Indian Churches Prayer
and Gospel Ministries
Bestavarapeta, India
I am Joseph Gantepogu the son of Mathew Gantepogu, a ministerial staff member on the CNM High School at Bestavarapeta. My grandfather, the late Jospeh Gantepogu, worked as an assistant and cook for missionaries of the American Baptist Missions, as they worked with remote and backward regions of Andhra Pradesh. He was a staunch Christian that dedicated his entire life to teach the Christian lifestyle. He was blessed with many children out of which my father was the sixth one who was with him for his entire life. As grandchildren we enjoyed our grandfather sharing the Bible stories and teaching us how to pray.
My parents were married ten years before I was born. My mother, Mariya, was so eager to have a male child she would burn midnight oil, praying with tears, to have her womb blessed by the Lord. Because the Lord blessed her to conceive my mother dedicated her eldest son to God. This is why I was named Joseph, which means fruitful bough. Because of the influences from our local society I was attracted towards the vices in life and became an irresponsible student. My parents explained that I was a child dedicated to God but I never paid attention to any of their inspiring guidance toward God, and I lived my own life.
One day while I was in a deep sleep I heard an unknown voice asking me to come to him. I explained this to my parents who guided me towards living a spiritual life. This changed my outlook on life and I started listening to the voice I was hearing. I enrolled in a theological college and continued serving God. The more I learned I became discontent with things I needed answers to. I had many questions that left me with sleepless nights, seeking for answers.
Early in the morning on February 19, 1998 after I had finished my morning prayers I saw a vision that a cross was emerging from India. There were marks of blood on the cross and a flame of fire was under the cross. At first I became speechless and still. Though the vision was clear I was confused what to do about it. While in my 9:00 am Bible class the instructor came to me and I saw light in his face as he spoke to me with spiritual emotion. He blessed me and asked if I would do work for God. He invited the other ministers to join him as they too blessed me and they ordained me that morning. This made the vision clear to me that I was being shown God's will for my life. I accepted my new work as my heart was filled with happiness and peace.
My wife Jyoshna and I decided then to start the Indian Churches Prayer and Gospel Ministries. We are assisted by my brother Sam Samuel and his wife Harsitha who were influenced by me and they also committed their lives to the service of God. This boosted the moral and strength in the ministry as we collectively share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sam is blessed with good communication skills and he is equally talented in the teaching and preaching. This ministry has changed our entire family and elevated us all spiritually in the Christian lifestyle.
All this has happened in our lives due to the undaunted prayers of my parents and grandfather. My father continue to support our education even though he was working as a high school employee. But when financial crisis hit and he was unable to continue his support we came out of the college and started working in the remote areas building the ministry. We choose this direction for the ministry because our grandfather used to tell us of the difficulties the missionaries had preaching the gospel in the remote villages. This influence strengthened our desire to reach the unreached. We were offered positions to work as pastors in the Baptist Mission organization and with other denominations, but our passion for the unreached could not be wavered. We understand the financial constraints and many problems with transportation and having a lively hood that we face each day, but we have dedicated ourselves to this path that the Lord has shown us until our last breath.
My wife Jyoshna, is the daughter of a poor agriculture laborer who discontinued her education after she completed her school finals. Jyoshna is a valued addition to our ministry as she works with the women and girls. She is so committed she goes with us even when we are walking at night, she is there. The same is true for my sister-in-law Harsitha who is equally committed to the work of our children and women.
The vision of Indian Churches Prayer and Gospel Ministries is to introduce God's love to all and bring them into the Kingdom of God through proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ in word and deed. We work to help people envision a society where everyone is equal without any discrimination and live with love, fraternity dignity, self-esteem and human values.
We plan on carrying out our vision by reaching into the remote backward regions with using crusades that will reach the youth and adults and promote building churches among those who accept Jesus as their savior. We plan to build bible schools and institutions in different areas to help educate and teach the Bible. We will promote social economic growth by helping people learn skills to have their own business and build commerce. Then we want to establish services to help the elderly and orphans in each of these communities.
We do have twenty nine young women who have trained in tailoring and they generate income for their families.
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We have established the Trinity Bible College at Bestavarapeta where we conducted certificate and diploma courses in theology. Curriculums are available in six or twelve months courses to include regular four and five year graduate courses. The school is capable of carrying sixty youth being trained in Bible and communication skills. Seventy women are being trained in health education to promote health standards among women in the rural areas. We also have courses that teach people how to have up to sixty orphans and twenty elderly in homes for the orphans and aged.
In our prayers for better ways to reach people the Lord lead me to find the website of Bless Ministries Mobile USA. I was inspired by the Lord to reach out and make contact with them to become partners with this ministry. After making contact with Pastor Johnny Holland and working through their process and correspondence, we became partners in ministry. Now we have a greater hope because God has heard our cries for help. As God pours out his promises to Bless Ministries of Mobile Alabama USA, we know He will provide for the many things we need for reaching the unreachable of our remote areas.
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Thank you for looking at my webpage. Would you please pray about giving our wonderful ministry a donation. This is good ground for planting your financial seed into. Click the donate button and be a part of the Indian Churches Prayer and Gospel Ministries. When you donate, please enter "Gentepogu" in the notes of the donation form.
Thank you for your kindness.