REFLECTIONS
issue 1 THE
FATHER’STOUCH MINISTRIES
JOURNEYS ARE MADE
E WITH SMALL STEPS
DEAR FRIENDS, The reality is we are still not where we need to be, but the truth is we are not where we used to be. Sometimes I get frustrated thinking I am still so far away. I have become neither fish nor fowl. But when I look back I rejoice seeing how far I have already come. I guess we all at times feel intimidated, discouraged and impotent whilst facing our Goliath, but all it takes is a moment of REFLECTION. It is in these powerful moments where we come to a realization and are able to boldly declare; My God, who gave me victory over a Lion and a Bear will also give me victory over this giant Goliath. He who has been faithful in the past will also remain faithful in the future. He is not a man that He should lie or change His mind. His name is JESUS who never changes. With these words I concluded my departing speech at my former office where I was a television presenter and a manager of a Christian Television Company. It was the answer to their question, when they asked me ‘What if leaving such secure job and income turns out to be the greatest mistake of your life?’
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‘REFLECTIONS’ is not about the destination where we are headed as much as it is about the journeys we are on. It is not about our achievements but about His accomplishments in us and through us. As we share some of our stories with you, it is our prayer that He will not only bless you and meet you at the point of your need but will make you a blessing. Amen. Thank you for taking time. Enjoy the Reflections….
avid
Joshua & Mae D
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CONTENTS SERVING LEADERS
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WHEN THE IMPOTENT MEETS THE OMNIPOTENT!
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POWER OF ASSOCIATION AND PARTNERSHIP
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MAKING AN IMPACT
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HOPE FOR CHILDREN
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PROMISED LAND
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS CONTRIBUTORS: Joshua David Mae David Sumun Frady
PHOTOGRAPHY:
David Frady Michael Mauldin LAYOUT & DESIGN: David Frady
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SERVING LEADERS
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ecently we had the privilege of serving senior leaders of Indian Evangelical Team commonly known as IET. Pastor PG Warghese is the founder President of this ministry. They have been one of the pioneering missions in North India. Our relationship with them is deepening and the Lord is graciously allowing them to taste the fruit for which they have so immensely laboured all these years.
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It was a very humbling experience when a senior IET leader serving more than 40 years in ministry came to me with tears in his eyes and said. ‘Now I know the Lord has honoured our prayers. All these years we have prayed to see men and women of God rise up in North India. We can see the Lord is raising you and your brother Moses in answer to our prayers’. That one sincere comment of a worthy man
of God was like a mantle covering us from head to toe. Every word of his prayer was like adding fuel to fire in our spirit. It was like the Father who knows his days are now at hand saying to his sons ‘I have fought a good fight of faith, now it is your turn. Previous generations stored up ensough prayers so that in our generation North India shall no longer be an unreached place.
100 LEADERS / PASTORS TRAINED IN SEMINARS EVERY MONTH
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50,000 LIVES HAVE BEEN TOUCHED THROUGH OUR GOSPEL MEETINGS
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WHEN THE IMPOTENT MEETS THE OMNIPOTENT
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he Blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the mute speak, paralysed are healed, demons flee. Miracles break out when in Faith I boldly declare, ‘By the stripes of Jesus Christ you are healed.’ At the preaching of the Gospel, salvation happens. Hundreds lined up to share their testimonies that night. There was singing and dancing and celebration. Shouts of Praise filled the ground. The name of Jesus was celebrated as never before in that city. What moved us as a team the most was when a mother brought her daughter on stage and began to weep. All of a sudden I felt a strong anointing hit me at the sound of her groaning. I turned to her and asked, ‘What troubles you lady?’ She pointed to her 15 years old daughter and replied, ‘I waited one whole year for this day. Last year we missed your meetings. We had to take a two day journey and by the time we got here the meetings were already over and you had left by then. We heard so many testimonies of how God healed people. The Pastor asked us to come next year as you would be back for the gospel meetings again.’ She began to hold her daughter and cry again. I began to think what’s wrong with this pastor, he could have prayed and set her free. Intrigued with her sobbing I asked her, ‘Lady what happened then?’ She replied, ‘My daughter was born blind, medically there is no hope for her. Can you do something for us? Please heal her? I gently pointed her to Jesus the great healer. As I laid my hands on her the power of God came upon her and she began to see. She ran up and down the stage completely healed. Now their mourning was turned into dancing. Hearing the gospel and seeing such miracles, thousands made a decision to make Jesus Christ their Lord and Saviour that evening. Tears began to roll down my cheeks that night in my room. I began to thank Lord Jesus for His great mercy. He picked a sinner like me, washed me with His blood, delivered me from my wickedness, forgave all my sins, and filled me with His Holy Spirit and power, so that He could meet the needs of people through me. It was worth taking that risk, obeying His voice, leaving my comfort zone and paying the price. Lord please help us understand what it means to live. ‘Woe unto me if I do not preach the Gospel of Lord Jesus Cshrist’ or live the call.
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POWER OF ASSOCIATION AND PARTNERSHIP
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t is not the life of INDEPENDENCE but the life of INTERDEPENDENCE to which Christ has called us. The more we begin to understand the heart of the Father and His ways and apply this truth to our life and the ministry the easier it became to rejoice in other’s victories at our expense. Now we know we are spendable. Called to be a nursing Mother, gladly sacrificing for others benefit
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The greatest hindrance to our growth is MISTRUST. The roots of our past experience and fallen nature still holds us captive to the evil thoughts that constantly dominate our belief system, ‘What if they use us or abuse us?’ I personally think it is better to be used than to be useless.
I used to be very protective of my ministry, my contacts, and my partners. I never realised that I was so possessive. Rather than allowing Jesus to be Lord of my relationships I was Lord of all. One day the Lord spoke to me through His word. Then David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel. 2 Samuel 5:12 I understood why God had established David and his kingdom more than anyone else. The fullness of life is never at the receiving end but at the GIVING end.
I started to pray Lord bring friends around us who live this principle and the Lord answered our prayers. Today we are surrounded by people who spend themselves and are being spent for the sake of gospel. Now it is not about how we benefit but how can we benefit others. Together we have seen the impact of our relationships grow. From donor driven we are becoming love driven people and ministers. The Culture of heaven is infecting our world. Rather than living FOR Heaven we are learning to live FROM Heaven. It has never been so exciting. Simply Awesome!!
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MAKING AN IMPACT • The Father’s Touch Ministries together with The Upper Room Church travelled to a village called Sindhibhata, in Orissa, India. We were hosted by Harvest Mission for Christ our ministry partner. We not only preached the Gospel but brought electricity to the entire village. • Our relationship with Pastor Jerome and Kitty (Australia), Pastor Steve Jones and Barry (UK), our Indian friends Evang. Rambabu, Ps Ivan Powar, Ps Matthew Kuruvalla, Ps Ashish Raichur, Ps S.R Manohar, Ps Willie Soans & Ps Moses David, has collectively impacted hundreds of churches in North India through The Father’s Touch Schools of Ministries. • We not only invested our time and talent in Vision India, A joint venture of many mission organizations to raise multipurpose workers for the work of ministry at North India.
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• Our relationship with Upper Room Church also was instrumental in bringing financial assistance to conduct ministry training and youth conference for 10,000 youth of North India. • Currently our relationship is blessing Karuna Children’s Kendra, a slum school project of Grace Assembly of God Church, Faridabad to renovate their facility building. • Through the faithful generosity of our Swiss friends Werner and Brigit and their friends we are able to provide education, medical and basic needs of eight children in Nagpur. • We have also been financially supporting a retired missionary and her dependant family with the help of Alwyn Machaiah
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HOPE FOR CHILDREN O
ne morning in 2005 we get a call from our assistant pastor saying Manish's father has pased away. We were shocked by this news bacause we knew him to be a healthy man. Later we found out that he was HIV Positive, and so was his wife, Manish’s mum. Now the concerning question to us was how long would Manish's mum make it? Would she win this battle or not? If not, who would take responsibility of Manish who was just 3 years old at the time. As a church we stood with Manish and his mum who were rejected by their family because they believed in Jesus and attended our slum church. During one of our visits to the slums we saw most of the children playing on the streets. This surprised me because it was unusual for children to be at home at that hour. When I asked some parents why the children were not at school, the casual response was ‘it
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doesn't matter any way, they are not going to complete their education’. This really troubled my heart and made me to think of how I could really help children like these and Manish to have a better future regardless of what their parents could provide. This is when Joshua & I came up with Father’s Touch Helping Hands.
Father’s Touch Helping Hands (FTHH) is a project especially for unprivileged children living in slums of India. FTHH is an attempt to save the children from getting into forced labour, either by their parents or circumstances. To preserve their innocence and their childhood from indulging in unhealthy activities and behaviour that surround them. Our vision is to give hope to the children of ragpickers, sweepers, rickshaw pullers and others who live in slums and are easy victims to any kind of addiction, abuse and slavery. FTHH takes care of 8 such children who are now in the age group of 10 to 15 years. For every child their parents are their strength, joy and security. Hence, FTHH allows all its children to live with their parents, but takes care of their education, food & hygienic needs. Thus, their parents are relieved from the pressure of providing for their children and can just enjoy being with their child. There is also a tutor for the children who helps them in their daily studies (as most of the parents are illiterate) and also teaches them to live a life pleasing to God. Today it’s not the parents who are impacting their children but, its the children who are impacting their parents life. We are so grateful to our friends who have partnered in our vision. Without their help and support we couldn’t have started to change those lives. For less than a cup of coffee a day, together we can multiply smiles to 150 such kids who are on the waiting list.
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PROMISED LAND
by Sumun Frady
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our suitcases packed tightly to the edge with no breathing space the night before we leave the UK for India. Fifteen years of our married life and all our 'stuff’ amounting to a 'bucket' of worldly goods. As I sit on our wooden dining table, I take a deep breath and gaze in wonder at how we ever managed to condense our life into a few pieces of luggage. Looking around the living room I could still see parts of our life dotted about that either needing a home or if I could be ruthless enough, the bin! Saying goodbyes and replying to heartfelt farewell texts didn’t seem to usher in the reality that we were literally about to start a new life six thousand miles away. Our emotions were on standby, as loved one's couldn't hold theirs back. Arriving at Delhi airport in the early hours of a warmish, but not humid early morning awakened our senses to the fact we had landed. It was kind of surreal . A bit crazy. A little radical with a five year old. Nevertheless, after many arrows from the enemy and a feeling that we had been on the front line of battle field, this was now our reality. The Start of a another adventure on our Journey , a quest to 'lay it all down for the sake of our king'. 'What we need to do is move to India to better help support the ministry' said my husband David off the back of a reflective conversation with Joshua David. I looked and listened with surprise but yet reassurance that this was the right decision. India had taken a 'soft spot' in my heart, not just from previous visits to support the work, but throughout my childhood when we came on holidays to see the family. David’s declaration was music to my ears.
'All things work together for the good of those who love Him' (Romans 8v28). As much as this decision seemed to have been made very swiftly one Sunday afternoon during a cup of tea, it had been seven years in the making. Our journey as a couple had seen significant change during those years. As well as having a baby, we stepped down from a 12 year Youth ministry and leadership roles at a church we had grown up in. We then left that
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church to church plant in our local town. All God orchestrated and led of course. It was also during these years that we began our friendship with Joshua David.. Whilst sat in the smallest room in our apartment, which we call the 'office' I’m trying to gather my thoughts and put into words the last four months of our new life. In reflection I have come to accept these last months as
being a drop in the ocean of a journey which will span a lifetime. We have had to make many decisions in a very short space of time. Some we have agonised over and others that haven’t seemed to make much of a dent. As parents, this time has been quite agonising. New land,new thinking, new weather,new possibilities.
gate, spending time with the couple who iron for the block and supplying water to them (literally). My Muslim friend has also allowed me to take her children to church. I have seen God answer endless prayers and bring improvement for believers here in Faridabad. Mentoring and discipleship have become a key part of my daily routine. A very strange urge
Before coming here and drawing from plans we loosely made before setting off, I assumed myself to be hands on, focal and vocal in ‘ministry’. The first three months we had agreed to settle ourselves in, set up our home and hope that our five year old son Ravi-Caleb would also ‘go with the flow’. He has had his moments, some of deep sadness with the realisation that he has left his school,his friends and his roller blades and bike behind, and further more having to swap them for home schooling and occasionally braving the heat to play with children who spoke in ‘Indian’.
to prayer for our local area and a neighbouring market area began to stir in me. I’m not at all someone who would usually lobby for ‘environmental’ issues. God is pressing on my heart to pray for ‘healing’ over this land. For the businesses to flourish as well as the natural beauty. For minds to be renewed so the locals begin to take responsibility for their ’patch’. Morning prayer walks with a prayer warrior friend of mine have been increasing my passion and desire to cover my ‘patch’ with intercessory prayer to stir the Father’s heart. We are interceding. We are hoping for change. And all before Ravi wakes up!
I ridiculously agonised over taking on a maid to clean our floors which get dust laden most of the time. Then I heard the Holy Spirit say to me that I would be blessing her and she to me. In my previous world I was managing all the chores that life threw my way, why would it be any harder here? Saroj (my maid) and me are really good friends now. We share and celebrate the difference that Jesus is making in her life. She is blessed because Jesus has been introduced into her circumstances. We eat together, drink tea together. I teach her (indirectly) what the biblical principles say about an issue she might be facing. Saroj believes Jesus has the power to make changes. She enjoys the peace and hope that only comes from Him. Peace didn’t live in her before, Hope was quite far away to. I have found my self regularly making tea for the guards at the
God has been intricately aligning the vision of the Father’s Touch ministries with David’s desire to use his gifting in multimedia. This is leading us in the direction of creating TV Programmes and teaching resources which will be available on-line,on-air and in print. God has breathed in us a Pioneering spirit in our field of ministry to use for His glory and reach the nations. God has entrusted me with a ‘flock’ to watch over as my way of service (1 Peter 5:2 ). He Page 17
wants me to be a blessing and a teacher to this nation. He has been drawing my attention to the fact that modelling our beliefs is much more impactful and makes the value ingrained deeper in all who see our example. I see my worth as a mum, as a wife and being faithful in the ‘small’ things. I’ve dabbled in a couple of things that use my gifting, only to discover that its not priority yet. I kept saying to myself ‘next month’ I’ll launch into ministry ….God whispered you already have. Cows randomly strolling on roads and pavements, signs which read ‘Wrong Way’, sweets been given as change and a family of four on a motorbike have been some of the profound things I have had the joy of witnessing here. There are many stories I could tell of the crazy and wonderful nation that is our ‘Promised Land’. We are looking forward to exploring India with all its beauty and dynamic character. Our journey’s are never our own. We affect and impact many people along the way. Our ways are also not Gods ways, our desires and dreams are only fulfilled when we surrender wholeheartedly to our Heavenly Father’s will. Since being here I’ve been bursting to ‘do’. I have had overwhelming confirmation about prophesy spoken over me. In the quest to see that pass, I forgot that God needs time to work on me. So he reminded me and gently said...Every race takes preparation. A dear friend of our’s shared the words of an old Christian school song with us that God had laid on her heart before we left . The words read; One more step along the world I go, more and more about the world I know, from the old things to the new keep me travelling along with you. As travelling teachers (missionaries), we have a conviction that we need to keep close to God so he can help us embrace the ‘new’ as we travel like ‘strangers’ through this land.
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BE PART OF THE JOURNEY We would love for you to be part of this journey: • Become a prayer partner and help raise a team of intecessors locally. • Become a financial partner by donating regularly. • Become a short or long term missionary on the field.
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HOW TO DONATE UK donors please make cheques payable to: The Father’s Touch Ministries Please post cheques to: TFTM UK 8 Parsons Road Langley Slough SL3 7GU UK US donors please log onto www.uroom.org and click the Donate button Or write to us at info@tftm.in for more information on how you can partner with us.
THE
FATHER’STOUCH MINISTRIES
REFLECTIONS A T F T M P U B L I C AT I O N © 2 0 1 3
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