TRIBAL CHRISTMAS EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS IN 2017
It’s hard to put in words what we feel about Tribal Christmas!
To begin with, in one form or another, GRM has sponsored Christmas for tribal people for around 30 years. However, it was not until around 20 years ago that we began to call it TRIBAL CHRISTMAS, due to the fact that some of our leaders go in deliver a meal, a present and many times to present a message showing the true meaning of Christmas in remote tribal areas. It has never failed to be one of the most fruitful times of the entire GRM year, ending in a great harvest of souls that eventually open s doors to very resistant peoples. Some of God’s people frown upon the use of Santa costumes, and though we neither started or endorsed this practice, even the hardened savages are drawn in and fascinated by the bright costume colors. Most of the time we take food, blankets or clothes and ALWAYS share the true meaning of Christmas! This gesture of love ALWAYS leads to invitations to come back — resistance is gone! Over the years, Tribal Christmas has evolved into a wonderful year-end strategy.
This program also reaches several orphanages in both rural areas and the city. Also, every year a number of leper colonies are visited and hundreds of widows are ministered to in India. Large feeding programs are held in two locations. In the last few years, we cooperate with other organizations that multiply our efforts such as working with Rev. Manning and his sea container program to Haiti. This Christmas 10,000 meals were given to the poor in Haiti through Brother Manning.
We also, with the aid of our long-time co-laborer Pastor Vincent, provided hundreds of malnourished children a Christmas meal and present.
OUR COUNTRY FOCUS AREAS
Currently, our primary focus areas are India, Pakistan, and Haiti with some help to Nigeria and Bethlehem, Israel. The first three countries get most of the attention as we have several teams and locations in India and Pakistan and two large ministries in Haiti. Our program largely focuses on empowering our native workers to reach their own network; this means follow-up! We tie tribal Christmas into our entire program making it a seamless whole.
2017 BRINGS A RECORD NUMBER OF VILLAGES REACHED PLUS CHILDREN SAVED!
Teams of native pastors and missionaries are focused on one thing, reaching souls and blessing the poor with Christmas love. Incredible organization goes into these ventures. Some start months ahead of time. Teams pack gifts for days on end. One team has to travel for nearly one month to fulfill all obligations.
Our records show that our GRM native leaders visited around two hundred villages. This has not taken place for nearly 15 years since we had the Brother Henry team in southern India.
We had a record amount of children saved this past Christmas. One leader reported 3800 children accepted Christ.
Adding that to the other native pastors’ reports which came in, we calculate about 5,000 children made commitments to Christ. Many adults also prayed the sinner’s prayer in over 30 prisons visited during the Christmas in Pakistan. We estimate 7,000 salvations this tribal Christmas.
A SPECIAL MIRACLE STORY OF A CHRISTMAS STAR
We have amazing stories every year, but the one that touches my heart the most is our Primary School in Odisha, India which reaches the second-oldest tribe in India. The new school addition was fully-functional on Christmas Day. The lighted star of David shone brightly on the roof as hundreds of tribal people ate a Christmas dinner. This addition took most of 2017 to build and finish. The day the roof was finished it began to rain and the next day serious flooding occurred. If the roof had been delayed just one day, ALL would have been lost. This was a great witness to the natives of the goodness of GOD! To HIM be the honor and praise.
