Testimonies of Hopegivers' Pioneer Missionaries

Pastor Kabir of India

Pastor Kabir is 27 years old. Born into a non-Christian family, he came to know the Lord in 1996 when he was 13 years old and in the 9th grade.

A  pastor who had graduated from a Hopegivers' Emmanuel Bible College was distributing Gospel tracts in the street outside of the high school where Kabir went to school. He took one of tracts. He says,

"I read it and then I went to visit the local Pastor to ask him some more questions about this Jesus. He told me about the plan of salvation and then he invited me to come to his Sunday school class so I could learn more. After attending the Sunday school classes for one year, I accepted Jesus.  One day at class I realized the price that Christ had paid for me and I wanted Him in my life. I was the first person in my family to become a Christian and they were very unhappy with me."

As soon as he accepted Jesus into his life, he excitedly ran home to tell his Hindi believing family. "I was so happy, but they were so angry with me. They didn't want me living with them any longer. I didn't want to live there either. I didn't want to be around all their idol worship. I told them that I refused to worship their deities and longer. I would only worship Jesus."  

He did speak with the pastor about the possibility that his family would reject his new faith. He asked if there was someplace he could go if his family threw him out of the house. The pastor told him of an Emmanuel Hope Home (orphanage) in South India where he could live until he completed the 10th grade. That is where he went and lived for two years.  

Kabir says, "I already felt the call of God on my life so I knew I wanted to register for the Bible College in Kota when I completed the 10th grade in 1998. I graduated from the Bible College in 2001 with a Bachelor of Theology. I married a girl from the tribe I wanted to minister to in 2006. We now have a beautiful daughter who is two years old.

When Dr. M. A. Thomas asked me where I would like to begin my ministry, I made sure that I spent some time in prayer to confirm what I felt the Lord had been telling me for some time. I wanted to minister to the Banjara Tribes (gypsies) in Andhra Pradesh in Southern India.

In 2000 my parents came to see what I was doing. They still could not understand how I could leave my family for this Jesus, but they were curious. While visiting me, they stopped by a conference I was attending in South India. I introduced them to Dr. M. A. Thomas and he shared the Gospel with my family. After the conference, Dr. Thomas and I had another meeting with them and my parents accepted Jesus and got baptized! They got rid of all their idols and worship only Jesus now. Although we live some distance from one another, we still see each other from time to time.

I now have a church established with 130 believers. Dr. Samuel Thomas dedicated this church in 2002. There are 14 other religions living in this region among the Banjara people, so it is a daily challenge. The Banjara are a very poor, uneducated people.

I conduct a one year Bible College at my church for the young men in our congregation every year. I send them into the field to teach the Banjara people - Banjara teaching the Banjara. I have sent 45 men into the field since I began the ministry.  I teach them to read the Bible, about how to explain the plan of salvation and I teach them to preach the Gospel. Among the 45 men I have trained, 8 of them have now started their own churches.

I do not have an orphanage at this time, but I want to establish one very soon. Now that our church building is finished, we want to build an orphanage. There are many orphans in the area - small children doing labor work just so they can have some food. I want to educate them and prepare them to do the Lord's work.

I am in need of a vehicle which would allow several of us from the Bible School to travel together between villages as we share the Gospel. It would increase safety for us. You see, gypsies do a little farming, but they do not believe in getting regular jobs. They also don't travel from place to place as many believe. They typically stay in their ancestral villages. Their primary occupation - for the tribe I work within - is kidnapping. They come out of the forest into the cities and find someone worthy of kidnapping and they hold them for ransom. If the family does not pay the ransom, they will kill the individual they are holding.

Gypsies worship stone as their God and a tree called "Neem" that grows in India. Our heart is to share the love of the One and only true God and our Savior, Jesus Christ with the Banjara!