Growing Gospel Partnership In India

An update from Todd Peterson, Pastor at Cross of Grace Church, El Paso, Texas, and Erik Rangel, Lead Pastor of Legacy Church in Yuma, Arizona, both SGC Representatives to India…

For our 2024 India trip, we made four total stops with two of them being the major objectives of the trip. The first main stop we made was in Bhubaneswar, Odisha to visit brothers Caleb and Sidhanta Suna who pastor ‘Church on Mount Zion’.

We have been relating to the Sunas for three years now and the purpose of this visit was to talk through any final questions on partnership and discuss future plans for ordination and regional church relationships. God has really knit Erik and I together with these men over the years and it seems that the Lord is leading us to proceed together toward church partnership. Caleb and Sidhanta have signed the EN Candidate Church Letter of Intent and having been approved, they will now begin the process of ordination, which they’re really excited about.

Our other major stop was to Gundugolanu, Andrah Predesh to visit JP Ravuri. On this visit we discussed a plan for developing existing relationships with pastors in the area in order to gauge doctrinal agreement as well as possible interest in future partnership. We also discussed possible options for expanding the existing church building as it has become too small to provide for any future growth of the church, praise the Lord!

We also spent considerable time continuing to explore the plans for a possible Christian school for the area. We met with banks, land brokers, civil engineers, a school principal and several teachers to better understand how the Lord may be leading us in this endeavor.

Please continue to pray for these three men as things move forward in India. All for His glory!