2010 CLCI Seminary Graduation Pictures

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Isaiah 43:1-2 But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. ² When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you.”

Honorable Chairman, members of the Board of Missions, and respected Kinship Committee.

Dearly beloved in Christ,

Greetings to all of you in the saving Name of our living God Christ Jesus.

You people have opened your hearts to the CLCI flood victims, giving more help to a single cause in a shorter time. With your kind help the CLCI flood victims are being very well taken care of. Indeed, the honorable CLC charitable response has been an uplifting addition to a terrible tragedy, inspiring testimonials to the generosity and resilience of the honorable CLC people.

As you all know, the floods had affected Andhra Pradesh recently. At this stage, people are left with nothing except the clothes they are wearing. Over 13 lakh (1.3million) people were affected in the recent A.P floods.  Crop was lost in 2lakh acres and more than 200 people died. As you know, words are not enough to describe the devastation by the floods!  Many villages are left with nothing, houses broken into pieces, farm lands full of mud and also broken land. Water came up to 25ft high, even the big trees went dry. Many thousands of affected families are still suffering. Even though the flood affected CLCI members have lost everything they have, with the Lord’s amazing grace, they were able to getting some relief because of your kind generosity. With your kind help we have been able to provide our members the financial help, rice, food, kitchen material and school material for the school children.

Third phase of the flood relief program: Under this phase three relief program, we have done few important things. We have helped for repairing the 12 damaged churches and 36 prayer sheds. We have repaired some of the Church floorings, provided asbestos sheets and cement posts to support repairs of the damaged churches. Also we have provided palm leaves and bamboos to the damaged prayer sheds. We feel so sad for the terrible death tragedy we have witnessed after the floods. One terrible feature of these flash floods tragedy is that seven members are dead.  We have helped those families who have lost their dear ones. Also your help have given much encouragement to the women made widows by the flood. For the care of our CLCI school children who have lost their books by the flood, we have distributed school kits to the flood affected CLCI children. These school kits contain needed text books, note books, pens and pencils, lunch boxes, water bottles, slates have taken into account. Under this project more than 650 kids have benefitted. Also we have helped 68 families who have lost their water buffaloes, which are the main source of their livelihood.  We regret to inform you that sixty eight of our CLCI families lost their cattle, mainly water buffaloes which are the main source of their livelihood.

All most all the flood affected members have been recovering quickly from the crisis. Electricity is restored in all most of the villages. Drinking water is also restored. We express our sincere thanks to all the respected CLC donors. It is in these times, we think how tiny we are as human beings when compared to nature. But with our Lord’s grace, it makes a great difference to the lives of your fellow devastated Christian brothers, though we cannot fight against the Nature. You have proved this in a great way. All the CLCI flood affected members have been expressing their heartfelt thanks for your wonderful help.

We have done the relief programs with much hard work and plan. Please see the attached pictures.

Dear brothers and sisters, thank you once again for your valuable service and help. We wish you all a very blessed Easter.

I remain,

Yours in His grace

Pastor Jyothi Benjamin.

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From Pastor Jyothi Benjamin:

12 March 2010
Nidubrolu, INDIA

In Christ dearly beloved.,
Cordial greetings to you in the precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow His steps.

It was a great blessing for the eleven newly established CLCI congregations to meet honorable missionary Rev. Koenig and Sister Mary. The Lord has used Rev. David in a great way in this evangelism tour.

During the 9 days from 26th February to 6th March 2010, we have visited 11 new CLCI churches in the districts of Guntur and Prakasam. During this tour of outreach, many hundreds of members heard the good news of the Gospel. The glory of God was there in all the nights. Many people were touched, encouraged and equipped with the Lord’s strength.

We have distributed New Testaments to the children and John’s Gospel to the elders in all the congregations. Rev. David prayed for many sick people in most all the congregations. We give God all glory for this wonderful mission. Surly the CLCI was blessed by this outreach.

Praying that Lord bless you all richly always.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Jyothi Benjamin

For pictures click here

“..My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness…” 2 Cor 12:9

12th January 2010

Honorable Chairman, members of the Board of Missions, and respected Kinship Committee.
Dearly beloved brothers.

Greetings to all of you in the saving Name of our living God Christ Jesus.

Sorry for the long silence because of the Christmas and New Year visitations to our long distance CLCI flood affected congregations. As you know these floods in the year ending of 2009 has changed all our lives very busy. We had never witnessed a tragedy and destruction due to sudden Krishna river floods on such a large scale. As you know, with this severe affect of these sudden flash floods, hundreds our members have been thrust into more poverty, who have lost everything, including their farming equipment. The relief effort has been enormous and is having a significant effect, as local pastors testified. We were deeply moved by the trauma they have suffered. They desperately want to enter into their livelihoods for the men to go back to the agricultural fields and the women to resume their livelihoods. The loss of property and seven lives due to these floods left our flood affected CLCI congregations with the saddest feelings. While thousands of people have rendered homeless due to these sudden flash floods, more than 1250 families have directly connected to the CLCI, have lost their huts and their belongings including cattle. They lost their source of living and sense of security. These floods became unprecedented calamity for the CLCI.

Under these circumstances, with great courage, with the tremendous support form the respected CLC-US; the CLCI immediately stepped in. It is really wonderful to know that all the CLC-US rose as one to help the flood victims of the CLCI. It was really great to note that your kind support and grief are accompanied by a steadfast resolution. It was to rebuild the CLCI in the flood affected areas. Your surge of Christian love and humanitarian spirit completely overwhelmed us. We worked tirelessly to save lives and give sustenance. It was a massive rescue and relief effort. We immediately set about the task of rebuilding the lives of flood affected members. With the great love and generous helping hand given by the respected members of the CLC –USA, we have been doing relief efforts very successfully as follows.

The CLCI has implemented recovery program through the following measures: (1) Removal of Rubble: our CLCI volunteers helped in removing of rubble before the process of repairs to the huts. (2) Setting up of temporary / interim shelters: The CLCI facilitated the availability of temporary shelters for homeless by arranging rented tents so that affected members can stay there for the intervening period. (3) Repair of damaged roofs: Our Volunteers have also given a great assistance during repairs of the huts, roofs and walls etc. to the affected members. We have done maximum repairs in strengthening of many huts to withstand better.

The relief process has become little slow because while the real victims are busy trying to get their huts in order, removing the rubble from their houses, etc, the other nearby village people who are not our members and who are not affected (or in general stronger people) are coming to claim relief materials. So it has become also an important step in communication clearly with our CLCI pastors and the affected members of the CLCI. We have decided to restrict our relief efforts to our CLCI members only by helping them get back to normal life.

First phase of the flood relief program: Under this first phase relief program, we have assessed the damages in all the flood affected CLCI congregations, and develop a feasible scale of assistance for the affected members. We regret to inform you that many of our CLCI members have lost their belongings, paddy and have been suffering from partially and fully damaged houses due to heavy floods. On the first phase of flood relief program, we have made some immediate efforts to distribute cooked food and emergency used cloths like blankets etc to the victims. We have served cooked food and biscuits in more than 20 flood affected villages for our CLCI members. We have served cooked food (rice and vegetable sambar curry with paper plate) twice a day for two days for more than three thousand affected members in nearly 20 villages. Also we regret to inform you that many of our members have suffered from contaminated diseases because of the polluted drinking water. Due to the effect of the disaster, almost all the water has polluted, thus becoming a cause to spread various dangerous diseases like Diarrhea, Dysentery, Typhoid, Cholera, etc. These diseases attacked many of our people. Because of this reason we have conducted several medical camps in various CLCI flood affected congregations to save our members from contaminated deceases. For these we have provided medicines, bleaching power, and phenyl. Also we have conducted a special medical camp for cattle. We regret to inform you that sixty eight of our CLCI families lost their cattle, mainly water buffaloes which are the main source of their livelihood.

Second phase of the flood relief program: After successful completion of the first phase, with the tremendous encouragement from the respected CLC, we have started this second phase of flood relief program. In this second phase, CLCI volunteers have again come forward to supplement the efforts to provide relief to the affected members. In the month of December 2009 we left as a team from Nidubrolu to the flood affected CLCI congregations to do the second phase relief work. With your great help, we have been doing a series of programs for economic rehabilitation and livelihood restoration. We have developed a schedule for distributing extra rice, sleeping mats and family kits, etc to all the 1250 affected CLCI members. Each family kit contains one stainless steel dining plate, one stainless steel tumbler, one rice bowl, one curry bowl, one plastic bucket, one plastic jug, one blanket and one towel. Also we have provided 5kgs of extra rice and one plastic sleeping mat to the entire flood affected CLCI members. It took several weeks to complete this second phase of relief program. The situation is changing and improving day by day as the CLCI flood relief efforts continue on their way. Rehabilitation is what we have focused on – this not only makes affected members self-sufficient again, but also this is a need expressed by many of the CLCI flood victims themselves. Sadly though, once the help comes in, and as memories of this disaster fade with the passage of time, their problems are often forgotten, but their problems don’t go right away.

Other needs Dear brothers, with your permission, these following are the few other important things we would like to bring in front of you on behalf of the sincere request from very poor flood affected members. We are humbly requesting the respected CLC to look into these following remaining needs also as per your capability and time.
1. Possible help for repairing the damaged churches and prayer sheds. (12 congregations and 36 preaching stations.) We would like to provide asbestos sheets and cement posts to support repairs of the damaged churches and palm leaves and bamboos to the damaged prayer sheds.

2. Possible help to the each family of the person, who was killed: We feel so sad for the terrible tragedy we have witnessed after the floods. One terrible feature of these flash floods tragedy is that seven members are dead and many people need help who are suffering with injuries. Seven deaths were happened. They are 6 men (including one pastor) and one lady. We feel especially terrible for the families who have lost their dear ones. Especially the family, who has lost a man, they have nowhere to go for lively hood.

3. Possible help to the school going children who have lost their books (Note books, slates): We have met the children who have lost their books and made a list their needed books, stationary including pens and pencils; slates have taken into account. In this project more than 650 kids enrolled who have lost their books during floods. It would be very kind of you if you could help these children.

4. Possible help to the families lost their cattle: There are 68 families who have lost their water buffaloes, which are the main source of their livelihood.
We have done the relief programs with much hard work and plan. Please see the attached pdf file for the CLCI flood relief accounts. We are praying our Almighty living God Christ Jesus for His grace to grant us courage and strength to do the remaining things and to recover quickly from this difficult crisis.

Your generous contribution enabled our flood affected members to recover emotionally and psychologically. From the bottom of our hearts we thank all the CLC members who have helped these CLCI flood victims. The CLC’s outpouring of support has been tremendous. Generous donors have contributed much to the affected members’ relief and rehabilitation efforts and we thank you. I am sure all the CLCI flood affected members will gladly remember you all for ever. Because you have shown such a heartfelt compassion, Christian love, tremendous encouragement, kindness and the generous help in this time of tragedy. We once again thank you for your amazing generous donations and help, which have been rebuilding the affected families for a brighter future.

Dear brothers and sisters, thank you once again for your valuable service and help.

I remain,
Yours in His grace
Pastor Jyothi Benjamin.

 Dear CLC Members,

The latest report from Pastor Jyothi Benjamin of the CLCI, regarding the tragic loss of life and property from recent floods, is below. Please see the link to the photos he sent, at the bottom of the page. The Board of Missions has sent an initial $5,000 to the CLCI, to begin our assistance. We are estimating that there will be an urgent need, to help with even basic necessities, in excess of $20,000. We do not know what kind of response we have had from our CLC-USA members so far, but the need is great. You may donate by including a check in your regular offerings, made out to your own church, with a notation of “India Flood Relief.” Or, you may send a check directly, made out to “CLC MDF.” Send it to: CLCI Flood Relief, 501 Grover Road, Eau Claire, WI 54701. Please also remember to pray to our Lord that He will provide strength and help for our fellow Christians in India. For the CLC Board of Missions, Pastor Bruce Naumann

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Ephesians 6:24 Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in Sincerity. Amen. 

Oct- 30-2009

Nidubrolu

Greetings to all of you in the saving Name of our living God Christ Jesus, who has joined us and united us to a common faith and love.

Dear brothers, thank you for your encouraging e-mail letter and I am sorry for my late reply, it happened because of the busy flood relief schedule tour. It is really a matter of gratification to note that the honorable CLC came forward to extend their kind help in saving the CLCI flood affected people from these miserable situations.  

Dear brothers, this is the latest information regarding our CLCI flood victims. More than 12 congregations and 36 preaching stations bore the brunt of the worst floods in hundred years caused by the recent week-long torrential rain in the state of Andhra Pradesh, which rendered hundreds of thousands homeless and hundreds dead, and wrought unimaginable devastation. We have started conducting relief operations for the flood victims in the affected CLCI congregations.  We regret to inform you that there are four more deaths in the CLCI flood affected congregations, in total 7 deaths were happened. They are six men (including one pastor) and one lady. We find it difficult to comfort those families who have lost their dear ones, especially who have lost men. Indeed it is very hard to fill the gap in the families caused by their deaths. Also we regret to inform you that many people have been suffering from contaminated diseases. Due to the effect of the disaster, almost all the water has polluted, thus becoming a cause to spread various dangerous diseases like Diarrhea, Dysentery, Typhoid, Cholera, etc. These diseases attacked many of our people. For these we have been providing medicines, bleaching power, and phenyl. Seven medical camps are being conducted under the supervision of Dr. Tagore, our CLCI family doctor, with the help of his associates. Also we have conducted a special medical camp for cattle. We regret to inform you that many families lost their cattle, mainly water buffaloes which are the main source of their livelihood.

We have been doing relief as per level best. We have served cooked food and biscuits in more than 20 flood affected villages for our CLCI members. We have served cooked food (rice and sambar) twice a day for two days for more than three thousand affected members in nearly 20 villages. Relief work is continuing by distributing blankets and extra rice. We have been distributing more rice and some used clothing to the affected members. Nearly 100 volunteers including pastors, elders, and youth and seminary students from the CLCI participated for two weeks in helping their fellow CLCI brotherhood. Especially they did very hard work in removing the slush out of their damaged huts. Food distribution and survey work of damage caused by the floods are being carried out by the volunteers. We are working in evaluating the need of the hour, which will be provided in the second phase once the water recedes. The flood water still is there in many villages.

According to the information we received from our pastors and evangelists, from our CLCI it is estimated that around 1250 families are the worst affected and lost their property, have lost every rupee of their own, lost their huts, household goods and cattle etc, and this number may increase also. The immediate requirement of these families is to be settling down to their daily chores with their necessities. Hence, the CLCI is planning to supply the kits to these families which will enable them to start off their living. Each kit will consist of kitchen utensils, food grains and material of daily use. In this second phase we are planning to provide these following materials. A survey is being conducted to do the relief programs. These following are the estimations of the items that we have been praying and planning to distribute among the 1250 affected CLCI families during the second phase.

1. Kitchen vessels (one plate, one tumbler, one rice vessel, one curry vessel, one plastic bucket and jug) $2 to $3 for each of 1250 families.

2. Roofing materials (palm leaves and bamboos), $3 to $4 to each of 1250 families

3. Clothing material (one blanket and one towel), $2 to $3 to each of 1250 families

4. More food grains (10 more kgs of rice and one sachet of cooking oil), $5 to $6 to each of 1250 families

5. Sleeping floor mats $1 to $1.5 to each of 1250 families

6. Possible help for repairing the damaged churches and prayer sheds.

7. Possible help to the each family of the man, who was killed. 

8. Possible help to the families who lost their cattle, (depends upon the budget).

9. Possible help to the school children who have lost their books (notebooks, slates).

Dear brothers, after much prayerful consideration, we have planned these estimations and we will go ahead as per the available budget. We are praying our Almighty living God Christ Jesus for His grace to grant us courage and strength for our affected members to recover quickly from this miserable crisis.   

Dear brothers, we have been trying our level best to take care of all the necessities of our CLCI congregations and members until the restoration returns them to normalcy. We thank you once again for your valuable service and help. Your prayers surely will help mitigate the sufferings of these poor CLCI members. Thank you very much.

I remain, Pastor Jyothi Benjamin

CLICK HERE for SLIDESHOW of PHOTOS

Dear CLC Members — Recent severe flooding in India has caused untold hardship for millions of people. It has happened in Andhra Pradesh State, where our fellow believers of the CLCI live. As Pastor Jyothi Benjamin reports below, there are 3 known deaths among CLCI members due to the flooding. 12 congregations and 36 preaching stations have been severly damaged. Many families have been left homeless and without basic becessities such as food, clothing, and clean drinking water.  We are therefore making an appeal to our CLC people for immediate help to be sent to the CLCI. Please make your churck out to the “CLC MDF” and include it with your regular church offering. Or, you may send it directly to:

CLCI Flood relief, 501 Grover Road, Eau Claire, WI 54701

In Christ, the CLC Board of Missions

For more pictures click here.

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From Pastor Jyothi Benjamin in India:

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Psalms 18:28 “For You will light my lamp; The LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.”

The Respected Mission Board – Church of the Lutheran Confession – U.S.A.

In Christ dearly beloved,

Greetings in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. May He be pleased to make us instruments for the recovery and return of God’s glory, in His House.

Dear brothers, we regret to write you about recent floods, which occurred in the month of September 2009. The four days of torrential rains and flash floods have killed nearly 200 people in the districts of Guntur, Mahaboobnagar, Krishna and Kurnool and left tens of thousands of people homeless.   The rains and floods destroyed thousands of homes. Flooding has also destroyed crops, washed away roads and disrupted communication links. We regret to inform you that Rev. G.Anandarao, our CLCI Pastor from Seethanagaram congregation has died accidentally due to the flood effect.  Also it is with deep regret to inform you that two of our members from Repalle area CLCI congregations have died due to these heavy floods.

The train and bus services were affected in these above districts due to the heavy floods. Many trains and busses were cancelled, due to the flood affected railway tracks and roads. The transportation facilities were totally disrupted to the above districts except few auto rickshaws and bicycles.

We regret to inform you that seven of our congregations and twenty preaching stations in Krishna district and five of our congregations and 16 preaching stations in Guntur district were severely affected by the flood devastation. These floods left behind a deluge of much tragedy and suffering in these affected congregations. Especially the members from Krishna district have lost mostly to the floods not even dry clothes or anything. Heavy flood swamped their houses, paddy fields, damaged the crop, besides washing away road links to the village. Many members have told us their experiences. Main crops like rice, commercial crops like chilies, tobacco, turmeric and other vegetable crops were damaged. Just a few weeks before the Kharif harvest that is in the month of December, hundreds of hectares of crop in the Guntur, Krishna districts, mostly paddy, have been ruined by the floods. Our members the above congregations have given everything into our Lord’s hands.

We have been visiting the affected CLCI congregations and preaching stations, one after another to review the situation. It took many days to visit the congregations because of the bad condition of the roads. Attached photos describe the flood damages. The scenario is grim and heart rending. Hundreds of tanks, rivulets, canals and drains have been over flowing and have been breaching and getting severe damage to the houses. Even drinking water has become a serious problem. Moreover many people have been suffering from various deceases because of the polluted water seeped all over.

Many thatched mud walled huts were fully collapsed. Flattened paddy fields are a common sight. Still many paddy fields are in the flooded water. The cost of rice, especially vegetables and kerosene went up.  The prices have increased about 50 to 70 percent.   The wholesale businessmen attributed the reason of the price rise because of the shortage of transport in the above districts.

In the districts of Guntur and Krishna more than 1.8 million people have been affected by the floods and more than 100,000 people were homeless and television pictures showed hundreds of people waving their hands from rooftops for help. Some were seen clinging on to tree branches. Without food and water for the last three days, hundreds of people remained trapped in flood waters.

We regret to inform you that many of our CLCI members have lost their belongings, paddy and have been suffering from partially and fully damaged houses due to heavy floods. We have made some immediate efforts to set up relief measures. Over 30 bags (30 X 100 kgs = 3000kgs) of Rice, have been dispatched to the flooded CLCI congregations. Also we are trying to provide some household goods vessels like plates, tumblers and sleeping mats, towels, blankets, medicines and emergency used clothing.

We are estimating that still there are nearly 500 CLCI members are there as victims of this devastation, who needs help. God is our source of all comfort Who offers His comfort to His children and assuringly says, (“John 14:14 “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.)

We request the respected members of the CLC to extend a helping hand in this hour of emergency. We are humbly requesting and urging all the respected CLC members to extend liberal assistance to mitigate the hardships being faced by our flood affected members of the CLCI, who are battered by the flash floods.

Also we are humbly requesting the respected MCH, that it has become urgently necessary for the CLCI to ask your help regarding ‘used cloths’. We request the respected MCH to donate some used clothing material like shirts, pants, especially blankets, bed sheets towels etc. It would be very kind of respected MCH if you could take immediate action in sending the clothing to these poor members. Please help us. I will be in contact with you through e-mail.

Thank you very much.

I remain,

Yours in His grace,

(Pastor Jyothi Benjamin.)

Missionary David Koenig and Pastor Jyothi Benjamin report on the recent Pastoral Conference in Nellore, India, involving representatives of the BELC and CLCI (India), UMLC (Myanmar), and HCLCN (Nepal). Included also is a photo gallery from this blessed event.

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Rev. David Koenig writes: “Representatives of four church bodies met in Nellore, India for two days in October to hear reports on the work. Seven men each came from the CLCI and the BELC of India. For the first time we invited Pastors Thang and Kham from the CLC of Myanmar and Pastors Raju and Rajan from the Himalayan CLC Nepal. One very important matter we considered was how we are reaching out. In India we are looking to go especially into villages where there is no Christian witness. While we  go into other villages also, we keep keep alert for the unreached above all. In Nepal the men are facing an even smaller percentage of Christians among the population than in India. Although in Myanmar the outreach through the years has been among the tribes, the CLCM is very concerned about reaching out to the Burmese, who are very unevangelized. Opportunities abound for these four church bodies to work in their native countries. While in the USA we find a lot of churches, if one goes to many foreign lands it is not so. It is estimated that 99% of the unevangelized live outside the USA and Canada. Ninety-one percent of foreign missionaries minister to professing Christians, not the least-reached. We are trying with our foreign brothers in our small way to go to the unreached. Pray that the 18 men who met in Nellore will be strengthened by the Gospel, which we heard in abundance, to lead their church bodies into the villages where Christ is not worshiped.”

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October, 2009

Dearly beloved,

Greetings in the saving name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, through whom all blessings flow.  It’s a joy to write you about the 9th Asia English Pastoral conference 2009. We all have enjoyed blessings from this conference this year also. It was extremely nice of everyone who were able to participate in this pastoral conference. I am sure that all the delegates are greatly encouraged by the enthusiasm generated through this Joint Asia Pastoral conference 2009. The excellent mission reports presented in this conference have added an extra fuel to next year’s Joint pastoral conference Gospel fire. We praise God for the rich input that we have received from our honorable beloved CLC missionary, Rev. David Koenig.

On behalf of the Joint India Pastoral conference – 2009, we also express our sincere thanks to the Chairman of the Mission Board – Rev. Bruce Naumann, for his wonderful and encouraging message and greetings.

Every time we prepare for this type of joint pastoral conferences, we are again reminded of the humble beginnings of our missions.   At the beginning, we had practically no idea of how these conferences would grow up into what it is now. “This is the Lord’s doing; and it is marvelous in our eyes!”

Once again I shake hands with you all for your participation and in praising God for His goodness, and hope and pray that we meet you all in the next year’s conference.  Thank you all once again.

I remain, sincerely yours in Christ, Pastor Jyothi Benjamin

Picture Albums

The Graduation ceremony was started at 6.00 p.m. Singers from different CLCI churches presented some melodious Hymns and Christian songs. Sunday school children gave special grogram with action songs, songs of praise and welcoming all the guests, pastors, members and the graduates to the ceremony. Rev. V.S. Benjamin gave the commencement address. He greeted everyone in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and spoken briefly on the responsibilities of the pastors. Finally he congratulated the graduates and repeated his warning to graduates about their new phase of life to keep it pure.

The wonderful and special messages from honorable Missionaries Rev. David Koenig and Rev. Matthew Ude will go a long way in encouraging the graduates. As per the schedule, all the graduates left their seats one by one and walked up to the stage to receive blessings and individual prayers from the CLCI leaders and honorable missionaries. As one by one the graduates knelt for blessing, Rev. V.S, honorable missionaries, seminary principal and lecturers pronounced a blessing with prayer and laying hands on each graduate.
Seminary professor Pastor Isaiah and Pastor Nireekshana conveyed their greeting to the graduates. Due to the lack of time, only two Graduates gave their testimonies regarding their three years training experience they have received in the CLCI Bible Institute. They specially thanked the Principal that they will never forget his help in their life. They have more than a diploma they can hang with pride on wall. They have something more than that; they have the opportunity to literally change the course of history by bringing the Word of God to bear on all the people.
As Principal of the seminary, in my closing words, I congratulated the graduated students and conveyed my best wishes and blessings. As principal of the seminary, I do miss these graduates. In all these years, it was a joy for me to experience their passion, intelligence, curiosity, frustration, honesty, doubts, and hopefulness on a daily basis. I miss that. All of them became my good friends. It’s an amazing thing to see them, now, spilling out into the church as leaders and pastors and teachers. I encouraged all the graduates to be faithful in proclaiming the good news despite of apathy or opposition.
These following 12 men are being honored this year with diplomas: 1. Bhaskarao Kocherala, 2. David Raju Kotha, 3. Divakar Chinthala, 4. George Polumatla, 5. Samsonu Chukka, 6. Samuel Wesley Machavarapu, 7. Sleevaiah Penumala, 8. Susheelarao Dasar,i 9. Vandanam Srirama, 10. Yakobu Sasthri Gollamoodi, 11. Yohanu Aramalla, 12. Yohanu Gandham. May the Lord continually bless these 12 young men as they go into the field of the Gospel as shepherds, to spread the Word of God to the sheep.
Immediately following the graduation ceremony, all the members, pastors, students, children and friends were invited to a love feast on the CLCI campus to honor the graduates. The CLCI campus totally filled to capacity. More than 950 members attended the graduation ceremony and everybody enjoyed the special dinner.
Dear brothers, we thank the Lord for His wonderful grace on this Graduation ceremony of 2009. We once again thank and praise God for the wonderful assistance we have been receiving from the respected CLC Mission Board, Kinship Committee, Missionaries, CLC visitors and volunteers. Especially we thank all those individual CLC sponsors there in USA who have been praying and helping the seminary students.
We are honored and glad to inform you that in the midst of this eleven-year period, 69 fully trained pastors came out of this CLCI seminary and all of them have been rendering their valuable services in various CLCI congregations. Now the Seminary students are enjoying their new educational year 2009-10. At present there are 38 students in the seminary. Now 12 students are there in the final year, 14 students are there in the second year and 12 students are there in the first year. Please remember them in your daily prayers. Please pray that more young people will be challenged to take up the call to the ministry. It has been an absolutely rewarding ministry.
Before closing this report on graduation, I would like to quote a verse form Hebrews 6:10, “For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which, you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.”Accordingly, the Lord will bless you all abundantly. For this we have been praying everyday with thankful hearts.
—respectably submitted by Pastor Jyothi Benjamin, (Principal, CLCI seminary)
Psalms 103:21 “Bless the LORD, all you His hosts, You ministers of His, who do His pleasure.”

Click Here to see photo album

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