STN India
We are blessed that our STN India board is very cooperative. Board members live significant distances from each other and often in different parts of the country. This creates certain pragmatic issues. We are so thankful for technological help such as ‘what’s app’, ’email’, and ‘the phone’ as ways to stay connected.
Funds
Funds are coming from within India! This is a great encouragement as well as an answer to prayer! The first church to support STN financially is El Shaddai in Hyderabad where our team has ministered God’s Word from time to time. In addition, our STN graduates have been making efforts to raise funds under difficult circumstances.
Ministry in the North and Nepal:
I took a long-desired trip to Northern India in May 2017. A number of things were accomplished:
- Faculty gathering: Three of STN’s graduates who are faithfully and diligently laboring in SEVEN remote areas of North India. They reported how the Lord has been making their ministry abundantly fruitful.
STN trainers meet in Lucknow
- Odisha: One of the backward states of India in the Central region, and the place where the Australian missionary, Graham Stains, and his two kids, were brutally burned to death for their faith. J.S. teaches this group and several others. He was one of the many BTCP students who were profoundly impacted by the seminars of STN International and by those who taught them over a period of five plus years. J.S. has a deep burden for this area, so he travels a long distance by train to equip and train 32 students. He spends an average of three to four days in this area each month. This group was in BTCP Book #8 in May and hope to be done with all ten books this year.
Church leaders are being trained in BTCP materials in Odisha
- Bihar: Another backward state in North India where Buddha was born and received his “enlightenment.” J.S. has 10 students in this needy state who are studying Book # 6.
- Jharkhand: This area used to be a part of Bihar but is now an independent state. J.S. has 17 students who were in Book #2 in May.
- Basti: It is located towards the NE of the state, called U.P. J.S has ten students who were in Book #3 in May.
- Sitapur: It is amazing that STN has a church plant in this area, the stronghold of Hinduism. The instructor is D., one of the STN graduates in 2014. He graduated on October 31st and started meetings with a small group of people on November 2nd (just two days after his graduation.) D. was so profoundly impacted by the training that he could not wait any longer to see a work begin in his area where he works as a principal of a Government Primary School. D. has ten students and out of this we have two ladies doing BTCL. The group was in Book #3 in May.
- Unnao: This is another stronghold of Hinduism where one of our STN graduates, K.S., has a strong base of several hundred believers from a Hindu background. K.S. had mentored many people over the years, including D., who has 16 students (three of them ladies). This program meets twice every month.
- Kanpur: Another man who was mentored by K.S. is L.P. who was a 2014 graduate of the STN training program and now teaches 14 students in his church facility. They meet twice each month for eight hours on Saturday and were in Book #3 in May.
Seminar participants in Kanpur
- Nepal: M.S., one of our STN graduates, came all the way to Lucknow to attend our faculty meeting. He left the meeting taking 25 copies of BTCP Book #1 to start a new class. The students are extremely poor and cannot afford the books or the food during the day when they meet.
Ministry in the South
STN holds seminars in the following areas:
- Hyderabad: there are three separate groups meeting in Hyderabad: 1) Rehoboth with Pastor R. and T. They both graduated from STN’s training and recently completed teaching all ten books to a group of eight students. These students have now gone back to their regions to continue their ministries. 2) Pastor P.P. (graduate of TMAI’s training school in India) is teaching people in his church. 3) Pastor P. A. is teaching 14 students at our STN India office every Saturday.
- Konavaram: a remote area in Andhra is scheduled for seminars under the leadership of V.K. from Oct/Nov. This area happens to belong to a tribe that is involved in witchcraft, sorcery and is located in a very difficult place.
- Palakonda: V.K. is training 37 participants in this city in Eastern India. Reaching the remote village of Palkonda was not easy where two of STN’S graduates have begun BTCP classes to equip and train 37 leaders. We did 23 hours in 3 days on the road.
V.K., Ryder and Flory Kumar share with participants in Palkonda
- Raepally: V.K. is teaching 25 students in this remote area.
- Narsannapalem: This is another remote place where eager Pastors are being trained by J.J. (a graduate of STN’s five plus years of training).
- We are so blessed to see productivity in all these locations. STN’s vision to reach remote villages where 85% of India’s population live is happening!
New Contacts
A large number of people are contacting STN India with a desire to network with us. Our most recent contact is a graduate from The Master’s Seminary with M.Div and Th.M degrees. Pastors from different areas are getting connected through the ministry of STN. People from all over India and Nepal want us to train them. Even in Delhi, we have people interested and eager to be trained.
Ryder Kumar is serving as our International Director. As one of the founding members of Shepherding the Nations, it was Ryder's vision to see pastors trained and equipped for ministry that became the foundation of Shepherding the Nations.
Shepherding the Nations has identified qualified and called men who are already working in unreached areas of India and Nepal. We are providing the training to better equip them and the financial resources to support them in their ministries.
Our directors have been equipped to teach our ten-volume training curriculum. These key men are training indigenous pastors and church planters while also providing accountability, resources materials, and support. 
During our training program, we provide our ten volume set of curriculum from the Biblical Training Centre for Pastors (BTCP) in their local language. We also provide essentials resources such as Bible Concordance and Study Bible. We have been able to provide these books to all of our pastors through the generous donations of our donors. These books can be purchased for about $10 each or an entire set for $100.