Skyline

It can be so powerful to take some time and pray over a city. One time during my first trip to India, for our group morning devotions, we had a time of worship and then spread out around our rooftop and prayed over all corners of the city. We took time to pray for God to move mightily in the people of Nagpur. It was amazing individually and as a team to pour our hearts out over the city. That can cause you to really fall in love with a skyline.

www.crosspointofindia.org

The Power of Your Heart

Pooja is a sweet-spirited girl that I met on my first trip to India. She, at the time, was one of the children in the children's home and was attending school. She had been in the children's home since very close to the opening of it. Her English was good, which made it much easier to talk to her. One of the best things that I learned quickly about Pooja was her giving heart. She could have done what most kids would have and just used her English to hog the time of the team members by talking us herself. Instead, she became a bit of a translator for us. When we were in a group setting, she would gladly help interface between the languages. She gave the chance to many of the girls to talk with us and us with them, that wouldn't have happened before.

When I returned the next year, Pooja was still living in the children's home but had completed her regular schooling (our equivalent of graduating high school) and had started her year in the Bible school. Her English was better than ever and because of her willingness to serve, the ministry had given her a job that utilized her gifts. I know God has blessed her because of her servant's heart.

I am also thankful for the insight I gained while getting to know Pooja. She has a quite voice but leads the girls that live in the children's home. She allowed me to ask quite a few questions in our time together. Oddly enough, her name Pooja means worship. Right now I don't remember all the specifics of her story, maybe I'll tell it sometime. I do know that it is amazing how her given name reflects her total attitude of worship, even in the small tasks.

www.crosspointofindia.org

The Gospel

One of the very first things I was told in preparation for my first trip to India was to always be prepared to share the Gospel. These are a few pictures of one evening that after working on cementing the wall (on the land for the Crosspoint of India future children's home), my team had an opportunity to sit down with the construction workers and flat-out share the good news of Jesus.

December 2008, my team was asked to tell the workers of the 'good news' that we have and to sing a worship song to help prove our point. One team member told the story of the salvation of men from Genesis, with the fall, to Revelation, and the 2nd coming of Christ. He stated it all so plainly that the men, who had probably never heard any portion of the Bible, could understand it all. We then sang the song "Mighty to Save" (by Hillsong) with our one acoustic guitar. Those few moments are forever ingrained in my mind.

We didn't have a huge revival among the workers, no one gave their life to Christ, and from the looks of it, nothing really happened BUT I know that God was working in their hearts. I don't know all the results from what was said that day but I'm believing that the seed was planted. Also each of us that sat there that day learned a valuable lesson. By being prepared and willing to share the Gospel at anytime, lives can be changed, destinies altered, and our own perspectives shifted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-08YZF87OBQ