Traveling Across Continents: Uniting Church Planters for Global Impact
Traveling to India was no small feat…one flight alone is 15 hours from NY to Delhi, India. I thought my travels were difficult until I heard from how far away some of the church planters came. Some of them rode multiple trains for HOURS to get to Delhi for the week of training and ending with a celebration of the South Asia Regional Base. Folks traveled from Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Nepal, the United States, and Uzbekistan. It was a true representation of being a part of a global organization.
The week started off with three different training sessions at a lovely Anglican conference center. It was hard to get used to taking off my shoes before entering the buildings. I would often wonder if anyone accidentally collects the wrong pair of shoes when they are exiting the buildings. Dear brother Hurshid and his wife, Nafisa, traveled from Uzbekistan. Hurshid worked with the Muslim background believers and taught through the book of Acts in English…he said it was the first time he has taught in English. Two pastors from New Spring Church in Columbia, SC came to instruct on using the prophetic in ministry. Jon McDerment and Finn Sheridan were a lot of fun and very engaging. It was a pleasure to get to know them. They church planters were certainly blessed by their teachings, too. The last group was led by Pastor John Held from Living Way Church in Greensboro, NC. He and his wife, Florrie, traveled with Gerrick and I to India. John taught about life and ministry and made some incredible connections to the brothers from Bangladesh.
Florrie and I had the opportunity to spend time with some women representing Crossover Global. We had time learn how Brazilian workers have been instrumental in India. We also met two Indian women who are doing door-to-door evangelism in their state. Fali works with and encourages them as one woman’s family are not Christians. We prayed over one another to bless each other and to be examples as instructed in Hebrews 10:24, “…to stir up one another to love and good works.”
Isac Raja, a special guest from India Missions Association, spoke at the celebration. He showed many statistics regarding the number of unreached people groups in India and the number of practicing religions in India. He painted an amazing picture of the spiritual needs in India and created a sense of urgency for all who attended. It was a great honor to have him at the event.
João Mordomo, one of the founders of Crossover Global, came in from Brazil to join the celebration. He shared an encouragement from scripture. There was a time for different nationalities to share worship songs in their native tongues. Updates from leaders from each region were given during the celebration time.
Ken and Idris, our President and Vice President, spent time explaining the vision and values of Crossover Global. This was an important time to build unity among the 150 church planters. At the end of the time together, the leaders were able to wash the feet of the church planters before sending them out into the world to spread the gospel. Such a clear picture of Isaiah 52:7 “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns.’”
This post was shared by Shannon Gann, Event Coordinator, USA Regional Base.