Dear Family and Friends,
I just wanted to share an opportunity that God has presented to me. As some of you know, God has really instilled in me this heart for missions. I have been blessed with some chances to serve with some teams overseas these past few years and God has opened up some doors for this to be a permanent part of my life. I love meeting people and being able to visit other countries and serve the people there. It is such a blessing to me. Jeremiah 29:11
A few years ago while serving on the mission board at Cornerstone Christian Fellowship, I had the opportunity to witness the initial partnership that was started with them and Harvest India. I was blown away by the testimony of the director of Harvest India, Dr Suresh Kumar. He has such a passion for the lost and for seeing people come to Christ. Then after seeing a couple teams from Cornerstone go over to India and hearing their testimonies, I really felt the call to go see India myself. This past summer, I had a chance to have dinner with Suresh and I really spent some time listening to his heart about the differences between American and Indian culture. He challenged me to come see what God is doing India and learn how I can apply it to my own culture. I really felt that during our conversation was God speaking to me and that I needed to go.
India consists of 28 states and is the seventh largest country in geographical area. With the second largest population in the world, India has a coastline of 4,671 miles. Four major world religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism originated here, while Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam arrived in the first millennium CE and shaped the region’s diverse culture. India has the world’s twelfth largest economy at market exchange rates and the fourth largest in purchasing power. Economic reforms have transformed it into the second fastest growing large economy; however, it still suffers from high levels of poverty, illiteracy, and malnutrition.
What does Harvest India do? Harvest India is a humanitarian organization based in southern India (Tenali, Andrah Pradesh) that operates as a non-governmental organization in India and a non-profit ministry in the United States. They oversee over 1,000 village churches, 10 orphanages, 6 Bible schools, a nursing training center, and numerous ministries. They train up and provide pastors for each of the churches. Harvest India also provides shelter, food, and education to the neglected children and orphans and safe drinking water in every village where it is not available. http://harvestindia.org/
I signed up with a team from Cornerstone that is going to India January 24 to February 3, 2011. I am so excited and blessed for this opportunity. It comes at a transitional time of my life where God is opening up so many new doors of opportunities for me. I want to ask you if you will be a part of this journey with me? I want to ask if you will pray for me and the team heading over in January (Colossians 4:3)? Pray that we will meet God where He is already working in India and that we accomplish the task He has in store for us. You can follow our team blog at http://csmissions.wordpress.com/ and read how God is working in all of us while we are in India.
I also need to raise $2600 before we leave. Will you pray about giving financially so I may go and be a light to these people and to this country (Romans 10:15)? There are two ways you can give. First is to write a check made out toCornerstone Christian Fellowship with my name and India trip in the memo. You can give the check to myself, the Cornerstone mission booth on the patio or mail it to my post office box at P.O. Box 10697 Tempe, AZ 85284. You can also give online at http://cschandler.com/missions . Scoll down the right side until you see “Support 2011 India team member” and click on that link. You will need to log on if you have an account with Cornerstone, select your name and then click on my name on the drop down list and select how much you want to give. If you are not set up to give online to CS, you will need to set up an account (takes about 2 minutes).
I am so thankful for all the opportunities God has blessed me with over the past five years. Going to India and being a part of what Harvest India is doing is no different. I just want to be His humble servant and serve the people of that country. I appreciate so much the friends and family God has brought into my life that have been a part of this incredible journey I have been on. Thank you for your continued support and prayers over the years.
God Bless, Travis Timmons
tdtimmons@gmail.com
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