From My Heart

June 2008

We Knew You Were Praying When . . .

One of the highlights of 2008 to date is the ministry trip that I made to India in April with board member Jeff Kerkhoff. Our purpose was to bring MTC’s new Character Solutions training to several ministry sites, some new and others with which we have been involved for more than a dozen years.

We alerted our prayer partners across the continent and planned everything carefully: flights, visas, malaria pills, packing, emailing seminar workbooks, printing teacher’s guides.

Our travel plans changed the moment we arrived for departure at Los Angeles International Airport: We were scheduled to change planes at London-Heathrow, but London was “ensnowed”—in April! Three bookings later, we arrived in Bangalore, India. Three bags were lost en route, and as I write, one is still somewhere out there with all our teaching materials—but we knew you were praying.

We arrived in Bangalore early Wednesday morning, about 55 hours after leaving home. With time for only a shower and breakfast we began our first all-day Character Solutions training seminar for a division of the police department that focuses on helping children and women in crisis. We had no materials to give participants—only our laptop presentation and the workbook we had emailed our partner, David. Yet at the end of that afternoon we knew you were praying when various participants—not yet followers of Jesus—stood and thanked us emotionally for bringing them this training.

On Friday we visited our leper friends, who appreciate MTC’s long-term ministry as a community builder and peacemaker. Children and parents crowded into the community center we built and heard about Character Solutions and Christlikeness. “Do you want us to provide this training when we return?” I asked. With no hesitation, they responded, “Yes. Please. We need this for our children. We want to do this!” We knew you were praying when a team of young adults within the leper village volunteered to help implement this program. Each of these lived in our Beulah Home as children, including one who is now a registered nurse. These young adults demonstrate full-circle MTC ministry!

We also presented CSI training to the staff of Beulah Home, a haven for needy children. An extra blessing that day was our privilege of baptizing eight Beulah children. On Saturday we provided training for the staff of a home for young women escaping street life. Twelve of these girls attended the training with staff. We knew you were praying when four of them placed their faith in Christ after the training!

We knew you were praying when the phone began ringing at the end of our trip. A high-ranking police official recommended that Character Solutions become required training for all city police officers. A ministry leader asked if he could bring this to his VBS organization across the nation. The leader of an educational institute asked if they could use it with their 200,000 students. Another key leader offered to bring CSI to his ministry network of several hundred thousand homes across India—reaching more than one million people.  

One of our longtime partners in India summarized the week well: “Regarding Character Solutions, I personally feel it is God’s timing . . . CSI has entered at the right time, with the right material, and with the right vision . . . We get ‘Jesus bumps’ the more we think about that!”

Thank you—We knew you were praying. To the challenge of God’s blessing I echo Jeremiah 32:17 – Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.