Sometimes, the GREAT COMMISSION FUND fulfills needs that hurt us deeply. This is an example of one such time. In addition to personal, medical, educational, and ministry support for church planters, the GCF has its own modest life-insurance program, through which we bury our fallen preachers and smugglers and care for their families as they begin life without them. As time passes, more support is needed to help them. As persecutions increase, so does the need. That is why we sometimes make urgent and deeply emotional requests for help. This is, unfortunately, one of those times. If you are weary of appeals, read no further; but if not, I will give you the details as they were given to me.
The middle-aged brother I am referring to below attended one of our partner schools in India. (We have schools globally that we/you assist with curriculum, buildings, vehicles, missionary and evangelistic training, etc.) Pastor Thomas Maher is the founder and President of one such college in India. He has a daily television program. He publishes a Christian newspaper, similar to The Sword of the Lord, which is distributed to more than 19,000 Baptist pastors in India, most of whom have been waiting nearly a decade to officially join Final Frontiers. Supporting and enabling national, soul-winning, church planters is the purpose of every ministry we engage with or start. Our directors are often with them from the first day of their training to the last day of their life, teaching, training, walking beside them, providing for their needs, and mentoring them through every day of their journey. That is why we are deeply hurt when brothers and sisters we have met and have personally spent time teaching, answering their questions, guiding, sleeping and traveling with, watching as they grow, and monitoring their growth and success, only to see them become targeted and sacrificed. It touches us deeply when one of them is taken from us in such a cruel manner. But still, to honor the fallen, let me tell you about one of our church planters who was cut down in October, still in his youth, leaving behind a wife and young son, all for Christ. He is representative of hundreds of others we will likely bury this coming year.
Background:
Dr. Samuel Maher, our National Director in Tamil Nadu, has a Bible College that was inspired by David Wood, who is now with the Lord. Before David passed, he asked Final Frontiers take on the responsibility of assisting Thomas with his growing ministry. As we began doing so, I spoke with my friend, Eddie Wilson, at Impact Others. He graciously agreed to assist Thomas with his limited television ministry. They are now on air on a secular channel almost every day and have recently published the following results:
- Our program has reached an astonishing 126-134 million active set-top boxes daily, making the Good News available to over 308 million people worldwide!
- 3,041 calls received in just 30 days, seeking prayer, guidance, and salvation
- 294 requests for Bibles and Christian literature
- 1,006 people confessed Jesus as their Lord and Savior
- 552 people were baptized in various churches
- 672 people committed to attending church
- And many more incredible testimonies:
- 39 people saved from suicidal thoughts, finding certainty in Christ
- 22 broken marriages restored
- 26 criminals, including murderers, thieves, and violent individuals, found salvation and forgiveness
- 843 people testified that their prayers were answered
Because of his notoriety, he can go to locations and draw large crowds to hear the Gospel (below). Each attendee is registered, giving their names and contact information so his pastors can follow up with them. And because of his network of 19,000+ churches, no matter where he goes, there are nearby local churches with solid doctrine where he funnels those coming to Christ or wanting to learn more. He maintains doctrinal purity and pursues strategic efforts through his regular pastors’ meetings (above-right) scattered throughout the State. Over the years, he has built a Bible College which is accredited by the Government. Any church affiliated with him and all the ministries of his graduates are thereby exempt from taxation and government closure that many other ministries in India. Today, he has graduates in every State of India as well as Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, and Bangladesh. He recently wrote to me about the work of one of those graduates, who was personally trained in soulwinning by Evangelist David Wood and was recently martyred. He wrote:
“I’m saddened to share with you the news of Pastor Kishan Kumar’s passing. He was a graduate of our af Bible College, class of 2021, in Uttar Pradesh, India. Pastor Kishan was a remarkable servant of God, having established two of the fastest-growing churches in Uttar Pradesh (north India).”
After reading that news, I wanted to learn more about Kishan and share what I found with you, who give to support our GREAT COMMISSION FUND, through which all our preachers are assisted. My interest was piqued because, over the past two decades, most of our martyred church planters lived in Central Asia, the Middle East, or the Sahara Region of North Africa. Now the trend is moving towards the Sahel and India (below, colored purple), where church buildings are burned, believers shot or hacked to death with machetes, and sometimes entire congregations shot or locked inside their burning facility. The news reports little of this, as it does not yet affect our national economy or security, but it dramatically affects our Father’s Kingdom, even now.
The Martyr’s Testimony:
Pastor Kishan Kumar was born on February 14th, 1993. He came to know Jesus as his personal Savior through the ministry of a national missionary in 2009, at age 16. He was a firm believer in Jesus and committed his life to full-time evangelism at a missionary and evangelism conference in Bangalore in 2017, at age 24. Recommended by this missionary, he joined our India Bible College the following year, in 2018, and graduated with a Bachelor of Theology and Missiology Degree in April 2022, at the age of 29.
After graduation, he founded Grace Baptist Church in Vrindavan and later in Barsana, Uttar Pradesh. (see the next page) These works grew rapidly, and within the next two and a half years, with the help of his Timothies, he started sixteen more house churches, appointing a trained Timothy to pastor each. He personally baptized 183 of his 1,200 Hindu converts. He continued to preach the Gospel boldly despite facing opposition from anti-Christian groups. In addition, He developed six missionary pastors who are now serving the Lord full-time. These are men who plant churches, train Timothies, appoint them as pastors, then move on to start again, just as the Apostle Paul did. They don’t go to a village, establish a church, and stay as the pastor; they go to a village, establish a church, appoint a pastor, and then go to the next place and keep going until the Lord takes them home. They are biblical missionaries.
Tragically, on October 2nd of this year, Kishan was brutally attacked by a group of four anti-Christian extremists while returning home from preaching and going house to house evangelizing in their village. As he tried to use his arms to protect his skull, they beat him with wooden sticks and iron rods and cut and stabbed him twelve times with knives. He suffered many other severe injuries, including a damaged heart and bone fractures in both legs. When they thought he was dead, they left him on the ground to be subjected to ravage by wild dogs, boars, and other predators. Somehow, his unconscious body was taken to a hospital. After nearly two weeks in the ICU, he passed away on October 14th, leaving behind his wife, Kajal Gracy, and their four young children.
The hospital bills are $16,117, a massive burden for Kishan’s family. Their poverty is so dire that when she received the news of her husband’s murder, they had no food in the house to eat, and their bank account had zero balance. Had Kishan made it home, there was no nourishment waiting for him. His wife and children cried to sleep with empty stomachs, as they had done many times before. We urge you to pray for his family’s needs, particularly for their financial burdens, and share this request with others. Pastor Kishan’s life was short, but his ministry was remarkable, and he will be deeply missed.
Generally, in such cases, we provide the widow with support for 2 years and a stipend to cover burial costs. However, due to the weak American economy of the past eighteen months, donations to our GREAT COMMISSION FUND have drastically diminished. Commitments have been forgotten, promises have faded, and pledges are long overdue. For eighteen months, our ministry has run a monthly deficit of $20,000 to $50,000, causing all surplus funds to be exhausted, and we had nothing to send to this widow. Surely the churches there will care for her in some way. Perhaps a landowner may allow her to earn daily wages ($2-$3) by harvesting his fields while the children work in his house or barn.
On the following morning, his church did all they could, being among the poorest of India’s poor (the class known as Dalits or untouchables). As it rained, they tenderly wrapped his battered and swollen body in a donated white cloth, dug a hole, and buried him without a coffin. (As in most third-world countries, the dead are not typically embalmed and must be buried or burned within a day of their death.)
Kajal Gracy and the children are in dire need of financial support and struggle to make ends meet, with a bit of donated food, a bank balance of zero, and the pressing need of $16,117 to cover the hospital bills. If not, they may take whatever she owns as a partial payment, but the hospital will pursue her ruthlessly until it is paid in full. In some cases, the wife or children are enslaved to work off the debt. We pray that that will not happen to them. This is the wife and children of a servant of the Most High God. Kishan’s legacy should have its dignity restored.
Thomas’ last words to me were these: “Please pray for Kishan’s wife and children, and let’s come together to support them in this difficult time. Your prayers will be a great comfort to them and will be greatly appreciated. May God grant Pastor Kishan Kumar’s family strength, peace, and comfort in their time of grief.”
If you wish to donate any amount to help his widow and children, you can at the bottom of this article. You can also go online to https://secure.finalfrontiers.world/Donation/KishanMedicalBills/ or mail in a check and designate it to “Kishan Medical Bills”
Below …
We have provided you with more photos of Kishan, always with his blue scarf, and some of his former Timothys now serving as church planters. Notice how often you see them holding a soul-winning booklet that helps those who have never heard grasp a better understanding. They slowly go from page to page, patiently answering their questions.
He followed his Master’s command to the very end: “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” (II Timothy 2:2)
They all frequently observed his teachings in the churches, as well as how to take the first steps in starting a new house church (top of the next page) by witnessing to a family and their neighbors. Not so they will say a prayer, but so they will see the Light of the world and choose to worship Him alone and to share the “good news” throughout their community and beyond. They observed him evangelize goat herders, road workers, and rice farmers: anyone, anytime, anywhere. To the herder, He is the Good Shepherd. To the road worker, He is the only Way to the Father. To the farmer, He is the Bread of Life.
This family has chosen to follow the Lord in ministerial service. He is one of the brothers Kishan trained as a pastor and church planter.
The following photos show two other Timothys publicly baptizing those who have followed Christ. Being baptized in public is a testimony to their village that they have denounced all their family and cultural gods to follow the Risen Savior.
Below, you see Kishan sharing discipleship time with this family of new converts. Beside him is one of his Timothy following along. Below is a photo of the same Timothy disciplisng another extended family of new converts in a new assembly. Notice the younger man with a white shirt. That is his, Kishan’s, Timothy’s, Timothy! Kishan’s Timothy leads and listens (also in white) as his Timothy explains the passage.
Below, first, you see Kishan, with his hand raised to Heaven, evangelizing this man. With him are two Timothies, one beside him and one taking the photo. They were on their way to evangelize and disciple another family of new converts. Still, when they saw this man walking alone, Kishan stopped to share with him that the Good News had come to India.
In the other photo, you see Kishan’s Timothy as he journeyed with his own disciple, also abruptly stopping to witness to these three men who were waiting for a ride. Notice their interest.
By the way, there are few tools that are more valuable to a church planter than a motorcycle. Through donations to the GREAT COMMISSION FUND, designated explicitly for that purpose, we have given away more than 100 bikes at $1,350.00 each. These allow dedicated men to travel greater distances to evangelize and still get home at night. It also allows them to take one or two Timothys with them, since motorcycles usually carry 3-5 people, and sometimes up to 8! (You read that right.)
Here you see Kishan stop to talk with these two older men, telling them about Jesus, as his Timothy snaps a photo with his phone camera. These are also great tools for communicating with their ministry’s home base, verifying what they did that day, calling for help, and keeping them from getting lost, especially on jungle trails, and, at times, as a means of escape from an angry mob, dangerous monkeys, a bear, or even a tiger. Service has its perils.
Below is Kishan’s Timothy doing the same by stopping to witness to these men.
In these last photos, we see Kishan taking a photo as his wife (behind him) prays with these ladies. Below is one of the churches he and his team started. They are singing praises to our Lord. Do you see sincerity in their faces? They know they have been redeemed and praise their Redeemer. “Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many.” (Matthew 25:21)
