On a Road Trip with Eternal Rewards
When Raji began his ministry in an unreached community of central India, the villagers weren't impressed. They just assumed he couldn't get any other job. Many men in the village were alcoholics, beat their wives and didn't work.
For the first three years, no one would lease Pastor Raji a room. Even when five families came to Christ and Raji began constructing a church building, he was threatened with an ax and all his materials were stolen.
Raji was young, single and small in stature—but his vision was big. Even when he faced these challenges, his burning passion to reach all of India wouldn't be quenched.
He traveled to nearby villages and established "mission stations," areas where he planned to concentrate his efforts. But there was still so much more to do. And when a Gospel for Asia mobile team came to work alongside him, Pastor Raji knew the Lord was bringing his dreams closer to reality.
The Life of a Mobile Team
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On the go year-round—except for the hottest part of the summer—mobile teams are one of Gospel for Asia's most physically demanding, yet eternally rewarding, ministries.
The teams travel in rugged, Jeep-like vehicles to remote villages, their ultimate goal to encourage and assist local pastors. They stay approximately a week with each pastor, sleeping wherever he can accommodate them, usually on thin mats covering a dirt floor.
Team members visit surrounding communities too distant for the pastor to reach by bike or by foot. They hold open-air meetings, distribute Gospel literature and show Man of Mercy (a film on the life of Jesus), often in places where Christians have never preached the Good News before. After showing the film, the team members will counsel and pray with those coming to Christ or anyone who has a need.
Each member of the team has a different responsibility, whether it be over the literature, film equipment, music, driving or vehicle care. The team must often come up with creative solutions for unique problems, such as having an umbrella handy to cover the equipment in the rain, staying alert to protect it from wandering buffaloes, or keeping the vehicle running during the long distances between repair shops.
‘My Dream Has Come True'
Working with Pastor Raji in village after village, team members first went to each house during the day, handing out tracts, sharing about Jesus and inviting villagers to the film show after dark. That evening, the team's opening music attracted large crowds. In a short time, the film expressed the heart of the Gospel—Christ's life, death and resurrection—to people who had never heard this message before.
After years of steady labor, Pastor Raji was able to bring the Good News to five new villages. He not only received an open door to these villages, but attendance at existing mission stations nearly doubled. Furthermore, he gained more credibility and respect when those in his own village saw the team working with him. Now they were more willing to hear what he had to say, knowing he had an organization standing behind him.
The work Pastor Raji did with the mobile team would've taken months otherwise.
"In this way my desire, my dream has come true, because I can quickly share the Gospel with so many people," Pastor Raji shared excitedly. "With my own eyes I am seeing God fulfilling my vision!"
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Discipleship Is the Key
But if it ended with the team leaving behind new believers in remote locations by themselves, the fruit would not remain. The team knows discipling is the key to cultivating a Christian fellowship—and that is why each pastor is as much a crucial part of this effort as the team itself. Pastor Raji stays in touch with each villager who came to Christ as a result of the mobile team's visit.
The team also left behind a legacy of inspiration in Pastor Raji's congregation. Church members experienced revival during the week the team was there. Many were challenged as they worked alongside the mobile team, witnessing their boldness and burden for the lost. Among these were six teenagers.
"By seeing the team members' exemplary lives and their commitment to God's ministry, Pastor Raji "said, "these young people were really inspired and decided to help me spread the Gospel all over the surrounding villages."
These young believers from Pastor Raji's church have now formed their own outreach group. Using three bicycles, they travel three days a week to do evangelistic work. Within six months, they brought the Gospel to 50 nearby villages!
Today, Pastor Raji's vision for India remains as strong as ever. He prays every morning over a hand-drawn map—a simple outline of his country with a cross in the middle—that leans against a dung wall in his one-room hut. And now he is seeing God open doors to expand his area of influence.
"I can't explain in words how God worked in my life," he expresses, "but from the bottom of my heart I am giving thanks to God for fulfilling my vision of spreading the Gospel."
