Just about done!

We made it! 13 lectures- 3 hours each, 30 pastors and church leaders, all of 1 & 2 Peter, the Sermon on the Mount and during 108 degree heat. God was so faithful. We ended our time with the men this morning with a communion and commissioning service. It was so powerful to be a part of this time with the guys we were training. It was very evident how big our God is as we celebrated communion together. I had no idea what they were saying, but at the same time, knew exactly what they were saying.

Randy and I also had the opportunity then of praying for and commissioning four new leaders (pictured above). These men are now in charge of four regions in India. They will be leading the leaders who lead the church planters. God is moving in such amazing ways here in India.

Randy and I appreciate so much all of your prayers and support for our journey. We are sad to be leaving but at the same time so ready to be with our families and in our own beds. We would ask you to pray that our long trip home will go smoothly.

We look forward to seeing all of you and telling you more of our stories!
In Christ…
Brian

Half Way!

Well, we are over half way this morning. Yesterday, Sunday, we had a worship service in the morning and then just rested in the afternoon. Randy preached a powerful message from 1 Peter chapter 5 on Satan the roaring lion. It was nice to have the afternoon off.

I attached a short video of the worship time here. We begin every morning with about 30 minutes of worship. Although Randy and I have no idea what is being sung we are able to sense the presence of God here.

The men here have been asking some very powerful and challenging questions. In teaching through the book of 1 Peter Randy has had lots of questions on persecution. It has been overwhelming to hear what some of these guys go through in their home towns. It is convicting to think how easy we have it in the States.

On Saturday I taught through Matthew 5:31-32 which is about divorce. One of the pastors told us about a man in his church who came to Christ but has two wives. He was asking us how we would advise him to lead this man. Should the man divorce one wife? What should he do? Like I said, tough questions.

Continue to pray for us. Randy has two more lectures and I have three. During the last lecture we are going to share communion together and pray for all of the men. Randy and I miss you all and although we are having a great time are starting to long for our own beds.

May the grace and peace of God impact you today.
Brian

Day 2 of Teaching

Wow... It's hot here. About 102 today. I did my 2nd lecture on the Sermon on the Mount this morning and Randy is in the midst of his 2nd on 1 Peter as I type. The men here are really hungry to grow and learn. They have been asking lots of great questions.

This morning after I talked about "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake" in the beatitudes, one of the church planters asked me what persecution looks like in the States. It was a humbling moment to answer him. I learned that he has experienced real persecution in his city. He has been threatened and has endured some pretty challenging things. His name is Charles and I would invite you to pray for him and his church today.

On a much lighter note, the food here is awesome! We eat so much for lunch we don't eat dinner. They are so hospitable here. Wilson and Aruna are the couple that are taking care of us. They pass on their greetings to all of you who have met them.

Randy and I sure appreciate your prayers.
Until next time...
Brian

We Made It

We're here! It was a great flight. Really! The flight from JFK to Dubai was 12 hours but only half full so I was able to stretch out over three seats and actually sleep. I watched a couple of good movies including The King's Speech (solid!).

It is great to be back. Being around these church planters is so encouraging. They are so hungry to learn the Word of God, experience God, and plant churches. It is humbling to be teaching them.

Right now Randy is teaching his first lecture on 1 & 2 Peter and I will start the Sermon on the Mount this afternoon.

Please pray that God would use us. Also, there are some pastors that are not here yet because there have been protests in east India and the trains are not running. So pray for them.

Until next time.
Brian

Where to Follow

There will be several places you can be checking for updates:

Blog: http://bprtrip.blogspot.com
Twitter: Follow bagovino
Facebook: friend "Redeemer Church" or Brian Agovino
Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/bagovino888

Hopefully we will be updating regularly.
Gotta love technology!

10 Days to Departure!

Well, it's hard to believe it's time to head back to India!
Randy Taylor and I are headed back to teach at Logos Wholistic Ministries again. He will be doing six sessions on 1 & 2 Peter and I will be teaching on the Sermon on the Mount.

We hope that you will check back regularly for updates and videos.

Thanks for your prayers.
Brian

Almost Home

Well, today we wrapped up the training. It was awesome! We prayed for the guys and they prayed for us. Tomorrow we will do a little shopping and some sigh seeing before our 30 journey home. That sounds like a long time...

We appreciate all of your prayers and really look forward to sharing with you more when we get back! Thanks for following the blog!

Pray for safe travels....

Sunday's Preaching Seminar by Brian Agovino

This is Paul Stolwyk from First EFC in St. Louis...

Yesterday, Brian Agovino preached during our worship service from the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5. He did a great job unfolding the text and reminding us of the triumphant news that we are Jesus' treasure. He also helped us see how all our worries actually reveal our unbelief that we are his treasure and show us where are heart actually is despite what we say.

After tea, Brian did a preaching seminar for the church planters, modeling how he approached teaching the sermon on the mount at Redeemer, how he broke up the text, why it is good to teach through a section of Scripture at a time. They appreciated having his teaching segments and the big idea of each segment.

The Lord really used Brian to encourage these men and give them not only something they could take and use right away but also modeled how to think through preparing to teach. He did a great job as well of thinking contextually to the culture where these men work and live. In the west, we have vast resources to help us prepare - sermons, books, commentaries, etc. But these brothers have only the the Word, the Spirit and their own minds. Not a bad threesome but they do not have access to the 4th tool - the thoughts of others within their culture.

The Home Stretch

We had a great weekend. Church and some training on Sunday but then we were able to rest Sunday afternoon. We have 2 1/2 days of training to go. We are all a little tired but having a great time!

I posted a new video on http://www.youtube.com/user/bagovino888 of what it is like driving in Ahmenabad. The video still does not do it justice.

We are thinking of you all. We missed the Superbowl because we were asleep when it was on.
Go Saints!

Persecution

Sorry we didn't update yesterday, the internet was down all day... We are good though...

We have a new video from the day before you can watch at
http://www.youtube.com/bagovino888

We are learning so much from these pastors. Their love for Jesus and their commitment to Him is challenging and inspiring. We continue to hear stories of men who have experienced some real and intense persecution. We are not able to show you pictures of the training and the men we are meeting so that we can protect them.

Today (Saturday) we are at the half-way point of the training. We are doing section 4 of Ephesians and Acts. Tomorrow we will have church and then we are going to do a preaching seminar.

Thank you for all of your prayers. Please pray for Randy he is still having some struggles sleeping. God has been faithful to give him strength to teach though as his training sessions have been great.

We hope that you enjoyed the snow in St. Louis. We were enjoying the 90 degree weather.
We miss you all....

Day 2

Well, we made it through the second day! The first day of teaching was awesome. Most of the men who are being trained are here by now. Some of them are late because the train that they take was delayed for over 8 hours because of fog.

Last night we just hung out at the hotel. Today, day 3 we are going to spend the evening with the guys who are here for training.

I put another video on http://www.youtube.com/user/bagovino888. We'll try and put one up everyday that talks about our experience here.

First Day Video

If you go to http://www.youtube.com/bagovino888 you can watch our first day video.
I'll try and post a video every day or so.

Day 2 - The Teaching Begins

We arrived at Logos Wholistic Ministries this morning around 9. It was wonderful to walk in as the group was singing praise songs. We had idea what they were singing but were drawn into the presence of God very quickly.

After some introductions Randy did the first session. He did an introduction of the book of Ephesians. We just enjoyed some tea and are about to start the next session.

Last night, our second night, in India went well. I slept through the night - 8pm-5am. Ohh the blessings of Ambien. Randy was up at 2:45am and Paul 4. We are all really energized.

I am hoping to get a video up on youtube.com in a minute. I'll post the site if it works.
Thanks for the prayers....

We Made It!

We're here! What a great trip. Everything went totally smooth.
India is amazing and beautiful!
Today it will be 89 degrees!

We are off to go have dinner with Wilson (the head of the ministry here) and spend the afternoon with his family. We start training tomorrow.

5 Days Till Departure

Well, the time is fast approaching. All of the visa's are here, Imodium has been purchased and the packing process is in full effect. We will be arriving in Ahmedabad on Tuesday the 2nd. They are officially 11 and 1/2 hours ahead of St. Louis time.

Ahmedabad is about 350 miles north of Mumbai which is on the west side of India. It is the largest city in the state of Gujarat, with a population of approximately 5.2 million people. Tomorrow the weather outlook is partly sunny with a high around 87 and a low of 60. Not bad...

First Post

Everything is in motion... Paul, Randy and I had our first meeting to plan, pray and prepare for our 12 day trip to Ahmadabad India (see picture to the right). We'll be leaving on Feb. 1st to train and equip church planters in India by studying the book of Acts and Ephesians. We hope that you'll come back regularly to check for updates.