Proclaiming the Gospel Throughout the World: Twenty Baptisms in the Paleru Reservoir

What can a retired cotton farmer with failing health do to promote the kingdom of God? The following story gives us a clue.

During the past five years, Mike Hale, of Georgetown, Texas, has been one of our most effective and productive WEI Internet teachers. God has used him to teach and convert students in Brazil, Crete, India, and Tanzania. Who knows where else?

One of Mike’s students in 2008 was a Christian teacher in Chennai, India named Prabu Kumar. Prabhu was so impressed by the WEI materials that he quit his teaching job at a Bible college in Chennai and launched a nation-wide outreach ministry called “WEI of India.” Mike Hale and his family have assisted Prabhu in that work ever since. Literally hundreds of WEI students have been baptized, and many of the converts are now converting others.

Last year, for example, three denominational preachers became WEI students, finished the course, and were baptized into Christ. They, in turn, started teaching members of their churches. Prabhu writes, “The three of them are working sincerely to convert the local members with whom they have been worshiping for ten years.”

Prabhu reported recently that he had gone to Surypet and Nalgonda to speak at a WEI graduation ceremony. These students had been taught by the three preachers. Some of the students had expressed doubts about the necessity of baptism, so Prabhu spoke about the “one baptism” in Ephesians 4:4. In a question and answer session, Prabhu was able to remove their doubts and reservations.

Prabhu writes, “When we tried to baptize them, there was no water. There were no canals or ponds or any other facility. It was necessary to go 37 kilometers to reach the Paleru Reservoir, so we booked four autos and took all the people and their teachers. Because of the special request from our WEI teachers, I myself baptized each one after their confession in front of the congregation. Thank God for helping our three teachers to teach them, and thank God for baptizing them into Christ. Totally, we baptized 20 people.”

Look at the pictures.