Carnival 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

KLC 09

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

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

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

New Additions in July

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

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

Great Contribution

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

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

Wedding Bells

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

Sad News

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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