Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

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The first half of this month was one of the most “real” experiences I’ve had thus far on the Race. Scotty and I were working with three teams in Ongole, India, and the ministry opportunities were pretty open. With it being our last month, the team leaders decided to do something where EVERYONES’ gifting could be used- plant a church. We would be starting everything from the ground up: building relationships, raising funds to construct a building, institute age-appropriate Bible studies, find and develop church leaders, engage the children in activities and Bible lessons, host worship and healing services, and much more! We were so excited at what this last month held, and we could not wait to get started!
 
 
The first two days of the month the ministry contact searched for a village where we could move.  As soon as a village location was set up, a gentleman in the village donated a home for us to live in for the month.  Our teams were absolutely stoked at the opportunity that was before us- to live in a village and build relationships with people who had never seen white people before, to share the Gospel to people that had only heard the name of Jesus before and didn’t really know who He was or how much He loved them.
 

As soon as our rickshaws pulled up in the village, people from every direction flooded our yard with curiosity. Who are these people? What are they here for? How long are they going to be living in our community? Some of us joked that this must have been to be in Hollywood and have a paparazzi following! As we settled in, children cheered outside our house; men, women, and children lined our gate and just stared at us as we unpacked. There must have been at least fifty people just standing outside our gate waiting for information on why we were there.

Since we are now in our final month of the Race and we knew we were headed to a village, we knew how to pack light and therefore it didn’t take us very long before we were out in the yard mingling with people, playing guitar, and letting the people know that our purpose for being there this month was to get to know them and share some extremely exciting news with them.
 

Since we only had three weeks with them we didn’t want to waste any time. The next morning we held the first church service that the village had ever had out under a large tree, hidden from the scorching rays of sunlight.  We shared the Gospel message with them and stressed the importance of water baptism. You see, many of these people are of the Hindu faith and so they will eagerly admit that they believe in Jesus, but they just add Him to their list of thousands of other gods. We knew that the only way the reality of who Jesus Christ truly is is not through our words, but through demonstration of His power.

“When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that you faith may not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.”    
1 Corinthians 2:1-5

The next morning we held a healing service, and for the next several days we had people knocking on our gate at all hours of the day and night, asking for us to pray for them in the name of Jesus Christ. It was such a surreal experience because for the first time, I felt like I was living in Bible times- Haha. This is what Paul must have experienced as he traveled around to all the churches.  It was amazing to experience people coming to us with physical ailments and leaving with little or no pain. Praise God!

There were a couple of circumstances that I want to hone in on and give God all the glory. An elderly woman came to us complaining of joint pain in her knees. We laid hands on her joints and began praying. After our prayer we asked her to walk around and see if the pain had left. She said the pain was still there, so what did we do? We prayed again! As we were declaring freeness of pain from her joints, Scotty felt led to tell her to take a step of faith and throw her cane across the grass. So as we were praying the women threw her cane and began to walk around the yard! Praise be to God!

Another gentleman came a few days later saying that he had not been able to bend his knees in a long time. Some of our guys surrounded him in prayer and the man began to lift his knees up to his chest. What?!?!? Did that just happen?!?!?!? Haha It brings laughter to my lips as I think about the look on the man’s face when he realized what had happened! Hallelujah! THAT IS MY GOD!!! J

Throughout the week we went with the children to their swimming hole, our guys played Five Stone in a field with a bunch of the boys, many of our women were “kidnapped” by the village women to play “dress up” with sarees and jewelry, and a lady tried to give Cassie and I her baby. They just placed it in my arms and said “just go.” When I tried to give it back they said, “You do not want her?” And I had to politely explain that as much as I liked the one month old baby girl, Lexi, I think that Lexi would rather be in her mother’s arms than mine. That seemed to suffice for the time being, and Cassie and I were able to escape from the crowd of women, but not without a dot first.

Our evenings consisted of praying over people, worshiping on the roof, watching Bedtime Stories in our tents outside, and dodging monsoon winds and torrential downpours. The time that Scotty and I spent in the village had to eventually come to an end, and now we are on a train traveling thirty-three hours up to Bihar, but I am so thankful to be a part of what God was doing in that village for the short time I was there.  There was a peace in the air there, as I sat along the side of the game of Five Stones, I gazed across the fields towards the mountains where the sun was setting, a light breeze blew across my face, and in that moment I knew there was no other place I would have rather been… J