Invited by Amazing Facts to go to India, hold a crusade, and start a church at their own expense, Roger and Barbara Stone, members of the Bullhead City church, decided to accept the invitation.

Roger remembers his original commitment to trust God to raise the money. He would ask no one for financial help. He claimed the promise, "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19, NKJV).

"I held a series of meetings in a village south of Madras, starting the night after Doug Batchelor finished his series in Madras," explains Roger. "The Lord blessed our efforts, and 18 souls were baptized at the end of the series and a small church was started. That church has now tripled and built a very nice small church building."

During the time Amazing Facts was in Madras, an Indian man asked Batchelor if he would be willing to go north to the next state and teach a group of 30 Pentecostal pastors what Adventists believe. Batchelor said he would go, but ran out of time and had to cancel the appointment.

Because of their wonderful experience in India, the Stones began to ask God to send them back to India so they could raise up more church groups. Soon, they had enough money to return to India for one more year of service.

The Amazing Facts director in India asked the Stones if they would go teach the 30 Pentecostal pastors. They gladly accepted the challenge and started meetings with the men.

The group soon grew to 60 — and then their wives started attending, too. Most were baptized and wanted the Stones to hold meetings in their churches so their existing members would become Seventh-day Adventists.

During the next nine months, Roger and Barbara held 13 series of meetings. For seven straight months, they held meetings in two villages at the same time, speaking 12 times a week. During this time they also started an orphanage.

While Amazing Facts was working in India, they continued to pay part of the salaries of the pastors the Stones had taught. Several of the pastors were from large cities to the north. These men held meetings in these cities and raised up large congregations.

When Amazing Facts left India two years ago and the money from America ceased, the local conference was forced to lay off all 30 pastors. Fifteen of the men decided that they would continue to be Seventh-day Adventist pastors and trust God for the money they needed to take care of their families.

The Stones were temporarily out of the country when the layoffs happened. When they heard the news and prayed about it, they felt impressed that they should step out in faith and pay the men's salaries. They believed that God would not let the faithful pastors down. And He never did.

The Stones have been working in India for more than five years. When they went into the area there were no Adventists for many kilometers in any direction. Now there are 38 churches and the orphanage. "We have three churches in the village that we can drive to," says Roger. "We have three more churches that a person can only walk to. One church is 10 kilometers in, over jungle mountains, infested with bears, leopards and poisonous snakes. The next church is 16 kilometers past the first one. Then we have a group just starting which is 27 kilometers in a different direction."God continues to bless the Stones' self-supporting work, and they are thankful that they have never had to ask any other person for money.