2020: COVID, Concerns, Corrections, & (New) Commitments By Brian Underwood

Whew! Sometimes all you have to say is 2020. What a year!? In my 50+ years of life, I’ve never seen anything like it. As a matter of fact, I hope never do!

How does someone or some nonprofit endure all of the twists and turns during the most unpredictable year anyone can EVER remember? Well…that’s a LONG story! Buckle up! Let’s go on a journey of a lifetime!

For The i3 Project (TIP), we had so much excitement, for the start of new training center in SE India. We had completed graduations from the prior batch of three training centers, plus the training of 15 new “Paul’s” for NINE new training centers. 2020 was going to be the start of great strides for TIP. It was our hope that we would see an even larger number of churches planted, souls saved, people baptized, and new disciples made.

You see…we saw over 700 new churches planted and over 200,000 souls saved in the last two years. Surely, God would allow us to multiply our growth exponentially. We started strong. The training centers were striving forward. We even saw another 100 new churches planted BEFORE March 15th.

As you know, the wheels fell off. India was shutdown like the USA. The training centers had to be put on “pause.” There was so much uncertainty (here and abroad). About 2/3’s of our India team had COVID at one time or another. We had a death with one of our “Timothy’s.” We were looking for ways to connect, create, and cheer on our fellow-laborers in the faith. Frankly, we needed all of that, too.

Jed Wooldridge, my church’s Assistant Pastor, kept encouraging me to look at India and beyond. God’s gentle reminder to me was…the Great Commission includes MORE THAN India. It’s a global effort to spread and share the gospel.

What was I to do? Didn’t God call me to work in India? Yes. Is the Great Commission global? Yes. But God? I could hear myself whinnying like a spoiled teenager. God reminded me that I had been willing to trust Him in leaving my home in NE Ohio to go to Middle Tennessee with no home and no job. Ten years later, He called us back to Ohio, BUT SW Ohio not NE Ohio. You’ve trusted Him to take you overseas nearly 30 times. Can you trust Him now? YES!

We (TIP) started seeing things through the lenses of a global ministry not just an India ministry. We needed a name change. The i(ndia) 3 Project was not going to work in any other country of the world. After much prayer, we became The i3 Project International or better said, TIP International. With a new legal name, we were determined to restructure the organization. We prayerfully set out to put the best team together for the task ahead. That’s exactly what we did!

I was officially named the President of TIP International. My wife, Sherri, became our Medical Advisor. Chris Carpenter, my trusty companion, became our VP US/International Operations. Brett Karanovich was dubbed our Development Consultant. My pastor, Dr. Tim Cox, was personally selected to be our Spiritual Advisor. Sue Fritz came on as our Financial Secretary. We later added Naomi Hawkins who has a wide range of mission experience. Last but certainly not least, we brought on Mark Broeker, a Human Resource Specialist with Reid Hospital Systems.

I am a blessed man to work with such a GREAT team. The diversity of age, experience, and talents are immense. I learn something new every time I am with them corporately or individually.

How do we attempt to meet the needs of our brethren in India? We received a stimulus gift from the US Government. The India Government tried to help, but with over 1 BILLION people…that’s an impossible task. We were graciously able to provide TWO specific gifts to our 15 India leaders…one in May & another one in July. These gifts (assisted by individual/church donors) were able to help sustain our India partners. We instructed them to take care of their families, their churches, and their neighbors. $8,250 was sent over to our India leaders. Nearly 10,000 people were impacted by these gifts. Praise the Lord!

Technology…I have never had so many ZOOM meetings in my life. You’d like to think that has changed. That’s simply not the case. I am probably in even more ZOOM meetings in 2021. From Facebook Messenger, What’sApp, email, Google Meet, and ZOOM. We are even more connected to our leaders in India. We even have a YouTube page. We have a monthly ZOOM meeting with our India team, as well. The fellowship, ministry updates, prayer requests, and just seeing one another has been so therapeutic for everyone of us.

We went through FOUR different reopening plans for the India training centers. They will reopen on March 1st. We took extra time to get our leaders financially healthy so that they can focus on the work ahead. We believe healthy leaders make healthy leaders.

Did I mention something about going global? Let me tell you about that! It’s amazing the doors God will open, when you allow God to open the doors! We tried so hard for this to be the sentiment of TIP International moving forward…globally.

Two doors swung WIDE OPEN…Nepal and Kenya. I know these are two oppositely geographically located areas. Don’t you like the way God moves?! We now have two strong leaders in Nepal and Kenya. Our Kenya leaders have contacts in over 10 more nations in Africa! God has been putting me in front of people working in Uganda and Tanzania. We have other connections in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, and Eswanti (Swahililand). These connections are primarily through ministry partners: The Timothy Initiative and the IMB.

We are planning our first vision trip to Africa in April ’21. If all goes well, we will start 5-6 new training centers in Kenya. We will do a vision trip for Nepal in early ’22 with the possibility of 2-3 new training centers started in 2023. That’s not even counting the potential of 20 training centers in India for 2023. It is our hope to have a training center in every district of one of our key states (not mentioned for security reasons). We work with the emphasis of new churches planted in Every District, Every Mandal, Every Village.   

Has God been moving through TIP International? Oh YES! I didn’t even mention the potential expansion of our medical and orphan work in Africa and Nepal. I’m so excited about what God is doing.

The Lord has placed on my heart Matthew 9:35-38 (KJV).

And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.  But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.

To do all God has called us to do will take at least FOUR things…

1.      Prayer (Prayer Partners)

2.      Greater Financial Advancement (New Financial Partners)

3.      More people willing to serve the Lord at TIP International

4.      Men & women willing to serve short-term or long-term overseas

Areas of need:

·         Assistant VP SE Asia

·         VP & Assistant East Africa

·         Assistant Financial Secretary

·         VP Social Media

·         Assistant VP Medical

·         VP & Assistant VP Orphans

He gave us this vision:

·         800+ new church plants in ‘21

·         2,500 new churches planted by the end of 2025

·         1 MILLION people saved by the end of 2025.

God is working! God is moving!

Will you join in this movement of God today?