Patel Family
Pastor Patel is pictured
here with his wife and their sons. They began their ministry
in Agra, India, in 1994 and have established 2 active churches
-- Faith Church in the city of Agra and Bethel Church in a
surrounding village. They continue to lead Faith and Bethel
Church and their ministries
I was born and raised in India
until the age of 13. I was brought up in a very devout Hindu
family. In 1973, my family migrated to the States and settled
in Washington, D.C. where I completed my high school
studies. In 1977, I joined the US Air Force. Through a
series of circumstances, I met my future wife, Becki. We
married in 1979 and after a couple of years, I received orders
to Goldsboro, NC. Our first son was born at Seymour Johnson
AFB. My wife had some Christian background, but my beliefs
were different. In the days following, two men began to
witness to me on base. They gave me some tracts and verbally
confronted me about Christ. On Easter Sunday, my wife and I
were invited to Faith FWB Church. It was on that day, that I,
being confronted with the issues of Heaven and Hell for the
first time, gave my heart and life to the Lord Jesus. My wife
rededicated her life to the Lord. By the time we had our
second son, I felt the call to full-time Christian service.
In 1985, I
separated from the Air Force and enrolled at Southeastern FWB
College. After some time, God called me to preach and began to
burden my heart about missions. By this time, we were parents
of 4 boys, Jason, Daniel, Stephen & Nathanael. They attended
Faith FWB Church and were all saved and baptized at a young
age. As a family, we surrendered to go to wherever God would
lead us. In October of 1994, we left the shores of America in
obedience of the Lord's great Commission, for the country of
India.
God in His
perfect wisdom, had in many ways been preparing our hearts for
the work in India. With the population of over 1 billion,
these souls needed Jesus. God led us to a city in North India,
called Agra, to establish a New Testament church - one that
would honor and uplift the precious name of Jesus. We
conducted our first Sunday service in our Agra-based home with
only 8 in attendance (6 of our family and one native couple,
who has been serving with us from the beginning). Our church,
called Faith Church, now has an average of 225 on Sundays and
75 on Wednesdays. Many souls have been saved over these
years.
There is such a
sweet spirit among our folks. Although they represent various
castes, social statuses, and lifestyles; Jesus has knit our
hearts together as we share in the burden for lost souls. We
are grateful to the Lord for providing the means for the
construction of the church in the city, which incidentally
was the first church building constructed in the city of Agra
since the British days over 55 years ago. We have also had
the privilege to minister to several students from Kenya, East
Africa, who come to Agra to study in the colleges. Many have
accepted Christ as their Saviour, and later return to Kenya
with new hearts and a new mission in life.
We plan to
extend the arms of our present ministries into other various
areas. The Lord has impressed upon our hearts to start a home
for girls, as many are unwanted and are annihilated shortly
after birth by their parents. Another area of need is a Bible
college to train young men and women for the ministry, since
it is almost impossible to get them to the states for proper
Bible training. ( Written by Hemant Patel)
Thomas Family
Mark and Donna Thomas have many things in common
because they both accepted Christ while they were children.
They both follow the steps of their parents and grandparents,
serving as the third generation in Free Will Baptist
ministries. Mark and Donna both earned degrees at Free Will
Baptist colleges and served as Home Missionaries in
Greeley,
Colorado from
1989 to 1999. The church in
Greeley became
self supporting in 2000 and they served there through 2006.
God has called them to establish a Free Will
Baptist church in
Pueblo,
Colorado. This city
of more than 100,000 people lies 100 miles south of
Denver at the base
of the
Rocky Mountains where the
Arkansas River flows to the
plains. The city of
Pueblo is called
“The Home of Heroes,” because of the many Medals of Honor
awarded to its servicemen. It is the mail distribution center
for federal publications. Less than ten percent of the
population attends a gospel preaching church.
Mark and Donna have two sons. Matthew attends a Free Will
Baptist college in preparation for the ministry. Jonathan is
mentally disabled but is used of God to touch the hearts of
people. Pray for this family as they pioneer the work for Free
Will Baptists in
Pueblo.
Contributions to our missionaries or supported
organizations may be sent to Cape Fear FWB Church
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