India Update

by Brandon on September 2, 2009
in India, Ministry, Personal, Training

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india-mapAs I have said before, later this month I will be spending two weeks in India. I will be a part of a 4 man team to travel from the US to India and train 40 pastors in the state of Chhattisgarh. These pastors are preparing to plant churches in their hometowns. They are high on ambition and passion for evangelism, but lack theological training. That’s where we come in! In just 5 days we will try to cram in as much Biblical training as we possibly can. Here is an itinerary for our trip:

  • Our team will leave from Newark, NJ on Monday, September 14. Our flight is nonstop to New Delhi (over 15 hours!), and we should arrive there 8:15 pm the next day (New Delhi time).
  • Wednesday, September 16, we will do some sightseeing in New Delhi, as well as visiting the Taj Mahal. Very excited about this!
  • Thursday, September 17 we will fly from New Delhi to Raipur (capital of Chhatttisgarh). From there we will drive 3 hours to Bilaspur, our home for the next few days.
  • Friday and Saturday are the first 2 days of training. Each day we will drive an hour to the village of Pamgarh (where the training center is located). Two guys will give lessons in the morning and the other two will teach in the afternoon.
  • On Sunday, September 20, the 4 of us will split up and preach in local churches. From what I have heard, these services are LONG! I am already preparing myself to give 2 seperate sermons!
  • Monday through Wednesday are more days of training. Each trainer has about 2 hours to teach each day (including translating).
  • Thursday, September 24 is a day filled with traveling. We will spend the whole day heading back to Raipur and then New Delhi. Our flight leaves New Delhi at 10:50 pm (New Delhi time).
  • After another 15+ hour flight, we will arrive back in Newark at 4:35 am on Friday, September 25.

Here are some prayer requests for the trip:

  • Safe travels. A good portion of our trip will be on airplanes. Luckily everything is direct so we don’t have to worry about connection flights.
  • Training. Pray for the 4 of us as we try to communicate as much information as possible. My biggest difficulty is trying to figure out the most essential things to say. Pray also for the 40 pastors we will be training. The amount of training coming at them will be like trying to drink from a fire hose!
  • The Church in India. It will be interesting to meet with and encourage the Christians in India. Pray for the congregations we will be preaching to on Sunday.
  • Family in the USA. Pray for our spouses and family members back in the United States, as we will be apart for almost 2 weeks.

If you want to receive updates about the trip, email me (brandon AT shoreyouthministry DOT com) and I will put you on our mailing list. We hope to send an email update daily (it depends on how close the internet cafe is to our hotel). Also, be sure to check out my Posterous account (BrandonSchmidt.me) as we will try to post pictures there.

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