A bold new step for The India Pastors Project

For the first time, a pastor we trained stepped out to teach others — and the impact was everything we prayed for.

Pastor George teaching on Ephesians in Vinukonda.

This week, we at The India Pastors Project tried something new — and it was a resounding success.

For the past four years, Chuck Myers, Tim Brown and I have spent a few days each month teaching the Bible to pastors in India. Through Zoom, we’ve brought God’s Word to them — whether in three-day conferences in Hyderabad or one-day gatherings in small villages along India’s east coast.

Our goal? To equip these pastors with a deeper understanding of Scripture so they could return to their communities with newfound knowledge and confidence.

And the impact has been extraordinary. We’ve trained more than 3,000 pastors, many of whom have doubled or even tripled their congregations. Most reported doing more baptisms in a few months than they did in several years.

According to Pastor KP, our trusted liaison and interpreter, these pastors have led 300,000 people to a saving faith in Jesus Christ.

We started wondering: Could the pastors we’ve trained become teachers themselves?

Two graduates of our program, Pastor George and Pastor Raj, stepped up to find out.

Pastor George went first. He hopped on his motorcycle and traveled 10 miles north to Vinukonda, where he taught Ephesians to 30 pastors under a sun-blocking tarp in the open air (see photo above).

Pastor George teaching in Vinukonda.

We sent him just $350 to cover travel, food for the attendees (breakfast and lunch), and rentals for a sound system, tables and chairs. That’s all it took to spread the Gospel even further in a country where 80% of the population is Hindu — and where being a Christian is becoming increasingly difficult.

What a powerful, cost-effective way to multiply discipleship and bring the hope of Christ to India!

On Tuesday, I spoke with Pastor KP about the event. He said Pastor George was nervous because he didn’t think he was capable of teaching God’s Word to the pastors. But as Jesus promises, the Holy Spirit was with him, giving him the right words at the right time.

“Pastor George was surprised that God used him in such a powerful way,” KP told me. “All the pastors were empowered and challenged by Pastor George’s teaching and by God’s Word.”

But the impact went beyond the teaching. For many of these pastors, this was the first time they had ever gathered with other Christian leaders in the region. The event became more than a conference — it became a lifeline, a support system they had never known before.

Pastors taking notes on Pastor George’s teaching on Ephesians.

Pastor KP also noted that every pastor in attendance comes from India’s lowest caste. The system keeps them poor, struggling, and often feeling worthless.

“These pastors believe they are good for nothing in this world because they are underprivileged due to their caste,” KP said. “Many of these pastors want to quit being a pastor, but they also don’t want to quit. Sometimes they see no purpose to life.”

But Pastor George reminded them of their true identity — not as outcasts, but as chosen by God. He opened the book of Ephesians and read:

“He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” (Ephesians 1:4)

For these pastors, those words were life-changing. They left not just encouraged, but assured of their worth in God’s eyes.

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Paul touches on this theme several times in Ephesians, especially in Verses 2:8-10, which showed the pastors that God had chosen them for a purpose:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

In that moment, the pastors realized that their worth wasn’t defined by their caste or circumstances, but by the God who had called them.

They weren’t forgotten. They weren’t without purpose. They were God’s workmanship, created to share the Gospel and walk in the good works He had prepared for them.

As they returned to their villages, they carried more than just new knowledge — they carried a renewed sense of calling, confidence and the unshakable truth that they were chosen by God.

Here is a short video of Pastor George teaching the pastors in Vinukonda.