Four days and counting...

Four days and counting until we leave for Calicut India.

If you feel led, I encourage you to forward this blog to EVERYONE in your email inbox and then ask them to forward it to everyone in their inbox and so on until everyone who will pray is praying. Also, if you would like to keep up and pray with us along this journey over the next 2 weeks, subscribe to this blog and encourage your contacts to do the same. Six of us leave Jackson Monday morning to begin a long journey to Calicut, India. We are going to an unreached people group called the Mapilla. They are a group of over 10 million Muslims who have no missionary, no church, and no Gospel witness. If anything is to be accomplished there, there must be prayer, prayer, prayer.

Satan must be threatened because he is really working hard to hinder the upcoming work. I have had an extremely stressful week. At home two of my children are sick. Luke has a throat infection and a fever. Jude's eye has swollen shut. It makes it difficult to think about leaving for 10 days when things are not ideal. That is Satan's way of distracting from the mission. One other team member has had a rough two weeks. I talked with 2 other team members today who have had it rough today. That makes at least four of us that are experiencing trials leading up to this mission trip. It should not surprise us however. The Mapilla people have been held hostage to "religion" for years. Satan does not want them to experience the relationship that they can have with God through Christ. Satan is feeling threatened and it is imperative that everyone pray fervently and persistently for us and for this mission.

Again, I want to encourage you to pray for several things.

1. Pray that the Mapilla people will begin to have their eyes opened and their hearts softened so that they will be open and responsive to the Gospel. There are numerous reports of unreached Muslims having dreams and visions of Jesus and of mission teams bringing them the truth. It is my prayer that some of these Muslims have had dreams and visions that prepare them for our arrival with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray that the Mapilla will begin having visions and dreams and that their hearts will be softened and prepared for the Gospel according to God's will.

2. Pray that God will open doors to share the Gospel in its entirety with people whose hearts have been prepared. Pray that we will be able to get the Word of God into the hands of people whose hearts are open to reading it. Pray that we would be able to build relationships with individuals that will turn into long term contacts. Pray that we will find a person of peace that God would use to initiate a biblical church planting movement among the Mapilla people of India. Pray that God would do something miraculous and undeniable among the Mapilla people.

3. Pray for our safety and the safety of our families as we are gone. Pray that we will all walk very closely with God from this point on, and throughout the entire trip. Pray that we will be discerning, wise, and anointed by the power of the Holy Spirit to be used mightily of Him for His glory. Pray that Satan and his demons will be bound and that a hedge of protection will be placed around us and our families during this time. Several people have asked the names of those on the team. Since India is considered a hostile country to the Gospel, we do not believe that it would be wise to list the names of those on the team on the internet. God knows who is going and that will be sufficient.

In short, if anything good is to come out of this first trip to this unreached people, we must MUST have the prayers of godly people behind us. Would you pray? Would you please forward this blog to other who will pray? Would you sign up to follow this blog so that you can keep up with us along the way? Would you commit to pray and encourage others to as well? Your prayers will be coveted and you will have a part in whatever it is that God chooses to do!

Thanks in advance for your eternal investment. Until next time…