Experienced ministers are returning to the full-time ministry in many places in the International Churches of Christ. Oommen and Pam George served faithfully for 17 years in India and South Asia before the 2003 financial support crisis made it necessary for them to return to the USA. Through all their trials and trauma, they never lost heart for God, for the church or for the lost. Now he has called them back to full-time service. Here is their story.
In 1984 God called me to be a disciple in a little town in Oklahoma. I became part of the campus advance ministry. In 1986 I was called to go to London for training with the mission team sent by the London church to plant a church in Bangalore, India. In 1994 I was called to go to Sri-Lanka. There I was appointed an Evangelist and given the charge from 2 Timothy 4: 3-5; which states:
Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
I had no idea at that time the depth of this charge for my life, but I accepted it. God blessed me with a wonderful wife Pam who had moved to India from Chicago. For the next 10 years, God took us to various cities and countries in South Asia to plant, encourage, strengthen and raise up leaders.
In 2003, the funding for missions in South Asia diminished drastically overnight. As a result, decisions had to be made for the best use of the funds. Leaders who came from the West, which included us, had to make a decision to go back to the United States. This was a hard decision for us because our hearts were in India and we had to figure out God’s will for our lives. We wrestled in prayer for God’s will to be made clear to us as what was unraveling before our very eyes did not make sense.
We prayed for a sign. God gave it by giving me a green card against all odds. I had a police record for preaching in India, as a result I did not have clearance from the police, and to top it all off I did not have money but God moved in spite of all these barriers. My two kids Michael and Melissa, my wife Pam and I left India and moved to Chicago to be with Pam’s family in 2003. Although we were promised a severance to start our lives over, we did not receive any and had to depend on Pam’s family during this time.
When we came to church in Chicago, it seemed there were many wounded souls all around us.
Yet God provided two faithful disciples in our neighborhood, Fred and Angela Ichinose. When Fred sent out emails informing everyone about the time and place of the house church meeting, sadly no one showed up at the time of this meeting. There we were, the Ichinose family and my family. At this time these questions tugged at our hearts – what happened to God’s church? Where are the disciples of Jesus? What do we do? I was reminded of the charge made to me in 1994, 9 years prior in Sri Lanka, to preach the Word in season and out of season! There was the charge again in 2003 in Chicago – in season and out of season preach the Word!
So in the following weeks the Ichinoses family and the George family decided that we would continue to meet consistently every Tuesday night. We held on to our commitment we made when we got baptized and made Jesus Lord of our lives; that we would “not give up meeting together as some were in the habit of doing”. People started to hear about our house church on Tuesday nights, God moved and started to bring His people. Although at first some arrived skeptical, the word of God, the food and the fellowship warmed their hearts. We took care of each other’s needs. Acts 2:42-47 came alive in our lives. We enjoyed the favor of all the people and the Lord added to our number those who were being saved, including our children. God made our house-church grow from 4 in 2005 to 40 in 2010 and now we have 8 house church leaders raised up.
Now in 2010, the call came to go return to the full-time ministry and move to Grand Rapids, Michigan. At first we dismissed the idea as crazy. We are well settled here in Chicago. God blessed us with a home and good jobs. In fact, this year Pam will receive her tenure as a teacher. We are part of a great church, our son is a disciple and is a part of a great teen ministry, our daughter is well-connected and is studying the Bible with people she loves. We have tons of people studying the Bible, and relationships where we are willing to die for each other. The call to go back into the ministry would mean that we would have to give up all this and go again!
The question, ‘Are you ready to preach in season and out of season?’ tugged at my heart again and we wrestled in prayer. Here we are in May of 2010 preparing to move to Grand Rapids and God has put the needs of His church on our hearts. There is no question – we will seek first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness. We are building His kingdom and not our own and opening the door to anyone who wants to join in the rebuilding. We are going where He sends us. So be praying for our journey as we give up everything and go again.
As ambassadors of Christ, let’s all preach the Word in season and out of season.