30 Minute Martyr

Dear Friends and Partners:

God moved in penetrating ways during our recent project in India! Lives were transformed, Christians were encouraged tostand for and to share their faith, and the Kingdom of God grew mysteriously through the most unwanted way—persecution.

There is a very special young woman I need to tell you about; we will call her “Jackie.” We conducted a “Youth Festival” that Jackie attended. Ironically, as I will soon explain, during my message I clearly stated that to follow Jesus Christ, especially in their country of India, they may suffer persecution and even death. In spite of these strong Biblical Words, dozens of youth publicly turned to Jesus, and one was Jackie! After the Youth Festival had concluded, Jackie was attacked on her way home by extremists of a certain “religion.” They beat her on the head with a metal pipe, knocking her unconscious, and left her for dead in the street. Bystanders found her and they noticed still in Jackie’s arms was her Bible, which contained her name and address, so they carried her home. Her parents rushed her to the hospital and discovered Jackie had slipped into a coma. Surgeons did emergency surgery to relieve the pressure on her brain. Three hours later she awoke, not remembering the attack, but, thank God, she did remember regular details of her life. She is now at home and expected to make a full recovery!

I am so grateful to God that Jackie did not become a 30-minute martyr! She had been a Christian only half an hour before she was attacked, just because she chose to follow Jesus. In addition, another young adult from the Youth Festival along with the main pastor we worked with, were both arrested for distributing Christian tracts. Please pray for Jackie’s recovery and for our dear pastor friend as he stands trial for the out-of-context charges filed against him by religious extremists!

The area-wide Festival Crusade we conducted was highly blessed by God! After all the persecutions and political strikes that were constantly taking place, our India project concluded with 1,500 people squeezing into a tiny lot of land. The Christians who attended were “lit up” with joy as they sang praises to the Lord, and dozens of people publicly professed Jesus Christ as their new God!

We saw over 200 public decisions for Christ, which is amazing given the circumstances! Plus, over 40 church leaders were equipped at our Leadership Development Conference. And, because of you, our ministry partners, we were able to purchase and distribute 40 Bibles and 20,000 tracts in the local language, and give a portable sound system for the church leaders to use in their ministries.

Perhaps the greatest thing God did through our India project was the new partnership our ministry began with 74 churches, through which 34 evangelists and 65 pastors are doing ministry in rural villages. The photo at the top of the page is of one of these village pastors, Paul, and he and I are standing in front of his church. We are calling this partnership our “Global Missions Program” where, as God provides, we will give training to these “Global Missionaries (GMs),” and provide Bibles, tracts, study materials, and monthly gifts to help these GMs support their families as they serve full-time in growing their churches and planting new churches. This GM Program is the beginning of the vision God has given me for equipping and supporting GMs world-wide…more exciting details to come. Thank you, our ministry partners, for helping these missionaries!

I want to say thank you to all those working with me in developing the administrative infrastructure of this ministry! We are working together as a team (staff, volunteers, and financial partners) with the common goal of proclaiming the love of God—the message of the cross—to as many as we can while we can. Thank you to everyone helping our ministry…we are grateful…I am grateful!

For Jesus, Jackie, and the Jackie’s of the world, I am…sincerely yours,

Scott Nute