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Liberty Pastor is Presence of Christ in India "I would love to write more but we’re driving down the road and weaving in and out with motorcycles and people everywhere," read Steve Graham’s first dispatch from India. "And a cow just walked out in front of us." In mid-February, Graham, pastor of Second Baptist Church in Liberty, traveled to India with three other pastors from CBF churches around the country. Led by CBF Global Missions Advocate Pat Anderson, the group visited two children’s homes, a ministry for Banjara Gypsies, and a pastor’s conference for native leaders. These projects are part of CBF’s holistic approach to missions, meeting a variety of needs in culturally appropriate ways. Through the Fellowship’s efforts and that of other Christians in the region, a spiritual response is growing, according to CBF missionary Sam Bandela. In spite of India’s growing economy – fueled by college-educated but inexpensive, English-speaking labor – many of the country’s economic woes persist: overcrowded cities, poverty-stricken rural villages, and leper colonies. About 75 percent of India’s 1.1 billion people are in rural areas, living on 3,000 rupees (about $70) per month. As Graham learned on his trip, CBF missionaries and partnerships in the area are making a huge difference in the lives of the rural poor in India. Funds from CBF’s tsunami offering have opened a sewing center in the village of Sardu Kadapa, where local teenage girls learn sewing skills that will generate income for themselves and their families. "From the seeds of sorrow our CBF missionaries are finding opportunities for grace," said Darrell Watson, one of the pastors on the trip. Teenage girls who do not finish high school may only earn 25 cents per day doing crochet work. With their new sewing skills, these girls will be able to earn around $2 per day by making dresses, more than an average wage for Indian women. |
Giving to CBF of
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