One Local Church's Global Impact

While the global pandemic that started in 2020 brought many challenges, not surprisingly, the light of Christ has shone brightly in the darkness. Over the past two or three years, Todd Peterson, an elder at Cross of Grace Church in El Paso, TX (led by Ricky Alcantar) and a member of our Emerging Nations Team, developed a relationship with a pastor in India from the Andrha Pradesh region. His name is Jayaprakash. We call him JP. Todd has had the opportunity to visit JP in India. And as the pandemic affected JP’s village, Todd sought to find a way to help. Asking his local church for help, the members there raised money to help JP buy food to share with the villagers. This is particularly significant for two reasons: one is that most of the villagers are day laborers so food was scarce and two, the village is very segregated. Hindus live on one side. A few Christians and Muslims live on the other side. But when JP was able to purchase this food and create bundles to share, some of his church members went to the Hindu side of the village and gave it away. The result is that some Hindus have visited JP’s church, some even being born again! What a glorious gospel! What a glorious partnership between one small church in El Paso and a small church in India! As one church shares resources with another the result is life changing—Hindus becoming Christians! If you are interested in more details, please watch the video below. It’s an update that Todd gave Cross of Grace Church.