Me:  After meeting with all of these pastors from different states, what is your sense of what is happening spiritually in India?

Pastor Jay:  I see four things.  First, the church is growing all over the country in spite of persecution and problem.  The kingdom of God is growing.  No doubt.  Second, still there is 97% unreached in India.  60,000 villages still do not have one Christian witness. 

Me:  Why is the rate still 97% unreached if the church is growing?

Pastor Jay:  The population growth is so high, and the conversion rate grows slower than population growth.  There is much to be done yet.

Me:  And third?

Pastor Jay:  Third, we see the prayer request come in with persecution and the financial problem.  Some need money to put up a church, some for land, some to feed the children, some have been beaten up by Hindus and Muslims because they go into the villages to preach.  They jump in the water without any assistance.  Financially, physically and spiritually, isolated from other believers.  It is a difficult life.  Financial problem will never ever be met.  We can burn the whole forest but you need a small fire to touch it.  They need a little support.  Fourth, I see the spirituality of the pastors.  I sensed the order and unity.  No complaints.  They were all very happy to be there.  They did not roam around for tea and coffee.  Since the last time we had the Pastors Conference in 1999, I see them being more organized and disciplined. 

Me:  How did you sense the unity? 

Pastor Jay:    Before all the Telugu would be together.  Nagas would be together.  The people from Burma.  Separate.  Now they mixed, all singing and worshipping together and talking together.  They had order and discipline, not jumping over each other to get food or bath. 

Me:  How did you handle sleeping and eating and bathing with 4,000 people  with basically just outdoor grounds, during rainy season?

Pastor Jay:  We put the well with the big, big pumps and it poured water out on 300 people.  We provide a pillow, mat, and bedsheet.  You can sleep wherever -- under the coconut tree, under the veranda, or on the roof.  All the women sleep on one side of the Promised Land.  All the men sleep on other side.  We put up 500 tube lights with a big generator.  We cooked over 3000 kilos rice over wood fires.  We put the big tent -- like they use for political rallies.  To put it up, it took fifteen days.  I felt the presence of God so clear.  It is rainy season.  We are outside under the big tent.  God held the rain for four days.  On the last day, the rain came.  God did it.

Me:  Did you hear of any large movements of people groups coming to Christ in a short amount of time, with churches planting churches planting churches...what we would call 'church planting movements'?

Pastor Jay:  In Orissa, and in Salem in the Yercaud too by us, in the villages and tribal areas, yes.  In the hundreds, not the thousands.  But as it is the size of each village.  It all depends on the leader.  If the leader becomes a Christian, then they all follow.  Catch the head, not the tail.

Me:  It happened in Nagaland and Manipur states years ago, so that our statistics here report those states as 90% Christian.

Pastor Jay:  But they are nominal Christians.  They are Christians.  Good.  But not very spiritually rooted.  If only you get 40 marks (a D-), you pass the grade, but it is not 1000 marks (A+).  When the wind blows, the tree will shake.  Even the roots.  They were all tribals so it is easier to have mass conversions.

Me:  Do you see any role for a foreign worker to live in India long-term to make a spiritual difference?

Pastor Jay:  Come and see.  You see the suffering of the people and have compassion and a burden for the soul.  Then you can come and give a message.  But you cannot baptize anyone.  For longer term, you can come and don't preach.  You come and study, see the culture, become a friend.  They need to know who you are, then it is no problem.

Me:  What types of people in India do you see are ready to hear about Jesus?

Pastor Jay:   Wherever the people are sick, the doctor needs to go there.  So when the people want to hear the gospel, we go there.  When the people are hungry, there we go.  Tribal, city, Hindu.

Me:  How about the Muslims?  I heard the greatest concentration of unreached Muslims was in Northern India.

Pastor Jay:  Muslims come to Jesus very less.  They are very closed to Christians.  They think Jesus is merely a prophet, not God.  So we start with Allah, who is Almighty God.  You cannot say Jesus is Almighty God or the door will be closed.  And then we say it is the same as I am a father to my son, director to ICMC, husband to my wife.  John 17:3.  They cannot understand the Trinity.  But they know the Bible very well.  The Koran has much of the Old Testament, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.  They can know the truth.  They should know more about Jesus, through the roles of prophet and King.  But many here do not like to go to Muslims because they are known for terrorism.  And if they are not hungry, then why to you want to feed them?  Jesus did not go to the people who were not ready to hear.

Me:  Why do you see Hindu's being hungry to hear?

Pastor Jay:  The Hindus are more ignorant in that way and they love to hear about Christianity.  Ours is a completely new faith.  It is something different. They want something new.

Me: Don't they resist the fact that it's a "foreign" religion if they perceive it as something new?

Pastor Jay:  I say to them, Yes! It is foreign!  Do you use a cell phone?  Do you use a computer?  Why do you travel by bus or train?  Do you wear pants?  Tell me which of these is not foreign?  Then you should walk and not wear pants and shirt.  Anything that is good, you take it.  Anything that is evil, it doesn't matter where it comes from, you leave it.

Me:  Were you able to meet with some of ICMC's graduated Timothy church planting students and do you have examples of what is happening spiritually in their villages?

Pastor Jay:  Many come back for the Pastor Conference.  They have 10, 20, 50 in their churches in several villages each.  Mostly they go to villages where the people cannot read or write.  The people are sick or demon possessed and come to the Timothies for prayer.  God heals them.  Then they believe.  Now they tell me, Pastor Jay, you trained us.  Now we serve faithfully and we need some little financial support.  And they tell me they are persecuted and some Hindu's create lots of trouble.  Groups of people come and beat them. They broke the bicycles and punch the tires, broke the drums. They come with fire and put the Bibles in the fire.  They take away all the pastors belongings and run away to the jungles.  It is hard to catch them.  They run like monkeys.  The body is very strong.  But their minds are very weak.  They never been to school, can't read and write, don't know anything.

Me: And then what happens?

Pastor Jay:  God is punishing the pastor's enemies.  They die by accident, by sickness.  They kill each other.  God takes care of His workers.

Me: What did the pastors say the most valuable part of this All India Pastors Conference was for them?

Pastor Jay:  Spiritually, they have been blessed.  I get many phone calls, letters, thanking us.  'We were broken down and worried.  Lots of problems.  We have a release.  Our broken hearts have been comforted.  We met some new friends," they write.  And they see the whole of India in one place.  Able to see Naga's in their tribal dress doing dances.  And make friends from other states to encourage them.

Me:  What is the most powerful life-changing part of the conference for you personally?