Dear Praying Friends,
What a Joy it is to share the many blessings of our ministry over the past few months.
The construction work for the church in Elamamthitta continues slowly but surely. Please continue praying that this work will be completed soon.
Praise the Lord for receiving the building number from the village office for Bethel Baptist Church in Kunnamakula, which gives us the electricity connection and the ability to occupy the facility please pray with us for the Lord to provide chairs and a smokeless stove. The cost will be $250.
Continue to pray for the $20,000 needed for the construction of Immanuel Baptist Church in Valamboor. We believe that through His people the Lord will provide for the need.
A new work (Bethel Baptist Church) has been started in the town of Kothamamgalam. This small gathering has about 35 members. The church is meeting in a rented hall near the bus station. The first order of business is to purchase a small property for a cemetery. This will cost approximately $8,000. In America, when a church conducts a funeral, the burial services take place on the public property of various cemetery sites, but that is not possible in India. If we need to conduct burial services, the funeral is performed on the ground belonging to the church, The large nominal Christian churches have a cemetery on their property, but the New Testament churches have to find other means. A small plot is for sale, Please pray with us for the Lord to provide this much-needed property.
On September 11 we held our third annual Bible Quiz Championships. Young people from eight churches in our church-planting ministry came together or another time of tremendous quizzing. The youth were questioned from 1 Peter 3-5. Fellowship Baptist Church of Puthencruz has brought home the trophy for the third year in a row, and now they get to keep it. Even though Sophie was a past quizzer in her youth-group days, we made sure all the churches understood that we had no part in training our own church kids. Ritz Sebastian, our youth director, coordinates the youth not only in memorizing the passage, but teaches them how to meditate on God’s Word.
From September through the end of December we will be hosting a number of visitors. Please pray for safe travel and for their safety while they are in India. Please pray for Pastor and Mrs. Nelson from Colorado, Pastor Pearson Johnson and Dr. Claud Wiggins from Michigan, and Pastors Joel Tetreau and Gary Davis from Arizona. Please pray that God will bless their ministries and lead their ministering in a way that will strengthen the churches through their visits.
On a personal note, please pray for Santhosh as he is encountering some problems with his blood sugar. Diabetes is present in his family. Sophie is having problems with her right elbow. The doctor says it’s a case of tennis elbow. She began some ultrasound therapy, but the doctor says she needs rest. She ended up getting a cortisone injection in that elbow.
We praise the Lord for the Freedom we have in Kerala to preach the Word and carry out Bible classes and worship services; however, our brothers and sisters in the State of Orissa are under tremendous persecution. Loss of many lives and much destruction to property is accumulating every day. Please pray for our fellow believers in Orissa. Persecution has now begun south in the state of Mahrashtra and entering into Bangalore.
We earnestly covet your prayers for us and the ministry. Only through the preaching and hearing of the Word will God continue to open hearts for souls to receive salvation. Pray for the many contacts we are making through our visitation and outreach programs. Pray they will recieve Christ and be added to the churches. Thank you to all our supporting churches and friends for your love and encouragement, for sacrificially financing this ministry, and or encouraging us through email and letters.
Serving Him with you,
Santhosh, Sophie, Joanna, and Jonathan George
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