Dear brothers and sisters,

Last week, I was blessed to visit and teach in a small village church about four hundred kilometers away. This was a very special trip for me, for I was able to reunite with pastor A___________. In 1998, God graciously used me to lead this brother to Christ, and then later baptize him. After two years of growth, he recognized God’s call, and committed himself wholly to serve the Lord. After Bible training, he went to a village to plant a church among a particular group of people called the Yadav.

The Yadav people are a caste comprised of milkmen, cow-herders, breeders, and laborers. Their traditional occupation is animal husbandry. They consist of both land owning, and a land-less people. According to Joshua project, this particular group is one of the least reached, even though they are found in every state in India, along with four other countries. This is not a small people group. It has a population of 58,296,000. Of that population, it is estimated that they consist of 0.00% Christian, 0.00% Evangelical, and 100% Hindu. The need is great.

By God’s grace, A__________ has been used to plant three churches among this people group, in three different villages. This man labors with much zeal for Christ, and with little resources. In order to meet the needs of his family, he would work during the day. In the evenings, he would then go out in to proclaim the gospel. So far, the majority of those who have responded to the gospel call have been women. The concept of Christianity among this people is that it is a religion for a lower caste. This prevents many of the men from listening to the message.

He recently conducted two days of Bible classes for the church believers. I was blessed to be able to teach three of the sessions. I covered the topics of, “The Infallibility of the Word of God,” and “The Sufficiency of Scripture.” The Lord seemed to have blessed our time together in fellowship, prayer, and study.

Please pray for these churches, as all of these believers are first generation Christians. Pray that they have an effective witness in their homes and community. Pray that they will grow in the grace of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, passing these truths on to the next generation.

Your brother and sister in His vineyard,

Sunder and Glory