September 2025 After India and Malaysia

At a pastors day retreat hosted at Church of the Rock Theological Seminary in Andra Pradesh

“Tomorrow is our torture session.” I (Lisa) wondered if I had pushed my students too hard when one of them said this as class ended on Wednesday. (He was grinning good-naturedly, so I wasn’t too worried.) Rich and I were in a town on the east coast of India for ten days at a vibrant seminary there. Rich’s class had over twenty students and each session was inductive. Mine was a smaller group and more lecture-based, but I didn’t want to do all the talking! I gave them two assignments that I knew would stretch them, as first-year students. The first was to retell a story from anywhere in the Bible as a minor, possibly non-human character, such as a rock that became part of the temple, the dust that was made into clay and healed the blind man, etc. For the second tortuous task, I handed them each a small strip of paper with a doctrine (the atonement, the humanity and divinity of Christ, Creation) and asked them to teach about it for five minutes, including a brief testimony as to how this doctrine is good news to them personally.
I told them that I would choose four of the narratives for them to preach in chapel on Friday. As Thursday’s class came, I wondered how it would go.  A few of them struggled with English. They come from all over India, so English is the best common language for their school, but it is not just the second but the third language for some, such as the students who come from a mountainous region of Northeast India. A couple of them misunderstood and simply retold the story, but a few of them were simply stunning in their vivid description, creative angles, and dramatic flair.
At chapel the next day, the electricity failed, as it often does in semi-rural India. Without fans, we were dripping with sweat, and without microphones, we needed to shout. But one by one, four brave students brought narratives from Scripture to life in fresh and profound ways. None of them had done an exercise like this before and they were so pleased with what they produced. I was asked to say a few words at the end. I teared up a bit when I said, “As I listen to you, I know that the future of the church in India is bright.”  This is a counter-intuitive statement today. Persecution seems clearly to be increasing, as we shared in our last letter. We heard many stories over our time there of pastors being beaten, imprisoned, and even killed. It can indeed feel that the future of the church in India is dark, so I felt led to offer this word of hope. Their very presence in seminary, diligently preparing to serve in settings that may put them in harm’s way, is a sign of how deeply the gospel has permeated their hearts and how strong and resilient the church is in India. It was a great honor to make this small investment in the future of that church.
From India, Rich returned to the US, and I went on to Malaysia. The primary purpose of that trip was to be part the faculty team of the Asia Graduate School of Theology (AGST) as we gather annually to encourage and guide the doctoral students who work independently around Asia. Once a year, they gather for three days of fellowship, and to share their dissertations’ progress. It feels like an extreme gym workout for the brain, as I work hard to focus and listen well so I can offer salient feedback to each one. With each presentation, I marveled at the different gifts and perspectives each faculty member brought, as each of us saw different strengths and weaknesses in the student’s work. We all worked hard to bring our critique with kindness and clarity. I first participated in this colloquium remotely while we were traveling in India in 2022, then in person while living in Kuala Lumpur in 2023, and remotely again last year, so I was glad to be able to be there again in person. This work feels as strategic as almost anything I do, as it raises up local scholars through a program that they can afford and that doesn’t require them to uproot themselves to study far from home.  I was delighted afterwards to spend a day at St. Paul’s Theological College, connecting with the faculty and students who had become dear to me during our time in Malaysia. I’m so grateful for this trip!
What’s ahead for us? We will spend the fall mostly here in Durham, NC, working with our church in various capacities, teaching remotely (in India, Nepal, and China for Rich, and at Fuller for me), and enjoying the fall foliage. We will be planning a three-month journey through Malaysia and India in the first quarter of 2026, which will culminate in a short-term missions trip we’ll lead to Assam and Nagaland for our church. Already, we can see that ten weeks in India is not long enough to visit all the places where Rich has been forging deep connections through his Zoom teaching, and we will need to discern together what is most strategic.

Please pray for:

• My right knee seems to be worsening, though it could be just recovering from lots of sitting on planes, etc. I’ll be discerning this month whether and when to pursue knee replacement surgery.
• We lost two major donors this year and need to work this fall on fundraising to close that gap.
• The India team we hope to bring together at church for a March 2026 trip. We have high hopes, but it is a big ask, for folks who’ve mostly not traveled longer than a few hours’ flight from here. We are praying for a strong team to come together by mid-October.

We are grateful as always for your prayers and support that make our work possible! Drop us a reply here with an update on your life and how we can be praying for you.

Love in Jesus,
Lisa and Rich

Lisa, the other faculty, and the Doctoral Candidates for the AGST in Kuala Lumpur

Lisa with the Ladies of the Pastor’s Conference. Wherever we go,
​both men and women appreciate hearing Lisa preach and teach.