India Visit 2014 - Gudiyattam-Vellore

Vellore Convention
7th to 9th November , 2014

On the command of the Lord to retire from my nursing profession in the beginning of the year 1981 to carry the apostolic faith overseas, my first missionary trip took me in that year to India in the month of April. The late Pastor M. R. Samuel, a retired military man, was one of the first to call me to his home village of Pattu-Gudiyattam, Vellore - Tamil Nadu, South India. Bro. Samuel was a respected man. He was gallant in the faith and stood strongly against fanaticism and extremism in the Endtime Message. It was the beginning of establishing the churches in India.

Throughout my years of travelling to different countries, many good and bad events I have experienced are vividly etched in my memory. In that first missionary trip to Gudiyattam, a brother here accompanied me to India. In the City of Madras (now known as Chennai) we chartered a taxi from the hotel to take us to Gudiyattam and back. We arrived at the lodging house in the afternoon after the 3.5 hour long taxi ride. The room had two single beds on opposite sides of the room. I stood and looked at the beds. The pillows and sheets were white and clean but the walls on the side of those beds had many dark reddish brown streaks, 1 to 3 inches (or 2.5mm to 7.5mm) long. I stared at them trying to recall where I have seen such streaks before and where. Tired from the long journey in the taxi, we just laid down on the beds to rest. I was not comfortable and stared at the streaks on the wall beside me.

Not 5 minutes had passed, the truth hit me. I jumped out of bed and screamed at the brother, "Get up! Quickly!" He was shocked and asked, "Why? What?" I answered, "Bed bugs!" and turned to look at the corner of the bed where my head had just laid on the pillow. I could see a few crawling out from under the sheet. I slowly lifted up the sheet...lo and behold, hundreds of bugs started crawling around...the sight of them made me cringe.

We stripped off our clothes and shook them vigorously to get rid off any bug that might have got on. Then we checked out...

We had the taxi driver take us to Bro. Samuel's home as there was no other accomodation available in that village. Bro. Samuel apologised for the situation we were in. Since we were there for only for one service, we told him that we would return to Madras immediately after the service was over.

Bro. Samuel had a small house and a tiny church-building constructed out of bamboo and coconut leaves for his little assembly.

While having dinner in his home, Bro. Samuel told me that a crippled man was sleeping in the little church. He was brought there by a friend on a bullock cart. He requested that I pray for him before the service started and I did so.

We had a wonderful service that night, ministering the Word and praying for the sick and needy. Immediately after the service was over, we returned to Madras, and checked into the same hotel there some time after 3am.

Several years later, I revisited Gudiyattam.

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The Report by Bro Shadrach Arjun

Bro. Richard L.S. Gan was invited to preach from the 7th to the 9th of November, 2014 at Pallikonda, Tamil Nadu. It was a pleasure to meet and fellowship with him once again, after many a year.

The convention was arranged by Bro. Somu Solomon of Bangalore, India. His co-workers in the faith, Bro. Dayalan, Bro. Ravi Matthew, Bro. Ravi Shankar Samuel, Bro. Sivakumar, and Bro. Shadrach Jairaman assisted him in organizing the event.



The convention was held in the great hall of Holy Angels Matriculation Higher Secondary School at Pallikonda, around 20 kms. from Vellore town in Tamil Nadu, India.

There were around 250 people in attendance, including ministers from Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Gudiyattam, Hosur, Mumbai, Pattu, Tirupur and Udumalpet.

I was given the opportunity to interpret the message into Tamil.



The convention saw a gathering of many of those who had been groomed in and strengthened by the ministry of Bro. M. R. Samuel of Pattu. Bro. M. R. Samuel was one of the first to invite Bro. Gan to South India in the 1981. After Bro. Samuel's passing, the church in Pattu expanded through the surrounding villages and towns until there grew to be around 8 churches in the vicinity. The pastors of these churches, along with some of their flock all agreed to get together to feast on the Word of the Lord for the 3 day convention.

I traveled to Vellore with my family, Bro. John, and Bro. Selvam from our church in Coimbatore for the meetings. We reached Katpady railway station and drove the 7 kms to our accommodation at Vellore on the 6th.

Bro. Gan was put up at the AVM Grand in Vellore. We had found lodgings close by so that we could visit with him. That evening we met at his hotel room and spent some time reminiscing, catching up on all the news from Singapore, and sharing some good fellowship.

The meetings were divided into two sessions, with breaks for tea and lunch provided at the venue. The morning service began at 10:30 am and lasted until 1:30 pm. The second service began at 2:30 pm and wound up by 5:00 pm. There was a Ministers' Conference with a question and answer session on the evening of the 7th and 8th of November from 6:00 to 8:30 pm. Guest lodgings were provided by Bro. Somu at SVS lodge Pallikonda.

On the 7th, Friday, Bro. Gan preached on the Mighty Angel of Revelation 10, the Sealed Scroll opened up by the Lamb in the Book of Revelation being the redemption of the claim to the earth; Saving Faith, Healing Faith, and Rapturing Faith; the 7 Thunders; and the restoration story of Abraham and Sarah.



Saturday, the 8th, saw Bro. Gan expounding on the three books of testimony being the stars, the stones, and the written Word: the Bible; and the significance of the ministry of Moses and Joshua. He also spoke on having a personal relationship with the saviour, and took the congregation through studies on prophecy in the book of Job.



Most of the believers left Pallikonda on the 8th to attend Sunday service in their respective churches. However, the believers of 3 churches in Gudiyattam came together for the Sunday service on the 9th, when Bro. Gan elaborated on Enoch's Pyramid and how its blueprint reflected the story of creation and redemption. He also preached on the Holy City New Jerusalem not being a literal city but the spiritual body of the living saints of God. Bro. Gan further expounded on the creation of Adam and Eve, the mark of Cain, and the glorified state of man.



The ministers' gathering held during the evenings of the first two days of the convention was an effort to dispel the doubts regarding Bro. Gan not being against the Elijah ministry, but rather being of the view to encourage believers in the body of Christ to grasp the manna that God has provided for the current times.

It was an effort to help ministers understand that the foundational truths which had been revealed and established through the Elijah ministry had to be built upon and used, to go on from glory to glory; that the work of the prophet-messenger was to point the Bride back to the Word of God, and that once back to the Word, the Bride would have to climb upwards seeking new heights of revelation and growing to complete maturity of the Word until the final consummation with her Lord.

Other subjects discussed include the work of the Five-Fold Ministry, the surety of a minister's calling, and an explanation of the sequence of the final events before the coming of Christ. Bro. Gan also shared the testimonies of Bro. John Mark Louse and Bro. Akpan Blessing Nice, men of God labouring in Africa, as an encouragement to ministers struggling against hindrances in their own ministry.

Ministers in attendance include Pastors Abraham, Alex, Bhoji Chandran, C.K. Eliezer, Enoch, Hubert D'Souza, Israel, Johnson, Joseph, Shadrach Jairaman, Jairaman, Kripakaran, Leo, Logunathan, Philip Bhaskar, Ravi Matthew, Ravi Shankar Samuel, Daniel Saarathi, Samuel, Satishkumar, Sivakumar, Shekarkumar, Timothy, Vijaykumar, and Wilson. Other brothers who attended include Bro. Lawrence from Coimbatore, Bro. Russell from Mumbai, and Bro. Sukumar from Gudiyattam.

Pastor Shadrach Jairaman was hospitalized on the second day of the Convention due to a sudden illness. We are in prayer for his speedy recovery.

The 3 day convention was an achievement of sorts, for the fruit of Bro. M. R. Samuel's ministry was blessed in the hearing of some of the sound truths that had touched his heart all those years ago.



The 10th was a day of much needed rest after the meetings, with Bro. Gan having to prepare for his flight to Singapore from Chennai on the 11th of November. Bro. Somu and Bro. Sivakumar both bid goodbye to Bro. Gan on the 10th for their respective engagements in Bangalore. Bro. Ravi, Bro. Dayalan, and Bro. Saarathi visited with him on the eve of his departure.

The brothers had arranged a vehicle for the commute from Vellore to Chennai, and I and Sis. Benita accompanied Bro. Gan to the airport and saw him off.

We hope to see him in India again next year.

My Appreciation to Bro Shadrach and Sis Benita.

I thank the Lord Almighty for the timely presence of this precious couple. They had been such a help in the last 2 days of my stay in Vellore. Their concern for my physical welfare was touching. They went out of their way to stay with me, to see to my need and that I was well taken care of, to accompany me all the way to Chennai Airport (we left the hotel about 2.30pm and arrived in Chennai after 5pm), and to see that I enter the airport safely before they left to take their long journey home to the City of Coimbatore on a night bus.

May the Lord bless them richly and grant their hearts desire is my sincere prayer.