Native Missionary Group Urges Prayer, Support for Quake Victims
by Allie Martin
October 12, 2005
(AgapePress) - A Bible college operated by Gospel for Asia was severely damaged from the powerful earthquake that struck near the Pakistan-India border over the weekend. So far, there are no reports of casualties among the students and GFA missionaries in the region. However, the Bible college -- located in the Jammu region of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir -- has been declared unsafe for use.
Dr. K.P. Yohannon, president of Gospel for Asia, was in India at the time of the magnitude 7.6 shaker. He says GFA students and missionaries are able to meet the physical and spiritual needs of quake survivors.
"Our people go and bring immediate relief, whatever we can, through bringing water, food, and cooking vessels, and whatever medical help," he explains. "One of the joys we have in all these situations like today, what is going on, is that when we tell them about hope in Jesus, they open their hearts to the Lord. And this is an opportunity, again, for us to show Christ's love."
According to the GFA leader, opportunities abound to share the gospel of Christ with Muslim and Hindu quake victims. "It is the time of despair, hopelessness," he shares. "They cry out and they find no answers. And this is when somebody tells them, 'Hey, talk to Jesus. He loves you. He cares about you.'"
The simple message of the gospel is effective, he says. "What we are telling them is no joke; it is real. God answers prayer, and people turn to the Lord."
Yohannon encourages Christians in America to pray and give sacrificially to relief efforts in the quake-stricken region. The estimated death toll from the earthquake is currently over 42,000 and rising, with many bodies still buried under debris.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
