INDIAN CHURCH OF CHRIST- BANGALORE

Website

2010-06-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

Kindly visit http://www.iccblr.org/ for all news updates

God of Miracles

2010-01-19T02:40:00.000-08:00

Stella became a disciple in K.G.F 2 years back. Ever since she got saved, she was desperately praying for her family members to become disciples. Her mother once told her, 'You may be able to change many others, but don't ever think that you can change me.'

But Stella did not lose hope. On 31st Dec 2008 she wrote her miracle prayer and dropped in the box during the all night prayer. Sella went to serve the poor in Bhuj with Hope foundation. Amazingly by the second half of 2009 her mother Kirupa herself initiated to study the Bible and in Nov 2009 she got baptized. Then both of them were praying for her father to be a disciple. In Jan 2010 her father Gunaseelan got baptized into Christ.

Truly God is so wonderful. He hears our prayers and grants our desires.

Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart."

Haiti Earthquake

2010-01-14T00:45:00.000-08:00

As you all know, there was a serious earthquake in Haiti and so far 12 disciples are reported to have died in it Please continue to pray for the Church there which has 600 disciples also for the rest of the city. Please find the details from the news bullettin of www.icochotnews.com

Supplies arrive in Port-au-Prince. 200 disciples still unaccounted for.

See the pictures on the right...

Haiti (Monday) from www.icochotnews.com: We are happy to report the answered prayer that Dr. Mark Ottenweller (HOPEww) and Stanley Dumornay (NYC) were able to fly into the Dominican Republic on Saturday and drive across the border into Haiti on Sunday. Although the border was officially closed, they managed permission to cross, and in spite of thieves and growing chaos, they arrived in Port-au-Prince. They are there to help the disciples in the Port-au-Prince church, as well as survey the situation in general. Big thanks to HOPEww, Angel Martinez in the DR church, and our ICOC congregation in San Francisco for financing the flight and basic relief items. It is very encouraging for the disciples to be linked up with the outside world.

Mark set up a clinic and began to treat people on the spot at the church property. About 110 people are camping out on the property, roughly half of them members of our church. 200 disciples are still unaccounted for. 12 have died. People are still in shock by the chain of events. They have endured broken limbs and collapsed houses. A few of the children have lost most of their family. It is a heavy time, but also a time of hope. The church was very excited to see the food and medicine. Some wept openly when they saw the boxes of supplies. Mark and Stanley arrived on Sunday, right as the existing food stores were running out at the church property.

Monthly Plan Jan 2010

2010-01-02T06:18:00.000-08:00

All night prayer

2010-01-01T04:34:00.000-08:00

It was very exciting to see year after year around 1000 disciples gather together zealously for all night prayer to mark the New Year. Even this year spirit was very high. Everyone enjoyed praying with other disciples also it was very exciting to see Christians gathering together as families and having the first Bible study and prayer time.

The Church is going to celebrate this year as the year of Families. This is to help all disciples to build Godly families. All are encouraged to have spiritual time with families like having Bible studies together, family prayer times, have fun together etc.

It was so inspiring to see that there were 131 souls were saved in Bangalore city alone. During the all night prayer all those young Christians were called to the stage to be introduced and to pray for them. It was so wonderful to see so many young Christians together. It really inspired all of us to see the power of God who drew them out of darkness and sin. It also gave a lot of faith for all of us to dream of becoming fruitful next year.

Another inspiring part of the all night prayer was the time when people were called to share about the miracles God had done in the year 2009. So many of them came forward to share and every story was so inspiring and faith building.

Here are few of them:
Murugan prayed during the last New Year all night prayer that his sisters should become disciples. God answered his prayer and two of her sisters Geetha and Chitra became disciples.

Mohan was inspired by the leadership setting a goal of 1000 souls to be saved in 2009 during the last year's all night prayer. He wanted to contribute to this by praying for 8 men to be baptized in the zone he leads. God did a miracle of giving exactly 8 men baptizms in his zone in 2009 including a personal fruit.

Catherine was feeling sad while attending the all night prayer last new year as she watched many others praying with their family members. That very night she prayed to God to miraculously save her mother. Though her mother was not at all interested, God did a miracle and few months back she got baptized and in this all night prayer, Catherine could happily pray with her mother thanking for this miracle.

Stella from KGF was almost losing hope because for a very long time she was praying for a miracle - to have her family member to become a disciple. But last all night prayer she resolved to believe that God will certainly do it. She wrote this miracle prayer and dropped it in the box. Amazingly her mother became a disciple in 2009 and now her father is studying the Bible.

We are looking forward to see many more miracles to happen in 2010.
We wish you all again a very happy New Year.

Carnival 2009

2009-12-21T10:10:00.000-08:00

It was so wonderful to see what God accomplished through the Christmas Carnvial 2009. The whole Church got involved in raising funds for the Satellite Churches in the Karnataka Region. For the past couple of months everyone did their very best in selling tickets, getting sponsors etc. Finally the on the Carnival day everybody got involved in setting up stalls of amazing varieties. All kinds of food was available to feast. Kids enjoyed face painting and games. There were games on the stage through out the day. Wonderful singing & dancing competition brought to light amazing talents.

For the past several days Bangalore was experiencing mild rain in the evenings. But God answered our prayer by holding the rain till everyone reached home safely. There was truly amazing spirit of support from the whole Church. Praise God that we could raise around Rs.6,00,000 so far. To God be the Glory!

Christmas Carnival

2009-12-06T22:28:00.000-08:00

As we had done in the past couple of years, we will be having the Christmas Carnival at Ambedkar Bhavan on Millers' Road on Sunday 20th Dec '09. Church service will be at 9:30am and Carnival for the rest of the day.
This Carnival is organised to raise funds for the following satellite Churches in Karnataka.Mangalore, Mysore, KGF, Hubli,Gadag, Bellary,Bidar.

Kindly sell tickets, get Corporate stalls, get donations, bring friends & families for the carnival etc. and make it a mega success. More than anything please pray that God will work in a powerful way.

There will be Kala Carnival where there will be competition for children and adults for Singing, Dancing, Fancy Dress etc. Bring even outsiders to participate in this. Rs.300/- is the registration fees for this.

Also let us have great fun and fellwship during this Carnival.

New Additions to the Family of God

2009-11-29T09:59:00.000-08:00

It is one of the most wonderful thing to witness new souls being added into God's Kingdom. Sajitha got saved last year and ever since it was her prayer to see her brother Lalith to come to God. He is a 10th standard student. They were staying in a far away place but God helped them move into Ulsoor and since then Brothers reached out and studied the Bible with Lalith. He was very eager to study the Bible and to be a disciple. On 26th Nov he got saved. Their mother is really impressed to see both her teenage children have made amazing changes since they came to Church. She too has promised to come and study the Bible.

Rekha has been coming to Church for a long time. She had many challenges to face to be a disciple. Initially she felt it is too hard to be a disciple. But later on she took the challenges and gained faith through prayer and Bible studies, she too surrendered her life to Christ on 29th Nov.

Shekar and John were friends and neighbours for long time. Once when John became a disciple, he reached out to Shekar. He did not come very soon. But one day he stopped his bike when he saw John and said take me to your Church. From then he started studying the Bible. He too had many hurdles to overcome and found it is quite challenging. But he did not give up. He was open about his struggles to the brothers who could guide him to Christ and with the power of God, he overcame all his sins and accepted Jesus as his Lord & Saviour on 29th Nov. He comes from a village in Tamil Nadu. Couple of years he studied in a college and hostel run by Christian missionaries. That is the time he was introduced to Christ. But he was always worried that he is not really following Jesus even after coming in touch with Him. But now as he completely turned to Jesus and tasted the great victories, he feels like the best thing to do in life is to be a missionary! Now that is his dream.

Amazing Grace

2009-11-15T23:18:00.000-08:00

Many years back when Krishnamoorthy became a disciple, his father was against his decision and did not talk to him for 2 years. Because of his habits, he got serious lever disorders to the point he became bed ridden. Krishnamoorthy reached out to him and reminded him about the importance of following Jesus atleast now. He became willing to study the Bible to know Jesus. Brothers reached out and studied the Bible in the same night on Friday 13th Nov. He could only communicate with actions as he was unable to speak any more. He was so eager to accept Jesus that same night by 11:40 he got baptized into Christ.

On 15th Sunday he even took communion and the very next morning he passed away to be with Jesus. God can save anyone at anytime. Truly His grace is amazing!

New Feature: Listen to Sermons

2009-10-24T00:10:00.000-07:00

Dear Brothers & Sisters,

Many of you were asking for the tapes or notes of the sermons preached on Sundays. After much prayer and search I found some widgets I could add on this blog and get you the latest sermons online. See the right panel of the blog. You will find few audio widgets below the announcements. Titles of the sermons are displayed. Choose what you want to listen and click the play button and enjoy listening to the sermon. I will do my best to get the latest sermon online by every Monday. I would like to request more brothers to join my efforts to make all these possible. To God be the Glory!

Hope Team to Raichur

2009-10-07T06:15:00.000-07:00

As we all know, many places in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are seriously affected by the recent flood leaving more than 200 people losing lives and lakhs of them losing their homes. Kindly pray for them. Hope has sent 7 disciples to Raichur which is one of the worst affected districts in Karnataka. These brothers left on Tuesday night and after a very long travel through difficult roads, they reached Raichur by 6pm on Wednesday. They are visiting seriously affected places and will report to us what way we can help the victims. This Sunday, the Church is taking a collection to provide for the basic needs of the flood victims. Kindly come prepared to give generously.

Monthly Plan Oct 09

2009-10-02T04:06:00.000-07:00

KLC 09

2009-10-02T03:15:00.000-07:00

It was very exciting for Bangalore Church to host the Karnataka Leadership Conference '09(KLC).

240 Leaders from all over Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh came together to turn their lives and ministries 'Upside Down' in turn to turn the whole world upside down as theme of the KLC suggested.

It was great to see many newly appointed leaders from all over. Bidar Church had its 10 new leaders there as they celebrated the church reaching the landmark membership of 50 this week.

Lessons were really great and touching the hearts and giving vision and hope. Every leader had a great spirit of unity, spirit of wanting to glorify God than ever before, spirit of openness and desire to get discipled by one another. Every Cultural Programme was unique and inspiring.

Here are a few pictures. More pictures are in the slideshow.

Great news from Bidar

2009-08-19T05:53:00.000-07:00

It was such a faith building trip that I had recently to Bidar. In the past whenever I visited Bidar, there were some Mission Team members still remaining there. But this time there was none except Philip and Pramila who are leading the Church now.

But to my amazement, the young Christians are risen up to take up all responsibilities in the Church so well that the Church is moving ahead with new spirit and zeal.

For the first time leaders were appointed there. 5 women and 5 men Assistant Family Group leaders were appointed. The Church was very encouraged to see this wonderful event.

The Church had organised an invitation service with just one week notice. There was no invitation cards at all! But the Christians were so fired up to share their faith and make every effort to bring their family members and friends.

Ashok and Vinodha just got baptised last month. They brought more than 10 of their family members. Most of them came from far away places - even from neighbouring state Andhra Pradesh.

Ruth is a young girl who is from a village called Kamtan and she has been coming and studying the Bible for a couple of weeks. She brought more than 10 of her friends from her village who were very eager to know Jesus.

There were more than 100 adults to attend the service making the hall packed with people!

It was a challenging time for the Church as there is no Hall to meet regularly. But in this crisis time, Joshua who is a young Christian and his family opened their house for the whole Church to meet together on Sundays, and for mid week meetings. I was amazed at the generosity of that family.

Newly Appointed Leaders: Akash, Santhosh, Swamidas, Basava & Arun

Newly Appointed Leaders: Elizabeth, Rebecca, Martha, Santha & Jayasree

Singles Retreat

2009-08-17T09:53:00.000-07:00

The All India Campus and Youth Ministry Conference was an inspiring event. Much beyond our expectations! It was energetic, electric and life impacting for all those who came.

It was inspiring to see the response of the disciples. It gave me a greater vision for the church. It was great to see so many good young people have been baptised in the last few years. It was great to see their faith, their love, their talent level etc. Everything was so awesome.

Some Responses:

I am personally so grateful to you for organizing the singles conference in an awesome way, sacrificing your sleep and comfort and constantly thinking and praying for this cause. All the messages were mighty inspiring and the fellowship and fun were head spinning. Well, in chennai singles are on fire and every evenings for them are fishing times(Evangelism and teaching the Bible). I was super excited to know that next year the singles coference is going to be in Chennai. Thanks for making everyone special through this conference and lets keep the heat towards saving souls and in inspiring the singles to do the same.

Renoj - Chennai

Carnival

2009-07-31T00:28:00.000-07:00

New Additions in July

2009-07-30T22:12:00.000-07:00

God worked in amazing ways to save many souls in July '09. They are Anitha, Uma, Srinivas, Bhagya and Sumanth from Saraswathipuram family group, Leena from Indira Nagar Morning Ministry, Paul Raj from N.R.Colony, Sheela and Reshmi from Tin Factory.

Uma (in picture above) is the sister of Bhagya. Ever since Bhagya became a disciple many years ago, it was her desire to see her sister being saved. Finally her dream came true!

Uma, Senthil, Srinivas & Bhagya

Bhagya became a disciple many years ago and had left the Church few years later. She got married to Srinivas. Few months back she and her husband came back to Church. She wanted to get restored and Srinivas was very eager to study the Bible and be saved. They had many challenges to face and finally Srinivas got baptised and Bhagya got restored and amazingly in the same month her sister Uma also got baptized.

Leena

Ever since James Prasanna became a disciple in 1988 in the initial days of the Church, it was his desire to see his family members becoming disciples. He encouraged his brother and family to come to Bangalore primarily to get a chance to be saved and also for his daughters could get good jobs. His brother's daughters moved in first and later on their parents too. Leena is James's brother's daughter. She was coming to Church for a long time even though she works for a call centre in night shifts. Finally she understood the need to deny herself and be a committed disciple and she got baptized on 7th July.

Susheel Rao

God works in amazing ways to save those who are hurting. Susheel Rao was married 4 years back and they even got a child. But their marriage was always in trouble as his wife was very unhappy to stay with his parents. After much fights she left him with the child. Susheel was seeking God knowing that He alone can save his marriage. Finally his prayers were heard by God and he was invited to Church by a brother Jospeh from Central Region who joined work with Susheel. He knew only Telugu language. Perumal who leads the family group learnt Telugu though it is not his mother tongue. Also Mohan Ram who is in the same family group realised that Susheel is his relative from Andhra Pradesh. He too helped Susheel to know Jesus. Finally he got baptized on 20th July.

Anitha was visiting the Church and studying the Bible for a long time and after much perseverance, she got saved and joined the Saraswathipuram family group.

Anitha

Mohan has been following up on Rajan's cousin Sagairaj for a long time. But he was not interested. Infact he even got angry and told him not to call him again. But Mohan did not give up. Finally Sagairaj who never came to Church sent his neighbour Paul Raj to Church. Mohan says he never met anyone who is so eager to study the Bible and to repent like Paul Raj. Even though he had a lot to change, by the power of God, he repented of all his sins and got saved on 20th July.

Sumanth & Paul Raj

Sumanth is from a village in Gulbarga District. He used to go to a Methodist Church there with his friend Joseph. Unfortunately there was no pastor to lead the Church. Joseph came to Bangalore few years ago and got baptized. His sister Sujatha also got baptized 3 years ago. Joseph inspired Sumanth to come to Church and to study the Bible. Sumanth was so eager to have someone to teach him the Bible. After his long working hours in a far away place he used to come at 9pm every night to study the Bible. He was excited to be saved with Paul Raj on 20th July.
Sumanth, Joseph and Sujatha are already praying for God to send a mission team to Gulbarga to save their people there who are like 'sheep with out Shepherd'. All these three are fired up to go in the mission team.

Reshmi, Flora & Sheela
Flora has been a disciple for many years. It was her desre to see her family members becoming disciples like her. Recently her cousin Sheel and her daughter Reshmi started coming to Church. They both were very eager to study the Bible and to follow Jesus. All the disciples in Tin Factory family group prayed for them and helped them and on 26th July both mother and daughter got saved.

Announcement

2009-07-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

Kindly contact your Family Group Leader to know plans for 1st Century Services in August

Great Contribution

2009-07-19T09:12:00.000-07:00

Romans 12:6 "We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously........"

It was very exciting to see the generosity of Arumugham Uncle and family fulfilling this Scripture by sacrificially contributing to the needs of the Christians in their locality. They spent their hard earned money to build a very big room on the terrace of their house in Uday Nagar for the Family group to meet. The Tin Factory Family Group has grown to have 40 disciples and more souls are being added every month. The group was not able to fit in the room in Arumugham Uncle's house. Uncle felt the need and came forward to build this room and on 14th July. We had the first meeting there on the same day. That was a 'Young Christian's meeting'. May God bless this family and the 'Church that meets in their house'. We pray that many Christians will imitate this generous act in times to come.

Young Christians' meeting in the new Prayer Hall.

New Additions to the Family of God

2009-06-21T09:53:00.000-07:00

It was very exciting to see Vincent and Babu getting baptized this week.

Wedding Bells

2009-06-08T03:59:00.000-07:00

It was very exciting to see Selvaraj & Manjula getting married on 7th June.

Sad News

2009-05-19T21:06:00.000-07:00

Aunty Urmila from South Region-Vivek Nagar passed away on 16th May.

Joshua 14 year old son of Mallika from Jeevan Beema Nagar passed away on 17th May. See the photo taken on 16th May in Teen's camp.
Nirmala - sister of Catherine from South Region-Vivek Nagar passed away on 19th May. Burial at 4pm on 20th May at Hosur Road Burial Ground.

Krishnaswamy Uncle from East Region-Jeevan Beema Nagar passed away on 22nd May.

Susan & Catherine lost their father Karuppaiah on 23rd May

Please reach out to all these grieving families.

Welcome the New Borns

2009-04-29T22:27:00.000-07:00

Manjunath was baptized when he was 16 years old in 2001. He comes from a very difficult background. As the eldest son in a family of 4 brothers, he was forced to work. He couldn't read and write when he came to Church. What really stood out about this brother is his humility and genuine love for God and his people. Over a period of time God helped him to read and write. He even managed to pick up communication skills in English. Currently he works as a media executive in one of the PR agencies. One of his New Year resolutions was to help his brothers to become disciples. He prayerfully started to reach out to his brother Rajendra Prasad. Many other disciples also reached out to him. Manjunath's example inspired Rajendra Prasad to study the Bible. By God's grace Rajendra Prasad got baptized in the last week of April. To God be the Glory.

Revathy Murali and John were neighbours in Command Hospital compound for years. She reached out to him and for more than a month he studied the Bible and got saved on 29th April.

Vanitha was invited by Prabhu as a contractor known to him requested to help her. She had gone through much pain in her life but found great joy in Christ and accepted Him as the Lord of her life.

Let us reach out to our family members, neighbours and colleagues and let all of us be fruitful this year.

Prayer Requests

2009-04-28T03:26:00.000-07:00

Kindly pray for :
Sunil (Beulah's husband) who is suffering from severe Dengue fever.
Yesumani who is suffering from various complications
Das uncle who is suffering from Cancer.
Jabez (Kurain & Mini's son) who has gone through surgery

New additions to the family of God

2009-03-30T11:46:00.003-07:00

It was exciting to see Vijay's grandfather from Beema Nagar getting saved at the age of 95.

Also Rajani got saved from K.R.Puram. He is all excited about this new birth and was fired up to be there for the Mission Team Training programme on Sunday!

It was Murugan's dream to see all his family Members being saved. His sister Manju got saved last year and they were praying for the other sister Chitra for a long time and the prayer was answered on 31st March when the whole family along with all disciples from Ulsoor Zone could witness the miracle of Chitra's surrender to Jesus.

Upcoming Events

2009-03-30T11:37:00.000-07:00

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Kindly note the upcoming evnts which are briefly mentioned even in the monthly plan also.

NO LEADERS' MEETING ON THURSDAY, 2ND APRIL.
1. Special Men's devotional - Friday, 3rd April at Prarthana Mandira: Time 7 to 10 pm.
2. Good Friday Service: 10th April - 10am-1pm at N.G.O Hall, Cubbon Park
3. VBS for children from 5 to 9 age group. From Monday, April 20th for 10 days.
4. Teens & Pre Teens' Camp May 15,16 & 17 at Marthoma Camp Centre, Devanahalli

Shyamala's dad's baptism

2009-02-26T21:07:00.000-08:00

Shyamala & James are disciples for many years. Few years back her sister Meena also became a disciple and got married to Yesuraj. Recently their father Ramchandra who is in his old age was diagnosed with throat cancer. He is unable to speak. That is when he came to stay with Shyamala and James. He expressed his desire to study the Bible and as the brothers did Bible studies with him he was eager to accept Christ and to confess his sins and to be saved.

On Sunday 22nd Feb he got baptized into Christ. He went to be with God on 27th Feb.

Celebration of new birth

2009-01-30T22:04:00.000-08:00

Month of January, the first month of this year ended with great joy of seeing Arvind, Ramesh, Uncle Das and Dhanamma being saved in East Region.

As we look forward to see 1000 souls being saved in 2009, may God bless each of us to have the passion to be fruitful and contribute to the amazing victory that is promised by the almighty God.

Mark 11:24 "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."
Let us pray for great miracles of transformation of lives of our relatives, colleagues, neighbours and other people we meet.

Naven and few others are going to Vellore mission team. Let us pray that they will have abundant harvest. Also, if any of you have any relatives in Vellore, give the contact details to Naveen who can reach out to them.

Mission Campaign

2009-01-14T07:57:00.000-08:00

It was wonderful to send Naveen, Peter and Mary Thankamma from Bangalore to Vellore for a week long evangelism campaign in Vellore. Vellore Church is planter a few months back. Rosario and Helen are excited to have this team from Bangalore could join them.

In one week the brothers alone shared their faith with more than 3000 people and brought few friends to meetings and some of them are studying the Bible.

Most wonderful thing is that they all want to go back there to be real missionaries for longer time.

Aunty Thankamma's testimony inspired her family that Verghese, her son wants to take his entire family group for a campaign there very soon.

May the Spirit of Mission continue to spread till all are saved.

New Year

2009-01-02T03:02:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year. It was a wonderful start for the New year 2009 with an incredible all night prayer with the whole church in Bangalore. Two brothers made the decision to take Jesus as the Lord. Daniel and Arvind.

Daniel

Christmas

2008-12-25T06:42:00.000-08:00

Christmas Service was so special with Adoption of Deeksha, 4month old little girl baby by Vincent & Reena. Vincent & Reena are known for their selfless service to the Kingdom. Before marriage, Reena went on the mission team to start the Church in Cochin in 1991. After marriage, they lead mission team to Mysore. It was inspiring for the whole Church to see the adoption today.

Ian Correa Preached a great message.

Merry Christmas to all!

Missionary's Visit

2008-12-23T07:40:00.000-08:00

Kay was one of the 14 missionaries who came to start the Church here in 1998.

She is here with her family to refresh the memories and inspire the Church.

She felt so great to visit the places she stayed and meet even the house owner and family where she stayed in '88-'89. They promised to come for Christmas service.

Mission News

2008-12-23T07:15:00.001-08:00

We had been praying for Holy Spirit to inspire more disciples to come forward to be missionaries. God is answering those prayers.

Sukanya went on the mission team to Bidar and was there for 1 year. She served in wonderful ways. Now when the call came for people to join the Jodhpur mission team, she came forward for it and she will be leaving to Jodhpur on 28th Dec, 2008. Please Pray for her to be abundantly fruitful there.

VELLORE

Few brothers and sisters came forward to go to Vellore in Tamil Nadu to be on an Evangelism campaign for the first invitation service there on Jan 8th.

They will be leaving in the first week of Jan. If any of you have relatives there in Vellore, kindly send the addresses as a response to this post or contact Naveen on 9886832715.

Christmas Carnival 2008

2008-12-22T09:19:00.000-08:00

Christmas Carnival 2008
21st Dec was a great memorable day for the Bangalore Church as we had the Carnival to raise funds for supporting the satellite Churches.

We praise God for all the ways He helped us to make it a great success. All the disciples worked really hard by selling tickets, setting up stalls, decorating the place, bringing visitors etc...

Here are some of the snaps of the event.

Good News

2008-12-09T09:13:00.000-08:00

Rajkumar and Salini got baptized in November.

It was Kavi's desire from the time he started to study the Bible a couple of years ago that his wife will also be saved. Finally God fulfilled his desire and amazingly, her parents are studying the Bible in Trivandrum.

Uday got baptized on 9th December.

Yobu & Radha got engaged on 7th Dec.

Good News on Mission Team Training Programme

2008-11-16T04:34:00.000-08:00

Many disciples responded after message with a desire to go on mission teams.
Arumugam Uncle came forward to go to JODHPUR, Rajasthan. He is a retired army personnel. He said "I had been living a self focussed life. Now I want to dedicate my life for serving Jesus." He had served in North India for long time and knows Hindi.

Veeramma, wife of Muthu from South Region came forward saying that she had been praying for her home town Shimoga to have a church planted and that recently many people from there had been calling her up and saying "we are like sheep without shepherd. Many of us are believing in Jesus. But nobody is there to teach us and guide us to grow in our faith. We are also facing opposition from non believers. Please send some one to help us!"

It was very exciting to meet the participants of the Mission Team Training Programme today after the service (Sunday 16th Nov). As I mentioned about Shimoga and also the plan to plant a Church in Vellore-Tamil Nadu, Many came forward saying they are from Vellore and are seriously interested in going there. Some came forward for going to Shimoga also.

Kindly pray for Holy Spirit to guide us to know where should be the next Church Planting be!

Wedding Bells

2008-11-11T06:03:00.000-08:00

It was exciting to see many marriages in the recent times. Samuel and Vijayalakshmi got married on 9th November 2008.

KLC

2008-11-03T05:16:00.000-08:00

Family Group Leaders of the Church had a great memorable, life changing retreat for 3 days.

Christy & Lucy from Cochin came as guest speakers. It was a great time of learning, building dreams, relationships and memories.

Babies born

2008-11-03T05:09:00.000-08:00

Adimoolam and Chandraveni had been praying for many years for a baby. Finally the wait is over! God blessed the couple with a beautiful baby girl.
Devaraj & Mary from Central Region had a baby girl on 1st Nov.(See picture)

Babu & Rani from Jeevan Beema Nagar had a premature baby (one month earlier than due date) Please pray for Rani and baby to be healthy.

Wedding Bells

2008-10-28T06:58:00.000-07:00

Victor & Chitra got married on Saturday, 25th October.

Carnival good news

2008-10-23T10:32:00.000-07:00

It is very exciting to share that SELVA has really taken the carnival collection seriously and he took the books, first two days he did not ask money from any one. During these two days he prayed for God to help. After two days of prayer God blessed him to sell 12 books.

Prabhu from K.R.Puram reports

Emergency Announcements

2008-10-22T06:04:00.000-07:00

Announcements: 26th October SUNDAY SERVICE WILL BE IN FAMILY GROUPS(1st Century Service)

Ambedkar Bhavan cancelled our booking for this Sunday. Games are also cancelled.

We are very sorry about the inconvenience.
Kindly bear with it.
Please pass this information to all.

This Thursday (23rd Oct) Leaders' meeting is for Men & Women together

Wedding Bells

2008-10-18T09:32:00.001-07:00

It was great to witness Lakshmi from Ramamurthinagar getting married to Suresh from Central region on 16th October 2008.

Announcements

2008-10-03T05:42:00.000-07:00

Announcements: 19th Oct: Singles Service at 9am in St.Anne's College. Marrieds' Service: 11am in St.Anne's College
Robert (Family Group Leader, Saraswathipuram) Lost his father. Pray for the grieving family.This Thursday (23rd Oct) Leaders' meeting is for Men & Women together

DVDs of 20th Anniversary Celebration are available for sale. If anyone wants to buy, please call Shanthakumar on 9986683308. Price is Rs.100/-

There are 4 high quality video files in the DVD.

Entire Anniversary Service is covered in 3 different Videos and Old Christians' meeting and Testimonies are in another video in the same DVD.

Good News

2008-10-03T05:24:00.000-07:00

Omkar went from his hometown in Bidar district couple of years before to Hyderabad to find a job. But God used that opportunity to bring him to the Church there and to have him saved. Later on he was transferred to Bangalore. He grew up spiritually and is serving the Church in many ways. Recently he started working for HOPE as a computer instructor. It was his dream to see many in his family also to be saved. Recently his brother Prakash moved into Bangalore to look for a job and as soon as he came here brothers studied the Bible with him and he too got saved last week.

Their cousin and friend are also studying the Bible. Please pray for them also to be saved soon.

Monthly Plan for October 2008

2008-10-03T05:05:00.000-07:00

Wedding Bells

2008-09-18T05:00:00.001-07:00

Philip & Pramila led the Mission Team to Bidar in April 2007. God used them powerfully to see the Church to see 38 souls being saved so far.

It was exciting to see Philip and Pramila getting married in Hyderabad on 14th Sep '08. It was wonderful to have almost all the disciples from Bidar travel all the way to Hyderabad to see their leaders getting married. They took a passanger train on Saturday after midnight and reached Hyderabad in the morning. Most of them could not sleep the whole night. Yet they were so giving. Because of a religious festival the city of Hyderabad had major traffic restrictions. Yet all of the brothers, sisters, spending a lot of money,found their way for reception in the evening. They stayed back in the wedding hall for the night and returned to Bidar next morning. Though they were exhausted due to sleepless nights and travel, most of them came for meeting in Bidar on Monday evening.

Good News

2008-09-04T01:50:00.000-07:00

Vijay & Meenakshi got married
Vijay was studying the Bible when he was persecuted and sent to prison along with other four brothers in Nov 2007. Irrespective of the sufferings, with great zeal he continued to study the Bible in the prison and soon after coming out in December he got baptized. He brought Meenakshi to Church and in few months time she too became a disciple of Jesus. It was great to see both of them getting married on 31st Aug '08.
Babies born

Babies Born:
1. Mahesh & Vijaya from Byappanahalli had a baby boy born.

2. Ramesh & Manoranjini were praying for years together to have a baby and God blessed them with a baby boy.

Chitra & Victor got engaged on Aug 17th.

Here am I send me

2008-08-24T14:03:00.000-07:00

Aug 24th 2008 will be remembered for ever by the Christians who gathered for the 20th Anniversary celebrations of the Church in Bangalore. 7 of the original mission tem members came from different parts of the world to make it memorable. Mark, Nadine, Mohan, Mitra, Ian, Douglas and Raj were honoured and the Church expressed its gratitude to those heroes of faith who came 20 years before to start the Church with amazing faith.

So many Christians who were part of the Church came from different parts of the nation and enjoyed the celebration and fellowship with good old friends.

Mohan and Mark preached incredible messages that touched the hearts of all who gathered. Many who left the fellowship in the past responded saying that they want to be back in the Church. That is what the Church was fasting and praying for.

20th Anniversary Celebration

2008-08-24T12:06:00.000-07:00

Amazing Experience
As the Church was fasting, praying and working hard to make the Anniversary a great success, God blessed us to have an amazing experience in YMCA as the Old Christians gathered for a very special get together with the original Mission Team Members.

Nadine, Ian and Mitra shared their experiences with the rest. Rita Shane, Gimms and Naomi shared their gratitude and experiences of early days.

It was so moving to hear about what God had done for past 20 years!
It was so wonderful to see many who had left the fellowship to come back and fellowship.

It was so special to have many brothers and sisters who were baptized or served in Bangalore travelling from all over India to be part of the celebration.

ANNOUNCEMENT

2008-08-06T02:26:00.000-07:00

Announcements
Thursday 28th August leaders' meeting for Men as usual.

31st SUNDAY WILL BE FIRST CENTURY SERVICE. CONTACT YOUR FAMILY GROUP LEADERS FOR MORE DETAILS

1988 Newsletter

2008-07-31T11:49:00.000-07:00

PERSECUTION IN PAKISTAN

2008-07-26T02:55:00.000-07:00

PERSECUTION IN PAKISTAN

James 1:2-4 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Our brother from Pakistan reports:
One of the brothers from Peshawar was kidnapped with his two physical brothers and 15 friends when they were having a thanks giving prayer meeting at one of their friend’s house by the Taliban on the 21st of June, 08.

When they were kidnapped, most of them had a lot of fear in their hearts because they were all taken to the caves in the tribal area and were told not to talk to each other and even not to come out of the cave without their orders. While they were inside the cave, they heard the Taliban activists who were there as guards were talking about slaughtering them all. These talks really filled every one with fear and they all started thinking about their families and children. They were afraid that they may never see their families.

But this brother said that he kept praying with faith that God can do a miracle and can release them from there. And early in the morning he had a dream that these people who kidnapped them coming and telling that they are releasing them and also dropped them in the city. Exactly after two hours, the Taliban activists came and told them that they are releasing them and all of them should go and sit in the car so that they can drop them in the city and release them.

Last week when the national leader of our Church visited Peshawar church and met this brother and asked him about the incident, it was very encouraging to see that the faith of this brother and his family is grown so much more ever since he went through all these incidents.

Amazing Testimony

2008-07-22T10:29:00.000-07:00

Amazing Miracle by God
"My name is Malarvili.P. I was 21 years old when I got baptized in 1991 -
Bangalore Church. I was Invited by Cindiana Cruz and Jayasheeli in the month of February 1991. They studied the Bible with me. Though I was from a
Protestant Back ground, was very convicted of the fact that I was not a disciple. It took couple of weeks for me to acknowledge my sins and then convicted by Cross got baptized on 17th March, 1991. Then I was working as
a Typist in High Court. I come from a very traditional christian back ground. I had 3 younger brothers. My dad was an Auto driver.

Me becoming a Christian was not very much accepted by my dad as he didn't like me going out and evangelizing and attending meetings in the evenings. So, almost every day I would get scolded by my dad for practicing my faith. There were few days I have had discussions on what the Bible says etc. with my dad. He would tell me that I am not obeying the parents as the Bible
says. I used to show him Luke 14:23. But the arguments would go on and most of the days to a point where my dad would scold my mum for the way how she has brought me up. Every day living a christian life was a night mare for me, because my dad being drunk used to fight every single day with my mum and me. Life went on......Most of the days I was scared even to sleep
at home thinking that he might kill me. All that I was able to do was to pray to God.

During all these I kept on reaching out to my mum and she became a disciple in 1994. After that my mum started fervently praying for my dad and my brothers. One of my brothers, Sathish nd his wife Beula became disciple. Subsequently my youngest brother Suresh became a disciple in
1997. I started fervently pray for my dad to become a disciple. My mum and I have fasted and prayed for my dad many times. Life was not that easy for my mum and brothers. In the meantime, I was married in 1995 to Dr.Ashok Kumar Prabath and had our daughter "Saranya Kezia" (1998).

My dad's life took a turn for the worst. He kept on getting drunk. His day schedule changed. He used to get up by 4.00 a.m. and go to bed by 3.30 p.m. or 4.00 p.m. If at all he gets up from his sleep in the evening he needs to have a drink. He had fallen on the road fully drunk; people who
have seen him brought him back home. My mum was faithfully serving through these tough years but kept up her faith continuously praying for him. I kept on advising him whenever I visited him, and I kept him in my miracle prayer list year after year. Couple of years ago he started studying the Bible, but didn't accept Jesus Christ as his Lord. Few more years passed by. In these couple of years God protected my dad because he loved him. Once when my dad was asleep, the ceiling fan fell just next to his head. He was saved!! We praise God what He did. Another day, dad got up in the evening went off to have a drink, didn't come home till next day
morning. Later, we found out that after his drinks the previous night he kept walking almost 10 kms looking for the house. Only in the morning he came to his senses and came back home by auto. We see God at work in all these situations. God was so gracious and kept my dad from many other dangers that I have not written here, After many other incidences, in the
month of March 2008 part of his body got paralyzed. Though for couple of days he was positive that he would get better. After that he became into himself. Didn't talk much. His health got worse and became very unhappy about the fact that he was not able to drink and smoke. But in all these days my mum kept on talking to him about God and read Bible to him daily. My dad's
health was so bad and as he spoke very less, we didn't feel that he was ready to study the Bible. All that we could do was pray and the different brothers from the Kanakapura ministry kept reaching out to him. Slowly he came out of his depression, his health got better he was still bedridden. In May, when the my mom and brothers asked him about studying the Bible and
changing his life, he immediately accepted. Confessed all his sins, apologised to all of us for the troubles he had created, he also apologised to his own brothers with whom he had a difficult relationship and got baptizedon 11th of June 2008. He getting baptized was literally a
celebration in our house.....but I believe it was a celebration in heaven
too.

In all these, we see God answering our prayers. We literally saw God at work. He is the only one who can change the heart of people. Praise be to God. Thanks to all the brothers and sisters who continuously prayed for him
and helped him.

In Christ

Malar.

Fund Raising Event

2008-07-20T22:41:00.000-07:00

Fund Raising Event
It was an exciting day for the Church in Bangalore. We met in the Mount Carmel Ground for the worship service and had a Cricket and Throw Ball tournament for raising funds for the upcoming 20th Anniversary of the Church.

8 Teams of brothers played Cricket with great spirit and Central team won against South in the finals. East sisters won against Central in Throw ball finals.

Many brothers and sisters set up food stalls to raise funds for Church anniversary. It was exciting to enjoy the day long fellowship and games. Here are few snaps from the day.

Good News from Bidar

2008-07-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

GOOD NEWS FROM BIDAR
EZEKIEL’S STORY
Ezekiel a young 19year’s old disciple is studying P.U.C. II Year Science. He was invited to the church in October 2007 by Robert who is a Disciple. He came to the church and studied Bible in the month Feb 2008. He learned his life was without Christ Jesus and he understood he needs forgiveness from the Lord Jesus Christ and got baptized on 1st march 2008.

He was very timid, shy, insecure and not confident when he came to the church and he was not used to fellowshipping with anybody because of his insecurity.

One of the incidents on one of the occasion, we asked him to come and join with us for a taking a church photograph, but he ran away from us was unable to join with us because of his shyness, later on one of the brothers encouraged him and brought him for a photo session.

Even if we fellowship also he used to withdrew from us. He was comfortable with few people like, his family and those who studied bible with him.

But after becoming a disciple, by the power of Jesus he got transformed totally from what he was, we are amazed by his changes in his life. He became bold, confident to talk to anybody. He does Bible studies with new visitors. He gets involved in many responsibilities of the church. He leads songs boldly, translates message from Hindi to Kannada does announcements and fellowships with all of us.

Personally his mother witnessed his transformation. Through him and by the help of God, his sister Rebecca and mother Rajamma got baptized and younger brother and father are coming regularly to the church. His father helps the disciples in times of need.

His father attended one of the marrieds’ meetings and got inspired and convicted by the message and helped his wife in her household work. He personally shared about it and we are hoping that his father and brother will soon be disciples of Lord Jesus.

Whole church and his relatives are amazed looking at him .We are grateful to God for His wonderful miracle in Ezekiel’s life.

God proved once again that nothing is impossible for him by choosing Ezekiel and turning him to be his instrument. He is doing spiritually well. To God be the glory Amen.

Response from Douglas Cruz

2008-07-16T02:12:00.000-07:00

I was redirected to this blog site through an email I received from Jerome in Chennai. It is absolutely wonderful to see the way God is blessing his church in Bangalore and even more so in the East region.

I remember meeting one of the first converts who lived in 'G' quarters of HAL colony in December '86. Through him we started a family group in the 'East' of Bangalore, which was considered 'way out'. Well Dorris didn't think so 'cause she and many others followed to grow into the present 'East Region'.

It's good to see Raj sharing about the the past yet even more exciting how the Lord is working in the present and building for the future. You are all an inspiration and an upward call to me.

I look forward to seeing everyone at the 20th anniversary service and share a few blessed moments together.

Keep the flame burning, sisters and brothers of the East Region...

With love and prayers.

Douglas cruz

July 11, 2008 3:39 AM

2008-07-14T04:53:00.000-07:00

Prayer Requests

2008-07-10T04:50:00.000-07:00

Please pray for the following people who are sick.
1. Murugan's (Ramamurty Nagar) Father and Mother are admitted in Bowring Hospital.
Please pray for healing and for them to become disciples.
2. Vennila Aunty (K.R Puram) is admitted in St.Johns for surgery.
3. Ruby Santhakumar (Whitefield) is suffering from Typhoid

Pray for the following people studying the Bible
1. Raju
2. Dr.Ajay
3. Nandini
4. Anitha
5. Vidya
6. Vennila
7. Divya
8. Sajitha

20th Anniversary

2008-07-07T08:15:00.000-07:00

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As we are approaching the 20th Anniversary celebration of our Church in Bangalore, we request all of you to do your best to bring as many of our brothers and sisters who left the fellowship in the past on 23rd and 24th of Aug 08. Mission Team members will be present for the get together of all 'Old Christians' at memorable place 'YMCA HALL' on Nurputhunga Road near RBI, opp. St.Martha's Hospital on Saturday 23rd Aug '08 at 7pm. Please fast and pray and follow up on as many people to come on 24th also. Please pray that through this amazing celebration to glorify God, we also see many people being restored and saved.

Good news of June 08

2008-07-07T06:59:00.000-07:00

Chain reaction
Sheetal, currently a final year student from St.Anne’s college reached out to Soumya ,her classmate in School .Sheetal who was baptised when she was 15 years old has always been zealous for God & his Kingdom.Soumya visited the church during one of the campus service & she became a disciple in April 2007.Soumya has been really excited to be a christian & through her life her sister Sunitha became a disciple in the same year.
We had a singles retreat in the month of March this year. About 160 brothers & singles from all over the karnataka region attended the singles retreat.Soumya got inspired at the retreat to reach out to many more people .She invited Rovina ,an engineering college student on the way back home in the bus right after the singles retreat .Rovina started visiting the church & she got baptised in June 2008. Rovina’s life has been a great inspiration for many other christians here.From the time she started visiting the church she started reaching out to her parents who are living in Mangalore.Their parents started visiting our church in Mangalore & they are studying the bible.It is heartening to see them to come all the way to bangalore to witness the baptism of her daughter.
When baptisms happen, disciples need to spread apart & should continoiusly preach the word of God.Thats what happened.We have started a new sisters family group being led by sheetal ;Soumya & Rovina are part of the same family group.They have started this group with an obejective to reach out to many more students & single girls in the city of Bangalore.

Good News

2008-07-07T06:40:00.000-07:00

Suresh became blind in his young age. But no one could stop his hunger to God . Few months back, Koushik invited him from a bus and the very next Sunday he found his way to Ambedkar Bhavan and since then Prabhu and the brothers from K.R.Puram family group have been studying the Bible with him. Irrespective of his difficulties, he started attending the Mid week meetings also. It was exciting to see Last week he got saved by the Grace of Jesus.

PRASHANTH

Prashanth came from Bidar to Bangalore recently after he lost both of his parents. His brother Dayasagar is a disciple in Hyderabad Church. Prashanth found a job in Banaswadi and from then he had been faithfully attending Church services here. Ravindran and the Kasturi Nagar family group reached out to him and he got saved last week of June.