Our first TERM seminar was held in Chennai, the fourth largest city in India located on the southeast coast. It was hit by the tsunami in 2004, but has recovered since then.
Tamil is spoken here and the predominant religion is Hinduism. The caste system still has a strong grip over the people.
More than 50 Indian pastors, missionaries and youth workers attended our 4-day seminar in Chennai.
During our trip, John field tested his new book, By This Name, which is similar to The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, but targeted toward a polytheistic (worship of many gods, such as Hinduism) audience. In this teaching, he uses the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead -- replicated on the papyrus scroll behind him -- to compare the ancient Egyptian's polytheistic religion with that of the Bible's teaching of one holy, unique God. Moses, the first writer of Scripture, grew up under this polytheistic religious environment, yet encountered the one true God -- Yahweh -- at the burning bush.The Indians have commented on how many similarities there are between Hinduism and the ancient Egyptian religion.
Our host, Dr. Jay, translated the teaching into Tamil.
Derek assisted John in teaching.
Janice, Corrie and Chantal timed each session for future reference.
John K. -- our videographer and photographer -- hard at work.
Chuck, who studies at Dr. Jay's seminary in Bangalore and assists with his ministry, provided much help during the Chennai seminar. We met Chuck and his wife Connie last time we were in India, when they attended our TERM seminar in Bangalore.
Connie and 8-month-old baby Anjali sat in on the lectures. We were so glad to finally meet Anjali, since she wasn't born when we visited last time! She was such a cutie.
As the team's secretary and journalist, Chantal took notes and interviewed attendees for their feedback on the seminar.
On Sunday, Derek was invited to preach at the oldest Christian church in Chennai -- William Loveless Memorial Church (200 years old!) -- while the other team members preached or ministered at other churches.
Derek using visual aids to teach about Cain and Abel. He described how Abel's offering was based on God's requirement for a substitute that shed blood ("for the life of the creature is in its blood"), foreshadowing Christ's death, and was therefore accepted. Cain's offering was based on his own ideas and confused God's requirement of a substitute, and therefore was not accepted. (For more details, read The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus.)
DC with the pastor and elders of the church.
1 comment:
great quotes :) thanks
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