From Mary Ann's Desk...

“And He himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry...” Ephesians 4:11, 12a (NKJV)

Greetings again in the wonderful name of our Lord Jesus Christ who upholds the world and all that is therein by the power of His word. What a mighty God we serve. I am so glad I belong to Him, and I am sure you feel the same way.

Once again, my writing focuses on the work in India led by Bhalchandra Kamble. This time, I am reporting on another gift that was given to the work there by one of our wonderful Pastor friends and his church, Pastor Wes Courtney, Revival Tabernacle in Walker, Louisiana.

This congregation provided the funds for them to purchase a new desktop computer and additional programs required to meet the needs of all their ministry programs. They had been crippling along with an out dated desktop that could not support any of the better, newer programs they need, such as Corel Draw. Now they are up-to-speed with the rest of the world with Windows 10, Corel Draw, and more.

Pastoral Staff: 

Bhalchandra Kamble (left)

This computer will reside in the central office of this multi-faceted work, functioning as their work horse computer, if you will. It will generate all correspondence, teaching materials, program advertisements, accounting functions, and more for all the ministries listed below.

Local Church Ministry
They have 350 people in the church (this in an updated number) meeting in 5 house churches, pastored by a staff of seven couples, four of which are in full time ministry, with three serving the Lord as they do other jobs for their living.

Pastors Wives: Lena Kamble, 

Bhalchandra’s wife (middle)

Potter’s House Bible School
This is a ministerial training program to teach and equip the next generation of church leaders for the growing church in Pune, India. It currently has 22 students.

LTI is donating all its teaching materials for them to translate into Marathi, the Indian dialect of Maharashtra State, and granted them license to print and distribute as many copies as they need with no requirement of recompense to LTI. Along with Bhalchandra and Leena Kamble, several other of the pastoral staff are involved in the translation process.

Evangelism
They have churches in 4 different areas, and in all these field churches people from different religions have given their lives to Jesus, and are standing firm in their faith in spite of persecution from their families as well as the society. This is a real testament to their new found faith in Jesus Christ. God is good.

Leadership Seminars
I reported on this ministry in my May 2016 newsletter. This ministry crosses denominational lines and is conducted all over Maharashtra State. Once a month Bhalchandra conducts a seminar and is closely mentoring these groups to systematically do the work of God. Any and all printed teaching materials for handouts in this ministry will be generated on this desktop computer, while the laptop computer will generate and project all digital teaching formats used in the classroom setting of the seminars.

Prayer Network
I reported briefly on this ministry in my May 2016 newsletter. It, too, crosses denominational lines. For each of these outreaches, a Prayer Points guide along with Prayer Cards and other materials will be generated on this desktop computer, and the laptop computer will generate and project all digital formats for the large room settings of the prayer gatherings. As God opens the doors, Bhalchandra travels to different districts and states, and conducts prayer gatherings and consultation through his ministry called Pray-Prayer Works. He has a burden to encourage all the Christian churches to unite in prayer for their nation, the Church in India, and to form a strong network of fellowship among themselves in their respective areas.

They also have a Medical Clinic ministry that runs a medical dispensary twice a week in two different locations. In this way the community is being served. They also have an addicts counselling center in the same place in which several people have received a fresh start in life. All glory to the Lord alone.

In addition, they also have a Social Work project that functions in three areas. One is sewing classes for poor women to learn this skill in order to earn a living. Another is a tutoring program for poor students at a very small fee in order to help them to do better in their school work. The third is a project in which they make greeting cards and sell them to raise funds to pay the rent for the place hired for the center and the staff. This particular project is headed by Bhalchandra’s younger sister who works voluntarily.

So, you can see, this ministry is very busy and is touching many lives for the Lord. This new computer is a tremendous blessing to them, and It Is A Very Big Deal.

Thank you, so much, Pastor Wes and Revival Temple for making this happen for our faithful ones in India. God bless you abundantly.

NOTE
The only piece of equipment they are lacking in house now, is a good printer with a maintenance contract that can handle the various printing jobs they need to do. I have asked Bhalchandra to get me some quotes to see if there is any way LTI can help provide this need. I will keep you posted.

Your gifts to this ministry have always been, and always be, the backbone of what makes LTI a viable, working, living, effective ministry in the places where God has sent us. We began with a much greater support base than we have now, and many of those were with us for l-o-n-g periods of time. Various factors – deaths, changing of pastors, illness, etc. – have reduced that number, but you who are reading this newsletter are still standing with us. Through thick. Through thin. You have been, and you still are with us. That fact never goes unnoticed.

I would like to single each one out by name, but that would be an impossible task. And you who are still with us may not even want to be mentioned by name. But you know who you are. And I know who you are. But, more importantly, God knows who you are. To you, I want to give you special honor today for your loving and committed support of LTI. You are as much a part of all God accomplishes through us as I am, as Bud was, as Mark and Julie are. We cannot do this without you. In heaven, there is a record of every gift you have given. Treasures you have laid up, and are laying up against that day when we all stand before the Lord for our rewards. I believe you have a great reward awaiting you, and I rejoice in that. I hope you do too. And I hope you know how very much I/we love and appreciate you. You are great treasures to us. 

Thank You!

Because there are over 4.4 billion people in the world who still need Jesus, I remain

Yours in missions,



Mary Ann Cassidy