Memoirs from India: Day 4

As I sit and begin today's reflection, considering all that we learned and experienced, honestly, I find it hard to put it into words. We spent the morning and early afternoon hours on O.M.'s campus, then visited two slum areas - the "Pipe Village" and the "Rock Quarry Village" (to be explained later). Since O.M. wanted to give our team a more holistic understanding of what they are doing - only a snapshot really - in India (by the way, O.M. India services roughly 1/3 of all O.M.'s global activity!), we missed some of the Briscoe's teaching time. Our team agreed that getting off-site would be really valuable; and it has been. Today, however, we were able to join the morning session before we departed, which opened with singing praise and worship songs, both in English and in Hindi. It's quite the experience to hear other brothers and sisters singing the same songs we sing, but in their native tongue!

Stuart gave the morning session sermon - which blew me away... He gave an overview of Ephesians 1-5 without notes! He exposited from several verses in each chapter and used the illustration of being drunk to teach it. He taught with honesty and humor, intelligence and wit. He made the point that we must be "drunk" on the Holy Spirit. He explained that alcohol does 3 things in a person...

• Captivates
• Motivates
• Activates

The chemical itself captivates the person the more it is consumed. It motivates their thoughts and actions. Then it activates these things. He showed us that the filling of the Holy Spirit does the same thing, but with different consequences. He said that you can tell when someone is drunk on the Spirit, like when someone is drunk on alcohol, by the way they walk, talk and think. He spoke on the believers' 2 motives - the "old sinful" nature and the "spirit filled" nature, and in recognizing this, there are 2 realities:

1) The one that is fed, will live
2) The one that is not fed, will die

The sinful nature will always fight against the spirit that indwells the Christ follower, but which nature is being fed... which one isn't?

He said there are 3 kinds of people in the church:

1) Those who make things happen
2) Those who watch things happen
3) Those who say, "Huh, what happened?"

The questions I had to ask myself were:
- Who will I be? or become?
- What or who am I "drunk" on?

...Am I letting too much around me influence my life for the negative? Or, am I spending the time and energy to feed the personhood of the Spirit within me (given by God's grace through faith in Christ)?

The second portion of our day was spent touring the O.M. campus. Here is a laundry list of what they do:
- Offer undergraduate and MA degrees in Bible and Leadership (13-14,000)
- Have 80 grade schools around the country, giving under-privileged children high-quality education for extremely low costs (~ $1 per day)
- Train pastors, leaders, and volunteer leaders in the church to maximize effectiveness of ministry in their local contexts and languages
- Resource Christian books and media in 13 different languages in India - largest resourcer
- Train students and adults in trades like sewing, computer networking/programming, wood-working/carpentry, auto maintenance and mechanics
- Train teachers to lead and manage schools
- Employ 200 workers at the Hyderabad headquarters
- Empower the poor and oppressed to change the direction of their impoverished state through the tools of education and providing opportunities and jobs through O.M. in their local communities
- Export fine linens and clothing through the "LYDIA" program, where all of the proceeds are put back into training more seamstresses
- Hold Christian conferences throughout the year for leaders and Christian organizations
- Med. clinic, dentistry, and pharmacy at the O.M. headquarters (Hyderabad)

Believe it or not, the list could go on, but truthfully, there's far too much to remember! As I said before, O.M. is finding ways to meet the physical, spiritual, and social needs of the communities around them. They are empowering those who are otherwise ignored, oppressed, or simply forgotten about. India will be transformed by a new generation - one that was born into poverty, but will grow into influence.

If you have a Bible, open it to the Old Testament book of Isaiah 61. The prophet here speaks of God's call on his life, but apply this same message to O.M.'s mission and movement to paint a clearer picture of their vision.