Graduation Report
Thank you for all your prayers and support. India now has the 29th state of the union formed – named Telangana. The national elections are over with reports of 800 million voters! The BJP, a party usually described as Hindu nationalists, defeated the Congress party. During the last year, the political situation has not been good for the people of our state or for the ministry. We have dealt with riots, strikes, vehicles being damaged by mobs, fires and roadblocks, civil unrest, government offices closed, schools shut down, teachers on strike, and more! But we know that through it all, God is in still in control . By God’s grace, the ministry is doing well. Officially, the state has been split, and now we are now dealing with the end of the political elections. The BJP party I mentioned earlier has been known in the past to be unfriendly to Christians. Please pray for our safety during this transition. Also pray for the new party that is in power, for our state, A .P., for the new state (Telangana), and for the country of India. In the midst of this, we had the highlight of our year with 39 new graduates being commissioned and sent into the harvest field! We also held our annual pastor’s conference, where pastors from North India, South India, and in-between gathered and were encouraged, refreshed and equipped to go back into the harvest field planting new churches and fulfilling Christ’s Great Commission in the land of India. I am grateful for our keynote speakers including Dr. Ron Hammonds, Dr. Sonny Conatser and Dr. Doug and Cyndi Erickson. This year’s theme was “Discipleship” and all speakers had great teachings and encouraging words for the graduates and delegates. A special thanks to all of our teams that have taken their own resources and time to come and serve on campus: · Pastor Julian & Wendy Richards and CVCC Church team · Pastor Trevor Bucknell from Harvest Bible College · Pastor Ron Lewis and Pastor Gabriel Hensley and the COTR Kansas City team · Pastor Mike and Ruth Edwards and trustees from Wales · Pastor Ben and Jamie Starr and team from C3 Australia · Howard Poole and Don Einam from Australia · Dr. Greg Haynes and Scott Smith from Carry the Light Ministries in the US In our state, the economic climate is also changing with the uncertainty and instability in the government. The cost of rice, vegetables, eggs and chicken have risen dramatically. Our city is one of the top three choices to become the new capital of our state, causing land prices to rise as well. This has made it difficult to purchase land to build new churches. The urgency for Christ for India to become more self-sufficient from within India is becoming critical . One of our main projects this year is to buy a rice paddy, as we are now providing almost 3,000 meals per day! Rice is one of our most expensive food costs and we can save valuable funds by cultivating it ourselves. Please prayerfully consider helping us with this project! We need to buy 17 acres of rice paddy with the approximate cost at $20,000 per acre. In addition, we continue to have many children who need sponsorship, seminary students who need scholarships and 150+ pastors who need monthly sponsorships as they plant and pioneer churches in unreached villages . Since 1981, God has provided for all of our needs in all areas of ministry. God is faithful! Thank you for all that you do and your consideration on all projects this year. Training thousands to reach the millions, Jameson Titus
Thanksgiving Praise Report
I am grateful to all the partners who have hosted my mother, Mary, and me during our travels in the USA. Thank you so much for your continued prayer and support! We are on campus now and have been catching up here. Our school and all buses are back up and running. All of the children are able to attend school at the present time. The problems with the state division are still ongoing, but thank God the strike in our area is over for now. Thank you for praying and standing with us during this difficult time. The cyclone that passed through here did very little damage to our immediate area, but please continue to pray for those effected as they rebuild what was lost. Since we’ve returned to India, we have hosted teams, visited churches and new church sites. We also attended conferences and finished our Annual Pastors conference just today. For all of you who have been praying for the pastors conference – thank you! We had over 150 pastors from all over India gather for 3 days of meetings on our campus. The conference is a time of praying for one another and hearing reports from each area of ministry from our pastors. Our Delhi pastor, Pastor Joseph, shared information on persecution involving civil cases that are brought against pastors there. Hyderabad Pastor, Pastor Sonny, spoke about problems that arose from the state split as Hyderabad is our state capital at present. Pastor Isaac updated us on the new church, how it is growing and the construction that is almost completed. This is also a time of encouraging one another, teaching and “housekeeping” before sending them all back into the harvest field. The last session ended this morning and the pastors are leaving to return to their respective areas of ministry. Please continue to keep all the pastors and evangelists in your prayers as they work in preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ! During this season, we are especially reminded of all our prayer and financial partners. We are Thankful to God for each one of you! Thank you for allowing us to do what we do here in India in fulfilling Christ Great Commission! Training thousands to reach the millions, Jameson
Praise Report on the Cyclonic Storm!
Dear Partners, Thank you for all your prayers! Here is a Praise Report from Johnson Titus on Campus: “Now we see after the morning that it all mostly the Cyclone went to Odisa and Srikakulam where our Pastor Karun Kumar is. They got heavy rains, winds, but no major damage. The major storm went north of us. There is damage and flooding, but nothing like ‘The Indian Katrina’ as they were calling it. It is reported that over 1,000,000 people were evacuated, so no loss of life in our area, although there were 14 deaths from the storm in the region. We don’t know the full details yet on the lives lost; more property damage than anything. Praise God! Let all know we are safe, with no major problems. Thanks for their prayers.” – Johnson Titus We ask that you will keep covering our campus and the people in the region with prayer for the rebuilding and as people return to their homes. Thank you for your faithful prayers and support. Blessings, Jameson Titus, President
A Brief Word from Campus about the Coming Storm
Dear Partners , We need your prayers, as a weather storm approaches our campus, in the next few hours we are facing a Cyclone on our coast and all along the shoreline of Andhra and Odisha, eastern India. I just received this from Johnson, my brother, direct from the campus: “[I] Don’t know if you have seen news. Coastal Andhra from Visak up to Odisha, West Bengal are in the path of a cyclone, “Indian Katrina”, coming to land fall by Saturday night. We are praying that it doesn’t come to close to us, but we are going to get the heavy rains and some winds all in our area. We may be out of communications for a while: no electricity, cells, etc. I have no way of knowing what this means or where it is going. We are preparing to keep all things tied down. Let all our friends know to keep us in prayer.“ -Johnson Titus Thank you again for all your prayers. Read this article for more information on the storm Blessings, Jameson
2013 CFI Banquet Report
I am grateful to all of the partners who made the 2013 Banquet a great Success! Thank you to all who fasted and prayed for this event and everyone who participated. It was a great time to reconnect with old friends and create new friendships. We pray that you were encouraged by the reports given and to see the results of your prayers and financial support. Those of you who attended for the first time, I hope you were challenged to partner with Christ for India in fulfilling Christ’s Great Commission! To all of you who helped underwrite the evening’s events, I pray that God will continue to bless you, your family, business and ministry! Your financial gift made it possible for additional funds to be raised and used for the work in India. Nearly 200 of our friends and first time attenders had the opportunity to hear about the work being done from the mission field. We had a time of great worship with Sean Cater and Dr. Doug Erickson, as well as a challenging message from Dr. Jeff Wickwire about our window of opportunity to reach people for Christ. We were thrilled to have Co-founder Mary Titus join us from India and hear her special update on the ministry! (Mary Titus Update Video) Christian Conatser ended the evening with an invitation to partner with the ministry in prayer and financial giving. The evening was a blessing to me , as I was able to see many of our friends who have stood with us since the inception of the ministry and over the past 3 decades. I am so grateful to God for each of our CFI Board member who give of their time, talents, and treasures for the Great Commission. Special thanks to Gene and Jan Brunk, our banquet chairpersons this year, and for each member of the Banquet committee. Our goal is to host banquets in cities all across the country, and abroad, to share the Vision of Christ for India and to encourage all to be involved! If you have an interest to host a banquet in your city, please let me know! We need your help in continuing the vision for years to come! Blessing Jameson
Steering Through Chaos…
Greetings from India! Thank you so much for all your prayers for us on campus and our state! All of the children who live on campus are safe, as well as the faculty and staff. Our school has been open for only 6 days total since July 31st. We even opened the school on two Saturdays to make up for lost days this month. Today, August 28th, we are closed. We hope to be open tomorrow and the rest of the week. Each day we wait for news on the strike to see if the school buses can run and if the city is shut down for the day. The city’s public transportation is still shut down, so it is very hard for people to go to work, shop, etc. The teacher’s association has also joined in on the strike. Our teachers want to continue working with our kids on campus, but cannot due to the association. Our Junior College opened on August 19th for the first time since the state split. The very next day, a mob of people from outside the village came onto our school campus and demanded we close down the school immediately and send the kids out on the streets because it was a day of strike. This mob is led by a retired government employee and his group tells the schools and shops in the area when to shut down due to the strikes. We feared this mob could have done physical damage, so we complied and shut down the Junior College for the day. The seminary students are all doing well and continuing in classes on campus. Some of our evangelistic efforts by the students have been hindered though. Many of our students were going out to the public government school to teach moral science. Since these schools are now closed, we’ve lost that opportunity. The church plants in Hyderabad and others cities on both sides of the state are all safe. Please keep praying for all the children, students, pastors and the whole team at Christ for India. Also, continue to pray for our state and that the politicians will make wise decisions during this time. Blessings Jameson
Andhra Pradesh: A State Divided
Greetings from overseas! I want to update you on an urgent need for prayer regarding the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, where our Christ For India campus is located. On Tuesday, July 30th, India’s Central Government approved the creation of a new state, essentially dividing our state in two. This division has been discussed for many decades, but didn’t become a reality until a few days ago. The following stages will consist of elections for new government positions and the development of a whole new infrastructure. As this new state is in the infancy stage, there is uncertainty among the people on both sides, causing many problems. Schools are shutting down, people are on hunger strikes, while others are calling for public strikes to shut down the infrastructure of the new state. Christ For India’s New Life School and Home has been closed for the past week. We are waiting for guidance from our local government as to when we can open up again. Our children who live on campus are with us and are safe. The children that we pick up from the local villages are not able to come to the campus and our buses are not running. As many of you know, our ministry headquarters is in the city of Visakhapatnam, located on the east coast of Andhra Predesh. So we are, as of now, part of the original state, while the west will become the new state. At the announcement of the Central Government’s news to approve the state split, they also announced that Hyderbad (the previous state capital) will become the state capital for both states for a period of 10 years. This announcement is only adding to the unrest and confusion of the people here. We really need your prayers. Pray for the government officials and our ministry team who are located on both sides of the state. Pray for safety on the campus and for the best possible outcome for the future of both states and the future of India! We know our God is a faithful God and He can do miracles in the midst of any adversity we face! I will keep you posted as this develops. Blessings, Jameson Titus, President
Meetings From Down Under …Australia
I am grateful to all of you for the prayers while I am in Australia. The time here has been very encouraging, to be able connect with friends, partners and family have been a blessing to me. Dr. Gladwyn and Helen Turner have been part of our family since 1984 and are the ones who are hosting me and helping me on my itinerary here. My first week was spent at Hillsong Conference, this was a first for me to be able to attend. I am grateful to Pastor Paul and Linda Hodsdon for making all the ticket arraignments and hosting me to attend Hillsong Conference. The time spent their was very valuable to me , having the opportunity to hear from great speakers ( mostly all from Texas ) , great praise and worship , and to see and experience the thousands of people from all around the world worshiping together. During the afternoons each day, we had many different breakout sessions. This is a smaller group setting, only a few hundred to a few thousand in this setting. The main session had 30K plus each session. As I attend one of the sessions, held in a ballroom, that holds around 2000 people. As I found a seat , a young man sits next to me , maybe a college student, as this was the before the start of the session , the seats were just getting filled up, their were many chair around me not yet full. I introduce myself to the young man , he said his name was Jorg . He just completed his first year of college and was on break and came to Hillsong for the first time, His sister was attending Hilsong College. I asked if he was from Germany? He said yes , I said I was able to minister in Germany in March in a small town called Lorrach , and he says he was from this small town. Then I said we have great ministry partners their and they have a real estate business their. Then Jorg tells me his fathers is in the same real estate business , and I ask him his fathers name and he tells me Dr. Jorg. Dr Jorg is a friend to our ministry and are business partners with Rev. Knut and Ursula Ofen who represents us in Germany. I actually have been to this young mans home in Germany. Wow, a God Divine monument. Of all the seats Jorg could have sat in, but he sat next to me . Sometimes we think things happens or they are just a coincidence , but God has a plan for all of us , no matter how small they may seem. Continue to pray for me here, for favor, for new doors to open. I will be here till Aug. 12 , and then to Singapore then to our campus in India. Blessings from Down Under.. Jameson
