SlumChurch Millionaires

I'll explain the title in a second, but Day Two was amazing:  amazingly long, amazingly busy and amazingly holy.  This update is actually being done at the start of Day Three because, at least for the guys, Day Two started around 5:00 a.m. and ended around 12:30 a.m.this morning.  That's like, a lot of hours of being awake.  But God has blessed us with supernatural, holy energy that has kept us going in spite of utter exhaustion and jetlag - but even more, He has given us so many incredible opportunities.

Day Two started with an hour-long program at St. Matthias school where we did an outdoor rally/assembly for hundreds of Indian children from 1st grade to 12th grade.  We led some songs (and the kids sang so loud, it was incredible), the team danced around like crazy, holy fools, we performed our Daniel and the Lion's Den skit and Tim gave a great message about living our life with Christ.  He even performed an "illusion" that the kids really loved.  Tim also really loves that illusion and he has requested that every time you see him, please ask to do the "red ball" illusion.

Following a snack at a local Indian deli called "McDonalds" and lunch back at David's condo, we went to another school, all-boys this time, for a similar hour-long program with music, skits and Tim's message.  What is amazing, though, is that these children were SO thrilled to get to hang out with us.  As soon as the programs ended, we were mobbed by the kids wanting handshakes, hugs and even autographs.  The autograph requests were really strange at first, but we were able to use those opportunities as we were writing "Jesus Loves You" messages to just share the love of Christ with the kids.  And Lee Salley was a huge hit with the boys following his portrayal of "Satan" in one of our skits - they thought The Incredible Lee was the strongest man on the planet.    Oh, and the kids were such an encouragement to me as so many came up and told me they like the mohawk and all wanted to touch it.  Though, they could've been making fun...and it earned the nickname "Rooster Boy".

Our evening concluded with a 2-hour worship service at a Slum Church and going into it, we had no idea what to expect, so consider our surprise when we walked inbetween two buildings and came across a table, chairs and a PA System just sitting in the middle of this tiny alley.  But we found out, apparently the Holy Spirit hangs out in alleys in India.  As soon as we got there, these beautiful children sang and danced to some of their worship songs which prompted our team to jump into the circle and teach them some of our children's worship songs.  It was beautiful to see and hear these children sing along to "Jesus Loves Me" and "I've Got the Joy" in English within minutes of our arrival.

Then, the church service kicked in.  On a side note, I'm happy to report that apparently the Holy Spirit likes it REALLY loud (and we were BEHIND the speakers), so The 8:30 Band is good to go.  The two pastors led songs, prayers and gave an impassioned message on Psalm 32.  We could understand about 3 words (Alleluia, Jesus and Psalm 32), but the Spirit in that tiny little alley was moving in force.  Every team member was blown away by the deep level of worship these incredibly poor Christians were engaged in - so much so that we all recognized so many of our inadequacies in how, despite our blessings and wealth (far beyond what these Indian believers have), we rarely experience the level of joy and worship that they do.  It was a life-changing moment that we will never forget.

We're about to head down to the Common room for a time of prayer and devotion and then it's off to another school this morning.  This evening, a whole new experience waits for us - we will be heading into a village to be with a church for worship.  While our experiences in town have been amazing, we have all been eagerly anticipating the opportunity to be in the villages and share the love of Christ there.  More than any other experience we've had so far, we will be up against a huge language barrier - but our prayer is that we will be able to communicate the love of Christ beyond this.  To that end, we need our prayers.

Today, please be in prayer for:
  1.  Renewed strength and energy following a very tiring Day Two
  2.  Opportunities to share the love of Christ with the children in the school
  3.  Leading of the Holy Spirit to know how to prepare for the ministries ahead that we don't know about yet
  4.  The ability to transcend the language hurdle with the love of Christ
  5.  Evangelistic opportunities and guidance by the Holy Spirit to know who and how to speak

I really cannot express to you all enough how much your prayers and encouragement mean to us.  Knowing that you're there reading this, lifting us up in prayer and following God's working in India means so much to us.  Thank you for being a blessing to us.  We can't wait to update this thing with a great report from tonight.

-Jeff