98 Percent First Generation Christians

Over 100 Churches Represented

Unreached People Groups

A Dream Realized

Eight years ago, when we planted our first model church in Colombo, Sri Lanka, I remember sharing a dream with our leaders there of what we would do in the future.  My goal was to one day sponsor a conference in South Asia and to place the South Asian leaders I had helped to mentor on that platform to minister to multitudes.  Last month, that dream became a reality.

Nepalgunj Conference

We held our second annual conference in Nepalgunj, Nepal and had somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 people in attendance.  We are a little concerned with the security in this area due to recent Hindu extremist violence so we did not advertise the meeting in the community.  Nearly everyone attending were members of our 100 churches in west Nepal.  98 percent of these believers are first generation Christians and most of them have come to the Lord in the past three years.  About 20 percent of them have become believers in the past year.  Many of our people are from an ethnic group called the Tharu who were totally unreached with the Gospel as little as 8 years ago.  There are now literally thousands of Tharu believers.

Asian Team

I brought in the leaders I have worked with over the past 8 years from Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India and Nepal and each of them spoke in our conference sessions.  Pastor Dishan DeSilva and Pastor Shaun Koch from Sri Lanka, Pastor Safeer Ahktar from Pakistan, Pastor Victor Nazareth from Delhi, India and Pastor KB Basel from Nepal did fantastic jobs ministering to our Nepali believers.  It was satisfying beyond words to see these men, who I have worked closely together with over these past 8 years, share the ministry load together so beautifully. 

We held a two day team meeting after the conference and honestly I enjoyed those meetings more than the conference itself.  We plan to meet once a year from this point on and our future as a team looks very promising.  We are now making team decisions on future church plants and future ministry in Asia and we are all filled with hope for the future.  I am so grateful to the Lord for the team of men He has given me.  They are truly some of the most gifted leaders in South Asia and some of my dearest friends.

Thanks for all you have done to help us train, equip and serve these noble and effective leaders.

Thanks - Rick

rick@rickzachary.com - bev.zachary@gmail.com - shane.zachary@gmail.com

ChurchAsia - P.O. Box 82080 - Baton Rouge, LA 70884

changing the world...one congregation at a time