Morning Star Baptist Church
Mission Trip Highlights
India
April 9 - 19, 2007
[Click here to view the photo album]
In our November 2006 Mission Conference, Morning Star Baptist Church decided to
donate $13,000 to build a church building and provide a well for a congregation
of Christians in India who were meeting without a building. On
April 9, 2007, Pastor Andrew Carrigan and Ms. Bobbie, and Tommy and Myra Smith traveled to
India to dedicate this church building.
We had a few bumps in the road. We missed our connection in Frankfurt, Germany,
were rerouted through Mumbai, India, and when we arrived in Hyderabad our
luggage did not arrive until 2 days later. But, the Lord blessed and
everything worked out. Bro. Kumar and his helper Bosco
met us at the airport and took us to the hotel in Seconderabad. After
resting for the night, Bro. Kumar gave us a tour of the city and took us to the
Good News Baptist Church and introduced us to Pastor Kristen Kumar. Our
group had sweet fellowship with this family for several hours.
Brother Jack Turney and his sweet 89 year old wife, Ruby, joined us the
following day. They have traveled and worked with the missionaries
in India for more than 25 years. We finally received our luggage and took
a 5 hour trip in rental cars to Tirivuru. The 5 hour trip was interesting and we
prayed much! We dodged water buffalos and goats, motor cycles, rickshaws, bicycles, buses, trucks and other vehicles on a 2 lane
freeway (free-for-all!)
After arriving at the mission house, Pastor Carrigan preached the graduation ceremony
to the Bible College preachers. These preachers will go out into the
surrounding villages to pastor churches that they have been working to establish
during the years of their Bible Study. Bro. Joshua Madusa and his family
and staff at the Bible College took good care of our group in the mission
house. They provided 3 meals a day, and transported us to the villages
each morning and evening where Pastor Carrigan preached with an
interpreter. Many souls were saved! On Monday, at 11:00 a.m. our
team participated in the dedication service of the Morning Star Baptist Church
of India. We received a "Royal Welcome" in the village of
Reddygudam followed by the revealing and reading of the plaques and cutting of
the ribbon of the new church building. We were introduced to the pastor of
this church, Pastor Joseph and his family. We were excited to see the
church building full and overflowing with people standing outside the
building. Pastor Carrigan preached a wonderful message and many were
saved. It was an honor and privilege to be a witness of the first message
being preached and the first souls being saved in the new Morning Star Baptist
Church of Reddygudam, India. On April 19, we took a 5 hour
train ride to Hyderabad where we departed India and traveled 22 hours by plane
to Charlotte, NC. We arrived safely home. We thank the Lord for
allowing us to have a small part of the work He is doing in India.