An Introduction to REAP Church Planters: Who They Are, What They Do, and the Impact They Create

At REAP, disciple making is our top priority. Because of this, our mission revolves around planting reproducing churches throughout India. We want to see a movement of church planting across India, with each church planter fully equipped to begin planting churches in their region on their own. Our ultimate goal is to establish sustainable and reproducible churches within a 5-year time period.

In order to do this, we must be have the right people in the right places to carry out this critical work. We wanted to walk you through what that process looks like to give you insight on how it all works, who our church planters are, the impact they make, and how your donations make it all happen.

Who Our Church Planters Are

Our church planters are men who are interested in being trained as pastors, want to have an impact on their community, and want to share the Gospel. These individuals are passionate about serving and helping others in their communities, and they have a deep desire to share the love of Christ with those around them.

How We Identify Them/How They Are Chosen

We invite local leaders and others to send their potential candidates for the next church planting project. The key leader and the leadership team then select likely candidates. These candidates receive initial training and are sent for a 6-month trial period to prove their commitment and capability. Proven candidates will be taken into the project for 3 years, with a contract to plant indigenous and reproductive churches. During the 3-year period, church planters will go through 16 weeks of training and receive financial support, supervision, and mentoring. We encourage pioneering and the formation of new disciples, rather than taking members from other churches.

Their Impact On Their Local Community

Our church planters have a tremendous impact on their local communities. They share the Gospel and bring people to Christ, rescue orphans and provide them a home at a Springbuds location, help those in poverty or in need in the local area, help people find jobs or ways to overcome their difficult situations and so much more. By planting churches, our pastors help build up the local community and provide a foundation for lasting change.

How Your Donations Impact Them

Your donations directly impact this work and allow it to happen. Donations directly go to church planters to help them provide for their families while ministering in the community. Generous giving allows more pastors to be trained and churches to be planted. Your support is essential in helping us achieve our mission of planting reproducing churches across India. We can’t thank our donors enough for their faithfulness!

Church Planting is Our Greatest Mission

We believe that planting churches is essential to building up local communities and spreading the Gospel in India. Our church planters are dedicated and passionate about serving their communities and sharing the love of Christ. With your support, we can continue to train and equip more pastors and plant more churches across India. If you’d like to give towards our mission, click here.

Picnic in the Grove 2023 Recap

Our third annual Picnic in the Grove event was a huge success! Keep reading to learn about all of the fun we had, the amazing turnout, and the final tally of the funds we were able to raise for REAP!

This year’s event included a corn hole tournament, a petting zoo, and a basketball game. Kids in attendance were able to create art pieces with their handprints and then were sold in a live auction! These pieces will be hung at the Springbud's homes in India.

We were also incredibly blessed to have the premier fundraising group in Austin, Cowboy Auctioneers, donate their time to help put on the live auction. Thank you SO much to the Cowboy Auctioneers for all of your help!

We had 225 attendees this year and our very own Dr. Jayakumar was in attendance too! He joined in on the fun and shared the history of REAP.  It was amazing to see so many new families at this year’s event and to be able to share what God is doing in India.

In all, we were able to raise $255,000 dollars! Truly incredible. We could not be more grateful to every single person who made this possible. These donations will help to deploy 25 church planters over the next year as well as the ongoing needs of the Springbud Children's Homes. 

We already can’t wait for next year!

Springbuds Update | February 2023

We have many new updates to share with you about our Springbuds Program. Keep reading to learn what our Springbuds have been up to lately.

Whenever we have Springbuds that are old enough to graduate from our Shihaphumi home and head to our home in Dimapur, the staff puts on a “Farewell Dinner.” These 3 Springbuds recently graduated from the younger home and enjoyed their special dinner before they head to Dimapur.

Two of our Springbuds in Dimapur — Viboli and Namasen — got to participate in a special cultural song/dance at the school’s recent jubilee!

Springbuds at school!

Meet Loinoli! She is 5 years old. Her father passed away when she was just 5 days old. She has 7 other siblings but her mother eloped with another man and is now excommunicated from the village due to her poor moral behavior. All of her siblings are quite young and not able to take care of her. When her uncle approached us about helping we immediately took her in. We’re so grateful to be able to help precious children like Loinoli.

Meet Akivi! After his father passed away his mother remarried a man from her own tribe and left him at her aunt's house. Since the aunt was childless, his mother left him believing she could take care of them. However, his aunt is very poor and unable to take care of herself, let alone him. Since she lives in a village nearby Shihapumi, she approached us to see if he could help. Thanks to many generous donations we were able to immediately say “Yes!”

Wrapping Up

Thank you for investing in our Springbuds program. Because of you, we’re able to take new Springbuds in, invest in their lives, send them to school, and share the Gospel with them on a daily basis.

If you want to learn more about our Springbuds program, just click here.

Our First Update of 2023!

Welcome to our first update of 2023! Whether you’re a long time supporter of REAP or brand new to our work, we’re glad you’re here reading and following along.

We share an update like this every single month with stories, information on our church planters and Springbuds program, as well as ways you can pray for the entire REAP team.

Pastor Pradeepa in Karnataka

Pictured at the far left of the photo above is Pastor Pradeepa along with a new family in the area that he has recently connected with. It is not always easy to make inroads with new families who can be skeptical of Christianity, but thankfully, he was able to share some with this family and they were receptive. So much so that they invited Pastor Pradeepa to their home. Pray over Pastor Pradeepa as he ministers to this family and many others and that they would continue to be receptive to the Gospel.

New Bibles for the Springbuds

We are so thankful for the people of Berean Bible Church who donated enough Bibles to gift every single Springbud a new one! Our 10th-12th grade students are currently going through spiritual coaching classes as well.

New Springbuds in Dimapur

Our Springbuds program consists of two different locations and homes. One houses our elementary school-aged children and the other our middle and high school students. These younger Springbuds — Aosafu, Chillio S & Loni Kath — just recently made the transition to Dimapur where our older children live.

Wrap up

Thank you for taking the time to read our latest updates! Be sure to sign up for our monthly newsletter if you haven’t already to gain access to more information including our monthly prayer guide.

The Real Miracle of Christmas is God's Unfailing Love

As we have been reflecting on the Christmas season and what that looks like in the life of REAP, we were drawn to this verse over and over again.

Deuteronomy 10:18 says, “He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.”

The world we live in is far from just. We see that every day when we look into the eyes of our precious Springbuds — many orphaned or abandoned by no fault of their own. The injustices of our world can lay heavy on the heart — as they should. God calls us to consider what breaks his heart as it should break ours too.

But that is the beauty and real miracle of Christmas. Innocence in a manger coming to bring justice to those that could not fight for it themselves. Pure love coming for those who had never experienced it before. Protection for the most vulnerable. Redemption coming to make what was broken, right again.

It is that unfailing love that we all get to experience. And when we do, it will not only change our own lives but the lives of everyone around us.

When we embrace the unfailing love and pursuit of a perfect God, we find ourselves becoming more generous, more concerned with justice for others, more protective of the most vulnerable, and ready to fight for them.

We pray your Christmas season is warm, beautiful, and filled with love from those around you. But we hope you will also take a moment to ponder the great, unfailing love that God has shown each of us and consider how you can take that love and turn it into action in your own life.

We also want to thank so many of you for your incredible donations this year that enables us to provide Christmas gifts to our Springbuds and meet many of their needs. You are living a Deuteronomy 10:18 life.

Please keep our Springbuds in your prayers during this season as well as our church planters who continue their important work all year long.

We wish you a Merry Christmas filled with the love of our great God, family, and friends. ❤️