Archives for 2015

Trip to Kanpur

December 18, 2015 By Ryder Kumar

Growing Church in Kanpur

Kanpur is an industrial city situated near Lucknow in the state of Uttar Pradesh. In the past Randy and Susan Leinen from our team that visited India from the US, have ministered in this church here. The church has not only been growing locally but multiplying. The need of the hour has been to strengthen these new believers who have come from Hindu background. KB (popularly known in STN) has been instrumental in mentoring; many have become Pastors. Among them is Laxman Paul who is a recent STN graduate. He and his wife are actively involved in church and church planting.

Laxman Paul, Pastor of Kanpur church

Women’s Seminar

December 3rd has become a memorable day in this pastor’s church as 55 sisters gathered from surrounding churches to spend their time from 11.30 a.m. till about 5 p.m. to listen, study on discipleship, discuss in groups and enjoy fellowship. Flory poured out heart to teach while Mercy interpreted in Hindi. The challenge was not to be in the ‘crowd’ but be a true ‘disciple’ of the Lord Jesus Christ. As “Ghar Vapsi” (meaning come back home) a thrust by Hindu fanatics has become popular to bring back Christians to be reconverted to Hinduism, the message on following the Lord Jesus was enforced with the enlightening Word.

The fellowship seminar ended with interesting testimonies. The sisters left the gathering rejuvenated.

Flory felt a real fulfilment as she saw God blessing the meetings immensely. In the midst of imported obnoxious false teaching, it was worthwhile to spend several hours with dear sisters who are truly devoted to grow in the Lord and live a sacrificial lives.

Flory teaching with Mercy translating

Praises and Prayer Requests – 12/15

December 15, 2015 By sleinen

From the Kumars

[print_link]

Praise – A house was provided within 2 hours of their house search, in a quiet and clean place, gated and low rent.
Flory – No issues with my health, so far so good but on the other hand Ryder struggled with his health throughout the move.
Praise – Shipment of 30 boxes were delivered safely after 4 months inspite of heavy rains and catastrophe in Chennai.
Praise for Ladies meeting in Kanpur, 3 churches ladies (55 plus children) came together for the whole day for a session on discipleship and interaction and prayers.
Praise – Ryder preached on December 13 at a place for worship in English, called Emmanuel House of Worship.
Pray for the maids in our house (necessity and culture to have them in indian homes), sharing the gospel and praying with them, often is another opportunity to see Christ proclaimed.
Pray for gathering on Dec. 20 – 21. Flory reports, “I made Christmas invitation cards, to see the neighborhood reached. We both went on sunday evening, house to house giving the invite. We will be having a small get together with games, songs, eats and Christmas message. Pray for this event that many will come and be blessed.”
Pray for details of getting a car to be processed quickly. Obtain a driving license, buying a right kind of car and safety in driving. Ryder feels a bit stranded in using taxis.
The Lord to direct to the right places in buying household stuff to settle down. Protection from receiving shocks of high costs of living. The Lord to give spirit of wisdom in buying things.
A healthy relationship with local church. Making good contacts with the neighbors.
Health to be good as we are constantly eating food not cooked at home.
Preaching ministry in the local churches.
FCRA needs two more documents from Suresh Mathews. The process to be expedited.

Kumar’s New Home

December 4, 2015 By sleinen

Here are some wonderful photos from the Kumar’s new home in India:

STN Fundraising Event Highlights

December 1, 2015 By sleinen

We would like to thank everyone for all their support for the STN concert with Enfield.

We had a wonderful evening of praise and worship, Christmas shopping at the silent auction and updates on the ministry. Pastor Paul also gave us updates on Ryder and Flory’s relocation to India, our opening up STN in South America and plans for the future. God is blessing our ministry and it’s exciting to be part of sharing His truth wherever we can.

God also blessed our event by raising funds for STN as well as providing more monthly support for Ryder and Flory (although more is still needed). Also many more new people (future supporters) were exposed to the Shepherding the Nations ministry.

: Photos by Larry LaCom

Chick-Fil-A Fundraiser on Oct 27th.

At the concert we distributed flyers for a Chick-Fil-A fundraising dinner on October 27th. All purchases at the event contributed to STN. The Chick-Fil-A dinner proved to be a success as many STN supporters and members of The Bridge Bible Fellowship came out to support our event. Stay tuned for more special dinner events.

Return for a Reason

November 17, 2015 By Ryder Kumar

Prayers answered: Ephesians 3:20 “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.”

It is little over 1 ½ months since Flory and I left the US with many people praying for us. If it is not for a reason the return to India wouldn’t have been possible. We are so grateful for different groups lifting us up in prayer. God has been abundantly answering prayers on our behalf. The prayer of Paul Brown flashes thru my mind over and again when we see several surprises coming our way.

Found a house to live: Meeting a couple (who happened to be the US citizens) within two hours of our search for a house and then this couple offering their house that is unoccupied for six months for a price which is less than half the price at other parts of the city is a surprise. The owner has air conditioners in each room and good curtains for the doors – all for the same rent!
Gas connection to cook food: When I went to book cooking gas connection, the manager who was opening his lunch box to eat stopped and took my work to process and give a permit within half hour is a surprise.
Room for storing luggage: Ravi and Shanti whose church premises is now in their possession allowed us to keep our 10 suitcases for several days as we couldn’t keep them all in our hotel room. No charges and everything was safe. Surprise!
Big purchases were made: Immediate purchases for household needs, getting to know lot of new systems (never existed while we lived here), and encountering challenges in day-to-day life such as finding helpers for cleaning the house, taxis and volunteers to drive us around for errands have become part of life.
Ministry in the midst of all that is going on: Except for one Sunday when I was sick with high fever all other Sundays, I have been preaching and Flory has had a Sunday school ministry. The church had 1st time youth retreat with 200 youth gathering for 5 days; I was one of the speakers for the 5 days, Flory, too, was involved in counseling sessions and interaction groups. Talking to our graduates in the North and West Bengal has been very encouraging. Everyone appears to be waiting for our visit to their regions. All of them are aggressively involved in the ministry. Conversions and baptisms are taking place.
STN India: Board meeting and Annual general meeting that were essential were held. The board was able to discuss logistics, legal aspects and FCRA matters at length. Two significant meetings were held with a renowned CPA (handling the work of Bill Gates in India). I have also started talking with Suresh; he is officially retired from Every Home Crusade.
Abraham’s office and home: This continues to be a blessing as I am getting some work done through this office and stay at home and get the help of transportation in Delhi.

Pilgrims: Psalm 119:54 “Your statutes are my songs In the house of my pilgrimage.”

Both Flory and I aren’t feeling at home yet, though Flory has made the home beautiful to live in over just a couple of weeks. We do feel like pilgrims. Flory is battling with the language. Tears have been flowing as she misses worship in English/Hindi.
On November 8th we had some pastors with their spouses and Christian leaders with their spouses come for a house warming and to introduce them to STN India. We were able to combine our 10th marriage anniversary with this event.
Opening bank accounts and operating ATM has been quite an experience. At Lucknow my cards didn’t work.
We had made a special devise for getting water purified for daily use at home, with monthly servicing.

Expenses incurring in such new systems/adventures never occurred prior to making budget. But blessing in disguise, we can put some of these expenses into house rent and it will still be much low than what we have budgeted.

Program: 1 Corinthians 16:9 “For a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.”

In the midst of growing hostility towards the Gospel there is a tremendous open door for evangelism, and planting churches. STN India has a significant role in training and equipping. The past nine years of work has become a model.

There is a need to identify a large number of people who need support and training.
Making proposals, policies and budgets, visits to regions, sending out newsletters and making a prayer partner lists are tasks to be undertaken in next weeks.

Pray: There are specific requests.

Visits to regions such as North (two areas), West Bengal and Nepal. The Lord to give us directions as we make plans starting in January 2016 to meet with our graduates, pray with them and work with them. There are requests to start BTCP programs. What is God showing us?
Suresh Mathews to be led by God as Suresh desires to be associated with STN India. We do need help in teaching in North India and Nepal. He can be asset. We also need help in STN India administration.
I see a need to mentor, train several graduates such as J., D., L. and WB brothers. There is a need to hold TTWs in different parts. Both Flory and I have made ourselves available for helping Ravi and Shanti. Also there would be openings in local churches. We need God’s leading to know what to accept and what to reject.
There is a significant meeting coming up in the 1st week of December @ Lucknow to discuss on problems at Unnao Church, Suresh’s future involvement, probing into CPA’s work, D.’ requests for naming their churches. This trip will also enable me to bring luggage that is left at our son’s home in Gurgaon.
This time coming to India is a return for a reason that persuades and motivates us to press on. We are very thankful to the STN International board for being a great support in our commitment to serve the living God.

Yesterday Today and Tomorrow

November 3, 2015 By sleinen

STN International’ vision remains the same

Past nine years, our ‘yesterday’ were with labor of love displayed in our ministry of teaching and equipping the trainers.

The Lord had protected us, in many of our international travels and kept us safe in several cities in India. Many doors were opened for the ministry. The supply for our needs were met as some donated their blood and platelets, some their air miles, some articles of auction and sacrificial giving. These contributions of ‘yesterday’ have led us not only to achieve our goal of seeing new churches planted and multiplication in equipping but also opened new avenues of ministry for ‘today’. Fire is ignited!

‘Today’ we marvel at God’s many acts of wonders and humbled to see remote villages reached with the message of Truth.

today Right now there are many who are turning to accept the Way. On the left the photo displays a fact of how the new ones are trained and teaching given to new groups of unreached ‘world’. ‘Today’ points out to many activities of our STN graduates who are actively and aggressively involved to see the Truth proclaimed. Today, we are encountered with many challenges to oversee the ministry. Fire is glowing!

Here is a photo (below) with Duane and Janet prior to our moving from the US. This couple have been a great blessing with their prayer, love and support.

‘Tomorrow’ appears to be a brighter day.

tomorrow With our move to India, Flory and I envision to visit more of our STN India graduates who are scattered in North, NW, NE and South India. Pakistan, and Nepal are countries to be visited soon. Women are looking forward to receiving teaching.

With yesterday’s sowing, today we stand at the threshold to see greater things happen for tomorrow.

This is possible only when you pray, and cheerfully give as the Lord leads. Fire would spread rapidly!

Update – Eddie in Bolivia

September 24, 2015 By sleinen

Eddie with friends in LaPaz

Communication from Eddie during his research trip to Bolivia has been brief as the wifi has been spotty. Praise God – he is doing fine.

He has been to Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, Tarija and this monday he arrived at his final city, La Paz, which is also his hometown.

He has been able to meet and speak with a number of pastors in the cities he has been to and was very encouraged by their enthusiasm to the plan of work he presented to them. He will be meeting other pastors this week to present the plan of work and sunday he will be preaching in one of the churches.

Please pray for the Lord’s direction and wisdom as Eddie explains what the training can do to expand the Gospel.

Enfield in Concert – Fall Fundraiser 2015

September 1, 2015 By sleinen

Don’t miss this special event!

Plan to join us and be blessed by the music of Enfield on Saturday October 17th.

Enfield is best known for their leading worship at the Resolved conferences; you won’t want to miss this special time of praise and worshiping the Lord with the music by Enfield.

Silent Auction

In addition to the great music there will be many wonderful items made in India available at our silent auction. You want to be sure to see these beautiful Indian pieces; including embroidered clothing, jewelry, scarfs and more.

The silent auction starts at 5:30 pm and the concert starts at 7:00 pm (open seating).

Purchase Tickets

Tickets can be purchased starting September 1st for $10 and will increase October 1st to $12.50 and $15 at the door (only if seats are available).

Order your tickets soon, seating is limited; tickets are available online here or you can purchase tickets at the church office (18644 Sherman Way, Reseda, CA 91335).

Shepherding The Nations is expanding!

August 30, 2015 By pbrown

We are overwhelmed by God’s grace and provision to grow the work of STN in India and Nepal and expand into other nations as well. He is answering all of our prayers for wisdom, key leaders, financial resources, and open doors to train more nationals to reach unreached areas of the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Growing in India

Ryder and Flory Kumar will be moving to India very soon to give leadership to the movement in India & Nepal. Ryder will establish a base of operations, work with national leaders of other ministries as well as the 75 men we have already trained, and oversee the training and sending of more church planters to new areas. We have some reserve funds to cover his salary for a little while but he still needs about $2,000 per month in additional support to be fully funded. Please pray for this need to be met quickly. We desire to utilize the reserve funds for some major projects in India in the coming days (i.e., purchase or build a Training Center and National Offices for STN India). We are also hoping to identify and support two or more Regional Directors in India & Nepal to help facilitate training and mentoring more church planters. Beyond that there is a desire to do the same thing in countries that border India.

Imagine the 75 trained men in India and Nepal expanding to 500 in the next five years. Then imagine the 500 expanding to 5,000+ a few years later… Consider with me a growing number of trained men who are zealous to see their own people reached with the Gospel and organized together into growing, healthy, reproducing churches.

Expanding into South America

Pastor Eddie Bueno has a burden to oversee a new work in South America starting this fall. He knows some key leaders in Bolivia that he hopes to work with to launch STN Latin America very soon. We are hoping to begin with about 36 carefully chosen men in the near future and then send them out at the end of a two-year training process to plant churches in new areas. STN would then support those men for up to three years until their churches can support them. While that is happening we will train more men to be sent out and keep the process going. Once the work is established in Bolivia we hope to expand to other Central and South American countries. Pray for wisdom for Pastor Eddie as the foundation is laid in the next few months.

Praise God that $110,000 has already been donated to launch this new area of ministry for STN. That will allow us to do the groundwork, identify the right key leaders, and start the training, but we will be in need of more monthly sponsors to support specific church planting pastors in the coming months. Central & South America desperately need solid Bible-teaching churches!

Will you join us?

Will you commit to pray and support STN monthly? Will you spread the news to other believers, churches, and foundations so they can join with us? We need likeminded partners who are committed to the Great Commission and will sacrifice to see it fulfilled in our generation.

Footnote: Special thanks to the leadership and people of The Bridge Bible Fellowship who allow us to have the STN International Offices on the property at no cost. Beyond that they have included STN in the missions budget! This allows STN to operate without normal overhead costs.

There are billions of people who don’t yet know Jesus. The Lord has blessed us with spiritual and financial resources. Let’s be a conduit for those blessings to flow to the rest of the world!

Prayer Requests – September 2015

August 28, 2015 By sleinen