Waldron Mission Fund

 

Under the oversight of the elders of the Crossville church of Christ, PO Box 211, Crossville, TN 38557

 

Vol. 42                                                       February 2008                                                                           No. 2

Bandits, Thugs and Touts

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I have indicated Garry Jones, Don Iverson and I work together to locate faithful native brothers in India whom we can assist in developing schools of preaching.  By the grace of God – beloved that is not just a cliché - we are now working with twenty three Bible Schools in five of India’s twenty-six states.  Although we work to open up new schools, as well as keeping the previous ones going, there are other American brothers who go over periodically to assist in the teaching programs or to hold gospel meetings. 

 

At the very time I am writing this (7:00 a.m., February 8) Garry Jones is in the state of Bihar, in north India just south of the country of Nepal.  That state, which has a population of more than 82,000,000, is about the size of Tennessee.  The Indian people are generally very peaceful, although they have pockets of violence in some areas.  Bihar itself is in many ways wild and woolly, perhaps somewhat like Kansas or Texas after the civil war in the U.S.

 

Two years ago brother Sunny David, a native gospel preacher of New Delhi, and I flew into the state capital, Putna, to search out any Christians, who might be meeting, with whom we could work to establish a school of preaching.  There was no congregation in the city.  We had learned previously there are perhaps a dozen small churches of Christ in the far northeast corner of the state near a city called Purnea.  The existence of those churches is the reason Garry Jones is there holding a gospel meeting, yet, it has been a ordeal for him.

 

In Purnea, which is far from the capital, he has run into touts and thugs who threaten him or seek to intimidate him to pay for lodging or taxi service far beyond normal charges.  In order to offset the necessity of dealing with such rascals Garry has elected to stay in the rural village where the gospel meeting is being held.  There is no electricity and few other facilities, so our brother is staying in the home of a local member, sleeping on a bed of straw, washing from a bucket, and using makeshift toilet facilities.  Even the two native brethren working with him are apprehensive about the situation.  He has come to the conclusion that it would be extremely difficult to carry on the work of a school of preaching there.  He is to be in that area until Monday the 12^th, then travel to Dibrugarh in Assam to teach Preparation and Delivery of Sermons to the ten brothers in that school of preaching (SOP).  Please pray for him and the rest of us. 

 

It may be that we will have to begin a SOP on the border of Bihar in the state of West Bengal and invite Bihari brothers to come to us for training.  We must have well-trained (Two Timothy Two Two) gospel preachers to preach the word among the 82,000,000 in that state (bandits, thugs and touts not with standing).  As Paul by the Spirit said, “How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher” (Rom. 10:14).  Garry Jones’ trip into a place like Purnea, Bihar illustrates our addiction to training preachers as it is written “how shall they preach except they be sent?” (Rom. 10:15).  Brother Jones will be back in the U.S. by the first of March as he is still working on his own support. The church at Clinton, TN is his sponsor (phone 865-457-7877).

 

MORE ON SCOUTING OUT THE LAND FOR SOP SITES

 

Last month I told of being in Shillong, N.E. India during December teaching the book of Revelation to the 23 young men that we have in the Northeast Bible Institute.  (Brother Robert Laux of Camden, TN is there teaching now).  From Shillong I traveled about 400 miles north to the mountainous region (Himalaya foot hills) of West Bengal with the specific purpose of seeking out a place for a school of preaching that would serve the region.  One of the places visited was the district of Darjeeling where mountain tops are literally covered with tea plants and interspersed with deep valleys covered with jungle growth and trees.  In order to reach the little churches scattered across the mountains two or three brothers from the area and I would rent a taxi to take us as far as it could go and then we would walk a quarter or a half mile to the meeting place on a mountain top or into a steep valley where it was impossible for a car to go. 

 

There is one town, which I passed through that would serve well to establish a SOP, but at present there is no congregation there.   The region is peaceful and we may be able to send some Hindi speaking brothers to plant a congregation and lay the foundation for a preacher training program.  From West Bengal as I reported last month I flew south to Tamil Nadu. 

 

A MARRIAGE AT ANGIE GREENE

 

One thing I didn’t mention in the January Newsletter, which you will rejoice to hear, was that Lily Aruldass’ middle son, Stan (27), was married on January 3^rd.  The wedding was held in the hall of a local church.  The bride, whose name is Megala, was dressed in a beautiful sari.  Stan wore a dark suit and both were decorated with large garlands of flowers.  Don had arranged to arrive from the States for the wedding and both he and I were invited to speak.  Lily as you may recall was the principal of the Bible school for women in Coimbatore, known as Angie Greene.  She served from 1992 until January 2006 when her life was cut short by congestive heart failure.  Stan’s father continues to do a wonderful job as principal of the preaching school for single men.

 

Don spent most of January in the coastal region of Tamil Nadu preaching among the churches which were established over the last three years in the wake of the Tsunami.  More on that next month.

 

Please keep us in your prayers and especially Garry Jones.

 

With love to all,

 

Jim E. Waldron