Derek and Dannette Gora had more to say about India and the work of Calvary’s partner, Abraham Thomas with Agape Royal Ministries and Logos College, than could fit in the monthly bulletin. Below is their conversation lightly edited for clarity.
Read “Step In” from the February bulletin
Dannette: I ran into a friend from my hometown. He was like, “I saw your husband went to India.” He made a face and said, “How was it?” I was like, “Oh, we love it. He loved it over there.” He said, “I have a friend who went there and he thought it was kind of dirty and different.”
It’s interesting how, depending on what you’re looking for in people, you see things differently. We’re looking at people’s humanity, at their souls, at their need for Christ, and my friend’s friend isn’t thinking that way. He’s thinking monetary and cleanliness.
Their culture is completely different, but our needs and our hearts are all the same. When you get in front of people, they’re just people. Their basic needs and their need for Christ is the same as ours. As different as our cultures are, we can look in the eyes of an Indian Christian and see a brother or sister. It’s like we’re tethered.
Derek: We worship the same God. I knew that in my mind, but being there and worshiping with other people made it real. It’s the same God whether you’re in India, Africa, or wherever else we go. So the brothers and sisters are not different either.
On visiting Agape Royal Ministries orphanages
Derek: They have orphanages for young girls and boys from 3 years old to 17 years old. It’s a faith-based orphanage so they’re learning the gospel. These kids definitely come from homes where they’ve been abused, or parents have died, or they’ve been abandoned. The foster parents in these orphanages take them in and love them. These people have big hearts, and you can see the joy on the kids’ faces.
Dannette: We visited some orphanages while we were both there, and Derek got to go back in November and see some of the same kids. We just love these kids.
We went to a small church while we were there. It’s where the kids go, and it was beautiful to see. They’re quiet, reserved, and closed off, but when they worship, it’s powerful. This is where they express themselves. They clap and sing. Their worship is alive and so real. It’s hard to explain. They need God in a way that we don’t, or don’t realize we do.
On spreading the gospel in India
Derek: What Abraham is doing is extremely difficult. The government is trying to hinder or stop them all the time. [Christianity is not welcome in India and converting is illegal in some places.] There is constant pressure. He’s been audited, detained by the police.
Dannette: If we went outside the walls of the school, we weren’t supposed to have our Bibles with us so we didn’t give the police an opportunity to pull us over or cause problems.
Derek: The more south you go, the more accepting of free religion it is. Go north 50, 100, 200 miles, you start getting in the part of the country where Christianity is not something you can openly practice.
The main thing Abraham does is run a school of theology. They take on young students that have come to Christ out of a Hindu or Muslim family and have been ostracized. Sometimes the father holds a funeral for the child.
Dannette: They’re young. Teens.
Derek: The school prepares them. It gives them an education, but the main thing is that they’re teaching them how to take the gospel and spread it throughout India. A lot of them will go back north, where Christianity is not accepted, but their hearts have said, “I want to learn this, and I’m going to take it to others.” It might be a group of three people, but that’s three people who weren’t there before.
The people who work at the school are also wrapping their arms around the students and loving them. Then we’re there to listen, to love on them, pray with them, encourage them. The staff at the school is all the students have – that’s their life and their community. So when we show up, that’s another branch of people to let them know that they’re not alone. There are people praying for them halfway across the world.
On coming home after a trip and living the Christian life all the time
Dannette: Religion is on the streets in India. People are practicing their religion everywhere you go.
Derek: They have temples all over the place. Little shrines. They’re everywhere – on the side of the road, the corner of a roundabout. And the big ones are magnificent looking.
Dannette: We are the people who are the Christian religion over here, and our religion is so closed off, so separated. Religion is so part of their life, and I look at us as believers and think, “Shouldn’t it be more part of our life?” That’s one of the ways going on the trip changed us. We want to live out our faith visibly.
Derek: Coming back and reestablishing here was hard mentally both times. It’s almost depressing. Not depressing where I’m sad; depressing like “Am I doing enough? What am I doing?” There are people out there that yearn for God, and some of them don’t know who he is. They don’t even know the story. They’re lost souls.
It took a week and half to transition back. I think my heart stayed the same, where I’m just free to share with the guys at work, which is not easy. The reception has been good. The guys have been open to it. They’re listening. I’m not holding back. That’s huge for me. Ten years ago, I wouldn’t be doing that.
You have to surrender yourself to God. You have to give it to God. If you’ve done that, you’re going to start to hear him. You’re going to wake up one morning with a little voice in your head saying, “Mission trip.” And you’re going to think, “Why am I thinking about a mission trip?”
Then you find yourself talking about mission trips, asking about them. If you’re truly serious about following Christ, then it’s not going to be hard. “Okay, I’m going to listen to you. I’m going to do whatever it is you want me to do.” It doesn’t have to be a mission trip.
Dannette: We were the couple that was holding tight to everything we had. Holding tight to the world, our cars, our big TV, the furniture, the things. We were working for those things. None of that is bad, but when your heart is in that place, it’s not in your service to God. It’s like God has slowly pried our hands open. He wants our hands open to what he has for us.
Derek: We listen more, and we’re doing things we never would have done before. For her that’s writing and her podcast, for me that’s sharing the gospel with guys at work. It’s not something I really have to think about anymore. It’s just my life now. I want to do this: How can I be stretched? What more can I learn? What deeper relationship can I have with others and with Christ.
