.
another H
or, "thoughts on visit with Ratnaraju Rapaka and John Tucker 130729"
another H
or, "thoughts on visit with Ratnaraju Rapaka and John Tucker 130729"
When I got home from work on Monday, 07/29/13, John and Raj
called me from town about five minutes out from my house. I talked them in and began a three day visit
with two fine men of God! We talked late
into the night, got up early and drove to a funeral together, talking all the
while, and returned to relax. Then we
shared coffee early the third morning before I rushed off to work. The following are my recollections of that
visit, written down so as not to be lost, and also for further thought and
consideration!
1.
“transformational” vs. “academic” This may be starting in the middle, but, it
was one of the highlights. I eagerly
questioned Raj about his work with “preaching students” and what I remembered
about my time in ministry training. I
rued the lack of mentored time about prayer and personal character
development. “ahh, transformational…”
Raj reflected back to me summarizing the point.
Both are needed, but the former of the two, heart matters, is too often
neglected, to the detriment of the minister and his ministry.
2.
Preacher/school administrator/ministry
instructor/overseer of 17 churches … I began to feel that I was sitting in the
presence of the apostle Paul! Raj is a focused,
faithful, fearless, … follower of Jesus! I am sure that he has his armor chinks; but,
they are not obvious. I feel privileged
to have hosted him and John for a couple of days, and to be considered some
sort of partner in their ministry.
3.
From a profession, civil engineer, to a
preacher! Twenty years before, on a
Saturday, Raj and Victoria were attending a wedding in Kaza, some 80 kms away
from their home. Not being able to travel
home in time for church, they decided to have church alone in a Hindu village. The neighbors listened with interest and
asked them to return asap and tell them more about this Jesus! They returned a few times, and then decided
to sell out for Jesus. Raj left his
profession and they started a church in Kaza.
Twenty years later there are 17 churches scattered in different villages
and towns, a preacher training school, and a private K-12 school started to
provide a quality education for his sons and the neighbors.
4.
Months before, from John Tucker, I had heard the
story of “Victoria” selling her jewelry to finance a church building for the
church in her village. Not until I
looked through pictures in my living room with Raj, did I realize that this
sacrificial servant of Jesus that I had heard about and admired, was his
wife! I looked up at John when Raj
mentioned his wife’s name, and he nodded understandingly that she was that
Victoria.
5.
Tuesday evening, after a long day, John
suggested we do something “fun” and we decided to play a card game they play in
Michigan. After a few hands, I casually
asked Raj, “do y’all play card to relax in the evening in India?” “No,” Raj retorted, neither hatefully, nor
demeaningly. “well, what …?” I asked. “we have cottage Bible studies,” he quietly
replied. My admiration grew, but I felt
a little shallow personally.
6.
About that time, maybe attempting to divert the
tension, I commented on Melanie’s card and the card with which Raj topped it –
queen of diamonds and king of diamonds.
“a rantaraju and a rantarani…”
Raj cocked his head and looked at me in amazement questioning, “do you
know what you just said?” You see, his
name, means “diamond king” and diamond-queen would be “rantarani”!! It was a cute quip/pun that utilized at least
some knowledge of Telegu, Raj’s native language.
7.
Whatever points I may have scored with that
quip, I quickly lost when I won a hand and let out a war cry, much like we do
at work when playing dominos at lunch.
We trash-talk and chest-thump like football players. Raj just looked at me like he was watching a
Capital One commercial! (like he was assessing a cave-man!) I do have to wonder how I would be received
in India, when visiting, if I acted like my [ab]normal self?! (“ugly
American”?)
8.
Sometime during the visit we discussed the
helpers, the preachers, that work with/for Raj.
With some 17 churches, there are several men filling pulpits and pastoring
groups. I asked if they were
“bi-vocational” or full-timers. Raj
replied that they were full-timers and I then asked about pay, trying to
understand how this machine was financed.
“major industry?” “farming.” “pay for field hand?” “4 dollars” “per
hour?!” “no, per day.” “live on that?!” “wife can make $3.” “so, they can
subsist on $7?” “have to.” “so, how much do your preachers get paid?” “$100”
“per week?” “no, per month.” (I quickly
did the math in my head and that comes out to about what farm hands make) [just
a footnote: since the visit, I overheard
of a co-worker who is trying to substitute a $2100 birthday check for the new
Mercedes that his daughter expects for her 21st birthday]
9.
My personal thoughts later turned to questions
about the pay scale. Preachers in USA
are mostly not over-paid either! But,
how could local support be developed to finance these ministries, when families
are bringing in $7/day on average?? I
remember once reading of the ten-family-rule in synagogues being the rule of
thumb of the minimum needed to support a rabbi (ten tithes). And, I thought on “rice Christians” that
disappear as soon as the foreign church aid for rice disappears. Sacrifice and commitment and dedication are
lessons that need to be learned, by Indian Christians and also American
Christians!
10.
Related to this preacher pay is a story that
John told me about some shortage of funds for several months. John had raised the question of looking for a
new job if he did not get paid for several months?! The unpaid local ministers quietly replied,
“… must spread the word of God…” (is
this convicting to anybody else?!)
11.
“flexible” was the word. A funeral (another long story: Melanie’s best friend’s dad had died) got
jammed into our schedule, and John said we could visit and talk in the car just
as easily as in my living room. I
quipped about the USMC motto, “improvise, adapt, overcome”. (I am thinking about the need to be flexible
with my personal life plans to move with God, wherever He leads?!)
12.
John drove four hours to the funeral and we
talked of Indian culture, geography, history… etc. We stopped for gasoline, and I insisted on
paying. We stopped for lunch at Melanie’s
favorite German restaurant, “Ol’ Heidelburg” and I insisted on picking up the
check. As I paid the tab and tip, I
winced thinking “half-month salary for an Indian preacher” and wondered if Raj
thought the same?!
13.
During our drive we discussed many things Indian. Melanie asked, “snakes?” Raj simply said,
“cobras?!” We discussed comparative
US/India land mass and population and guessed at half the land mass and 4x the
population – 1.2 billion souls! I
asked, “Christian population
percentage?” and Raj replied, “3%, officially; 10% likely really” (Christians
in India lose certain government benefits by declaring Xn on government
databases, including free college education tuition)
14.
Money is an issue. It takes money to live. In his most recent newsletter, Raj mentioned
the need for three church buildings, at $7500 each! They are 17x30 ft. (510 s.f.) and that
computes to how much per square foot?! Less than $15/s.f. And how much does an American house cost per
square foot?! Anywhere from $100 to
$400!!! (I told Melanie that $7500 is
the price of one of our toys, the price of a four-wheeler. I will think on this before I buy that “Polaris
Ranger” I have been eyeing.)
15.
In one of Raj’s pictures there was an outdoor,
night-time, open-air evangelistic-crusade scene. (John and Raj bantered back and forth, often;
and, it was difficult to distinguish jokes from seriousness) John quipped that there were too many lights
and we needed to cut back on expenses using fewer lights. Raj casually replied, “…must see to read
Bible…” Honestly, the scene included
dollar-store plastic chairs, poles with crude fluorescent lights, and feed
sacks for the children to sit on. Not
exactly Schuller’s “Crystal
Cathedral”?!!
16.
Raj gave Melanie an unbelievably exquisite
hand-crocheted table cloth as a hostess gift.
Melanie stood to thank Raj and gave him a hug. John giggled at Raj’s discomfort, commenting,
“… men do not hug women in India” Raj
added, “… not even their own wife, in public…”
Melanie smiled, adding, “I bet they would not like this either…” as she
kissed me goodbye, on the mouth, as she departed for an appointment! Raj just nervously laughed.
17.
There were many “firsts” in our visit. Raj had his first serving of grits. Raj had never had German food before. I had never seen anybody drink hot water
before their morning coffee?! (I did not
ask) I wondered on the male/female
interaction differences in our two cultures.
I learned that they drink buffalo milk in India. (I think Raj said so!) I jokingly suggested ways to deal with
marauding packs of destructive monkeys that tore off their church roof
tiles. I mused, this work must go on!!!
18.
It is so easy to be distracted. One of my web signatures at a forum I
frequent includes this – “Humility and honesty; Hungry and homesick; Holiness
and honor” To this, after watching John
and Raj, I think I will have to add, “Hard-core and halt-less”. At one point, I asked Raj, "... what is your goal ..." with very little hesitation, he seriously replied, "for India to be a Christian nation."
19.
Sometime in the visit, I commented that I am in
the 4th-quarter. In American
football we have a custom of claiming the 4th-quarter with a lifted
hand showing four fingers pointing to the sky!
John, with his musical bent, quoting John Fogerty’s “Centerfield”
(different game?!), quipped, “put me back in the game…”
Oh, put me in, Coach - I'm ready to play today;
Put me in, Coach - I'm ready to play today;
Look at me, I can be Centerfield.
Put me in, Coach - I'm ready to play today;
Look at me, I can be Centerfield.
20.
Friday, I asked HR if I could have unpaid
leave-of-absence in January. Praying.
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