CLCI – Barnabas
From the Field April 16, ’15
Psalms 62:1 Truly my soul silently waits for God; From Him comes my salvation.
I asked Pastor Jyothi of the CLCI to tell about God’s work with Pastor Barnabas. While there was more than one pastor in the CLCI named Barnabas, this is the man that volunteers who went to India met in the last years.
Greetings in the enduring and everlasting Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Regarding Barnabas’ tumor, it is a long time back.
Barnabas was one of our seminary students from 1999 batch. From the childhood he has been suffering from health problems. In the year 1999, while we were doing summer outreach program suddenly Barnabas had severe stomach pain. And he was unable to bear the pain and he suffered a lot due to that problem. We took him to the Guntur hospital where doctors examined him and said that he had tumor inside his stomach and it was a major one and that tumor was there inside of his stomach since his childhood and it developed to a major size. So they suggested us to take him to Hyderabad. Our hearts broke when we heard this news. We became very depressed and discouraged. Since his family was very poor, I requested the honorable mission board regarding this. With much generosity, honorable Mission Board helped us to take him to Hyderabad hospital. We joined him in very big hospital at Hyderabad. There, doctors examined him through many tests. After some treatment like giving him nearly five bottles of blood, medicines and nine thousand rupees of expenditure, Doctors said that it could not be operated because it may cause him life threat and they gave some relief medication so that he could live probably six months or one year.
After we came back from Hyderabad, I had conducted some special fasting prayer meetings. Myself, all the seminary students and some of our nearby CLCI pastors had prayed with tears in those three day fasting prayer meetings. After those fasting prayer meetings, Barnabas said that he was feeling better and he was OK with his health. We believed that the Lord answered our prayers. We really felt very happy about the healing that Barnabas had received from the Lord. Even though the Lord gave him amazing healing, I never imagined that Barnabas could survive these many years. I personally thought that Barnabas may live two or three years. But amazingly the Lord healed him and gave him really 14 years of life. Amazingly Barnabas regained his health within no time and the wonderful Lord gave him full fitness for His work to which He called Barnabas. Jer 30:17 “For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds,” says the Lord…
After that Barnabas successfully completed the seminary course. With our Lord’s Grace, Barnabas served the Lord until 2013. Some of his pioneering works will remain forever in the CLCI. No doubt that he was a brave young pastor and very good technician in operating computers or electrical works or in repairing sound systems etc. In our CLCI history, he is one of the best pastors who served the CLCI and had such sincerity in doing the Lord’s service.
After seven years of that incident, he got married. His wife’s name is Alice. She is a very nice young girl. She saw Barnabas in a prayer meeting and loved him, and inquired about him through our CLCI Pastor. Our pastor explained her all about Barnabas. Whole heartedly she agreed to marry him. With help of our CLCI pastor, Barnabas came to know about her love and agreed to marry her. We performed their marriage. The Lord blessed them with two daughters. His daughters were 6 and 4. He was 32.
Praise the Lord. And remember that all things are possible to him who believes.
Statistics of CLCI: 288 pastors, 38 in the seminary, 288 congregations, 230 preaching stations, 13,689 souls