In this sermon, the speaker addresses the issue of lack of funds in the work in India. He acknowledges that money is scarce and pleads for more humanity in providing financial support. He believes that the struggle with finances has been a character-building factor in the work. The speaker also discusses the challenges faced in India, including the loss of trained men every year and the increasing responsibilities on the Indian brothers. He encourages the audience to be open-minded, balanced, and to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in dealing with these challenges.

Special Indian Orientation Session, En Route to India, 26th of April, 1971. We're discussing some of the problems that we face in the work in India, some of the criticisms against the work, both from without and from Indians within OM. Let's pray. Now Lord, oh, how much we need to learn as we go into this great country. We look to you and ask you to open our minds, open our hearts. Father, make us desperate, make us like those missionaries who have gone up into lands and years gone by, laid down their lives. Father, may we not think this is some kind of game we're in. Lord, we know this is a real warfare. We look to you in Jesus' name. Amen. How true this is that what we're going into is a very, very serious thing. And I've had some news back from India that, again, shows how serious it all is and how impossible it is for us as foreigners to really make an impact. I do hope you will follow through on our little history. I got my own appetite wet and I've been reading a lot of history this week, which is a great blessing for me. These will be left together with Fielding's History of England, which has a whole series of references about India. You can just look in the index and find all the references about India. Do try to read up on your own some history, but I haven't got time to go further into that right now because I've got some new material, one thing of which I found by Brother Thomas Samuel when I was going through some files. Another thing that has just come from Greg Livingston from the conference they just met in. And then some other things that I have picked up along the way. Some things for girls from our girls' seminar in Kathmandu. I don't know if you've gone over any of this. Did you? As you launch into India, you'll be meeting many brethren that have been laboring in Kathmandu quite a few years. Some have been there almost that long. Before you judge someone as being lazy, someone as not living out the principles of the work, someone as this or that, maybe you better ask yourself how long are you going to last and how will you be doing after five years. Most of you are only going two years. I've already heard rumors on this ship of the number of people that want to get out, get back to Europe already. It's only a few, but that's enough. So we're really going to have to have an understanding of these Indians and their problems. Now, Greg Livingston had a session with some of the Indian brothers who were in the work for quite some time and they really opened their hearts. Some of them had come to the conference with some real bitterness, resentment against the foreigners. In this session with Greg, they really opened their hearts. And I thought I would share some of these things with you so you can be conscious of the things that we are doing that can hinder. Also, you need to realize that many of the problems we face in India are because it is operated on a two-year program. Every year we lose the men that we train and kill ourselves to teach. And this year, within the next two months, we lose Hugh Bradley, Mike Waitley, bang, bang, bang, their names don't come to mind, at least ten major men. We lose in the next two months. And you can imagine the new problems that throws us into. Meanwhile, the Indian brothers continue to go. More responsibility is thrown onto them. New foreigners come into the picture. So many complications. As Brother Greg said in his letter, it's basically positive. It's truly a miracle. Let me read Greg's opening statement as someone who was in the work in the very beginning. He says, let me say that through this conference I've come to see... That's not what I want to read. Oh, yeah. Let me say very sincerely that I'm extremely glad that you and Brother Thomas and Brother Miley encouraged me to come to this conference, for outside of what encouragement I may have been to some here, it has been a great thrill to see what God has done over the past seven years. No matter what one could see that could possibly be interpreted as negative or dangerous, anyone who knew what we were when we began could do nothing but jump out of their shoes to realize how these teams have bashed on day after day, month after month, and year after year. And for the literally millions who have had at least an opportunity to hear the claims of Christ, truly we can just praise our heads off. And he has a number of other positive notes, especially on the end. But he does want to realistically share some of the struggles the Indian brothers are having in working together with foreigners. Of course, foreigners have their own struggles working with Indians, and that's why there is such a constant need of communication. There are very few groups in a worldwide level, and I've been in a lot of places, where Indian and foreigner are working so tightly, so hand in glove. And this is the way we operate. It's not to criticize those that don't work this closely, but that's the kind of work we're in. And it presents a lot of nitty gritty little problems that we need to constantly give some thought to. The first question they threw out, can Indian and foreigner really ever be one? I think immediately how Indian brothers have shared with me how we as foreigners form our little cliques. There are certain people we enjoy, we're able to converse with them more readily, they're from the West, and we have our little cliques. This ship has its cliques. We have our language cliques. Germans like to get German, Scandinavians, English. I understand all the Americans even have a little party, American party. All these things are alright if they're kept in their place, especially on a ship, but they won't go down in India. The Indian brothers do not appreciate us pulling off and having this double standard, treating them as little Indians who we can work with and we can sweat with them, but not making them our intimate friends. It's a very big thing with some of them. Now, I can tell you that some of the foreigners have been very successful in these areas, some have been great failures. People tend to remember the failures, unfortunately, more than the successes. Two, does not the OM foreigner also think he is superior? You will constantly be thought of as thinking that you're superior. This is a big thing with these brothers. Sometimes they are justified because some foreigners do have an ingrown sense of superiority over Indians. Other times they're not justified, but it's something that you're going to have to really believe God to help you get the victory. Three, I could speak on each one of these, but we don't want to take that time. You can ask questions at the end. Why do they expect us to share our problems when they don't share theirs? You see, we come out as the little white chiefs. Some of us think we're half counselors and half psychiatrists and half disciplers and whatnot. We want to get these brothers to share their problems, open up. That also makes us feel good because they trust us. We don't want to open up with them. Now, of course, I know cases where foreigners have opened up more with Indians than Indians with them, but it only takes a few. I think that it's wrong for us to expect people to share their problems if we're never willing to share any of ours. Four, Westerners, this is really key, Westerners cannot imagine the embarrassment we suffer as Indians when a foreigner speaks loudly to us in a public place. Foreigners do not understand the horrible abuse the public showers on us as slaves of the Raj. Now, this is something you will never understand, just how much abuse they are given because they are working in what's considered a Western movement. As Indian as we try to make it, it's still Western. A lot of our money comes from the West. The trucks come from the West. I would tend to think, let's have an all-Indian movement. I'll tell you, some of the all-Indian movements have five times the problems we've got, so I don't think that's the solution. The solution is Jesus. The solution is brokenness and the kind of life that we constantly talk about, but I want to tell you, if you're a quick-tempered person, you're going to have a lot of trouble in the Orient. You're going to have a lot of trouble in India because they may not say anything to you at that moment when you plaster them, but they will guard it in their hearts and if you ever do it, you must go back and apologize to them once every day for several days, but you must somehow get it straight and rectify it. Some of our Western brothers have had quick tempers and it's really been sad, really been sad. In my whole time in India, because God broke me on this in Mexico, this is the advantage I had because God broke me on this in Mexico, I hardly once can ever remember ever losing my temper in India. I knew that I just couldn't. I just couldn't, especially in public. It's different if you take a brother alone and talk to him firmly. Brother, this is wrong, but it's another thing to do that in public. This is something we're really going to have to pray about on this ship because people are too afraid to plaster somebody in public and right down the corridors of the ship, you hear people going on, blasting off about somebody. This is unheard of in India. Take the brother into your soundproof closet and talk with him and beware of that tremendous danger. Five, why is the foreigner not approachable either when, A, we think the team should do something differently, he would be referring to a team now where the foreigner was leading, or when he is not living consistently? Praise the Lord, I know there are some foreigners who have been very, very open to correction, but it goes back to what we've talked about day after day that we're not only so open to be rebuked and corrected. Last night I was reading a chapter of my new book on litany of humility. If you haven't heard that tape, you may want to browse through it, listen to it, I mean, because that litany of humility, if we prayed that prayer, that would solve this problem right here. And we need to be ready to be corrected. We need to want, when somebody comes to correct us or teach us or tell us, we need to want to believe as much as within us that he is right and we're wrong, because that is going to be easier for him. And you want the situation, if at all possible, to be easier for him. And try to really be open to correction. Now, some of them will accuse falsely, but that's, of course, what our Savior had most of his life. Six, where does the foreigner carry the money? Obviously, an Indian should pay the bills to avoid accusations from outside, as well as get cheaper prices. Now, this one really hit me for a loop, because I thought that I made it very clear in India that the Indians were to be in charge of the money on these teams. Apparently, we've gone backward on that, at least some teams. That is not our policy at all. The policy is that, if at all possible, give the purse to an Indian brother. I'm sure that's not going on in all the teams. But it's also a reproach if you carry personal money. Now, some people may get away with this on the ship. You must realize, a lot of people on this ship that I would never let on any Indian team, to be quite frank. They're just not ready. I may have my doubts about some of you as well, but I'm trying to believe the best. But it may go on a ship, that personal money, but it does not go in India. I remember some foreigners used to go around cashing their checks, a tremendous stumbling block to the Indians. The Indian brother's got nothing. He's got nothing. And he's getting his one or two rupees from the treasurer, and if the treasurer happens to be a Westerner, he may get growled at. That comes out in the next question. He wants to buy something. And then this guy goes in and cashes a check. All money must go into the Lord's treasury. We must be on the exact same level of the Indian brother. The Indian brother, and that comes up later on, if we need something extra because we're a foreigner, the Indians here are playing for more honesty. All right, we realize that, they say. Be open about it. Be open about it. Don't sneak around. Don't play the double role. Sometimes money is scarce. Greg has brought out this letter, feels one of the greatest problems of the work in India is lack of money. He pleads for more humanity on our part, and we know this weight of the need for funds has been on my head and heart, and I don't know why the Lord has kept us so close to the line, but I'm sure he has purposes in it. On one hand, there are problems. On the other hand, I think it's been one of the biggest character-building factors in the entire work. In everything, you must be able to see the balance. This is very, very important also to keep your own spiritual equilibrium. All right? When we request something like a pair of underpants, we get stern looks, and, of course, this is, I think, a little exaggerated. Carbon copies go around the world, telling so many what we're asking for. Well, I can see where this comes from. This comes from some brother somewhere who was really hurt by some kind of carbon copy, and so now he's sort of somewhat exaggerated the situation. But it is true, and the next one explains this, that we sometimes set ourselves up as little policemen. You must not become hardened because your team does get robbed or because you do get a false brother. We must not become hardened to people. It's much better to be robbed and to be cheated a few times than to harden your heart. The moment you harden your heart, it's better to get out of the truck and go back home. You know what I mean by that? In other words, you become distrustful of Indians, and you're questioning every brother because he may have extra rupee or because you found him sleeping under a tree when he shouldn't be giving out tracts. Just keep that forgiving and loving spirit. So, so important. You will have real tests in this area. Note, there is a tremendous general conviction among the Indian brothers and sisters that as soon as they are asked any question or make any remark, they are a marked man. Their future is ruined. I don't know how many times I was asked not to tell anyone their name or people were afraid to bring up the subject because they were so fearful of repercussions. Have we caused this or is there something in their background? It certainly isn't very helpful. We are afraid to speak to a leader because we're afterwards a marked man by all leaders. Now, I think this partly comes from the fact that certain people share a struggle and a difficulty and then it gets shared among other leaders and then an immature leader or a leader making a mistake feeds it back to the one involved and that hits him like a ton of bricks. I know of cases when that's happened. By the way, a lot of these criticisms and I'll just insert this that there has been just as strong criticism Indian against Indian. In fact, sometimes worse. Some of the Indian leaders have made the exact same mistakes as foreign leaders. Of course, some of them have learned from us. But I think we must know how to keep a confidence. If someone shares something to you privately, well, I think you should keep it confident. Or if you feel you must share it with a leader, talk to that person. Say, look, don't you think it would be good if we could share this together? It's very hard to find the balance in this, but keep alert to it. Why does the foreigner permit himself to be honored by the churches, get special treatment when the Indians on the team are just tolerated? Perhaps he goes and has a tea with the pastor while we sit outside in the truck. Well, last time I was there I had criticism just the opposite, that foreigners were refusing hospitality by missionaries and offending missionaries. This is a very ticklish problem. After all, when a missionary invites someone over, he's willing to have one Indian brother-in-law, but he can't usually handle a whole team. And we've got into all kinds of problems, and I don't have a full solution. I don't believe it's total abstinence from missionaries and from the pastor's hospitality. I don't believe it's the foreigner goes and everybody else sits in the truck. I believe perhaps there can be a rotation, that different ones could go with the leader at different times. More than that, it takes communication. Don't be afraid to explain to people why you do something. Even here on this shift, I've been amazed, even in the last day, some of the fantastic misunderstandings that come around, simply because people believe the worst before they find out what's going on, or why someone did this, or why they did that. It's really pitiful. It makes it very difficult at times for some people to survive. We're going to face this problem with the ship, as we go into various ports, even in India. The foreign community is going to be very much attracted to this ship. They're going to want to take us off. They generally won't particularly want any Indian brothers. This is where every one of us on this ship is going to have to really learn to make friends with the Indians. This ship, if it does not become Asian in India, will be a failure, and I will be the first one to auction it for sale in the next four years. I have no 100% conviction that Owen's going to have a ship all its days. I believe we're going to make it through and make this an Asian ship and a project that counts for eternity, but if it doesn't, if it ends up a fiasco, I'll be the first to offer it up for sale and put it in the Evangelical Museum in Wheaton. I'm sure we can get some Indian American to buy it at a tremendous price as a museum piece for Evangelicals. Nine. We realize that foreigners sometimes need extra things. Why don't we just admit our weakness and then the team will understand? Well, unfortunately, some won't understand, but it is better to go the way of honesty, and I think that a foreigner needs to. I think a foreigner needs to be willing to share with the team his battles and his weaknesses. For example, I mean, instead of pretending that you're abounding in the heat and then sneaking off and doing things behind their team's back trying to get relieved, to share with them that you're really finding the heat almost impossible and that you'd appreciate prayer. When a liberty is given to you, really thanking the leader, for instance, maybe the leader one day out of five does get some fruit on the team. Normally you would have it more than that to really thank him and say, you know, that really, really helps you. Appreciate that. All right. Why do the leaders just communicate, this would be criticism not just against foreigners but against all leaders, why do they communicate decrees instead of why they want to do a certain thing or why we should be moved to a certain place? Why do they move us around from team to team like pawns on a chessboard? Now, this has been a great burden on my heart. I've even sent some memos on this and I think we're going to see some changes in the future but I believe that our Indian brothers and their desire to go here and do this must be more respected. We tend to respect it a little more than the foreigners but at times we do tend to push Indian brothers around certain leaders. I think this is something that we've really got to get down on. It's not so much for you to worry about. On the other hand, oftentimes this appears to be more the case on OM than it actually is. Many times it looks like a brother's being shoveled from point A to point B and the brother is helped to be able to say to ones that he's leaving, they say, oh, why are you leaving? Why are you leaving? It's the easiest thing to say, well, look, the leaders told me I should go. That's a lot easier than saying, look, really, I'd like to go. You see what I mean? That's how it gets out of proportion. A lot of times these brothers have indicated they wanted a change or they wanted to go somewhere and then we moved them but we moved them because we knew what they wanted. Oftentimes this is the way I challenge people to go to a certain place. I find out what they want, the way the Lord's leading them, and I pray and generally the Lord just confirms that the way he's leading them is the way it should be. Then I may give the word, okay, brother, you go there and that may appear to look like I'm saying to this brother, just go there off the bat. When I've made that decision, consulting him, consulting the leaders and knowing full well that he was going to be happy in that move. Try to understand that. Sometimes you'll be able to explain these things. Now, you need to realize that at times instructions will come to your team from a leader that you will think are completely up the pole. This is where you must communicate. You must obey as much as you can but then communicate what the problem is. The balance between doing what the leader tells and liberty and guidance is a very difficult balance to find. Some people never do find it. We have different kinds of people. I have a few people, very, very few, who really seem to be willing to do anything, go to any field just as the lead needs, but they're not 10% in OM in that category. Most of the people in OM worldwide go where they feel led to go. But I think in a movement like this we need a few people who are ready to fill gaps. And the fact that a few people are ready to fill gaps enables others to do what they feel like doing. It's amazing how miscommunication comes. My wife shared with me today how she's all worried because it looks like I'm going to take her back to Europe. She's afraid she's going to be criticized because she knows that some others would like to go back to Europe at this time. And it seems no matter what way you move you will be misunderstood. I think it's something we really have to learn to be mature and realize that different people have different ministries and different guidance. I especially would appreciate, and you're dealing with me, I can't speak for all the leaders, though I know basically they're in agreement, but I wish that when you don't understand some decision that I make that you would ask for a clarification. I am spending an awful lot of my time trying to clarify certain things, but a lot of things I don't know about. So many things could be cleared up if you would communicate. Now this is the same when you're an Indian. If you communicate, especially to George Miley or to Thomas, look, why are we doing this? Get a clarification. What are the reasons for this? Oh, and it's very strong on doing things with reason. We're not one of these mystical movements where four leaders get together and pray and they get an hallucination and send everybody off on a... I mean, this ship is filled with six and a half years of research. The first thing I did within a month after getting the burden for this ship was to go on ships and start studying shipping. I can show you a letter from 1964 in which I ask some of the most basic questions about shipping and about the costs of a ship and what we ask you to do in India. There should be reasons, and if leaders are asking you to do things without reasons, I would like to know about it without mentioning leaders. This is what I need from India. I haven't had anything like this for one year. I got a little bit, a little bit from one other brother. Maybe one or two other things, some from Hannah when she came back, but I don't get much like this, you know, really showing what the actual situation is, and I'm responsible for part of this. All right, let's plow on here. What is the basis of an Indian being moved into leadership? How much does a man esteem for his labors and work's sake? For example, having worked with a team for seven years. Well, you can almost see certain people involved in that question. Being with a movement a number of years does not make a man a leader. Now, believe me, it's not just Indians who have such foolish thinking. There are some Westerners. I know some Westerners who think you're in so many years in OM, you're a leader. To be a leader, you need to have God's anointing. You need to have the gift of leadership. Now, you may be able to plug a gap temporarily. Almost everybody in OM leads a team at one time or another, but that doesn't mean you're an anointed leader. And foolish is the man, if he's been in the work even 20 years, who lets himself in for leadership that he's not got the gift for. It's a great mistake. And we have some Indian brothers that have been with us five or six years, but they don't have it. They just don't have it. And they see other new leaders, new Indians, coming in, going to the top, and they wonder, what's going on? Well, this is, of course, immaturity, lack of understanding God's way of leadership. Now, I praise the Lord for the leaders in OM worldwide. I want to tell you, if you can get together a stronger group of 70 men in one battle, I'd like to see it. I think it's a miracle. And one of the things that has impressed me is they're willing to step aside, some of the ones who have been 10 years, and leave way for men to move up into leadership who have been with us only a few years. George Miley, who will lead this shift in my place, the ministry project as a whole in Asia, is relatively new compared to Greg, Dale, Jonathan, even Ron Penny, and others. And yet, in almost every case people have seen, Greg mentions it also in this very letter here, they've seen God's anointing, they've seen this brother has gifts, he has natural gifts, he also has some spiritual gifts, and spiritual ability, and it's only logical that he is going to go sweeping by those OMers who have been with us for 13 years. And I've told people again and again that I must be ready myself at any time to turn the leadership of the whole work over to a better man. Someday it has to come, and it's a fool who's not ready for it. So, it isn't the number of years you've been in the work. However, people should be esteemed for faithful work, faithful labor, and I think there are other ways to do it, which we're working on. Indian leaders tend to get pushed into leadership fairly quickly. They shouldn't have too much complaint on that point. On the other hand, there are all Indian movements with no foreigners, where every Tom, Dick, and Harry gets into leadership before he even hardly knows how to walk spiritually. So some of our brothers who aren't leaders see others who obviously don't have the same ability and strength, you know, driving around in cars, in big positions of leadership, getting lots of money, and it's hard on them. It's hard on them. You need to understand that. That when a lot of missionaries had to move out of India, some of these Indians really stepped into the gold mine. They moved into the big white mansions, and they took over positions, they took over big sums of money, they weren't ready for it, and there's a lot of suffering because of that. And a lot of people that are leaders in other Christian groups are getting five and six times the salary as our brothers. Sometimes they feel it, and sometimes their reaction is not as spiritual as it should be. Well, I hope you're getting some of these things because they're very important. Some of you are going to be thrown in places of responsibility in India far quicker than you may think. You think you're going to go out to work under some mature leader who's going to teach you everything, and within two weeks you may find yourself on a team, be the assistant leader. All kinds of things happen. It's impossible for me to control or even predict. And that's always been true of a movement, movements that have been expanding and that are going through their growing pains. I hope we always have growing pains. This is an interesting one. Why is it when we don't dare write to a sister we discover that one of the Westers is writing to one? Well, this is an area where the Indian brothers need to be oriented. It is their culture we are trying to adapt to. I mean, I can always answer this one, and they seem to understand it. But our culture does not say it's wrong for us to write to girls. It's their culture that basically does not go along with this. And it's their parents that would be very concerned. And so we have never pretended that we were as strict with foreigners as with Indians. And this is an area where we have to explain that. Westerners are different. Our culture is completely different. Most of our life we've been dating, we've been socializing, and to say to a Westerner you can't even write to a girl, I mean, it's just ridiculous. We have tried to tell Westerners in order to unite as much with the Indians as possible, let us know what girls you're writing to. And then also it is a breach for a Westerner to write an Indian sister and start cooing around. And this may be referring to that. But of course we know that some Westerners have broken these policies. But I think this is going to be one of the biggest struggles on this ship. And I would recommend in self-discipline for all of you to start fellowshipping more with the girls. There's a lot of interaction between boys and girls on this ship. And if you want to prepare for the big day because I'm going to come down with an iron curtain on this ship, people are going to react. But I don't care. They can get in the truck and go home. I'm not going to have this ship socializing, chit-chat in the middle of India. It will offend our Indian brethren, and they can't come in on this. We can't bring all the Indian boys and all sit around the table, Indian boys, Indian girls, foreign girls, foreign boys, and it just won't work. And we will be, even if in some cities we go to, it would be understood. The total policy, when the word gets out across India, will bring a complete black mark against this whole world. Sure, we can get away with it in the cities. These cities, the whole culture is broken down. Indian girls will be coming up the gangplank, some of them with short skirts on. But we have a whole nation to think about, and we have spiritual counselors to think about, like Bhaktasena and others who are very much involved in this work. In order to, in this age, maintain a testimony in India, you must be puritanical, you must be Victorian. And it's going to take some adapting, but I would suggest some of you do it on your own back in the coming week before the curtain comes down when we arrive in India. I know people are going to complain, people are going to say to me, I've had them, oh, I don't feel free, I don't feel free. Well, you know what? I'll tell you then. Unless you can just go back to the West where you can feel free. But everybody knew this was an area where we're going to have to adapt. The same is true as dress. I want to tell you that dress on this ship still makes me sick, makes me sick. The girls have not even, some of them stood to the knee length, and some, I've seen skirts four inches above the knee on this ship. As many times as we appeal, when we get to India, it's just out, because I know it hurts. The Indian brothers tremendously must begin to do that which we've been talking about. Modesty is so important. I had a man in South Africa complain to me about the girls on our ship, the way they dress, especially when they went off the ship. We must, especially those of us going to India, be ready for a big jolt. It would be no different in a sense if we didn't have the ship. The ship in some ways has been a slower letdown into India. You'd have the same jolt to some degree if you flew it, more if you flew it. Look at the people that fly into Bombay, people that come overland by truck. You must really believe God for the victory in this area. Now, I will say a word here about love affairs among Indians. We have had a tremendously free time from Indian boys and Western girls falling in love. So, if it weren't for our policies and our discipline, that would probably be one of the biggest muddles we have in the world. Now, first of all, we are not against interracial marriages. We are not against Westerners marrying, even marrying Indians, as far as a legalized thing or a biblical thing. But we are not convinced it's really ever going to work. There may be the exceptions. We can't build policy on exceptions. Therefore, we do not encourage interracial dating or mixing on a social level. It's amazing how God has kept us free in this area. And it isn't because they're inferior. If anything, I feel that many of us are not good enough for them. But it's just that it causes confusion. It causes a lot of extra gossip. It's a tremendous problem to the children. Very few people calculate the problems that children face in these Anglo-Indian marriages. Plus, the Anglo-Indian is an unwanted person. That's a whole separate problem in itself in India today. They don't feel wanted by either a Westerner or someone else. And this is one of the reasons. You, of course, can understand why we must be strict even on the ship. Because if there is this looseness and the smiles and all the friendliness between boys and girls, these boys will go wild for our girls. They'll go right out of their heads. And some of our girls will go right out of their heads for their boys. That has actually happened in Oman more than the reverse. So we say to people, if something really does develop, it must be laid on the altar. You must go back and finish your term with OM. And then you can come back to India and you can marry this bloke. That's up to you. We will give you our warnings. We will tell you what we feel. And we don't want to get involved in it while you're in OM because it's just too complicated. But we're not, in a sense, legally saying, well, this can't be. I remember one girl who was just about to marry an Indian bloke. And I said, all right, if the Lord is leading you, fine. But go back first. Pray it through and return. When she got back to England, this girl, she prayed it through. She realized it just wouldn't work. And he married a very good Indian girl. And she came later on and just really thanked me for speaking to her. And I didn't put the pressure on her. And I won't put the pressure. Some people say, why is it forward war hard when he sees people breaking the rules? Because you must learn. I refuse to operate on like a dictatorship. I see plenty of things going wrong around here. You must learn. When you learn through the Lord and through mild exhortation and through the ministry, certainly these things are communicated one way or the other, it will be far more real to you. And you may say also, why doesn't he put the hard hand on me? But if the hard hand came down on you, I just wonder how you would react. I've discovered that the softer touch generally accomplishes more. Well, I'm glad that this came up because I should have mentioned it before. And I'll be very frank that if we see a lot of difficulties on the ship, we have one simple problem. The ship will become an all-male ship. Ninety percent of all the ships in the world are all men. And this ship can become all men as well. I don't believe that will have to be. But it's going to mean that those connected with the ship, this is something I'll say in the old orientation session for everybody, are going to have to be ready to really be disciplined in this area. Do leaders realize how embarrassing it is for us to be sent home with no money in our pocket, having to ask for a rupee if we want to visit a friend, having to ask for it from our father. Now, we took a very official policy two years ago that Indian brothers, when they went home, would be given some money, but somehow it breaks down. Sometimes we're afraid to communicate that we're in a crisis. We're afraid to ask for money from Bombay. And that gets us in difficulty. If we don't have the faith to see it come in, then at least have the honesty to admit you're in trouble. And the honesty is a very high virtue together with faith. And I've had the battle with this, but it is our policy to try to give these brothers something. In most cases, that is true. Unfortunately, a lot of times, things we do are never known. I had a brother come to me on this ship, very critical about a particular brother that we had to ask to lead the ship. Captain, actually, I was asked to lead. He was in the very beginning of the project, and I was in agreement. He felt this fellow had an unfair deal. He had no idea of everything we did for that fellow behind the scenes. He had no idea. We had kept him for weeks. We had given him money. We had paid his back taxes. We had even given him a recommendation letter that actually got him a job, which is a miracle. But didn't know about it. Meanwhile, criticism comes against the leadership because it isn't our job as leaders to announce to everybody every time we do something good. And so what happens? Of course, the wrong things you do sometimes get a little more obvious, but the things you do behind the scenes, trying to minister in the name of Jesus, people don't see. If you see anyone asked to leave the work out there in India, believe me, it won't be until a lot of prayer, a lot of patience. I don't know many groups that are so slow to ask people, in a sense, to leave. Be careful of judging. We had to ask an Indian brother to leave a couple of years ago. Boy, I got some letters from Westerners, all of me, names and the works. I wrote and I said, you know the situation with this fellow. The fellow actually had doctrinal heresy, a complete screwy doctrines, plus he was criticizing the whole work. He was obviously not happy in the work, and a whole list of other things. But I don't think when we ask someone to leave out in India, an Indian brother, that we have to publish a documentary of 40 things he's done wrong. You must somehow believe the best, and to some degree say, well, that's not my business. And you will have Indian brothers sometimes come to you, maybe even Westerners, and feed you dirt about another leader. Be careful. Lovingly, tenderly tell them that really this isn't something you can do much about. The best thing you can do is encourage them to go directly to the brother. Watch out in all of life for one person playing another against another. That's a game as old as Cain and Abel, playing one against the other. And it's very much involved when we're seeking sympathy. Some of the brothers seek sympathy. You can give them a listening ear. You don't have to clobber them. But be balanced. As you listen, say, now, look, there's another side. There's always another side. There's always another side, usually at least five more sides. And these principles, you know, if you can learn these things in these days, they will be trophies of spiritual power for you the rest of your life. Really, because these are the same problems. Don't think that your problems basically come because you're in India. Your problems basically come because you're on the earth. And there's problems everywhere. When I go back to England, I often find more problems than I find out in India. Next point. What orientation are Westerners given about India? Why do they come out so negative, so afraid to eat this or touch that, or act like they're going to be poisoned the first week? Well, you can see where Indian brothers get a little bit sensitive about some of our ideas. I would say from my study that most Indians don't have a hang-up on this. They realize a little bit about the Westerners. But it is true that some people in India develop literally a neurosis about health. And I appreciated the line that Dr. McPherson has taken, not to worry about so many of these sicknesses. Worry is probably still the biggest sickness. And the Lord is going to take care of you. You must to some degree be a Calvinist and just believe that you do the best you can and leave the rest to the Lord. Otherwise you're going to worry yourself into a state of anxiety sickness. And you go into a restaurant fidgeting about, you forgot your thermos or whatnot, you won't eat or won't drink, picking around with the food, make everybody nervous. So there's a good point. Now you may not think the orientation you've had is so much, but you've had more than most. And you can get more. Most of the material has been given to you, but whether it's got in upstairs, I don't know. Because the mistakes we make out in India are the same thing, the same basic things really, it comes down to it. If OM is going to make us leave after the training program, why isn't there some kind of placement service provided where OM has contact with other groups, they can help us find a place of more permanent work. This was what Greg felt was one of the very good positive suggestions. And I think we want to do more of this in the days to come. I myself notice that quite a few of these Indians when they leave us, they seem to do get placed quite well without our help. Because there are a lot of jobs, but it is difficult to place a fellow who for one year has been lazy and hasn't done anything. We find it difficult to recommend, and that's not just true of Indians, that's true of some foreigners. Recently two Westerners who I felt were just really not making the grade at all for missions. Both of them just turned up in candidate school for a leading mission. I almost fell over. I said, well, they must have experienced a revolution when they got home. But we are trying to do this. We need to do more. We need more communication. I'm interested in finding out who's left. I've been away for a year, and I find out Indian brothers who I thought were really going places suddenly have been semi-dumped. We are trying to hold back on this, and some of these brothers can come back into the work again after a time home. Sometimes we as leaders can't always agree. I tend to be wanting more people to stay on full-time. There are others who want to cut it down. Of course, there are some who are in between. We do believe it's a training program, but it's very important for you to understand that from the beginning, almost the beginning of the work in India, we were looking for full-time, lifetime workers in OM. It's the only way we can work. We cannot work on everybody leaving two years. We are building an indigenous, permanent work in India, more than most fields we are in. We are looking for Indians who want to be life with us. One of the reasons we have this ship, this is going to be their ship so that they can get a break from India. Any brother who's been with us four or five years, if he wants to come on this ship right now, he can come just like that. His leader will have to put up, another leader will have to put up a pretty strong case against him. Because we feel that this is one of the reasons for the ship, that Indians can get a change and get a break and develop their span of thinking and their ministry, rather than quitting us, getting linked with some other group and flying off to the United States. We have an interesting number of XOMers in the United States and England. They knew how we were basically against this. They left us, started riding around, they learned a few vocabulary words from us and pretty soon they woke up to me in a meeting in Chicago. I've had it. And I feel this hurts our Indian brothers who have faithfully slogged on with us, never been given much scope. Greg mentioned this in his letter from the Normal Distribution and Witnessing Program and the ship, I believe, is going to help us on this. We do have some people, even among Westerners, who want to keep the hard hand down on the Indians. You may meet some of these. They want to keep them, boy, 11 months a year, the backs of the trucks, distributing, preaching, working. Don't give them any taste of Kathmandu. Don't give them any taste of the ship because this will spoil them. They won't want to work 8 hours a day, 15 hours a day for the next 10 years. Well, I am totally opposed to that. It's good that there's room for disagreement among us as leaders. But I believe these brothers must be given greater scope for thinking, for study. They cannot continue 10 years in the back of a truck. We won't do it. What Western is doing, I want to find out. And we cannot expect the Indian brother to do that. He must be given change. He must be given scope for his mind. He has a mind as much as anybody else. We go up to Labrie, we go one year with OM, one year with Campus Crusade, one year with Cape Henry, one year with Joe Doe's Billy Bible College, another year with a seminary. Can we expect the Indian brother 10 years in the back of a truck giving out tracts, preaching and teaching and selling books? No, I don't agree with it. And so I believe that even though the Indian may come on this ship and get quote-unquote a little spoiled in the long run, if he can't make it through this kind of thing and come out mature and still able to go back and do the hard work, well, we failed him anyway. We failed him anyway. What's the use? We're just kidding ourselves. Sooner or later, he's just going to pack it all in. We must be out in India to build the total man. Some of you will have to face criticism against the ship. Are you ready for this? I mean, people are this way. Sometimes they like to hear themselves talk. But they're going to come to you and start probing about the ship and they're going to develop their little conclusions. Some of them will come to the ship and see our lounges and stick their nose in the air-conditioning pipe and go away convinced that this will hinder the work. I don't think there'll be many in that line. But don't feel you have to be arch-defender of the ship project. Go to India to preach Christ. And if you've got some good answers, give them. Encourage them to write to me. Encourage them to come and spend some time on the ship. There are problems no matter what, whether you're in the back of the truck or in the bottom of a hole. There are problems. And the inner man is what makes the difference. Oh, if we could only see that. All right? Only two more points. Why do Westerners always get excited whenever an inquiry is made about one of the Western countries? They are so afraid that the moment we say anything about the West, our motivation for being out of land is completely false. Very good point. Don't jump out of your shoes if a brother asks you about your country. Be willing to share. We're not responsible for all the mistakes they make. If a brother wants to get West, he's probably going to get there with or without you. So don't be too hypersensitive on this point. If you want to be able to carry on a conversation, try to learn some intelligent reasons why it isn't so good for an Indian to go West. There are many reasons. I think I should give some to you. First of all, it's been proven that many of these brothers go and don't come back. They go and don't come back and our burden is for India. We're in love with India. See, try to be positive. We're in love with India. We want to see you brothers making a dynamic impact there. And it bothers us when we meet Joblo who went West to study the word of God to come back in India and he married silly Sally on Coconut Street and is living happily ever after in Texas. I mean, you can see that this hurts us because we love India. And so we want our... I mean, we're out there trying to encourage Westerners to come to India to lay down their lives in India so we see some of the best potential men going there and never coming back. It hurts us. Secondly, we believe that today the rising nationalism, Indianization, anti-West feeling that any Indian brother who goes West when he comes back to his own country he has a stigma. You can say to him, look, you find it hard enough just working with us as Westerners. What is it going to be when you come back with your Western degree and your nylon underpants and all these other things people are going to wonder? And I know a fellow who went to school with me at Moodle and when he went back to India he couldn't stay in his own country. He wouldn't drink his own water, he wouldn't eat his own food and though he was a missionary leader he finally quit and settled in the United States with his Indian wife. I want to tell you that really shattered me. Also, we had a test case. Years ago, we decided to take one Indian brother who really had good recommendations, a university student, West, and it was a complete failure. He is 100 miles from Jesus Christ today and he told me after being two years West, you know what he said to me? He said, you know, I never did feel at home in India. Of course, and he never went back. He was a very, very close friend of mine, completely backslidden. Part of it happened through going to Libri and getting in contact with Dr. Schaefer. It wasn't Dr. Schaefer's fault, but this chap was not ready for that kind of thing. It just blew him. The Libri and all this kind of thing that's being emphasized is just a fantastic thing. It just blows their minds and it blew his spirituality as well. They get to see that certain things are childish. It's true. We have things that are childish, but we have to grow up out of our childhood, not just throw them away and get into a more degenerate state. This is another reason. Also, we believe that people can get a better training and just as good education, especially now with the ship. In a sense, OM's ship is its substitute for sending people to seminary and Bible school and all these places in the West. Indians can come on the ship. They can get to the Persian Gulf. They can get to Singapore. They can get to other countries. They can have an outlet. They can learn. They can get a lot of teaching through the teachers on the ship, through the tapes, without the expense. That's another thing we strongly say is that it's a terrific expense. What does it cost to fly to America and to live in America? That's another important factor as well. I think we need to point out to them that we don't even encourage Americans to go live in America. That always gets them. You can tell about me that I've left America. America's past me. It would be a very, very unusual thing if I ever lived there again because the Lord led me to Europe and led me to the East. My children are on a European education. If I could be in India, I'd probably live there all the time. I think you need to realize also that as I leave the ship, it's not that I want to leave the ship. It's not that I want to leave Asia, but in some ways, this ship is a picnic for me. The responsibilities that I hold in the work and back in Europe, the new recruits, the summer crusade, the annual conference, and all the people coming and going. I can't just dump this and say I'm going to live happily ever after in the all-purpose room with my history books visiting ports every ten days. India will be far more intensive. I realize that, and that's where I'd like to be. Don't think that my wife is going back because she wants to necessarily either. She, of course, praises the Lord and does what she's told. But it's so easy to get mixed up in these things, and I think the Indians have to see that we are different and our hearts are out here. They really get upset about the blokes that come to India one year and quit. This really shakes them. They say, well, this just shows what you all are made out of. Try to stick out your turn. May the Lord give you grace to stick out your turn and at least indicate to the Indian that you really want to stay in India if that's the Lord's will. May there be only one reason you go back west, and that's because you feel and believe it's the Lord's will. You know, one thing I tell some of the Indians, I say, look, on one hand, you complain about our mistakes, but on the other hand, you criticize us as we leave. You can say that when you're getting a free conversation. I say, make up your mind. We're not perfect. If you want foreigners to stay and work, we want to stay, but it's not always easy to work in a place where you essentially don't want to. Would you work? If you felt you weren't wanted, they wouldn't because that's the first thing that causes them to leave when they feel they're not wanted. And it is true that some of those foreigners feel not wanted, and I think when the Indians begin to understand some of these things a little deeper, they will do more to begin to win the Western. You should hear me have a go at these Indians. We'll be having sessions in here because I treat them as equals. I say it's their responsibility to teach us, especially those of us who are new. The Indians come out on the ship, I'm going to be challenged a lot harder than that. They're going to set the pace. And if they look at some crew member who's six months old in Jesus Christ and start complaining that he's not spiritual, I mean, I'll push it right down their throat. Of course they'll take it from me because I've been out there seven years with them. They may not take it from some of you. And they will. They will take it tremendously. The Indians will take it more than the Westerners. And it's a tremendous thing that these Indians are open to correction and to revolutionary ideas. Last, why don't Westerners consider us as having enough intelligence to be consulted before decisions are made on the team? And then it seems that no evaluation is made after the mistake so we continue to make the same mistake. Yes, I think there is a tendency sometimes to esteem an Indian as an inferior being. I hope after Philip Morris' lecture we don't have any more of that in our heads. But then we will see that they are able to think and come up with some very good ideas. Thomas Samuel has come up with many good ideas as the overall leader, and other Indian brothers as well. And try to give them the opportunity to express themselves, express their ideas, and treat them as equals. Now you may say this overwhelms me. I think if I were sitting in your shoes just going out to India as a new recruit, how much does Verwer think I can take? I'm a magician? I can adapt to all this after his muddled lectures? I'm going to try to live this life? Look, nobody's expecting you to live all this. But if you at least start, if you at least set these as your goals, get on your knees about it, the Spirit of God can begin to work. There's no one that's got more used to living with mistakes, blunders, muddles, confusion, than I have. I don't expect you to come bounding off the ship as the great apostles, though, let me read what Brother Greg says about his hopes for the ship. Well, our time has gone, so let's close in prayer. Our Father, we thank and praise you for your grace, your sufficient grace to minister to us and enable us to live out these things, not be an offense. Lord, teach us the way of brokenness, the way of humility. Lord, I thank you that a majority of foreigners who have gone to India have made an impact, have won Indian brothers, have been encouraged. Lord, we just know that you're going to make that an increasing number in the days to come. Keep us from the pitfalls of Satan. We look to you, that, we would really know the way of Jesus, in whose name we pray. Amen. Amen. I have complete confidence that God is going to work out all those things that lie ahead. You know, when we were back in Rotterdam, I can't tell you sometimes how black it looked, the problems, sometimes it just seemed that all day long, just one thing after another, and I've seen God just, and I've had others tell me that the Lord just put him together, this ship project, so many things that we don't even know about behind the scenes, and I have no doubt that he is going to miraculously integrate the ship into the work in Asia. And you will be a vital part of that. Your life will be the best testimony for the ship project. Okay.