Images of India were etched on my mind during my recent trip there. Not just the traffic, vendors, multitudes, poverty and tropical vegetation — although those will long be remembered as well.
Most of all, I will remember the children, but I will come back to them.
Jim White
When I close my eyes, I still see those pastors gathered in a seminary chapel (built with funds from a Virginia Baptist couple from Vinton Baptist Church, incidentally). Pastors of all ages came to the conference because of their need for training and fellowship. Many of them had traveled for five or more days on a train to arrive at the five-day conference. The journey home would be as long. You have to want to go to a conference to be willing to spend 10 days on a train!
The travel was made easier because you, Virginia Baptists, paid for their travel. As long as they faithfully attended each session, they received a voucher to reimburse their travel expenses. I'll bet you didn't even know you did that. But you did. And it made a tremendous difference to a group of about 85 pastors from all points in India.
I don't know what I expected, but these pastors were not discouraged and downcast. Rather, they were excited that the church in India is growing despite persecution.
For the most part, BGAV team members provided the substance of the conference, leading Bible studies and training on the theme “Pressing On” based on Phil. 3:13-14. I was proud of and impressed by the quality of teaching provided by our Virginia Baptist team. I think you would have been, too.
I will always remember the seminary graduates sitting with caps and gowns under a tent in the heat. I envisioned them spreading across the land taking the message of Christ to new cities and villages. Once again, I was impressed with the quality of theological education provided there in a small but dynamic seminary and blessed by Chris Monroe's singing (on various occasions) and Bill Booth's remarks.
I will always remember the dedication of the new buildings. In the dedication, Joe Lewis spoke as an aside to the children “may its hard floors remind you of the firm foundation of God's mercies. May its wide open spaces remind you of the openness of God's love for you and all children of the world. In the name of Virginia Baptists we welcome you to your new home.”
I will remember the ordination service as 8 new ministers were set aside for the Lord's work. There, each was presented with a clerical collar as part of the service. Todd Combee, who delivered the ordination sermon, presented each also with a linen cloth symbolic of a servant's towel.
And, I will remember the wedding we attended. Two students were united in holy matrimony. What an eloquent and appropriate occasion situated right in the middle of all the other ceremonies.
But, burned deep into my memory is the image of leadership provided by Kunjumon Chacko. He isn't tall. He doesn't have a commanding presence. What he does have is vision. And what he exerts is leadership. It is impossible to fully appreciate the partnership Virginia Baptists have with the Precious Children's Home in India without understanding the driving persona behind it.
We paused on the upper deck of the new children's dormitory we Virginians would help dedicate. Chacko led a tour we had just completed and I wondering what was going through his mind. So, I asked him.
He smiled sheepishly. I imagined he would describe a dream come true. I anticipated that he might express disbelief that the facility was finally about ready to open. I wouldn't have been surprised to hear him say, considering the group of Virginians assembled around him, that it could not have happened without the help and commitment of Virginia Baptists.
He did acknowledge those things briefly but continued “what I am really thinking as I stand here is of the great need we Baptists in Kerala have for a conference center. There is no place big enough for 2,000 Baptists in the state of Kerala to assemble.”
His answer revealed much about the man. Had he followed up with a plan about how Virginia Baptists could now build a conference center, I would have suspected his motives. But he didn't. The only time I heard him mention the conference center again was when I asked him about it later.
His answer was not intended to be an invitation to enter a new phase of our partnership. It simply revealed that this man does not dwell in the present. Rather, he seems always to be trailblazing; out in front; living in the future.
Today, because of his visionary leadership, several Precious Children's Homes exist in his home state of Kerala and in various other locations in India. In Areepparambu, 132 children are housed in the home.
But, in 1996 as the present Precious Children's Home was being built, Chacko began to have a new vision. He foresaw the time when these children from the streets would follow Christ into ministry. He realized the need for a theological training school to prepare them for ministry. Thus, the India Baptist Theological Seminary was conceived. This year, one of the precious children from the home received his Bachelor's in theology degree from IBTS.
In June, the Precious Children's International Village will open about a kilometer from the current campus which includes the children's home and seminary. Tsunami children will be taken first from the various locations where they are now living to the new village. Others will join them until the capacity of 200 is reached.
But back to the children, those shining dark eyes reflecting life and love and laughter appear again and again in my mind unbidden but very welcome. All of the children are precious, but two became even more precious. You see, my wife, Connie, and I have agreed to sponsor them for the next two years. It will cost us a dollar a day for each, but we know we are making a real difference. By providing care for them, children's home money can be freed up and two more precious children can be rescued from the streets. Only two. But two!
Images of India. Some I don't want to remember. But these I don't want to forget.