Sickness Hits the Home

This week sickness has hit our house. Erin has sinus issues and a sore throat, and we are trying to get it resolved, but so far we have not had any luck. She may be the first to visit the doctors in India, which is strange for us, because it is typically me (Alan) that ends up in the doctors regularly.

The interesting thing is that a doctor’s appointment would only cost us $7, and that is without insurance. This is important because we do not have insurance. We are thankful that God has provided us with a brand new hospital to utilize and the cost is below what we would have paid in the U.S. with insurance.

With Erin being sick and me watching the children; we have been in the apartment for the past two days. This normally would not be a bother to us, but since our crate has yet to arrive the girls have three toys each to play with and they are not really that entertaining, as we bought them for the plane ride. We heard that the crate is in Bangalore and we were told that it would complete the customs process and be delivered in the next week, but we were told the same thing a week ago. Please pray that the crate gets cleared soon, as there are many items we need besides the toys.

I (Alan) have started working on the Doctor of Missiology program that is to start next July. We are designing classes, that I have been assigned to write descriptions for, that will be specific to the Indian culture. This is very exciting as until now they have been utilizing western thought and trying to apply it to Indian culture and it has not been as effective as they would like. There are too many sociological, cultural, philosophical and religious differences that make the western motive impotent here.

These classes will prayerfully help us with creating a total theology and philosophy structure that is completely designed with the Indian culture in mind. Below is a couple of the courses we will be designing and offering to the students next July:

Worldview, Evangelism, Mission and Church Growth
Description: A comprehensive study into the current Worldview issues surrounding Christianity today from the perspective and understanding of the past generation. Comparing and contrasting how the past church perceived the world and how the church today comprehends the world. Understanding in light of the current worldview perspective, how it would impact our missiological perspective.

Missiological understanding of Apologetics
Description: Utilizing Apologetics that will focus heavily on comparative religion between the Hindu faith and Christianity. Looking at the Upanishads, we will investigate the claims of the content and employ apologetics to answer the questions that are raised and explore how we would use this information to witness for the sake of Christ.

These are the two classes that I will be teaching. Actually, I will start teaching these this November to some Ph.D. students who will be attending from several surrounding Seminaries for these particular modular classes. Please pray that I will be able to effectively prepare the class in the short time that I am allotted.

Erin, when not dealing with sickness, has been helping me by typing notes and helping me with editing and phrasing of class descriptions. She has started attending a community Bible study with the girls and we are looking at the possibility of starting one at our home in the near future. Please pray that as we consider this we hear from God the direction He wants us to head in this particular endeavor.

I preached my first sermon this past Sunday: Men Striving for Perfection was the topic I was given and it was a great time of preparation and study. God really demonstrated areas that I still struggle with and encouraged me at the same time in areas that I have been walking as He desires. I will be teaching chapel this Thursday on talents and the Christian life.

The Seminary is starting a building project to add more classrooms. We are now teaching classes in the church chapel, offices and any other place we can find space in the building, as there is just no space available any more. If anyone would like to help with the building project, you can send a donation to the REAP address on the blog. They are still short $28,000 American dollars. Designate classroom building fund in the memo line of your check if you feel led to help out.

The Seminary also needs a generator that costs $3,000 American dollars, which is $120,000 Rupees, just to give you an idea of the cost here for the school. This will help the professors, students, leaders, and church with the daily occurrence of rolling power outages. The generator will help the Internet, power points, lights, and all other electrical devices continue to work while the power is out.

All of you have been such a blessing in our lives and we are so thankful for your prayers and your help. We pray that God will continue to bless and keep you. I will end with the benediction verse that I used in my sermon, as it applies to how we feel about all of you as well.

1 Peter 5:10, “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”