Day 2 in Nagpur

It's been an interesting day of travel on Wednesday. I tried to post some of this before we left Nagpur, but the Internet connection at the hotel went down. Connectivity has been spotty throughout the trip for what many consider a high-tech country.

The worship seminar on Tuesday was good. It was compressed due to the weather. It is difficult to travel here when it rains. We still had about 30 worship people, with a wide variety of ages, including some teenagers. It was at a nearby training center, which doubles as a church. What they consider a nice training center is different than what we would think of by western standards. During the morning delay, pigs and dogs were walking by the door, as well as the occasional cow. But facilities aside, the people came hungry to learn.

At the end, the facilitator, Abash, asked people to tell what they had learned. One young man said he learned that worship is not about how well he plays the guitar or sings, it is about the heart. Another pastor said that he realized that worship is sacrifice.

In the afternoon, both the worship and small group people met for a combined session. Bobby put me on the spot to speak to them. I talked to them briefly about the transfiguration of Jesus and asked them to consider how they see Him. Is He just a man? Or is he big and powerful?

We took a break and then there was a time of Marati worship. Bobby challenged the people to dance as they do in their culture. It was an amazing time of unrestrained worship. The people were so joyful and entered in deeply. I had this picture of Jesus there in the midst of us.

Then Steve gave a fantastic message about overcoming discouragement in ministry. Bobby gave a final challenge and a local pastor prayed for the combined group. At the end, the sang a worship song. The purity of their devotion to Jesus made it very sweet.

Several of the Bible women had completed their course of study and got certificates. Several of us asked for us to pray for them, which we did. Pastor Silas, the point person for the area, asked us to pray for his family. His wife got a certificate and his son was at the worship seminar and played guitar for us, very well I might add. Silas has such a burden for his state to bow its collective knee to Jesus.

I'm writing this sitting at HBI. We came by just to pick up some of our things and head back to the airport. It took all day to get from Nagpur back to Chennai, and we now face about 3o more hours of travel to get home. But to spend the time we spent with these pastors and worship leaders made it all worth it.