Even today, women through their deep devotion encounter the living Jesus in our midst (while we are busy with committee meetings, church politics and church administration). The role of women in the different ministries of the church is crucial - they teach our children at the Sunday school, they are involved in outreach ministries, they raise funds for Church projects, they enhance the aesthetics of our worship halls, they sing in the choir, and they participate in cottage prayer meetings, bible studies, mid-week meetings etc - yet they go ‘unnoticed' and ‘unrecognized'. In fact, there's a whole list of things that women do in our churches that is taken for granted. Ironically, it is through their seemingly ‘lowly' ministries and yet faithful service in our churches that they encounter the living Jesus present in our midst. The risen Jesus continues to honor their faith and women encounter him. Women continue to follow Jesus and remain faithful to him, despite their ‘invisibility' within church structures. Not surprisingly, women are greatly used by God to undergird the church's life and mission.
We just cannot live the victorious life or be of maximum use to the Lord, or be a blessing to others in any place we choose. Some may feel that they can choose their own career and their place of residence and then seek to be a witness for the Lord wherever they are. The Lord may in His mercy use such believers in a limited way. But their usefulness in God's vineyard will be only a fraction of what it could have been had they earnestly sought His plan and remained in the center of His perfect will. Stunted spiritual growth and limited fruitfulness are but the consequences of a careless disregard of God's laws. 
Seven Mile Road is three weeks into weekly corporate worship. So far, we’ve been a bit spoiled. Everything we’ve touched has turned to gold. We need a website – we get a killer one for free. We need a space – we get to use a building sitting on six acres of land. We throw a barbeque – 115 people show up. We launch our first service – we put out seventy chairs but need more to accommodate everyone. . . . So then, it was a shock to my system when we showed up for service in week two and there were only 33 people there. Now I know in my head that numbers don’t matter. Folks on the team thought to themselves, “where is everyone?” Regular visitors came into the room and looked at their watch to make sure that they weren’t there early because they didn’t see people. People noticed.
At the altar Mark Buntain, a missionary to Calcutta from North America laid his hands on me and said a prophetic prayer as to
how God would use me one day to impact millions. Now I see the
fulfillment of this prayer. I was married on January 27, 2000 in
Calcutta to my beautiful wife Mary, and I moved to the United States on
February 22, 2001. I left home with $50 and two suitcases stuffed with
my clothes and books for a new life overseas. In about four weeks on
arriving on the east coast I ended up for an interview at Network Plus
on the 81st floor of the World Trade Center. I was escorted to the
conference hall. Through the glass windows of the room I saw the most
glorious sight of all - the Statue of Liberty. 
I worked on the 81st floor of the North Tower or Tower 1 of the World
Trade Center and my wife Mary worked on the 71st floor of the South
Tower or Tower 2. It was just an incredible experience working in this
incredible building especially for an immigrant who had just arrived in
America in February of that year. We enjoyed so much working together
in the same complex. . . . . "September 11, 2001, started out as such a nice day- no, a beautiful day. Then it all turned. 9:05 am. Terror struck America and changed us forever. None of us will ever forget where we were, who we were with and what we were doing that fateful day when tragedy struck America on what looked like a beautiful day in New York city . . . As we deal with the loss of thousands of innocent lives we were also reminded that history books will also tell the tale of many Americans that faced terror with courage. 
I am very excited about the forthcoming gathering of young South Asian Christian leaders of North America. Last one was in New York in Sept 2007 and we saw great momentum in what happening among South Asians Christians all over the continent. This time, it is going to be in Chicago and I am part of the local organizing team. This year's focus will be on leadership development and we have a great line up of leaders as resource people. Theme is "Unleashing the Leadership Potential." See details at www.connextonline.org 
What is striking and humbling is that Peter could have refused to hear Jesus’ words or at any point said, ‘No’ to his: ‘let me use your boat’, ‘launch out deeper’ or ‘follow me to be a fisher of men’. At that particular point, Peter would have missed out, not just on the catch of fish, but in experiencing the miracle and more so the blessing of being called and sent in Missio Dei! Peter goes deeper, risking the loss of his reputation and career only to gain an experience of God in Christ. He discovers Christ is no ordinary teacher-preacher or miracle-worker, but God’s agent and his ‘Lord’. Jesus is Liberator from guilt and sin; Lord of Peter’s daily work and the true Leader of our missionary endeavors. He finds ‘in Christ’, God’s grace is greater than all our sin, Truth that sets us free and Love that casts out all fears.
Suicide is said to be the third-leading cause of death in India.Isn’t it astonishing to know that a mortality rate of 120 000 people committing suicide in India would mean more than 300 suicides per day, not less than 14 suicides per hour and one suicide in every five minutes? Moreover, isn’t it heartbreaking to come to know more than 400 000 people attempting to commit suicide in India would disclose about 1100 attempted suicides per day, about 46 attempted suicides per hour and one suicide attempt in every one minute and thirty seconds?
"And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat her/him. The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love her/him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God" (Lev. 19:33-34, NKJV) There is much we can learn about our Asian neighbors, such as how they view themselves, what they believe about family, and why they have come to America. The more we know, the greater our understanding and enjoyment of Asian individuals-and the easier it is to share the good news of Jesus Christ with them. Below are a few facts about Asians in general. 
With over 1.5 billion people in South Asia and about twenty-five million in the diaspora,10 people of South Asian origin play a major role in the world today. Many multi-nationals companies see it as a powerful emerging market for a knowledge-based economy, a pool of resource talent and rich cultural ideas. The modern urban South Asian diaspora is significant, not only because it represents part of an evolving world culture and a cross-section of the world’s major religions, but a vast mission field whose evangelization will have a positive multiplier effect to the billions of souls in South Asia and beyond.
It was a pleasant surprise to watch Slumdog Millionaire win the Oscars. Rarely a movie pricks the conscience of a nation. But when it does it comes with a lot of soul searching to do. I see the soul of India searched again. I thought this was a fitting tribute to India’s 21st century reality. Though I live today in the comforts of the West I have experienced the slum dog moments in my growing years in India. It’s real. It’s everywhere. There are no ghettos in the west that can be compared to the squalor and abject poverty that stains the slums of India. It’s pretty difficult for any westerner to comprehend life in the hellish slums. I don’t think the movie is in anyway slamming down India. Slums do exist in many parts of Asia and Africa. 
As an Indian I am proud to know that Slumdog Millionaire has brought laurels to the country. Danny Boyle the director with Loveleen Tandon has produced a master piece. A.R. Rahman deserves full praise and commendation for his world class contribution. The script writer Simon Beaufoy has woven the story in a very attractive style that the audience are not bored but taken along the narration. The film has brought the stark realities of India before the global audience. The elite of the country has spoken against the movie as it brings the other side of India, which is not IT superpower urban India but real India. 
With all of the turmoil in the world today, I believe the Lord is shifting the emphasis to the ministry of pastors. I am not saying that the other ministry gifts are not important in this season, just that there is a real need for people to be nurtured and feel connected to the Body of Christ at this time. Apostolic leaders can thrive in these seasons because they see every challenge as an entrepreneurial opportunity, but nowadays the average person is not looking for entrepreneurial ideas that may be perceived as high-risk; they are looking for stability, safety, and community—and all three are strengths of pastors! The best thing apostolic leaders can do at this time is to use their leadership giftings to strategically make room for the pastors among them to shepherd, comfort, and nurture the sheep.
The kingdom of God cannot be captured in a box, or analyzed in a test tube, so as to have a complete grip and understanding of it. The kingdom of God is not impervious to true prophetic criticizing and re-energizing. The kingdom of God is something else entirely. The effect of the kingdom can be seen, but its methods are actualized to context; thereby the cause remains in God and His Word, but the reality is in the difference it makes in the world it has affected. The kingdom of God is truly at work.
Who am I? I belong to the Surinamese Indian community that came to Suriname, South America, 135 year ago. I consider myself of Hindustani origin, the third generation Indian Christians, born in the Netherlands in the early sixties of the last century. My father came to the Netherlands from Suriname to study by that time. My own history started 96 years ago when my “aja/ dada”, my paternal grand father - came as a three years old boy with his mother, Nani (my maternal grandmother) and elder brother in 1912 from “United Provinces”, later known as “Uttar Pradesh” India with a ship named Ganges IV to Suriname. They departed from Calcutta on February 27th 1912 and arrived in Suriname on the 7th April 1912. He was the son of one of the free immigrants. My grandfather, a Hindu, settled down on the West Coast of Suriname, in a town called Nickerie, where he married a girl from a family who was partly Hindu, partly Muslim.
Ask most Parisians about an area called “Little Bombay” and they will know that this is where large Indian communities live. They will tell you of women in colourful saris, sidewalks crowded with market stalls selling curries, exotic vegetables, silks, and the fragrance of spices in the air. Many people in Paris however fail to grasp the remarkable diversity of the Indian community in Paris. Among the some 46,000 immigrants originating from the Indian sub-continent and settled in the Parisian region, only a fraction is natives of India. Bengalis, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Punjabis, and Sri-Lankan Tamils form culturally and socially distinct groups are in Paris. Different languages and dialects are spoken. Differing customs are practised. Of these communities, the largest and most visible is the Tamil.
Revolutionaries are uncompromising men and women. They are unafraid to stand for their conviction. They may give up their life but not their conviction. They do not dilute their stand to please men or to avoid dangers ahead. If such are the characteristics of a revolutionary, then surely Christian revolutionaries are born in Orissa. They were uncompromising men and women. They stood unafraid for their conviction even in the face of sure death. They did not swing the sword of men but sang the song from the Word of God. They were revolutionaries of a different God. They did not take a sword, they did not take a trishul, they did not take a gun but they took their cross. They are revolutionaries of the God who took the cross.