Tag Archives: 3-5 Day Conference

Hope Thrives out of Cheetah Tragedy

In the early 1900’s Canadian Baptists brought the gospel to Gajapa, Odisha State in the beautiful tropical mountains of this region of India. There were challenges in bringing the gospel to the jungles. Sadly, a missionary was killed by a cheetah and the decision was made to move the mission to the village of Serango. The first church was established in 1917, and a bit later in 1928 an Eye Hospital was built and opened. The village of Serango was the setting of the 3rd Odisha Youth Advance Conference from May 16-19, 2023. As we journeyed from Bhubaneshwar out into the country and on into the beautiful mountain region, we were secretly hoping to see a bit of jungle wildlife like an elephant, cheetah or monkey. However, later we learned, that although at one time they were there, there are no longer any left. But there were beautiful rice paddies and water buffalo and misty mountains. As we arrived at the guest house at the New Hope Hospital compound, it felt as though we stepped back in time to the early 1900’s with peaceful echoes from the past welcoming us to continue the Lord’s work in this region of India.

“Community” – Interactive and interconnected

“If I would use one word to describe the people of western Nepal, I would choose the word “community”.   I have been to few places on the planet where the whole culture is so interactive and interconnected in daily living.  We could learn much from our brothers and sisters there!”

MTM to India, Himalayan Region Ministry

The Feature Photo is an MTM 2018 File Photo

“Pray ye therefore the Lord of harvest, that He will send forth laborer’s into His harvest.” Matt. 9:38
“Jaimasi!’ (This is the Christian greeting in this part of the world.) ‘Peace be unto you!’
When the invitation came from MTM to attend and participate in a teaching team to the State of Sikkim INDIA, I was intrigued. I asked our church if they would support the idea, which they did, so making plans began. My dear friend Truman Yoder was also planning to go if all the paperwork worked out.
After visas were granted, and plane tickets purchased, I started thinking about what God would have me to share with the youth & pastor at the conferences where we would be speaking.
The first week was filled with joy, teaching to a gentle kind group of Himalayan mountain people. We then left West Sikkim to go to East Sikkim for the pastor’s conference in Gangtok, the capital city of Sikkim State of India.

Taking the Life-Giving Gospel into the Land of the Killing Fields…

Our native coordinator wrote the following encouragement…“We would like to show our gratitude for MTM and our wonderful guest speakers for your coming with your own resources, time and energy to make the pastoral leadership conference happened. Through the training, we feel so encouraged about forgiveness, the calling as pastors or leaders and how to humbly lead God’s people by following the example of Jesus leadership. Furthermore, according to evaluation result, most churches are eagerly looking forward to participating and learning more again”

MTM Pastoral Leadership Conference @ Jagannathpur Village, Odisha, India

After 14 years of serving the Lord with IGo & MTM Raymond & Naomi Burkholder moved their MTM base from Thailand to Akron, PA in August of 2022. Their role with MTM is changing from Director to Founder & Elder Ministry teacher. Raymond & Naomi will continue to lead teaching teams in Discipleship Making among the Nations in continuing to Spiritual Nurture the many established relationships with Pastors & Elders Among the Nations.
We are very grateful to each of our dear faithful Supporters who made the past 14 years of missionary pastoral service possible. May the Lord richly reward each of you supporters for your faithful service unto the Lord & MTM. THANK YOU!
In keeping on with the Lords continued calling upon our Lives we departed November 10th for a 6-week MTM ministry marathon which would include three pastoral training conferences in two different countries (Nepal & India) as well as a two-week Bible school in India.

“Cry of Ishmael Conference” at Ratanpur Village, Nepal

I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Jn. 6:35

Dear MTM prayer partners, We greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I am Pastor Anand Sinha and I am ministering among the Muslims in Nepal. There are about 7% Muslims in Nepal and we are focusing on reaching out to the children of Ishmael (Muslims) who are lost without our Savior Jesus Christ. November 13-15, 2022, we were in Ratanpur village for a MTM conference and we had guest teacher Pastor Raymond Burkholder from the USA. We have known Pastor Raymond since 2010 and our dear God gave us the wonderful privilege to work together to build the kingdom of God in Nepal through teaching conferences and 3 weeks Bible School. It is a blessing to team up with him after a long interval.

Himalayan MTM Highlights

I was honored to be able to participate in a MTM Leadership Seminar in Sikkim, India. Sikkim, a Northeast state of India, is located in the Himalayan Mountains between Nepal and Bhutan. It took almost 24 hours of traveling from Thailand to reach Gangtok the town where the conference was hosted. Because Sikkim is a restricted state of India, we had to get a special registered license to enter. The theme of the conference was “Leadership Priorities”. It was well attended by 78 different church leaders. The delegates were church pastors, youth leaders, and Sunday school teachers, who came from remote areas of Sikkim. Some of the delegates took almost as much time traveling as we did, with one group coming by bus the whole way from eastern Nepal. Most of the pastors attending were rural pastors who never had an opportunity to go to Bible school or to receive any other bible teaching.

The Impact of Music and Servant Leadership

How do you describe the work of Loving Father, Gentle Saviour, and Mighty Rushing Wind Holy Spirit?  I’m not sure it is possible.  These were the highlights of one week in Myanmar.  Seven days, Four church services, Two conferences.  The Word of God opened and shared between multiple cultures in Five languages:  English, Lisu, Burmese, Hebrew, and Greek.  Continual prayer and constant worship bathed the settings of true worshipers, though we were always surrounded by Buddhist temples, Pagodas, and people.  Rice, chicken, fish, pork, and fruit at nearly every meal.  The only exception was breakfast, where we had rice, eggs, deep-fried “anything”, and fruit.

The Cry of Ishmael in Indonesia

It was while we lived in Aceh with the Acehnese people that God imparted a huge burden on my heart for the Muslim people of the world. So much so that as of today I have developed a complete series on teaching for the Christian Church in motivating them to reach their own Islamic people for Jesus Christ.