In 2016, The president of Lanka Bible College at Colombo in Sri Lanka approached TVS to help launch an online program there. However, the timing wasn’t right. Last year, a connection with iTEE Global, which works with ministry organizations in Asia by assisting them in developing their capacity to train their leaders, asked TVS about using our course “Church planting." The course would be used to teach pastors in India in their network there. We were gladly able to help them. Craig Ott, Ph.D.- Church Planting Chair of the Mission and Evangelism Department Professor of Mission and Intercultural Studies ReachGlobal Chair of Mission
After a recent connection with East-West ministries and several ZOOM meetings. We discussed their emphasis on training pastors in India and how we could help them. We discovered that although many people in India speak English, there are over 750,000 churches in India, and many of them conduct services in Hindi or Tamil. For those in India who speak languages other than English, Biblical education is not available. So, the TVS leadership team began to pray for an interpreter.
TVSEMINARY is a part of the International Council of Evangelical Theological Education. Theon.in is also a part of ICETE and is an educational organization that also records courses and offers them online to India in English.
Their director Joshua Lyadurai had been prating about offering courses in Tamil and Hindi to their course selections. The collaboration with TVS is an answer to prayer for both parties seeking to meet the need in India for the people speaking Tamil. Joshua Lyadurai, Ph.D.- Director at Theon.in Online Faculty, Roehampton University, London Guest Lecturer, Dept. of Christian Studies, University of Madras, Chennai Director, Marina Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Religion Director Lyadurai is a native Tamil speaker and recently passed the TVS qualifying criteria to translate the selected course “The Untroubled Heart” by Dennis Kizziar. Dennis Kizziar- The Untroubled Heart Dennis Kizziar is a founder of World Leadership Ministries and “The Untroubled Heart” seminar. Objectives of the Course
to explain the spiritual heart from a biblical perspective
to identify the three common obstacles to a life of freedom
to show step by step how to deal with self-destructive behaviors
to provide practical and biblical help on how to live out Jesus’ words in John 14:1.
Many challenges face India with Covid 19, and a stream of prayer is being answered to protect Joshua as he does his translation work. Many of his friends and church members have died of the disease. The first of 21 lectures is now translated into Tamil! Would you please pray for India and the protection of Joshua from Covid 19 as it rages around him? We are also experiencing another intense wave of Covid 19 in Russia. Many people are getting the disease for the second time. Flights out of the country are also being restricted, so would you please pray that I will be able to come to the U.S. later in the summer and early fall to visit you all in person. My dear friends, thank you for all your thoughts, prayers, and generous gifts! ... Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ... Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" 2 Corinthians 9:12-15 Vitaly Petrov Executive Director