The Sustainment of Ministry

In today’s church talk, Pastor Priji converses with Thanga Selvam who is a singer/songwriter from Mumbai, India.
Tune in to know how we can facilitate the move of God to preserve, protect and provide for the men and women of God doing His work.

Transcript:

Pastor Priji: What do you think was one of our greatest lessons and things that we have learned in this pandemic season as a church?

Selvam: I truly believe there is an urge to see God like never before especially during this time and people have grown close to God. It has also redefined the way we do church and how the church became the hand and feet of Jesus reaching out to the community in various ways and it has renewed our mind of how a church needs to be in this era.

 Pastor Priji: I want to know from your side what is the Lord doing through you and specifically about the Obadiah project and why you were so passionate about doing this?

 Selvam: In one of our usual prayer time, my mom was sharing from I Kings, chapter 18 where it talks about a person called Obadiah who was working for the king and the king’s wife was actually slaughtering the prophets of God, but this man was preserving, protecting, and providing for hundreds of men of God in two different caves and that incident really stuck in my heart and I was just burdened and started talking about it to my friends and they also felt the same burden. With that burden, we started the Obadiah project. Overnight, we started a website, and the vision was to preserve, protect and provide the men and women of God in India, especially in rural India who are serving the Lord and their main source of income is the church tithe and offering which could not happen because of the pandemic. Our team was able to identify many people who were in need and then God enabled us and gave us the resources through generous people and we have been able to reach 22 states of India and we believe God will definitely help us to continue this.

 Pastor Priji: My question to you is how can churches in cities which are not much affected by the pandemic come by the side of the rural ministers who have been really affected by this?

 Selvam: First and foremost, we need to have the burden to stand alongside with these men and women of God, because if we do not become the Obadiah of our generation, then who will become, so if that burden is there, they can, of course, reach out to certain mission organizations within India like the Missionary Upholders Trust (MUT) who will connect you with different states missionaries, and there are several other mission organizations as well. Definitely, if there is a desire and a vision, you can reach out to your own city pastors, and through them, you can extend help.

 Pastor Priji: How did you go about with the Obadiah project and what resources did you employ other than your friends?

 Selvam: God has given me a talent for singing, writing songs and making music and so the idea was to do concert and worship webinar and create an awareness and whatever donations would come through that would directly go towards this cause. The worship community all came together and we said let us put our hands together and let us do it and so every month we were doing like two events online. We were able to reach thousands of people in different nations and sow this vision into their hearts using a simple 30-second video which my youngest sister did and through that we were able to stand along with 325 families across 22 states. People from different parts of the world gave generously and sacrificially. I truly believe that there is a new generation that God is rising to become the hand and feet of Jesus and that is redefining the church.

Pastor Priji: I want to know what is the importance of standing with the men and women of God and why is it necessary that as a church we should stand with them and help them?

Selvam: As a church, we are praying for revival in India, and if a man of God was not sent, how will the people of this nation know the gospel. Unless and until they are preserved during this time how we expect a revival. In our normal life, church means we gather, we do our stuff and we go, but this is like the church helping someone whom they have never seen and do not know and the people who are receiving also do not know from whom they are receiving. When some men or women of God got to know that their needs were being considered by somebody else in the body of Christ and that was such a huge encouragement and that really revive them.

Pastor Priji: What is the website where people can reach out and get to know a little more about this project? 

Selvam: It is called The Obadiah Project We are accountable to an organization called Maharashtra Village Ministries that has been partnering with us, and they were gracious enough to take care of the money that we received through that link, and through them, we make the disbursement across India.

 Pastor Priji: What would you like to say in conclusion or anything the Lord is speaking to you in this season?

 Selvam: I have been feeling very strongly in my heart that this is a beginning of a new era where God is doing new things and you just have to be very open and just follow his lead. I have always felt that I do not want to be a spectator and I want to be a person making the goal on the ground. I truly believe whoever is part of this move of God in this generation is going to receive a big harvest.

Pastor Priji: What is the best way that people can connect with you personally if they have to connect with you?

Selvam: I am on Instagram and I have a website  which is not built properly but of course they can connect through that and it will direct them to the ministry that I am part of and it is called India Revival Ministries.