To my right is James-Michael Smith.
To my left is Brent Burdick.
As you read this, we are somewhere over Asia, flying into Delhi, India.
From there, we are headed to the state of Odisha, the city of Bhubaneswar, and then the regions of Balasore and Kandhamal.
It’s my third time there, James-Michael’s second, and Brent’s first.
You should know, however, that Brent was in my graduating class at Asbury Seminary (though we did not know each other), then served as a missionary in the Philippines for 20 years before relocating to Charlotte and then finding — VOILA! — Good Shepherd United Methodist Church.
While we’re here (there?), we’re going to be working with our two pastoral networks — giving training and receiving inspiration.
You can read about last year’s trip here.
Over the next ten days, some of my posts will be “on the ground” perspectives while I wrote others before I left the USA and will offer some more Americanized & Charlottean thoughts.
We covet prayer for health and protection, but most of all we long for prayers for the persecuted pastors here and the oppressed-yet-thriving churches they serve.