As I mentioned in previous blogs I will be going with two other couples on a survey trip to northern India this October. I wanted to take a moment to tell you what we will be doing in this endeavor. I know many of the things I mentioned may not be applicable for the trips you will take to see a missionary. I have been blessed to be on several Survey Trips and to serve in a church led by a veteran missionary. I am going on this trip as somewhat of a stunt double for the pastor. I have learned many of the principles he has taught as it pertains to survey and research trips.

We will be assisting the Roberts and another couple on their survey trip. The Roberts family will be moving there in the Spring of next year! So this is a hugely important trip for them. I have been on several survey trips through the years with my pastor, who is a former missionary to Peru. Here are some things that may sound simple but are vitally important to setting up shop and home on the mission field for the GOER.

• We will look at the living conditions as it pertains to housing. We will research the pricing on buildings in various sections of the city.
• We will look at the medical situation in the city. We know there is good private healthcare but there is much to learn about all of this.
• We will meet with missionary families and learn from them while stating our intent in being in the country.
• We will do a great deal of foot work in preparation for them getting visas.
• We will look at the different modes of staying in the country (students, business, etc).
• We will learn as much as possible about the culture without knowing the language as possible. This will help prepare them to mentally and emotionally.
• We will make a list of the basic prices for everyday items and major appliances. They will began to set up their quarterly budgets.

There is much more that will be done but that is a sampling. Learning simply “what will it be like to live here” is a big deal for the family and especially the mother in the family. We will ask tons of questions and we will ask tons of the people the same ton of of questions.

As a PIONEER SENDER or as we often call it at our church a “yoke fellow” there are some areas that I am extremely interested in and need to learn about. I believe there are things I will learn on the trip that are going to help me be a better SENDER when I am on the other side of the big pond. There are also some things I will do that may not be the same for other SENDERS who would go but the principle is the same.

• We will compile 900 packets from the Voice in the Villages that will be distributed to pastors, Lord willing. This is such a big opportunity and one that could only been orchestrated by God! This is time being we must act upon it by December. It has provided the urgency for me to travel to India this October. [In future posts I will tell you about the missionaries we are partnering with to make this happen.]
• We will take in everything we can via a video camera. We will do interviews and record the missionaries. This material will be used to help motivate and mobilize others laborers for the harvest.
• We want soak in, write down, and remember everything that we believe would cause pressure on our GOER families so we will be sensitive to them when we hear about it later.
• We will learn from some non-profit groups to see what we might could do to help meet some humanitarian needs that will further the work of the church planters.
• BIG ONE: We will constantly encourage the families in what we know is true about India regardless of what our senses are telling us! We know God loves them and wants to use their lives for His glory! We know the work can be done and many other fundamental truths.
• ANOTHER BIG ONE: We will look for every way possible that SENDERS could use their time, talents, and abilities to further the Gospel there from the States or during short term trips.

Please, be in prayer for this trip that will take place the first week of October. If you are able to help us please do. If you have any contacts you think would be helpful please email me at Trent@visionbaptist.com. A ministry to a country bigger than Africa and the UK combined can not completely funded from anyones personal budget. We are going to save and  sacrifice to do our part. If you want to give to this project you can do so online at www.visionbaptistmissions.com or mail the money to our VBM office. Just notate it to COME & SEE INDIA.

God has placed this desire in our heart, He is opening doors, and God’s people are helping meet the financial needed to help us as we walk through them! We appreciate your prayers, resources, and financial donations. Voice in the Villages is a wonderful missions endeavors because it requires full involvement by GOER & SENDERS!

 If you want to read about the ministries of GOERS we are working with please got to bcwe.org

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I guess with that title you assume I am going to tell you the “story of Come and See India“. Well, I can’t because the story hasn’t happened yet it has just started. I look forward, Lord willing, to someday seating down with some of my friends and compiling a list of stories of all that God has done in northern India. I will tell you what I know about how that story starts for me.

Every year the team of missionaries I serve with hosts two events called the  Our Generation Summit and the Our Generation Camp. They give passion, heart felt, Biblical sound pleas for their countries. Over the years I have seen literally dozens of young people make huge decisions at these events and follow through with them! God had began drawing my attention to how the huge country of India had no representation. Not that there is no one working there just that no one on our team at the time was working there. We know so little about India (“we” being the average church member in America). Even when you begin to study it is difficult to get many answers. The Lord used this to create a desire in my heart to become an advocate for the people in that country. Over the last few years I have spent much time in Operation World reminding myself that no matter who does the counting there is less than 1% Christian along the banks of the Ganges in northern India.

After one of the night sessions in 2009 a friend of mine that directs Mission Joint Venture International spoke to me about making a trip to India. In Feburary of this year I travelled with him, my pastor, a college student training for missions, and Philip Bassham (missionary to Thailand) to Delhi and Varanassi. I will not even begin to try to cover what all we saw on that trip but would like to tell one story that changed and is changing my life.

The Ganges River is a horrifically gross river that runs through the northern part of India. Parts of the river is even septic. In Varanassi there are 36 large sewer lines that run from the city into the river. People of Hindu faith, which is 80% of the country, believe this river to be god. When they die they believe if there ashes are put into the river they will escape the hopeless cycle of reincarnation and they will finally find nirvana. While standing on the bank of the river I saw a fire that has been burning for over 2,000 years fueled by the bodies of people are are died to spend eternity in a hell prepared for the devil and his the fallen angels.

While standing on the bank and listening to people explain to me why they live, drink, bath, play, and travel thousands of miles to be at this river a young man came to me. His face is burned into my memory. In broken english he invited me to “come and see”. “Come and see.. she is beautiful!”. I do not believe this side of eternity I will forget his face, his words, and the lie he so strongly believed. As I walked down closer to the water I so desired to open the Word of God and show him the true beauty that can be found only in Jesus Christ. This young man does not and may never know true beauty.

A couple months after the trip I was reading in John 1 and noticed how the invitation Jesus gave to the disciples was to “come and see”! Then when Nathaniel questions Philip about Jesus he invites them to “come and see”. To “come and see” is what we desire the people of northern India and the world to do! Come and see how beautiful our Savior is! Come and see that His yoke is easy! Come and see how grace is so much better then karma! That night at camp I prayed and ask God for someone to go to northern India and take the Hindi Bible I had back the banks of the Ganges and invite those people to “come and see”.

I had no idea that one of my friends, Jim Roberts, had been praying about following the Lord’s leading to northern India. A few weeks after the camp he came to my church and announced his calling. I had one of the greatest opportunities of my life to hand him the Hindi Bible, hug his family, and offer my life as a bridge to help him live out the God given dream in his heart.

Neither Jim or I knew at this time that after the camp one of the student pastors there had a meeting with a family from their church and that family was believing God was leading them to northern India. About a month ago Jim and I met with that gentleman (we won’t use his name for the time being). Last Saturday my wife and I, the Roberts, the family I am telling you about, and some others interested in missions in northern India met to discuss the current situation and how God could use our lives to change it!

This October my wife and I get the awesome opportunity to travel with these two families and a college age young man back to northern India. When I was in the country in Feb. I met a man that worked with a missions team working to reach northern India. It was my prayer someday to come back and see him with the team God was forming I would be a part of.. I would never imagined it would be less than 8 months later.

We will be assisting the Roberts family on their survey trip. I believe whole heartedly in this family. They have a great support system in place with their pastor, my pastor, their mission board and many others. I just praise God we can call them friends and help them. We will also be making some preparatory steps for the Voice in the Villages project for the country. There are several missionaries and ministry leaders we need to meet with while we are there. There is so much we need to learn, but we are excited about learning it together.

This will be no picnic and I am not taking my wife to see the scenery. India has grown so much in my heart that I feel that it is best for my wife to join me on this journey so we can grow together in this process. I have “assuredly gathered” (stealing from Paul’s terminology”) our role on the team at this time is as PIONEER SENDERS. In future posts I will explain more what we will do on the trip and why we think it is vital to the future of the mission.

God is doing an amazing work around the world. I encourage to read my friends blogs. We have pulled them into one easy one stop shop for you at www.bcwe.org.

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I absolutely love the above picture! I do not know the story behind it but let me tell it to you the way that I will tell my two year old son, Thatcher, when I show him the picture.

One day there were many people working in a house making clothes with their sewing machines. They were doing a very good job but then all of a sudden they got to a point where they could not do there job anymore. The sewing machine broke!! (sound effect: dunt.. dunt.. dun..) No one could figure out what they should do. They used all of their resources but could not figure out a solution to their new problem. They had such grand dreams of providing clothes to everyone in the community.

Someone remembered that there was a sewing machine on the other side of the river. As people began to take needle and thread and work while their system was down (okay this isn’t a kids story anymore but a metaphor). They decided that someone should stop the work and cross the river to gather needed resources and people to finish the job. Even though they had many, many people in the village now helping them they were in need of somethings that would accelerate the work. As they discussed who should put down their needle and thread and cross the river they look out and saw this man coming their way across the river. He begins to scream, “I heard you had a need and I am here to help!”.

The man takes a sewing machine that had been abandoned for years and takes it to a place where it meets a huge need. He sets the sewing machine down, heads back across the river spending every amount of energy and dollar he can to find and relocate resources to see a job done on the other side of the river. Along the way he finds a joy that is seen in the smile in the picture.

Okay, maybe that wasn’t Pilgrim Progress material but it would make a good story for my son to learn about missions.

I firmly believe one of the greatest, if not the greatest needs, in modern missions is for pioneering senders. Let me make sure you know what I mean by this word combination. Pioneer as a verb: Develop or be the first to use or apply (a new method, area of knowledge, or activity). As a noun: A person who is among the first to explore or settle a new country or area. Sender (as used in modern missions terminology) one who gives his or her life to mobilize resources and people for the cause of world missions. We need PIONEER SENDERS!

Senders make it their mission in life to spread God’s mission. They use all the resources they possess to spread the Word and reach people in need of God. We need senders who are willing to roll up their sleeve, alter their schedules, forsake their hobbies and pioneer in this modern era of missions. As Seth Barnes of A.I.M. puts it “we need people to live radical lives in a comfortable world!”.

We know the stories of the Jim Elliots, William Careys, and Aarons in northern Africa. I praise God for them and would never want you I was down playing their importance. It is their radical steps of faith and pioneering spirit that now calls upon us senders to meet their radical obedience with the same radical obedience to God’s mission in this world.

In the same manner many have consecrated their lives to the cause of the great commissions as goers/missionaries I do the same as a sender! We need to have a holy discontent for the current spiritual condition of the world. We need to act radically and pioneer as senders.

Here are some areas that I see need pioneering by senders:

I will have much more to say about this topic over the next couple of weeks. I want to share my heart with you about missions, senders, living radically, India, and somethings I believe God is leading my wife and I to do. I hope you will stay tuned and sign up to get this by email if you haven’t already.

By the way.. look around do you have any “old type writers” that need to be carried across the river? Do you have the ability to solve an issue that a missionary is facing? It is time for us senders to step up and live pioneering lives!

I have dozens of awesome goer friends with great blogs. If you go to www.bcwe.org you will find links to them there.

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Our evening on the Ganges River in Varanasi, India will be a time we will never forget. The vivid demonstration of the dedication that Hindus have to the river was absolutely more than any of us could have expected.

We are asking God to use Vision Baptist Church is a mighty way to share the Gospel with the people of India. Please pray about partnering with us. We have set several things in motion for a new initiative from our church for the people of India. We are praying and planning to see how we can do more in the years to come.

I have seen many things on the trips in the past that were heart breaking but none had ever moved me as much as seeing a continual funeral service for these hindu people. During our time in India we catch some glimpses of hope in what is happening in several of the ministries there. The population is staggering and the laborers are so few.

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From the 1st pf February to the 10th of February I have the great opportunity to spend time in India and Thailand! This is absolutely a dream come true for me. God has placed an immoveable burden for the people of India upon my heart. Philip Bassham, my friend and fellow team member, will be seeing Thailand for his very first time. He and his wife are currently on deputation raising support to move and live among the people of Thailand! You can learn more about them at ProjectThailand.net.

While on the trip I know we will see many people hopelessly crying out in prayer to their god. I would like to ask God’s people to speak to our Heavenly Father on their behalf during this time. It will also bring great comfort and encouragement to our team to know while we hear these vain prayers that there will be men and women of God praying to the Creator God on our behalf!

Would you help me  by being 1 of the 100 people we desire to recruit to partner with us in prayer? If so please feel out the form below. We would greatly appreciate it!

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Untitled from Trent Cornwell on Vimeo.

“You are going to Varanasi (nervous chuckle).. that is going to be like a 180 degree turn. They don’t even turn the light switch on in the same way!” These are words a man from Bangalore, India told me tonight as we sat beside each other feeding our kids ice cream. I actually get that “you are going to Varanasi (nervous chuckle)” quite often when I tell people I am going there in the first week in February.

It has been in my heart for almost 5 years now to visit India. Come on.. 1 in 6 people in the world are from there it has to interest you at least a little bit. From discussing God’s work and satan’s (I always intentional don’t capitalize his name) attempt at opposition with a missionary in that country, reading the life of William Carey, and learning of God’s love for the entire world my heart has been captivated by these the people of India.

Our trip has several purposes. One being that we will be going to Thailand with Philip Bassham. Philip, my friend and future missionary to Thailand, with see the country for his first time! That will be awesome! I am asking God to break then fill our heart with India to a point that we become radical advocates for the people when we return. We will also be doing research. We have heard many conflicting reports about India and we hope to get a better understanding of it all.

I ask you to commit to pray for our team February 1st – 10th. If you have contacts in Delhi, Varanasi, Bangkok, or Chiang Mei please let me know.

bcwe.org

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For the last couple of years God has continually brought my mind and heart back to the people of India. It is amazing how little most of us think about the country of India when it is 1/6th of the world. We have so few missionaries there in comparison to the huge population.

This November the 8th- 18th I have the great opportunity to join a group of men on a survey trip to the country of India. Vision Baptist Church is looking for strategic partners for this area and looking to find out the truth about God’s work in this country. So little is said about India and what is said vary so much that it is hard to truly know what is going on in these needy country.

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Recently, Chad Mann with Operation India brought the issue of child sacrifices in India to the attention of our church staff. Chad does a a great job as an advocate for the people of India. I would like to encourage you to visit his website (www.operationIndia.net) and sign up for his electronic newsletter.

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Official Name: Republic of India

Geography: Area: 3.29 million sq. km. (1.27 million sq. mi.); about one-third the size of the U.S.

Capital City:
New Delhi (pop. 12.8 million)

Other major cities:
Mumbai, formerly Bombay (16.4 million)
Kolkata, formerly Calcutta (13.2 million)
Chennai, formerly Madras (6.4 million)
Bangalore (5.7 million)
Hyderabad (5.5 million)
Ahmedabad (5 million)
Pune (4 million)

source: 2001 census

Flag:
The national flag, adopted in 1947, is a horizontal tricolor in equal proportion of deep saffron on the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom. In the center of the white stripe is a blue wheel representing a wheel (chakra)– a Buddhist symbol dating back to 200th century BC. The spokes intend to show that there is life in movement and death in stagnation. The saffron stands for courage, sacrifice and the spirit of renunciation; the white, for purity and truth; the green for faith and fertility. The flag symbolizes freedom.

Monetary Unit:
The Indian Rupee is the official currency of India. Rupee is also the name used in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Mauritius and the Seychelles. The origin of the word “rupee” is found in the Sanskrit word rÅ«p or rÅ«pā, which means “silver” in many Indo-Aryan languages such as Urdu.
On last update (March 7, 2006), the rate was
1 USD = Rs. 44.26
1 euro = Rs. 53.1119
1 CNY = Rs. 5.50629

Terrain: Varies from Himalayas to flat river valleys.

Climate: Alpine to temperate to subtropical monsoon.

Population (2004): 1.1 billion; urban 27.8%.

Annual growth rate: 1.4%.

Ethnic groups: Indo-Aryan 72%, Dravidian 25%, Mongoloid 2%, others.

Religions: Hindu 82.41%, Muslim 12%, Christian 2.3%, Sikh 1.9%, other groups including Buddhist, Jain, Parsi 2.5%.

Languages: Hindi, English and 16 other official languages.

Education: Years compulsory–9 (to age 14). Literacy–65.38%.

Health: Infant mortality rate–61/1,000. Life expectancy–63 years.

Workforce (est.): 416 million. Agriculture–63%; industry and commerce–22%; services and government–11%; transport and communications–4%.

Government: India is a Federal republic that gained independence on August 15, 1947.

People

• Although India occupies only 2.4% of the world’s land area, it supports over 15% of the world’s population. Only China has a larger population.
• Almost 33% of Indians are younger than 15 years of age.
• About 70% of the people live in more than 550,000 villages, and the remainder in more than 200 towns and cities.
• Over thousands of years of its history, India has been invaded from the Iranian plateau, Central Asia, Arabia, Afghanistan and the West; Indian people and culture have absorbed and changed these influences to produce a remarkable racial and cultural synthesis.

Society and Language

• Religion, caste and language are major determinants of social and political organization in India today.
• Although 82% of the people are Hindu, India also is the home of more than 126 million Muslims–one of the world’s largest Muslim populations.
• The population also includes Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Parsis.
• The caste system reflects Indian occupational and socially defined hierarchies. Ancient Sanskrit sources refer to four social categories, priests (Brahmin), warriors (kshatriya), traders (vaishya) and farmers (shudra).
• Although these categories are understood throughout India, they describe reality only in the most general terms. They omit, for example, the tribes and low castes once known as “untouchables.” In reality, society in India is divided into thousands of jatis–local, endogamous groups based on occupation–and organized hierarchically according to complex ideas of purity and pollution.
• Despite economic modernization and laws countering discrimination against the lower end of the class structure and outlawing “untouchability,” the caste system remains an important source of social identification and a potent factor in the political life of the country.
• Nevertheless, the government has made strong efforts to minimize the importance of caste through active affirmative action and social policies.

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