Advance Man

"Created in Christ to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do..." Eph 2:10

God prepared us for India. It was in His plan before we were born - an awesome thought indeed. We traveled from Bombay to Hubli via prop plane. It was not like Paul’s ship voyage but, one that took us 15,000 feet above a land filled with millions of gods and over a billion people who worship them.

We are certainly no the first missionaries to India. Countless thousands have come before us for the Harvest here is huge. Church history tells us Thomas (yes the one who doubted) came to preach the gospel in India. The Apostle Thomas faced a nation filled with the same gods we face today. Hinduism predates Christianity. Thomas must have seen similar temples, gargoyles, and idols that we see today. And yet…

There is a remnant of the faithful. God is not dead in India, God is alive and God grieves for those steeped in deception of a thousand other gods. Our hearts must grieve for the hearts in bondage to these strongholds.

We arrived and made our way to the hotel to prepare for our time with the children at the orphanage. The Pastor told us he had booked the room three weeks in advance – he knew we were coming and he made adequate preparations. But more than the advance work of Pastor P, the Holy Spirit has been preparing the hearts of those we will meet during the next two weeks. The Pastor has put the word out in advance and called other Pastor’s and missionaries to come to be told by those traveling from a distant land.

I praise God for the “advance man”. I praise Him for the responsibility we have as well. For WE are “advance men” for those coming after we go. Others will come and sow, others will reap a harvest and still others will die for the sake of the call. The state we are in has a high persecution rate of Christians. I confess this made me nervous. But we are not given a spirit of fear but of boldness. I must bolster myself, going from faith to faith with this charge…


All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show they are looking for a country of their own…. a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them! Hebrews 11:13-16