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STN India & Nepal!

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2tim2.2The Apostle Paul was in prison and very aware that he was going to die, so he wrote to his protégé, Timothy, and encouraged him to continue the work in the church at Ephesus. Paul couldn’t reach everyone, and Timothy couldn’t reach everyone, so the ministry of multiplication had to be a priority. Paul basically challenged Timothy to do for others what Paul had done for him. By God’s grace followers of Jesus have continued this philosophy of ministry down through the centuries and it is the strategy we are implementing in India and Nepal today.

In their first year back in India, Ryder & Flory Kumar are focusing on training men who will plant healthy churches where they can train men who will plant healthy churches… To that end Ryder has already conducted several Teacher Training Workshops (TTWs) in different regions of India to equip and qualify men to teach the Bible Training Centre for Pastors (BTCP) materials. Now these men will begin teaching the BTCP curriculum to men in their regions on a weekly basis. By teaching weekly (instead of two five-day conferences each year) they can teach through all ten books in about two years.

The current plan is to start training about 230 men to be new church planters. Imagine these men going out in the near future to each plant multiple churches. Then imagine these men each being trained to take ten or more new men through the materials and equip them to go out and plant churches in unreached areas. It is our prayer that the Lord will bless this and we will see hundreds of new churches planted in the next three to five years. On top of that, we are getting requests from all over India, Nepal, and Pakistan for the same training to be offered to them.

What can you do as a partner with STN?

The need is great and we are grateful that you are partnering with us to meet the need. Here are four things that come to mind:

  1. PRAY! Please pray for Ryder & Flory and for the men they are equipping to go out and multiply. Pray for spiritual vitality, physical endurance, and God’s wisdom. With so many needs, please pray for discernment as to what they should and should not do.
  2. GIVE! We currently have several pastors who need sponsors. You can fully support one of our 7 pastors in Northern India for $100 per month or one of our 6 pastors in Southern India (three that need $30 per month and three that need $60 per month). Or you can help support Ryder & Flory as they are currently about $2,000 per month short of their need. We are making up the difference out of our reserves but would love to apply those funds to other areas of growth.
  3. VOLUNTEER! We could use more volunteers to help us with administrative tasks, researching and writing articles for our Facebook page and newsletter, or serving on our Fundraising Team.
  4. SHARE! Please tell other individuals and churches about the ministry of STN. We would love to give them more details and have them join with us in this work in India, Nepal, and beyond.

Prayer Requests

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  • Permission from the government of India to obtain permission for receiving funds and a code to be provided in this regard.
  • Wisdom in visiting Nepal to organize BTCP teaching. Scrutiny and selection of participants.
  • Visit to PCI areas of work where STN graduates are laboring.
  • Ladies retreats to be held in different areas of the country. Flory as she ministers the Word.
  • Visa for a neighboring country to be obtained.
  • Funds to be raised from within India.
  • Organizing and holding STN meetings with contacts in different parts of the country.
  • Visit of Tammy Werth to India in November to be very fruitful and productive.
  • Organizing and holding BTCP classes in South and North India from the month of July.
  • Teaching of course #9 in July at Vijayawada to be productive.
  • Health and strength to carry out the ministry in India.
  • Preaching and teaching ministry of Ryder on Sundays.

Q and A with Flory

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Diane Brown, Tammy and I had the privilege to have a long lunch with Flory while she was visiting with her family here in California. We took the opportunity to find out more about how her life has changed now that she is living and working in India.

Diane Brown, Susan Leinen, Margie Varberg (top) Flory Kumar and Tammy Werth (bottom)

Diane Brown, Susan Leinen, Margie Varberg (top)
Flory Kumar and Tammy Werth (bottom)

Q: Flory, what was it like for you when you moved your household to India?

A: At the beginning, it was very difficult. Ryder experienced some illness when we first arrived, but God proved himself strong in our weakness. In my ten years of marriage, this was the 5th move.

“God was preparing us so I don’t see ‘home’ as a permanent location, but any place where the Lord sends me.”

Q: How did you find the house that you are living in?

A: This was something that we prayed about before we even left the US. We wanted a place that would be safe and secure, but also a place in a neighborhood where we could have an outreach with the gospel to our neighbors. During our first week at church, we met a man who had a job as a driver. He knew of a house in a safe neighborhood that was available and took us there the next day. The owner was friendly and welcoming and I noticed that the house numbers were the same as my birthday. The rental price was lower than we expected and this was the house that God graciously provided.

Q: What ministry opportunities have you had since you have returned to India?

A: I have had the opportunity to teach several one-day women’s conferences. I have taught on “How to be a Mature Christian in the Church,” to  65 women from five different churches. I also spoke in Kanpur to 52 women from three different churches on “The Cost of Discipleship.” Other ministry opportunities have included a visit to Jedimetla Village where I led a one-day seminar with the ladies and an evening meeting with the children. I taught a Bible study to an orphanage, hosted a Christmas outreach to neighborhood, led Sunday ladies meetings and Sunday school classes.

Q: What church are you attending in Hyderabad?

A: We have been attending Emmanuel House of Worship since January. This was another answer to prayer. This church worships and preaches in English, which is so much easier for me. Ryder is in their preaching team and I, also teach at times with the children’s and lady’s ministry.

Q: What are you looking forward to the rest of this year?

A: After retuning to India, we will be doing some more traveling to have follow-ups with the teachers to whom Ryder has presented “Teacher Training Workshops” in various parts of India; also meeting with key contacts and board members. We will also have lady’s meetings in different regions, where we see the need.

Q: How can we pray for you?

A: Please pray for:

  • Salvation for two new friends in our neighborhood, Jacoline and Nisha
  • Health and safety during monsoon season
  • Good health for both Ryder and I
  • Develop new messages and teach wherever there is a need
  • New ministry opportunities with children including singing, drama and CEF materials
  • For our house maid, Manju and her family for salvation

Moving Forward to See Multiplication in the Ministry

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STN international in God’s provision is moving forward in India for greater productivity. This is to see multiplication in the ministry based on this biblical principle:

“The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”
-2 Timothy 2:2

Randy Leinen preaching in Lucknow in 2012. (Mahavir bottom, right)

Randy Leinen preaching in Lucknow in 2012. (Mahavir bottom, right)

Often times, Pastor Randy Leinen referred with great burden to Colossians 1:28-29 28 “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.  For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.” We were motivated to work hard and this work by God’s grace resulted in 70 pastors being equipped and trained under the leadership team from the United States. As a follow-up to this, there has been a careful selection from these graduates of 2014 to undergo Teacher Training Workshops to train others in the remotest parts of the earth. The Lord has provided some key leaders from Hyderabad, Lucknow, Nepal and West Bengal who will take on this difficult task of training others in the BTCP program.

A true story of transformation

In 2006, a Napalese couple,  Mahavir and his wife, Sheeta, (from a “H” background) had many idols and photos of gods and goddess in their home. They heard the gospel message through KB. Their spontaneous response to this was to get rid of all idols from the house. Accepting the Jesus as their Savior and Lord became a dramatic experience as Mahavir was delivered not only from bondage of sin but also from evil habits. More people heard the gospel and a church was planted in Nepal. This church that started with five to seven people has now grown to 50 people. The message of the gospel is being spread to many nearby people in Nepal. The church with 50 people is being led by a pastor who is not theologically trained and is in need of the training of the STN BTCP classes. Mahavir is a graduate of STN BTCP classes and is ready to teach, having completed the Teacher Training Workshop.

Mahavir is not only known as an STN graduate and a Sr. Pastor in Nepal, but has another distinction – in 1978 he won an award for climbing 21,000 feet in the Himalayan mountains.

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Mahavir during Bible conference in Lucknow, 2005

Mahavir (bottom right) during recent Teacher Training Workshop

Mahavir (bottom right) during recent Teacher Training Workshop

Multiplication goes on!

There is a need for 30 key people from Nepal to be trained. These 30 would each train 10 men, bringing a multiplication of 300 pastors to begin training in two years. The cost to begin training 30 men from July 2016 would be $4 per course book (4 x 10 x 10=$400 for ten course books) plus with the poor background of each pastor there is need to provide food and tea during the day costing $500 per seminar x 10 seminars = $5,000. Please pray for the the supply to answer this need.

Meaning, message and a mission

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Six Months In Review

It is now six months since Flory and I moved from the United States of American to India. This happened to be one of the toughest decision we ever made in our lives. There are people in the US who desire to get us back and there are those in India who wonder why we have come! I am reminded of Nehemiah, one of the great leaders, who said these words in Nehemiah 6:3, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?”

God has shown us, aside from all human reasoning, that our motivation is not to live with complacency, or a comparatively comfortable life. We cannot look back from this commitment to serve the living God. It is worth journeying for thousands of miles, leaving behind a home, and going through the drills of security checks and standing in long lines at the airport, all for the sake of people who need the truth.

Ministry Highlights

Ministry of preachingThe message that we have in these temporary earthen vessels is a most powerful one that causes life or death. Acts 4:19-20 says, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

  • During these months in India approximately 6,000 people have heard the Word of God with eagerness.
  • There are times the believers stayed in meetings for four hours at a stretch.
  • Ladies gathered in three places to spend several hours feasting on God’s Word.
  • Saints were strengthened, congregations were blessed and the Word went forth with power.

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Flory teaching women's conference.

Flory teaching women’s conference.

While doing my M.Div program in the US under the eminent scholars at TMS and associated with Paul Brown to learn and study I did not imagine how far this truth will travel. Our Sovereign God knew and He took me through those valuable times.

Multiplication of Trainers

SAM_0947The Mission must be accomplished. SE Asia is waiting! The training programs we had in India to equip the trainers were very encouraging. We are envisioning 100 leaders to be trained the first year and to graduate the second year. This multiplication approach will enable us to see 10,000 to be trained after two years. God is able! The door is open. The time is now. 1 Corinthians 16:9 “For a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.”

How can you help? Praying is a powerful resource. Finances are providing resource. Would you pray and provide? The work must go on to combat the false teaching that is cropping up rapidly. The churches must be made healthy. Quality leaders must be raised up and disciples must be made.

Reaching Latin America with the Gospel through STN

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by Pastor Eddie Bueno

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Pastor Eddie Bueno (left), David Nelson (behind Eddie), and Pastor Richard Buitrago and family

My trip to India was a journey without much planning. I knew that I would have to go to observe and see how the STN program worked there, and see the possibility of starting the program somewhere in Latin America. On my return from India I did not know what to do or where to start. Several months passed and I even thought that my trip to India had only been an expense and nothing more.

But one day, while talking to Pastor Ryder, he suggested that I start the program in Bolivia, the country where I am from. I had not retuned to my country for 34 years and to think of going back and taking a project to train pastors did not sound like a good idea to me. But what seemed to be not a good idea to me seemed like a good idea to God.

When I went to Bolivia and I contacted several pastors. I saw how the enemy has worked there with the growth of the Prosperity Gospel. This movement is very far from the sound doctrine that we find in the Word of God. I saw the need to train new pastors and thought that if we start there we can continue into the rest of Latin America, given that Bolivia is geographically located in the center of South America.

In the next three months we will start three Bible Institutes in three different cities of Bolivia – Santa Cruz, La Paz and Cochabamba. We also already have pastors that have shown interest in taking this program to Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. May the Lord guide us and provide the economic and human resources we need to train pastors that fear God and that are well trained in the Scriptures.

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Teacher Training Workshop with David Nelson (top)

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Prayer Requests

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  • Please pray for Ryder and Flory to draw near to the Lord, grow strong in their marriage, stay healthy, walk in the Spirit, and discern God’s will on a moment-by-moment basis. In a country that has such enormous needs it is easy to get overwhelmed or say “yes” to too many things. Thank you for praying that they will work hard but also find times of quiet rest and refreshment.
  • Pray for Eddie Bueno and the launch of Shepherding the Nations in Bolivia in March, 2016.
  • Please pray for the Lord to provide new sponsors for the pastors that are currently without monthly sponsors.
  • Pray for more donors to support Ryder & Flory as they are about $2,000 short of their monthly need.
  • Praise God for the pastors that are desiring training in Nepal, Pakistan, India, Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina. Pray that God will help us to strategically select pastors and locations for the training that will begin this year in up to seven countries.

STN’s Plans for 2016 in India

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ryder-flory-in-indiaRyder & Flory Kumar have been in India for over 4 months now and a lot of things are being accomplished. They have settled into a home, set up an office for STN India, worked on administrative details (legal & financial), met with key leaders, spoken in churches and special meetings, and organized prayer groups. They have been BUSY!

What else will be happening in 2016?

A lot more time will be spent with the STN Board in India. These men will prayerfully give leadership to the movement in India and Nepal. They will plan conferences to train more men as well as spread the word about STN to individuals, churches, and other Christian organizations.

Ryder will spend more time with the men who have already been trained. These men will not only labor to establish healthy churches but will train other men to go to unreached areas. Teacher Training Workshops (TTW’s) will be offered to these men so they can effectively teach the BTCP materials to others. They will also be held accountable for their personal growth, their family life, their ministry in the churches, and their outreach to the lost.

An overwhelming number of requests are coming in for people to be trained all over India and Nepal.

New BTCP courses will be started in different regions and will be led by former students and regional directors.

Regional Directors will be appointed to oversee training and accountability in different parts of the country. Ryder cannot reach the entire country but he can work with key regional leaders who can carry out the work. The ministry will grow exponentially in the coming years as these men train men who will train men…

More men will be trained in Nepal.

The need is great in Nepal for healthy churches and we will help some of our former students train church planters to be sent into the harvest.

Investigate possible sites for an STN India Training Center.

$700,000 was donated last year for this purpose and we want to know the right location for maximum impact in the coming years. This center would double as the STN India headquarters.

pakistanOn top of all that we will explore the possibility of ministry in Pakistan.

We have been praying for that country for years and hope to see healthy churches established to make disciples of that nation.

Ryder & Flory will be very busy. Please pray for them to draw near to the Lord, grow strong in their marriage, stay healthy, walk in the Spirit, and discern God’s will on a moment-by-moment basis. In a country that has such enormous needs it is easy to get overwhelmed or say “yes” to too many things. Thank you for praying that they will work hard but also find times of quiet rest and refreshment.

To carry out all of these things will require more funds.

From time-to-time our donors need to stop supporting STN and right now we have a few pastors without sponsors. For $60-100 per month these men are fully supported to plant churches in unreached areas. Please pray for the Lord to provide new sponsors for these men as well as hundreds of others that will be trained in the coming years. And pray for more donors to support Ryder & Flory as they are about $2,000 short of their monthly need. Our General Fund is currently covering these costs, but we would love to see specific donors or churches sponsor these men.

We believe God will do great things in India & Nepal in 2016. Your prayers and donations are making an eternal difference. Thank you for partnering with us. To God be the glory!

PizzaRev Update

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Pizza-rev-updateThank you for helping us impact the world for Christ.

Our PizzaRev fundraiser brought in $174.26 and everyone had lots of fun together while there. The fundraiser fell on the same night as our STN board meeting. So Pastor Paul went to PizzaRev and picked up 8 pizzas for our meeting. He said PizzaRev was filled with STN supporters when he arrived. What a blessing to have had such a good turnout. We are grateful for your prayers and generous support.

Look for the next fun dinner night fundraiser around April.

Thank you and lets keep striving to impact this world for Christ.

One Day Women’s Conference

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Report by Vinay Kalapala

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vijay-confIn partnership with the Shepherding the Nations we were able to conduct a one day conference for the ladies of our church and surrounding churches with the theme, “Your Effective Growth in the Body of Christ.” Brother Ryder Kumar gave an inspirational and insightful devotional study from John 6:1-14 speaking on “Incredible Blessing.” Flory Kumar spoke with clarity and burden based on the theme. She focused on six aspects of growth, “Worship, Fellowship, Membership, Serving, Discipleship and Giving.” The 62 ladies present were motivated and blessed by the teaching.

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It was a real encouragement to see many participating from other churches such as Hebron Fellowship, LEF, and Zion Prayer house joined with our Shiloh Prayer hall. Followed by a delightful lunch a 20-minute game helped the ladies get ready for the afternoon sessions. Sis. Halleluiah and other ladies sang worship songs at the beginning of afternoon session.  Flory continued her 2nd secession with group discussions. During this time, many shared their convictions and challenges in those 6 areas of study and made decisions to correct themselves and gave testimonies and spent time in prayer.

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During the conference some of the pastors desired for a meeting with Brother Ryder to express their desire to request STN’s partnership in the endeavors to hold BTCP seminars for many who are in need. We are very much thankful to Brother Ryder and Sister Flory, and Shepherding the Nations for giving us a wonderful opportunity provided to meet the needs of these ladies of different churches. There is a great need for holding such conferences regularly.