Story number 1 for 12 May 2003

(India)–India headlines today’s news as thousands of people are turning to Christ and increasing amounts of persecution may be the driving force. Founder and President of Mission India of Grand Rapids, Michigan John DeVries says more than three-thousand people are turning to Christ each day because of their programs. “It would have been far less had it not been there. Mahatma Ghandi understood it well. He said, ‘don’t persecute Christians when you do they grow like weeds.’ There’s a lot of truth to that and the persecution that has occurred has just fanned the commitment of these new believers to witness for Jesus Christ.” DeVries says the average cost to help fund the program was three-dollars and 68-cents per discipled believer. He says funding is the only thing holding back their Bible club program. “Well, our goal for this summer is three million children in the Children’s Bible Club program. Last summer, we had requests for 5.2 million and maybe we’re setting our goal too low.”