Pastor G. D. Bakthavachalam

Pastor G. D. Bakthavachalam is 73 years old at this most distant congregation in the Chittoor Dist. of the BELC. He is the white-haired man in the pictures. It has been decided to gather perhaps 20 men at his church to begin instruction in our Lutheran teachings. We want to get this established before the Lord calls our brother home, although Bakthavachalam is in moderately good health. Two years ago when I preached here they had me plant a tree which you see in the picture. We pray that this newest area will have as good a growth as the tree. And the tree’s leaves have a medicinal benefit with people going by and picking off leaves. We pray that people will also benefit from the healing power of the Gospel as preached here. As you can see in one of the pictures windows and doors are needed in the church construction and we have donated money to help with this. The picture at the gate was at the dedication of the building when I cut a ribbon. This is only one of many areas of planned expansion. Madanapalli is over 300 km. from Chennai. We invite your prayers for God’s blessings here.