Indiana—During the Christmas and New Year's holidays last year, a group of 35 Adventists from Indiana were separated from their local families so the family of God could grow.

The Hope for India mission team was comprised of men, women, and children from the Cicero Seventh-day Adventist Church, nine Indiana Academy students, and some members of other Adventist churches. The team's mission was to share the good news of Jesus on the other side of the planet in the Andhra Pradesh region of India. The team preached in eight outlying villages. The Lord blessed the trip, and many lives were changed.

In each of the eight sites, five new Adventist church groups now worship together on Sabbath. However, these 40 groups awaited a house of worship. In the Indian culture, if your god is unable to provide a place of worship, the people believe that he must not be very powerful. A church becomes symbolic of a god's strength.

On Sabbath, June 2, the Cicero Church members celebrated the completion of fund-raising to erect churches for the 40 church groups raised up during the Hope for India trip. Aaron Clark, pastor in training at Cicero, spoke of the unity that service in Jesus brings, and asked the congregation to join hands as he prayed for the new churches. The church family sang together the theme song for the Hope for India participants, "Hark! the Voice of Jesus Calling," and then the joyful reminder of Jesus' return in the song, "When He Cometh." Clark's sermon on Christian stewardship tied in with the celebration, reminding those present that the currency of Heaven is the precious individuals we lead to Jesus!

For a year and a half, Cicero Church senior pastor, Ron Kelly, encouraged his members to give sacrificially to the Hope for India initiatives. Ingrid Jacobs prepared goal devices, and as money was donated the sanctuary was filled with hundreds of cards with an outline of India, each one representing $15 donated to lead one individual for Jesus. The cards were glued like wallpaper on the goal devices surrounding the sanctuary so church members could see the fund-raising progress.

As more money for the new church buildings arrived, brown paper churches were added to the goal devices. Members were reminded weekly of the needs of their fellow brothers and sisters in Jesus in India. The final church was placed on the last fund-raising goal device on June 2, and church members reflected on what God did through their faithful giving.

In addition to the $57,495 raised for the team's air travel to India and funds collected for their other personal trip expenses, a total of $20,000 was raised to purchase land for 40 churches. One hundred-twenty-thousand dollars was raised to erect the 40 churches at $3,000 per church. The church funds were primarily from Cicero Church members, but donations for three churches came from members of other Adventist churches. One family donated money for a church in honor of their deceased son.

Church members also contributed $40,000 to help defray expenses for each of the 40 evangelistic series they conducted. Another $10,000 was donated for 5,000 Bibles in the Telugu language, which were given to the newly-baptized Adventists in India by Hope for India team members. In addition, the church members raised $36,000 to pay for a Bible worker for each of the 40 churches for the next three years. The Bible workers will become the pastors of those churches at a later date.

While in India, team members discovered additional needs among those they served and generously gave of their own funds. For example, the team members donated money for 300 cataract surgeries, and left $1,000 for computers and a new water system for a new Adventist school they visited. On the last Saturday night of their trip, just hours before the group departed on the train, they presented a treadle sewing machine to a 16-year-old girl who dreamed of becoming a seamstress so she could be self-sufficient in a land where poverty is the norm. This young woman was considered too old to go away to school.

We are reminded in Scripture, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us" (Hebrews 12:1). And may God find us faithful.

Collene Kelly, newsletter editor, Cicero Church, and Diane Thurber, assistant communication director, Lake Union Conference