“I am a little angry with you,” she said. Her voice was low and soft but the look in her eyes told me she was very serious. I sat across from my new friend, the wife of the Anglican priest whom I had stopped in to visit. I had no idea why God had me stop by and visit this man each time I came to his city. We had nothing in common. He was a highly educated priest of a wealthy and highly formal church while I was an American Pentecostal preacher. But, each time I came God would make me knock on his door and have an awkward conversation as we sipped chai.

Now, during one of these visits, his wife had sat down and let me know she was not happy with me. “I am very sorry, did I do or say something to offend you?” (It would not be the first or the last time I did something dumb to offend the Indian culture). “You come here and work with the private churches, but you do nothing to help us!”  If she was trying to hide her negative feelings toward me, she was doing a lousy job of it.

“Help you? I don’t understand. How could I possibly do anything to help you?” I asked, feeling very confused.  “Our churches are dying!” She explained. “We need revival! We need you to come to our churches and preach and pray.  We need you to come help us!” I sat looking at her thinking she must be a little crazy.  Me?  In an Anglican church?  I didn’t even know when to stand up and sit down in those formal services. “But,” I replied, “you know I am a Pentecostal preacher right?” I don’t think I would fit in your churches very well.” “No problem! No Problem! You come and bring revival and everything will be fine!”

And so it began.  Her husband began to open the door for me to come into the Anglican churches and God was faithful to heal, deliver and save the lost. Over and over again, God moved, and these very formal churches experienced an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

The next year that I came, my friend set up a group of pastor conferences in a nearby state called Punjab.  Over the next several years we traveled thousands of miles across this state and preached countless times as God moved. From what I’ve seen and heard, the churches in Punjab tend to have a lot of religious rituals attached to them and I never really felt comfortable in those situations.  I always preferred being in the mountains or villages where Jesus had never been preached and people were unencumbered by acts of religion.  I have always said “I don’t like Punjab!” 

Now, God has led me to repent of my bad attitude and is sending me back into Punjab to establish ISOM training points throughout the state. This past summer I met a man who has pastored a church in Punjab for more than 20 years. He invited me to minister in his church and while there I noticed that the people were very spiritually mature and did not carry any of the traditional religious baggage I normally saw in the state.

“How is it that you have pastored here all these years and have been able to avoid the normal religious rituals I see everywhere in Punjab?” I asked. He smiled and sent his son into his office to get something.  He came back with a large package of DVD’s. The pastor took them and handed them to me, his smile getting even bigger. “What is this?” I asked. “15 years ago a man gave me these DVD’s of all the ISOM classes and I have been using them ever since to train and equip my people. I have built my church on these teachings. They are the reason my people are firmly grounded in the Word of God and they have been able to quickly discern the foolish teachings of man.”   I could almost hear God laughing at me.

Later during this trip I was taken to the largest city in Punjab and met a wonderful man of God and his family. One night after dinner he said, “I have been hearing about a leadership training program called ISOM. Can you tell me about it?” I had to smile at the Lord a little bit. I’m not that smart, but even I began to see that God really was opening things up for ISOM in Punjab. I proceeded to tell him about the teachings and how they were being used all over the world to raise up powerful leaders fully equipped for fruitful ministry.

“This is very good,” he said. “I would like to introduce this training to my network of pastors. I am the president of the Pastors’ Association here in Punjab.”  “Really?” I asked. “How many pastors are in the association?” “1000,” he responded. “1000 pastors in your association?” I asked with wide eyes. “Yes, I want to see every one of them use these teachings so all of us will be teaching the same thing and bring greater unity to the body of Christ across the state.” This time I know I heard God laugh! Obviously, God has chosen to give Punjab to me as one of my major assignments and now I am very much looking forward to what He has in store.

At the end of this trip an Indian friend of mine who knew about my previous bad attitude about working in Punjab said to me. “Let me hear it!” “Let you hear what?” I said, acting ignorant. “Jesus loves Punjab. Let me hear you say you love Punjab!” We all laughed as I humbled myself and shouted, “I love Punjab!” Oh, and funny story – God led me to name our ministry 5 Rivers (before my involvement in India) – turns out Punjab means the land of 5 rivers. Just gotta smile…😊