My Interviews with Isaac Shaw

Isaac Shaw is a friend and a partner in ministry whom we have been supporting for the last eight years. I have enjoyed the incredible privilege and opportunity to visit north India and see the work which God is doing there to advance the Gospel. It is beyond remarkable. In the spirit of our partnership, I sat down with Isaac to record several conversations and then to make them available so folks here could begin to understand the hows and whys of this unique ministry. You will be challenged and encouraged as you listen in! For more info, visit delhibible.org or dbip.org.

1. Why North India?
2. What is Delhi Bible Institute?
3. How can churches partner with DBI?
4. What is the connection between DBI and The Gospel Coalition?
5. Hinduism 101 for Evangelicals

Missiology 103: The Greatest Purpose On the Planet

This is the third in my series of posts from Piper's "Let the Nations Be Glad". If you missed it, read the first and second posts before continuing on with this post.

Missiology 102: What Is the Most Crucial Issue In Missions?

I am continuing my weekly series of posts from Piper's "Let the Nations Be Glad". In case you missed it, read the first post "Missiology 101: Why Missions Is Not The Ultimate Goal of the Church".

Missiology 101: Why Missions Is Not the Ultimate Goal of the Church

My own philosophy of missions has been greatly impacted by John Piper's writings. In particular, I have found no better biblical theology of missions than what I have read in his book "Let the Nations Be Glad". Last year I gave a copy of this book to every member of our mission committee. As we prepare at our church for our annual Missions Week, I am posting a series of excerpts from this book in the hopes that your mind and heart will be stimulated by the supremacy of God in missions.

"Beside Ourselves": An Excerpt from Gifts of Grace

I am in the process of writing a special devotional for our church to use as we begin our march toward missions week. My desire is to help our people prepare for what is almost always a time of revival and renewal. Here is an except from the devotional:

There Is No Force On the Planet Like It

There is no force on earth which has the power to shape men and women into the creatures God intended them to be like the force unleashed in prayer.

On this, our last day in Delhi, I was privileged to speak once again to the flock at Bible Bhavan. The church is nearing the end of their annual 40 days of prayer and fasting which begins on the first day of every new year. The text I spoke from this Sunday was Daniel 9:1-19. I was so blessed in my personal study of this passage to see just how the mighty force of prayer had shaped Daniel! Of prayer's power to mold us, E.M. Bounds wrote:

"Never did the cause of God need perfect illustrations of the possibilities of prayer more than in this age. No age, no person, will be examples of the gospel power except the ages or persons of deep and earnest prayer. A prayerless age will have but scant models of divine power. Prayerless hearts will never rise to these Alpine heights… It is prayer-force which makes saints. Holy characters are formed by the power of real praying. The more of true saints, the more of praying; the more of praying, the more of true saints."

Ministry in Dehradun

Glory-Filled Inexpressible Joy

"Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory..." - 1 Peter 1:8 

This morning I was in 1 Peter in preparing material for teaching later this week. My study had me immersed in the opening words of worship in 1 Pet. 1:3-12. As I was sorting out my thoughts here in my room on the second floor of the DBI center located here in Bible Bhavan Church in New Delhi, the sweet sound of praise music began to ascend from the floor below into my room like the savory aroma you might imagine if a master chef were downstairs preparing an incredible feast. After some time had passed, and being unable to resist any longer the urge to investigate what was occasioning such wonderful praise, I left my books to venture down the stairs. It turns out that a local fellowship of Tangkhul youth and college students were meeting here for a special weekend retreat. The Tangkhul are a people group living in Delhi from a far eastern province of India. I found the group gathered in the dining area and took the liberty to record a portion of their worship service. As they sang and I listened, it was as if the words of 1 Pet. 1:8 which I had been studying had come alive...

As you listen to the first 1:30 of the video, what you are hearing is the group praying (out-loud praying is very common outside of the Western world). And as you probably recognize, the song they are singing for rest of the video is "The Heart of Worship" by Matt Redman (in English too, which meant that I could and did sing along!). I included the lyrics below as it is one of my favorites. 

The Heart Of Worship
by Matt Redman

Verse 1
When the music fades all is stripped away
And I simply come
Longing just to bring something that's of worth
That will bless Your heart

Pre-Chorus
I'll bring You more than a song
For a song in itself is not what You have required
You search much deeper within
Through the way things appear
You're looking into my heart

Chorus
I'm coming back to the heart of worship
And it's all about You all about You Jesus
I'm sorry Lord for the thing I've made it
When it's all about You all about You Jesus

Verse 2
King of endless worth no one could express
How much You deserve
Though I'm weak and poor all I have is Yours
Ev'ry single breath

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The First Sewing Conference Begins in Lucknow

DBI's Lucknow Ashram (Oct 2010)

Please pray for our women today as they join the ministry team at Lucknow. They will be assisting Gloria Shaw in training Hindu women from the surrounding area in sewing skills. This simple skill goes a long way in helping the impoverished women and children of India with basic needs but also serves as an incredible bridge for the Gospel. Our ladies arrived last night in Lucknow with Gloria and a handful of other women and are preparing to depart for the ashram (teaching center). Meanwhile, I am here in Delhi preparing for my first class this afternoon with pastors-in-training. I will be teaching the book of 1 Peter (ring any bells, Gospel-Centered Bible Study students?). 

God's Incredible Work to Raise Up Delhi Bible Institute

Check out more info on the amazing history if DBI: http://www.delhibible.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=64&Itemid=61

William Carey, the Cobbler Who Gave India a Bible

by Thomas John Bach

Every pioneer missionary, in whatever phase of the work he has been active, has had some part in making possible a page or a chapter of profound interest in the history of the church of Christ and of missions. But to one man, William Carey, was given such a significant ministry that he has rightly been called "the father of modern missions."

William Carey was born near Northampton, England, on August 17, 1761. The words of the Lord to Saint Peter, "Thou art ... thou shalt be" (John 1:42), may very well be applied to Carey. Not many missionaries have started their careers with so few advantages, or culminated their work with so much success for the glory of God and the good of man, as did William Carey.

When he was fourteen years of age, he became an apprentice in a shoe shop. He was converted at the age of eighteen, and affiliated himself with the local Baptist Church. At the age of twenty-six, he was ordained. His income as a preacher was so limited that he gained his subsistence by working as a shoemaker. In his spare moments he studied languages, biographies, and conditions of the heathen world. He acquired a fair knowledge of French, Dutch, Greek, Latin, and Hebrew.
In front of him, on his work bench, hung a map of the world which he himself had made. In the year 1786 he pleaded with other ministers of his denomination to take up work among the heathen, but was greatly grieved when the chairman reproved him by saying, "Sit down, young man. When it pleases God to convert the heathen, He will do it without your help or mine!"

Read the rest of Carey's story: http://www.wholesomewords.org/missions/bcarey18.html

Our Gracious Hosts!

Gloria and Isaac Shaw



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Location:Amrita Shergil Road,New Delhi,India