It began as any short-term mission trip would, but by the end, this mission team would see the powerful impact of the Seventh-day Adventist message. A group of 42 people, 15 of them from the Georgia-Cumberland Conference, were preparing to hold evangelistic meetings in India held Feb. 1-16, 2008. Sponsored by the Quiet Hour and ShareHim, they would preach at 27 sites centering around the cities of Vellore and Tiruvannamalai in the southern part of the country.

According to Mitch Hazekamp, Trust Services director for the Georgia-Cumberland Conference, as the meetings began, the evangelistic effort was making a great impact. The missionaries were able to present health lectures each night, pray and study with the local villagers, and share the Seventh-day Adventist message. The people were interested and many requested baptism at each site, even though choosing to become Christians could negatively impact their status in the community, and possibly even endanger them.

“I really felt welcomed and accepted by the local village I was working in,” says Mickey Bankhead, Information Technology Services director for the Georgia-Cumberland Conference, who was a presenter in a village near Vellore. “One person told us we were not going to be permitted to continue our meetings. However, the local Bible worker and conference officials worked with the village elders, and the village elders pledged their support for our meetings. One of the elders attended every night. We were not bothered again. Each night saw an increase in attendance.”

The good response continued for 13 nights of the 16-night series — then the news came. Near Tiruvannamalai, Hindu leaders were upset with the response to the meetings. They wanted the missionaries arrested. Four of the missionaries who had been preaching in the area were being held by police for questioning. The police released the detainees. However, an angry group surrounded their taxi, and the police had to provide an escort to help them leave the town.

The mission team in Vellore heard about the disturbance, and the local Seventh-day Adventist conference leaders advised them to leave their hotel right away. At around 3:00 a.m., the missionaries packed their bags and boarded three buses for Hosur, the location of the Adventist headquarters, where they spent the night.

The group from Tiruvannamalai also boarded buses and had a police escort to Hosur. The police then advised them to immediately cross the border into the next state.

According to a report from Bill Tucker, president of The Quiet Hour, even though the meetings were cut short, 1,200 people have been baptized so far in Vellore and Tiruvannamalai.

“I was disappointed that we had to cut the meetings short and weren’t able to say goodbye to the wonderful people we met in the villages,” shares Hazekamp. “But, in spite of all that happened, many people responded to the messages of God’s Word and much seed was sown.”

To help cultivate the villagers’ interest and knowledge of God’s Word, The Quiet Hour has provided training and funding for local Bible workers to continue with follow-up studies in each of the villages for three to five years.

Information for this article  was gathered through the first-hand accounts of Mitch Hazekamp, Georgia-Cumberland Conference Trust Services director; Mickey Bankhead, Georgia-Cumberland Conference Information Technology director; and Bill Tucker, president of The Quiet Hour.