MACON, Ga. (ABP) — Twenty-hour days in the face of desperate poverty, terrible diseases, sometimes-hostile neighbors and even tigers could grind down even the most faithful, but somehow, Leena Lavanya draws strength from her ministry to keep going.
Indian Baptist humanitarian worker Leena Lavanya speaks to students at Mercer University Nov. 2. (Mercer photo)
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Sharing God’s love and shining her light for others in her community give her strength, the woman sometimes called “the Baptist Mother Teresa” told a group gathered at Mercer University in Macon, Ga., Nov. 2. Lavanya, the founder of ServeTrust, a charity ministering to the poor in southern India, spoke about her ministry and her experiences.
“I don’t know how, but the more I work, the more energy I get,” she said. “If I help one person, it fills my heart. I get satisfaction when I help others. I enjoy my work, I enjoy my ministries. I like to be with my schoolchildren, I like to be with the HIV patients, I want to hear and share the problems of sex workers, sitting on their dirt floors. I love to be with all these people. God always gives me physical strength, and spiritual strength.”
Lavanya earned her nickname in part because of her deep faith, but also her ministry’s parallel focus on ministering to the poorest, the sick and the dying of India. She has earned praise from faith groups and her government. In 2009, the Baptist World Alliance presented her with the Denton and Janice Lotz Human Rights Award and, in 2007, ServeTrust was named the top non-governmental organization in India.
She devoted herself to ministry after hearing a speech by Tony Campolo at a Baptist World Alliance meeting in 1993. He said that, though many people sing from the hymn, “All to Jesus, I Surrender,” few who sing it actually do so.
“Those words touched my heart. I said to God, ‘You don’t need money. I don’t have money to give you, but you have given me this precious life by shedding your precious blood on the Calvary Cross. Here I am God, use me to do your service,’” she said. “So completely, I surrendered myself to God.”
With her eyes opened, Lavanya soon saw the suffering of those in her community. She began her ministry with the simple act of training a sex worker in sewing and buying her a sewing machine so she could begin to support herself. Now, Lavanya’s ministry helps hundreds of people who have been abandoned. Among their ministries in Lavanya’s home state of Andhra Pradesh are an AIDS hospice, a shelter for those with leprosy, a home for the aged, health-care programs for rural communities, a micro-enterprise center for former sex workers, job-training centers for youth and schools for destitute children and orphans.
Leena Lavanya (left), founder of ServeTrust, and Susan LeGrand (center), chair of ServeTrust’s international advisory board meet Mercer freshman Sweedel Joseph after Lavanya spoke at Mercer Nov. 2. Joseph said she was inspired by Lavanya’s presentation and hopes to visit and help her ministry in India one day. (Mercer photo)
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“They need someone to comfort them, they need somebody to share love and concern with them,” Lavanya said. “Because I am a Christian, I am able to tell them the love of Jesus and many people have gotten comfort from that, from the love of Jesus.”
Lavanya recounted the stories of how her ministries were formed — often from a single interaction — and told of stories of simpler acts of compassion, from persuading suicidal AIDS patients not to give up, to taking in the destitute. “My phone always rings,” she said.
“I don’t want to sit in my house and go to church on Sunday and think that is enough,” she said. “I want to reach the unreached people with the love and compassion of Christ and the Good News of Christ.”
Her story of action in a challenging environment inspired Mercer graduate Julie Whidden Long to devote a chapter to Lavanya in her 2008 book, Portraits of Courage: Stories of Baptist Heroes. Long, minister to children and families at First Baptist Church in Macon, was inspired by Lavanya’s story and included it among the stories of 14 unsung Baptist heroes since the founding of the tradition in 1609.
Hearing Lavanya’s story in person was inspiring, Long said. “I was deeply moved by Leena’s stories and the quiet, humble simplicity with which she carries herself and conducts her ministry,” Long said. “I was struck by the way that she began each of her stories — ‘One day, I was walking on the road…’ and, “One day, my car was stopped at the traffic light…’ and, ‘One day, I was visiting in the village….’ I realized that she never set out with the goal of doing great things for God. She has simply opened her eyes and her heart to the people around her and responds to their needs out of her deep compassion and love. Leena challenged me to do the same.”
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Mark Vanderhoek is director of media relations at Mercer University.