Pursuing His Will

“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized they had been with Jesus.”

-Acts 4:13

I realize that the last post I sent out was over a month ago! Well, a lot has happened in this time period, some great things, and some not so great. I am doing well as I have started the spring semester at Dallas Theological Seminary. As a recap, in my last few posts I was writing about Esther, Advent, and Christmas.

During the last week of 2023 I was able to spend that time with my family back home in Indiana which was great! Then when I traveled back to Maryland, I started the year 2024 with covid, and I was sick for two weeks. That being said, I didn’t have the energy to write anything, thus why I am writing to you now.

A couple of things on the horizon that I am excited about are my upcoming mission trip to Hyderabad, India and starting this fresh semester in Seminary. I will be traveling from February 1 – February 12 to India with one of my pastors at Bay Area Community Church. While in country, we will be teaching various topics of Theology, Bible Exposition & Interpretation, and Church Leadership to over 75+ new Pastors of newly formed churches in South India!

God has presented such an incredible opportunity to be His hands and feet in a foreign land, and I am so excited to experience how He uses us to equip and train the Pastors there, many of whom will be traveling from other parts of India to receive this training. Thankfully, God has established one of Bay Area Community Church’s ministry partner organizations over there in Hyderabad called International Cultural Bible Ministries (ICBM) led by Joseph Sharon who was once a Pastoral Resident like me at Bay Area! We will be working alongside him and ICBM in these efforts.

As I’ve been thinking about this trip, my heart is burdened with a desire to share the Gospel with those who do not yet know Jesus there in India. For those who may not know, India has a population of over 1.4 BILLION people, and the majority of them are unreached with the Gospel, with the majority of people practicing Hinduism, or claiming Atheism. My hope is that these Pastors will be armed with the faith, the truth, and the Scriptures, to boldly proclaim the Word of Truth only found in Jesus.

One verse that struck me this week from the Psalms is found in Psalm 5:11 which says, “But let all who take refuge in You rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love Your name may exult in You.” This has become my verse for the Nations, and my prayer for these Pastors and the countless number of people who will have a chance to know Jesus there in India, and whose lives will be changed by the power of the Gospel of Jesus.

Would you join me in praying for India? If you would, please keep us in your prayers while we prepare teaching curriculum, plan accordingly, and go as He sends us. Thank You!

For His Glory,

Wayde M.