of individuals who would share the gospel with them using the Ecube.

In about 6 hours, we were able to see over 100 people and probably had around 40 professions of faith in Christ. We also had the opportunity to pray with people about their infirmities that our clinic was not equipped to treat. As usual, I’m amazed at how willing the national believers are to jump right in to share the gospel or to pray with someone. It’s inspiring and convicting.

After our long ride back to the hotel, we had dinner and had a sweet time of sharing stories from the day, singing, and simply worshipping the great God we serve. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the week.

God has already been at work! Not one delay or cancelled flight! After meeting up with the rest our team in Frankfurt, we flew to Kolkata, arriving Sunday at 1am. We then drove 3 hours to our hotel and ate breakfast. After breakfast, we napped until lunch.

In the afternoon, our team prayer walked in the area around the hotel. Just minutes from the hotel is a university that is home to over 8000 students from all over India. We were told that it is a hard area in which to share the gospel since it is an academic enviroment that encourages acceptance of many different philosophies and spiritual beliefs. Not surprisingly, it is also a place where there are many student suicides. The spiritual darkness on the campus was palpable.

After dinner, we went to Pastor Ranjeet’s house and ministry headquarters. We got to meet the translators we will be working with this week. They were all university students and all unbelievers. Ranjeet had me share the gospel through the Evangecube, and I could see a mixed bag of reactions. Some of the young people expressed openness and nodded as I shared, while others wouldn’t even make eye contact with me. Our team realizes that as we minister at the medical clinic, our translators are going to be our primary mission field.

Please pray for the medical clinic, especially tomorrow. We’ve never done one in India and really aren’t sure what to expect. We anticipate at least 150 people tomorrow. Our team is very excited and probably a little nervous. One thing we know - whatever happens this week, it will be a complete God thing.

Our team is ready to head to Jharkhand and West Bengal in a few days.  The last few days before a trip are pretty crazy - making sure I’ve packed everything I need, making sure things have been done at home while I’m gone, and trying to protect the precious remaining family time I have left.  Time management prior to a trip is a skill I am still trying to develop - not there yet.

In any event, our team covets your prayers for us.  Here is a prayer calendar for our trip.  It gives an approximation of what our schedule will be while we’re gone.  Of course, that is all subject to change once we touch down in Kolkata.  But your prayers will help the trip to be divinely successful, regardless of how our plans on the field change.  It looks like I should have data capabilities there, and if that’s the case, I’ll update the blog when I can.  Blessings.