Bridge Of Hope For Children In Asia Presentation — Tony Barraclough

I don't have a son. I had a daughter, but God took her away. Now this girl is left with me. Who will take care of her? I will have to take care of her. If I don't take care of her, who will? I don't have a brother.

I don't have an uncle or an aunt. I don't have anyone.

Caring for Orphaned Children in Extreme Poverty

What time do the kids come back in the morning? What time do they come back in the afternoon? At 11 o 'clock.

There are three people. I leave my daughter there. When I have to do the housework, I do it at 3 o 'clock. I go to Diga for four days. I have to go to Diga. It's not long. Do you go there every day? Yes, I have to do the housework every day.

I have to clean the house. I go there at 8 o 'clock every day. Do you have to rent this place? I don't have a job. Do you rent this place? Yes, I rent it. How much do you have to pay? I have to pay Rs 1 ,500 for electricity.

I have to pay Rs 1 ,500 for electricity. I have to pay for everything. Do you have a brother or a sister? My brother came to Bombay, but I don't go to anyone. My poverty is with me. I don't go to anyone.

Bridge of Hope's Ministry to Vulnerable Children

This is a glorified slum in Bombay. There are about 160 children there. This is a very special one. This is her grandmother. I heard the story yesterday. It broke my heart. Both her parents are dead. She can just look around.

Her mother can pick it up. This is a room made of shag. It's a good word. All she has is a grandmother. She's not getting any younger. But she often mentions that if it wasn't for her, she wouldn't have a future.

You can see how beautiful and young she is. I imagine she would grow up to be a wonderful mother. She could be a doctor or a lawyer. Somebody who cares about other people. Our commitment is to stay with her until she makes it.

Education and Long-Term Hope for Each Child

I wonder what that means. Many times it is high school graduation. Sometimes it's on to further studies, which we do in all parts of the country. They're saying goodbye. God bless you. It's been a long day.

But not really when you think about the amazing experience that I feel deep in my heart. Here in Bombay, among 32 Bridge of Hope centers that are run by Believers Eastern Church, I was able to meet Father Benny, who is in charge of the diocese here, and others, but more important, meeting these precious children in our center, taking care of their education, their food, and their future.

But then finally, something that broke my heart, I had to fight to keep my emotions, that is meeting this most beautiful little girl studying in the third grade. Both parents are dead, and she's staying with her grandmother.

I promised her, I said, study all you can and get through high school, and then we'll be with you for your future education. Who knows, she'll be a teacher, doctor, whatever else it may be. But I just want you to say to yourself, what is life all about for you?

And ask the question. And for me, when I say, what is my life all about? It is really giving everything and all I can to care for others who are in need. And the motto of Bridge of Hope of Believers Eastern Church is meeting the needs of the helpless, needy children, giving them hope.

And we say that in a thousand different ways. And it's been an interesting journey. I thank God for being part of this my day here in Bombay. But then, it's you and I. We are traveling together. And may God give us the grace to continue that our lives will be used by him.

Christ's Mission and the Calling to Be Sent

Praise the Lord. The one Bible verse that I picked out for this talk and my short time in sharing with you is John chapter 17, verse 18. As the Father has sent me, so I send you. It's amazing to think how God is using Bridge of Hope and moving in mighty ways there, a direct extension of Believers Eastern Church.

Open Doors for Ministry and the Voluntary Nature of Giving

So it's been, as Paul prayed in Colossians, I think, pray that doors may be opened. And I was visiting with one of the leaders from the field. He was visiting at our headquarters there in Dallas. I was taking him back to the airport.

And as we were in line with him going back, long flight. Because what they do when they're researching, they go into an area and they say, we'll take so many kids and greatest need of families, things like that.

And this brother looked me straight in the eyes and said, when we were getting ready to start a Bridge of Hope Center in this particular area, the parents kidnapped me. And he kind of had a smile and I had a confused look.

But they were so desperate for their children to be enrolled into the Bridge of Hope. And he said, no, they just didn't give me no water, no bread for like two days. And they didn't hurt him. I'm not trying to say that.

And I do want to say that none of this out of a guilt or twisting an arm or pleading or begging. I just want to make sure that's clear. Because the things that God gives us, it's opportunity. And if we don't see it that way, then I think that's what God wants.

He wants us to want it anyways. That's a little side note. I just say that because when it said how much was her rent there, you know, 1 ,500 rupees, I had to look it up. I have a little thing that helps me figure out how much that is.

But for rent for that area, it's equal to $20 .25 plus electricity. But, again, not out of guilt. And then another thing is another leader on the field says, how many of them will come to Christ? How many of them will find hope?

Vocational Training for Mothers and Families

And he says, all of them. All of them will. So praise the Lord for that. I was at a Bridge of Hope Center in an area. And the same center that they had the children, in the afternoon they would be teaching tailoring classes for the moms of the children.

They go through six months of training. And then when they graduate, we provide them a sewing machine. And it incredibly increases their livelihood. Something simple as a sewing machine that is provided for them after graduation.

The Rapid Growth of Churches and Gospel Ministry

Brother David, our first session, he made a comment. There are many times when so many people are coming to the kingdom that we cannot keep up. And I feel like we're over our head in ministry, which is good.

But, you know, there's a handful of us that serve in the office there in the headquarters in Dallas. And we're doing everything we can, but there's so many people coming to the Lord and so many people being reached and helped, and we're just grateful for that.

One of the GFA-supported workers was responsible for three different churches that I visited in the area. But I say all that, our number one prayer request, if you'd keep us in your prayers, is requests that God would raise up qualified and godly leaders.

Prayer, Fasting, and Intercession for the Mission

The growth is going so fast that we need people, we need brothers, we need the right brothers to fill that call of God on their life. So, application. I'm very grateful, again, to be a part of this like-minded conference.

We hear of fasting and praying, prayer. We've encouraged at churches all around, when different leaders from the ministry go to speak at churches, we encourage to pray, use Operation World, use the news as a prayer letter.

So I know that we pray here, and I'm grateful for that. I think Matthew Henry says that God will begin a good work when he gets us praying, and we're in that direction. The second thing is, Pastor Shaney, I haven't checked out his book yet, but on fasting.

So we suggest that you fast for a group once a day, and if you want to lose a pound, maybe fast two days. And for our prayer culture, we say the shortest way to get things done is through prayer. We have a nonstop prayer meeting once a week that it's not going to stop.

And it started in Brother KP's living room, putting maps on the floor, praying for the nations, asking God to raise up. And so I say that not to sound spiritual. I mean, a lot of times for me, I go to prayer meetings dragging my feet but I walk away clicking my heels.

Sponsoring Children and Supporting the Work

I stole that quote from another preacher, but that's how I feel. I walk in, oh, we're praying again. But then you leave, you're refreshed, you're engaged, you're aligned. So, and then I'm going to ask, so that's application.

Fast once a week, pray, and we're going to have an opportunity to pray here in a second. I'm going to ask you guys to do that. And then we have, I got permission, if you're online, you'd like to sponsor one of these children, link your life with one of them, you can go to gfa .org slash sponsor.

And again, no guilt, no pressure. You know, all the resources you give goes to the field. Myself and all the staff at GFA have raised their own support so we can give more to the field to get more work done, amen.

Praying Together for the Needs of the Children

So, but yeah, if you want to link your lives with a GFA worker or a Bridge of Hope child, you can do that, and I have a couple profiles in the back and other resources. So what I'm going to do is ask you guys to gather in groups.

Maybe if you guys could huddle in little groups. And I have some prayer requests. I think the number one thing we would ask and covet, and please pray for us. So we're going to have some prayer requests up here on the screen, and I'm going to ask you guys just to gather in little groups.

You can turn and face somebody, and if you just maybe take a prayer request or two, pray for the things we saw in the video, and we would covet that. And so go ahead and break into groups, please, and let's pray, and then I'll transition in a second.