SEND! magazine Second Quarter 2007: A Matter of Multiplication
A Matter of Multiplication
Jobi Masih had only been on the mission field in Chhattisgarh, India, for a few weeks, and he was already overwhelmed. This young missionary had spent months in classroom study and field work at a Gospel for Asia Bible college. But none of it could fully prepare him for the wave of emotion that washed over him as he thought about the people in his home village where he had come to serve following his graduation. His mission was to tell them about Jesus, but he had barely begun when the crushing weight of the spiritual responsibility nearly paralyzed him. For a brief moment, he was anxious about, perhaps even doubtful of, his call to be a missionary. How in the world could he be everywhere he needed to be, talking to everyone who needed to hear about Jesus? He was just one man, and there were thousands of people in this one small district in India who needed to hear the Gospel.
As he fretted over the enormity of the task, Jobi cried out to God. That's when God gave this new missionary the solution to his dilemma. It was simply a matter of multiplication.
"God gave me a vision in which He said, 'You have to preach, but you cannot preach everywhere,' "Jobi remembered." 'You have to raise up some young people whom you can send for training, and after they finish their training, they can reach their own village people.' So I began to implement this strategy."
That was 10 years ago. To date, Jobi has personally sent more than 40 believers to Bible college and onto the mission field. Jobi's ministry growth model is based on the New Testament, according to Vishwas Nagra, who oversees GFA's ministry in Chhattisgarh.
"Jesus sent the disciples out two by two, and Paul told Timothy, 'You do the same,' " Vishwas explains. "From this biblical perspective, we adopted the strategy of training our pastors to teach the believers so that they can become teachers or pastors and bring others to Christ."
Celebrate and Send
At dusk on a warm April evening, 42 men in black robes and mortarboards form two rows and march into a large tent for their graduation ceremony. They have invested three years of their lives preparing for ministry at a Gospel for Asia Bible college. Inside the tent, Jobi is waiting to see five of the men he mentored launch into ministry.
Gospel for Asia leaders from all over India attend the ceremony, which features both solemn and celebratory moments. The graduates spend time in worship and then kneel in front of their chairs as the leaders pray for them. Finally, the men file across a stage, and M.A. Lalachan, who oversees GFA's work in central India, hands them a diploma.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, there are big smiles all around as Jobi's five graduates line up and take turns thanking him and exchanging hearty embraces. Jobi is nearly as excited as the new missionaries. He's ready to see these men multiply themselves in the lives of others.
"It brings me much joy to see these five people graduating today," Jobi says. "I struggled a lot to build them up and send them here. I'm very happy that they are going to the field. They will bring many people to Christ."
As the men begin their work, they face the same doubts, fears and trials Jobi has endured for the past decade. The new missionaries will find answers to their problems by remembering their mentor and asking themselves, "How would Jobi handle this?"
All Eyes on Jobi
Vamsi Pakaloma, one of the graduates, admits his life was in shambles when he met Jobi. Then Jobi told Vamsi about Jesus, and his life totally changed. Vamsi received Jesus as his Savior and left behind his life of sin to become a GFA missionary.
Vamsi's first step in preparing for ministry was an intense time of learning in a shishya bhavan (SHISH-yuh bah-VAUN), or "home of disciples." The goal of the shishya bhavan is to teach the future missionaries how to study and obey the Bible and to live a biblical lifestyle. For six months, the missionaries-to-be are discipled by a godly, mature pastor.
There are four to six students in each shishya bhavan. Depending on the pastor's accommodations, the students either live with him or in a house nearby. This gives the future missionaries many opportunities to closely watch the pastor in both his public and private life.
He pours his life into them and becomes their example in every way. He guides them as a spiritual mentor, loves them like brothers and even becomes a parent, guiding them toward maturity.
Jobi led Vamsi's shishya bhavan. Often the students' provider, he filled in the gaps in their everyday needs—covering everything from notebooks to socks to medical treatment. Vamsi was humbled as he daily witnessed Pastor Jobi sacrificially giving of himself and how much he depended on the Lord for his very existence.
Vamsi's classmate, Faisal Rawal, remembers Jobi as a consistent example of proper Christian living.
"After coming to the shishya bhavan, I watched Pastor Jobi and learned how to behave, how to maintain a disciplined life and how to talk with others. I learned all of these things through Pastor Jobi's life," Faisal says.
Jobi's actions also showed the men how to live out Jesus' commandment to "love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:39). Faisal says his mentor treated everyone equally—regardless of age or social status.
"Pastor used to pray for all of these—for the poor people, for people having family problems. Our pastor prayed genuine prayers and fasting prayers," Faisal recalls. "I learned a great deal through his life, through his teaching, through his behavior and through his gentleness."
Pastor Jobi's careful mentoring of these young men continues to yield dramatic results.
"I have been able to meet many different students and can tell the difference in those students who were mentored by Pastor Jobi," notes Nagesh Nishant, a dorm father at the Bible college. "They are very well-versed in the application of Scripture for preaching and teaching. They have the correct priorities in their life. They have put aside many of the negative cultural influences, and they rise to the top of the class because they are prepared. I can assure you that they will be very successful in their ministries."
Their success will come as they also multiply their faith into the lives of believers and send out new missionaries.
The Gospel Changed Their Lives
Pastor Palak Doshia has known Jobi since they were both youngsters. Back then, these two classmates were headed down the same path as millions of other poor young men in India. They accepted without question the Hindu way of life, even though it was that religion's caste system that classified them as Dalits—the "Untouchables"—the lowest of the low in Indian society. Their fate would be to live a life of poverty and shame.
When Jobi finished school, he worked as a day laborer, earning a little bit of cracked wheat or rice as a day's wages. His family lived in a tiny house without electricity or running water. There was no money for clothes or shoes. Jobi remembers a time when he wore the same clothes every day for almost three years. During this time, Jobi could only think of one thing—"How can I get out of this life?"
The answer came when he saw a film about the life of Jesus.
"I was convinced of the living truth," Jobi recalls. "The mighty works of the Lord and His power of saving lost souls had a great appeal to my heart. In the light of the Christian doctrines, I examined my past and found that I was a great sinner before the Lord. With a repentant heart, I cried for the Lord to cleanse me in His precious blood."
Palak could see that his friend had changed from the inside out.
"After receiving Jesus Christ and finishing Bible school, his life was totally changed. His character was totally changed," Palak remembers.
Shortly after Jobi began ministering in their village, Palak witnessed the deliverance of a demon-possessed woman as Jobi simply prayed. The local witch doctors had predicted that the woman would die that day. The desperate family sent for Jobi. He brought Palak, who had recently received Jesus as his Savior, with him to the woman's house.
The new believer and the missionary knelt beside the woman, and Jobi said, "Don't fear what Satan is saying. We can pray."
As they prayed, Palak saw a shaft of light shine down on the woman, and the evil spirit left her body. That day Palak began to grasp the power of God, and he committed his life to serve as a missionary. Palak is now also multiplying himself into believers and sending out missionaries from a church just a few miles from where Jobi ministers.
"If Jobi had not changed and introduced me to Jesus when he did, I would be like my many friends who are roaming here and there without any purpose—drunkards without a future," Palak says.
Jobi's First Disciples
Jobi graduated from a Gospel for Asia Bible college in 1997 and immediately returned to his native village in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Missionaries assigned to Chhattisgarh often endure gut-wrenching trials to spread the Gospel.
"Our missionaries have been kidnapped and stoned. In different villages, they are subject to social opposition," state leader Vishwas says. "In the midst of all this, the ministry is growing and developing."
Nearly all of Chhattisgarh's 21 million people are descendants of the area's indigenous tribal groups. Many of the state's elected officials are anti-Christian extremists. More than 90 percent of the people practice a form of Hindu-based witchcraft. Others worship animals and inanimate objects, such as rocks and trees. Only about 2 percent of the population is Christian.
Jobi and another missionary assigned to work with him knew their task would be difficult, so they spent three days fasting and praying before entering the village.
Their first task was a three-day open-air meeting under a massive, ancient tree in the village. Five hundred people came to the meeting on the first day. But as soon as word got out that Jobi was preaching the Gospel, a group of anti-Christian extremists disrupted the meeting and came after Jobi swinging large clubs. But they missed and broke two chairs instead. Humiliated, they ran off, and the worship service resumed.
When Tarkesh Mittal, the leader of the anti-Christian group, lay down to sleep that night, the sounds of the worship service wafted into his bedroom window. The next day, he went back to the meeting, this time without his club. As he listened to Jobi's message, he was convicted of his sin and received Jesus as his Savior. Jobi had found his first disciple. Three months later, Tarkesh committed his life to the ministry and is now multiplying himself into believers and sending out missionaries in a neighboring village.
A few months later, Jobi and another missionary traveled to a nearby village to distribute tracts and conduct a tent meeting. Another group of anti-Christian extremists surrounded the missionaries and began slapping them in the face. They also destroyed all their audio equipment. But the attackers were drunk and disorganized, and soon abandoned their task. Two of the attackers returned later, when they were sober, and received Jesus as their Savior. They are now pastors who are multiplying themselves into believers and sending out missionaries from two other GFA-related churches in Chhattisgarh.
Educating the Poorest
Eventually, they pooled their resources and opened a school, which drew students from surrounding villages too. Children walked across fields, climbed down steep rock trails and hopped from one rock to another to cross a river to get to the school. Parents donated their time and their own meager resources to keep the school running. Jobi's wife, Madhuri, even operated a dormitory for the students. Sadly, the costs of operating the school were too high, and it closed.
"I was very discouraged and ashamed when we had to close," Jobi admitted.
Jobi fasted and prayed about the school situation, completely unaware of the burden that God had placed on the heart of Gospel for Asia President K.P. Yohannan. The two men were both looking to God for a way to provide for the poorest of India's children to be educated. As Jobi prayed, GFA staff was laying the groundwork for what is now the Bridge of Hope program.
Jobi was overjoyed when he learned that his village would be one of the first to receive a Bridge of Hope center. He began to spread the news about the school, but because the previous school had closed, the people were skeptical.
Meanwhile, a metal bookcase, desk and chair to furnish the building were waiting to be picked up in a nearby village. Jobi could not find anyone to deliver the furniture, so he decided to do it himself, even though his only method of transportation was a bicycle. Hundreds of people stopped to stare at the site of the pastor pedaling the bicycle loaded down with the chair and bookcase while he balanced a metal desk on his head.
These parents were learning what Jobi's disciples already knew: If you want to see how a Christian is supposed to act, just watch Jobi. His actions speak louder than any words that come out of his mouth.
After the furniture delivery, Jobi was inundated by parents wanting to enroll their children. As a result, more than 25 families from a neighboring village who sent their children to the Bridge of Hope center received Jesus as their Savior and formed a church in that village.
And now, which of these new believers will answer the call to serve as a missionary like Jobi? Judging from the events of the past decade, at least five people from that congregation will choose to set aside their own desires to multiply themselves in the lives of others. More people will hear about Jesus. Churches will be planted, and the Gospel will be multiplied again and again, until everyone in Chhattisgarh—and all of Asia—is reached with the Gospel. This is Jobi Masih's vision.
More on the Web:
Read more stories about how God is using Jobi Masih in ministry at www.gfa.org/send.
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