Dear Praying Friends,
Greetings to you in Jesus name. We are excited to share a few ministry updates through this newsletter!
“You are good and do good; teach me your statutes.”
Psalm 119:68
Covid-19 Relief
For the fourth time, the lockdown in India has been extended until May 31st. We have been under lock-down since March 24th due to the corona virus. The number of Corona virus deaths and cases keep increasing here in India. We are not allowed to meet for worship services and we don’t know when we will be allowed to reopen our churches and do ministry activities. We continue to seek various ways to reach people, to share the Gospel with the lost, and to encourage church members. Still, it is challenging to reach out since many people don’t know how to use the internet or cell phones and are therefore not reachable through technology.
In spite of the challenges, the Lord is helping us to reach people. This month, we were able to provide food supplies and financial assistance to seventy of our own church planters and pastors of small churches in six regions (Krishna, Kurnool, Vizag, Srikakulam, Anantapur, and Punjab) in India.
As you know most of our church planters and pastors are paid/supported each Sunday from their congregations in food items (rice, vegetables and some cash) but now they cannot meet for worship services on Sunday so there is no food. Our assistance is a huge blessing to each of the church planters and their families.
TV Ministry
There is a small television station in my home town. The management invited us to preach the Gospel on their TV channel with a small charge ($25 per episode). This television channel reaches to a few counties in our state. This is one of the ways we are able to reach people with the Gospel during the nationwide lockdown.
For the past few weeks, we have been telecasting the Gospel message on Sundays from 9:30pm to 10:00pm. They are asking us to telecast more episodes during the week. We are receiving good reports and having spiritual conversations with people who are calling us to know more about Jesus Christ as a result of this television ministry.
We are receiving good feedback and we would like to telecast Gospel messages every day.
Would you pray for the listeners that they would give their lives to Jesus Christ as they hear the Gospel?
Also, pray for us as we minister to them, that the Lord would give us words that we need to speak to them. Each episode (a 30 minute Gospel presentation) would cost about $25.
Would you pray and consider sponsoring an episode or more so that we can reach people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
Here is how you can pray for us specifically. . .
1). Pray for the new converts that they would stay strong in the faith during this lockdown season. In March, we have baptized 20 new converts in a region that has very little Christian presence. As you know churches have been closed down since March and there is no way for us to reach some of them due to the lockdown. We are hoping and praying to meet them in person right after the lockdown is lifted to disciple them.
2). Pray for our safety during this climate. In most of the recent days, we have had 115 degree Fahrenheit temperature. Pray for our protection.
3). We need a video camera for the Television Gospel Ministry. Please pray that God would provide a video camera for us to record the Gospel messages to telecast on the air. Also, by having a video camera, we will have a reduced price for airing the message.
4). Pray for religious liberty here in India. Persecution keeps increasing here in India. Pray for Christians and churches that the Lord would help us to stay strong in the persecution. Pray that God would change the hearts of the persecutors and that they would give their lives to Christ.
In Close ...
We thank you for the churches and individuals who have supported us financially so that we can take care of 70 of our church planters and the pastors of small congregations to have food during this pandemic.
Please continue to pray and support us so that we can continue to take Gospel to the villages and towns in India. Please let us know how we can pray for you specifically. We thank you for your faithful partnership.
We love you and thank you.
Your brother in Christ,
Sastry Meesala
Rehoboth Ministries India P.O Box No: 3802
Cedar Hill (Dallas), TX 75106 Phone: 469-586-6127