Find Out About: Peace Gospel Ministries International
05-23-2007
by Kevan Breitinger

This article by Kevan Breitinger is the first in a series of several articles in which CMCentral will be highlighting and providing historical and current information about several Christian Social Justice Missions ministries who are serving the Lord and people all over the world in unique and special ways.  At the end of each article there will be information and links on how you can find out how to learn more about or get involved with the ministry and ones like it.  We hope and pray that you are informed, encouraged and inspired by what you read to become a difference maker in a world that so desperately needs the love of Christ, not just in words but also in deeds.

Peace Gospel Ministries International

When Kirby Trapolino went on his missions trip at age 21, he thought his six-week stay would be the extent of it. He had no intention of developing a close relationship with Indian minister Samson Burre, or coming home with a burden for the country’s poor and outcast. But the Lord had a very different, and significant, plan for both men. Fourteen years later, Kirby and Samson continue to effectively and respectfully serve the people of South Asia through the ministry of empowering micro-enterprise they co-founded, Peace Gospel (www.peacegospel.org).

The rapport between the young Texan and the native serving in an urban slum was immediate, built around their common passion to see the goals of the Great Commission fulfilled. Kirby realized that Samson, although more than willing to give himself in service to the poor, was limited in his effectiveness by his lack of funding, a problem achingly familiar to many area missions. He realized that part of his call involved raising global awareness and support for the furtherance of the work. Together the two men founded Peace Gospel in 1993 to teach, equip and commission other native missionaries to provide relief to victims of poverty, disease and oppression. Samson heads up the hands-on ministry of Peace Gospel , and in Houston Kirby handles the non-profit Peace Gospel Ministries International to co-direct and fund Peace Gospel ’s efforts.

The early years of Peace Gospel were spent learning and moving forward one step at a time, until donations rose high enough to purchase land in South India, ultimately establishing both a Bible College for the training of indigenous pastors, and in 1996 opening the Hadassah Orphanage with nine children, presently serving 30.

Trapolino moved to India for 3 months in 2004 with his young family (3 kids at the time, aged 2, 4 and 6) to offer close-up administrative support, and saw first-hand the ministry’s need to be empowered rather than enabled. He set about raising donations to launch a water buffalo dairy farm in 2005, which now provides funds for the orphanage’s day-to-day needs. The dairy farm is located next to the orphanage as its self-perpetuating fuel cell, thus putting the financial power into the hands of the local church.

Milk is a staple in the Indian diet, and with the enormous Indian population boom (currently over 1.1 billion), dairy is a highly profitable industry. The Peace Gospel farm is overseen entirely by the native staff, providing jobs for the local economy. Each water buffalo at the farm nets about $100 per month for funding, and yet a single beast costs only $500.

An especially significant aspect of the work of Peace Gospel is their targeted ministry to the Dalit class, the outcasts of Indian society’s caste system. This harshly oppressed people group is considered unworthy of education in Hindu culture. These “untouchables,” 16.2 % of ’s population, are expected to perform menial, degrading tasks including unclogging sewers, disposing of dead bodies and cleaning latrines, and are often the victims of violent crimes, rarely punished. If you have listened to Caedmon’s Call’s “Share the Well,” you have heard the band’s passionate cry for the disenfranchised. The title track was written by band members following their 2004 trip to and references the cultural rule prohibiting a Dalit from drinking from a public well unless the water is drawn by an upper caste member. Peace Gospel deliberately draws its entire employee base for the farm operations from this people group.

The ministry’s goal this year is to expand the dairy farm to 100 water buffalo and 10 acres, calling it the 100/10 Vision. On this land the workers will grow the buffalo’s feed, rice and other crops to further the agri-business model, transitioning the farm into self-perpetuation. With the dairy farm expansion, the ministry can go on to support its other service projects, including hosting the orphanage’s planned 60 children by year’s end and opening 10 new orphanages by 2010.

But that is not all these two men who dreamed together and listened to God have accomplished. Peace Gospel also provides the following ministry to the people of South Asia:

• Widow’s Sewing School: the urban slums of overflow with impoverished widows. In 2005 Peace Gospel launched a sewing school to give them a trade. After a 3 month course, these widows are given a sewing machine and basic supplies to start a business and provide for their families in their husband’s absence.
• Clean Water Delivery: is home to the planet’s largest slum population; over 60 million of the country’s residents live in slums on less than $1 a day. Nearly 1,600 children die each day from diseases caused by contaminated water, so Peace Gospel is working hard to deliver clean water to those living in the slums.
• Child Immunizations: Peace Gospel missionaries work in conjunction with local government to provide polio eradication centers.
• Education Development: Peace Gospel has equipped native missionaries to launch 3 schools for the Dalit children who otherwise would receive no education, and plan a major program launch in the city of Hyderabad (population 6 million) by 2008.
• Native Missionary/Pastor Training: Since the founding of Peace Gospel Bible College of South India in 1993, church  planting and ongoing support of native pastors has resulted in the creation of 42 new churches, many in “unreached” areas where the gospel has never before been heard.
• Bible Study Distribution: In 2005 Peace Gospel partnered with Kardo International Ministries to coordinate the translation and printing of their Bible Study “Wisdom for Mothers” into the Telugu language, the first of its kind in Telugu.
• Music: In 1999 funds were provided for some Peace Gospel missionaries to produce the first Christian worship music in the Telugu language.

Kate Hurley, (http://www.vilgiate.com/kate), a popular worship artist featured on “Enter the Worship Circle: Third Circle,” has started a non-profit group called Mercy Projects, uniting artists for projects of benefit to the Peace Gospel orphanages and other charitable works. Her latest CD, “Sleeping When You Woke Me,” will donate 20% of all its profits toward the work of Peace Gospel. Kate’s huge heart for this work springs from her own personal experiences with Peace Gospel. “I went with Kirby and two friends to to visit Peace Gospel in 2003,” she shares. “In my years of working with different ministries and charities, I am always most impressed with organizations that use intelligent strategies rather than just throwing money at a problem. Peace Gospel uses every dollar given in ways that will help the most people in the deepest way possible.”

“For instance, I was excited to be involved in their widows program. Widows in are low caste and have a very hard time supporting their families. I spent an initial investment to buy a sewing machine for a widow, and then gave 10 dollars a month for her to keep her business as a seamstress going. My “adopted” widow now has a means of supporting a family! Isn’t that amazing?”

Kate and artists like Caedmon’s Call use the platforms they’ve been given to draw attention to worthy missions like Peace Gospel. That is one of the roles they play in God’s intentionally interwoven work of caring for the poor. What is your role? Every believer has one. Part of CMCentral’s is to provide this information to its readers. Please join us in praying for further guidance about the specifics of how we might join the Lord in His care for all people. And let us know of other mission projects you’d like to see featured in our ongoing Social Justice Missions series.

Further Web Resources:

Peace Gospel Ministries International:  www.peacegospel.org

Gospel for Asia www.gfa.org: A church-planting organization utilizing native missionaries. 100% of all donations sent directly to the field, with no administrative costs taken out.

ActionAid India  www.actionaidindia.org: A development agency working with the poor and excluded to fight poverty and injustice.

Dalit Freedom Network www.dalitnetwork.org: Mobilizes informational, financial and human resources to help the Dalits in their fight for religious freedom, social justice and human rights.