A Billion Challenges

Pothiram is a Global Mission pioneer who works in India. He didn’t always work for God.

Pothiram is a Global Mission pioneer who works in India. He didn’t always work for God. “I used to drink heavily,” he says with regret in his eyes. “I did terrible things and didn’t take care of my family.”

One day a neighbor saw Pothiram’s wife, Jeshoda, crying in front of her house. She invited Jeshoda to her home, where she and her husband comforted and prayed for her. Jeshoda liked this Christian couple, and when they invited her to study the Bible with them, she agreed.

Week after week, Jeshoda studied the Bible with her neighbors and learned about Jesus. Then one day, they gave her a Bible. Jeshoda was thrilled to have a Bible of her own. But there was one problem. She couldn’t read.

The only solution was to bring the Bible home and ask her husband to read it to her. At first Pothiram resisted her request. But eventually, he agreed. As he read the Bible night after night, he noticed that he began to feel better. His heart was slowly changing.

Jeshoda invited Pothiram to her weekly Bible study with their neighbors, and he went. The more Pothiram studied the Bible and prayed, the more he felt convicted that God’s way is the right way. He gave his heart to Jesus, gave up alcohol, and made his family a priority. Finally, he and his family were baptized.

Pothiram wanted to do more to serve God, so he became a Global Mission pioneer. Now Pothiram and Jeshoda work together, sharing the gospel with their community. They are filled with joy and can’t imagine doing anything else with their lives.

The Global Mission initiative is one way the Adventist Church is sharing the gospel with those who live in the Southern Asia Division, a region of our world church comprising India, Bhutan, the Republic of the Maldives, and Nepal. Here Global Mission pioneers, such as Pothiram, are starting new Adventist congregations in areas or among people groups where there is little or no Adventist presence.

As part of the 10/40 Window, the Southern Asia Division is especially challenging for mission. It has a population of some 1.2 billion people, of whom less than 10 percent are Christian. Many of these people have never opened a Bible or heard the name of Jesus.

Please pray for our Global Mission pioneers, and if possible, support them with donations so that they can continue to reach billions of hearts for Jesus. 

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