In the Spring of 1979 a group of Indian Christians mostly Telugu folk with some Gujaratis, Malayalis & Tamils gathered at Dr.David Chigurupati’s residence, 167 Sherman Ave, Glen Ridge, NJ, 07028 to pray and seek God’s will for the Indian Christians living in the N.Y, N.J CT tri-state area. They were led to start a fellowship that will meet once a monthly for spiritual edification, spreading the gospel here and in India and for Christian fellowship. Some of the believers who attended were Bros.Samuel John Vemuri, Premkumar Chakravarthi, Sammy Solanky(Gujarat), T.M John (Kerala) and Bhaskar (Tamil Nadu) etc. The majority of the attendees being Telugu coupled with the fact that the Gujaratis, Malayalees & Tamils already have either fellowships or Churches it became obvious that the Telugus needed to get together. So it was decided that they would meet once a month. On every 3rd Saturday.
In the beginning, the meetings were held in believer’s homes alternatively in N.Y & N.J.but before long it was decided for practical reasons that N.Y people will meet in N.Y and the N.J folk in N.J. and on special occasions they will have combined services. N.J group was called the TELUGU CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP of NEW JERSEY. Messages were given by the members themselves except when a visiting preacher came by. Later it was decided that they would meet in a permanent place instead of the believer’s homes as their membership increased. One of our founding fathers Bro. Samuel John Vemuri (he was called to glory since) happened to be an elder in the Calvary Lutheran Church, 1482 Maple Ave, Hillside, N.J., and was able to secure that facility. Thanks be to God. TCF worshipped there from 1981 till Nov 2001 when of necessity they had to move to a bigger facility Union United Methodist Church, Berwyn Street & Overlook Terrace, in Union, NJ due to substantial growth in the Fellowship. Praise be to God. A word of thanks and gratitude is in order for the Pastors, trustees, and members of the Calvary Lutheran Church for their love & kindness in letting TCF use their facility and the right hand of fellowship they gave them. TCF was their Indian outreach. Only Eternity will reveal what they had accomplished through this ministry.
Parting was not easy as both became like one family. With painful hearts they bid farewell to one another but agreed to keep in touch and cherish the memories of the bond of love with which Christ knit their hearts. One day redeemed of the Lord will be together again in our Lord’s presence never to part anymore.
TCF was blessed to have God’s messengers like late. Rev. Dr. A.B Masilamani, prince of Telugu preachers, late Dr.Paul Fried founder of the Trans-world radio (Viswavani in India), late Dr. Christie Zimmerman, a Lutheran missionary to A.P and Rev. Samuel Schmitthenner, a former President of The Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church, Guntur, A.P., India to name a few. There are others but space would not permit to mention those names.
This is TCF’s 25th year in existence and God allowed it to co-labor with Him. What they did over the years was to invite God’s people representing various ministries to preach to them and then collect money from the membership to support their work. While they supported many ministries around the world they made a special effort to support ministries to Telugu people. On an average they gave about $500.00 a month to these dear ones all these years by the grace of God. May they be (TCFNJ) occupied in the extension of His Kingdom till He comes?
One very interesting thing about this fellowship is THEY NEVER HAD ANY ELECTIONS. It was managed by elders late Samuel John Vemuri, Krupa Rao Mattegunta, David Chigurupati & Yesu das Thadepalli until this day for the glory of God. Among many projects undertaken by this group 4 stand out for the glory of God.
1.One day about 15 years ago they received news that a Telugu Christian family was in a car accident somewhere in Kansas in which the husband died instantly and one daughter had multiple fractures. Only the mother and two children escaped injuries but were in great distress as they were from Michigan and had very little money in their hands. When an appeal was made $5,000.00 were collected and sent to the mother Mrs. Jessie Thommandru who was very grateful for this unexpected help from the TCF. By God’s grace they are o.k. Now.
2.At the request of Dr. Sarala Elisha, Guntur. A.P., India .TCF helped a Tamil preacher Alfred George who was married to a Telugu Christian nurse from Kugler hospital but who was blind for over 40 years. He had surgery done in New York City. By God’s grace vision was restored in one eye. Can you imagine his joy when he was able to see his wife and children for the first time in his life. The TCF picked up his $5,000.00 hospital bill. Glory is to God.
3.Some years ago an Ultra Sound machine was sent to Kugler Hospital, Guntur, A.P., India priced at $31,000.00. Thanks be to God the Lutheran church in America gave $21,000.00 and TCF gave $10,000.00. Praise God for the donor’s for their generosity.
4.Recently God enabled TCF to help a Telugu Christian young man Stephen Malapati from Guntur to have a kidney transplant done in Hyderabad at a cost of $10,000.00. Normally it does not cost that much but he had serious complications prolonging his hospital stay for 3 months. Praise be to God.
In 1990 Dr. David Chigurupati had to quit medical practice due to serious visual impairment. Suddenly he found himself having a lot of free time and wondering how to utilize it meaningfully but God graciously stepped in and began to open up new doors for ministry. One day he got a call from Dr. Spiros Zodhiates, president of AMG International, a missionary organization that operates in 60 countries including A.P India asking him to consider becoming one of the board of directors of AMG. He was taken aback at the offer but collected himself to say that he would pray and let him know his decision. He prayed and having had peace about it gave his o.k. It was God’s doing for he never expected anything like that though he was involved with AMG since 1968 when God in His providence used him to help AMG to start their work in A.P. India.
For the glory of God today out of the 60 countries they operate A.P India happens to be their biggest mission field. Praise be to God.
In 1991 another important thing happened. An organization called “National Association of Asian Indian Christians in the USA Inc.(NAAIC) was inaugurated in Union, N.J and by God’s grace Dr. David Chigurupati was asked to do public relations work for NAAIC and start chapters for it. It was started with a purpose to bring all Indian Christians together in US for fellowship and spiritual growth and to also assist our brothers and sisters in India spiritually and socio-economically. In 1993 NAAIC decided to have a national conference in New York city and by God’s grace they chose Dr. David Chigurupati to coordinate it. Once again it was God’s doing as there were people from other linguistics groups who could have been chosen. AMG sponsored it and Dr. Spiros Zodhiates gave the keynote address. The other speakers being Dr.T.E.Koshy (a close associate of Late Brother Bakht singh ) and Dr.Samuel Barkat (Vice-President intervarsity) a ministry that serves college and university students in US.The conference was a grand success for the glory of God and it was decided to have the next conference in 3 years.
Suddenly God gave an idea to Dr. David Chigurupati to do a conference like that for Telugu christians as NAAIC will not have any for the next 3 years. Thus started the first conference for Telugus the TELUGU CHRISTIAN FAMILY CONFERENCE (TCFC) at Hofstra University, New York City in summer of 1994 and God blessed it. Again AMG USA sponsored it and we had the joy of having Dr. S. John David, Director AMG India participate in it. About 300 people showed up.
Again we held the conference in 1995 at Nyack College, Nyack, N.Y. AMG sponsored it and we had the honor of having Dr. Spiros Zodhiates again as the main speaker. The name of the meet however was changed to CHRISTIAN FAMILY CONFERENCE (CFC) to facilitate all Christians to attend regardless of their background.
Dr. Joseph Paturi, Provost at that time to the Temple Baptist College, Cincinnati, OH was also invited to this conference to give a workshop on “Christian Stewardship”. Dr. David Chigurupati knew his family way back in Eluru, W.G.Dt., A.P., India and through God’s providence that contact was renewed through a common friend Mr. Joseph Bandrapalli who was living in Chicago at that time and thus began an historic association with him that would expand the ministry among the Telugu Christians beyond the borders of N.Y, N.J & CT tri-state area into other parts of US, Canada and even other continents. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgements and His ways past finding out!” (Romans: 11:33).
Rev. Dr. Joseph Paturi was impressed by the work he saw among the Telugu christians and after returning from the Nyack conference prepared a report of the conference for circulation among the Telugus and thus the idea of starting a “News Letter” was born. God led Dr. David Chigurupati to call it “The Christian Family” and publication started right away and about 400 of them were mailed each time. It had articles for all age groups men & women, youth & children to help them grow spiritually. Then God led us to print a directory of the Telugu christians and before long it was done. Both projects were very much appreciated by the Telugu christians in US.
This is the kind of help that Dr. David Chigurupati was looking for to reach out to the Telugu christians and God provided it through Rev.Dr. Joseph and his dear wife Dr. Shobha Paturi. The hard work she put in for these projects is unbelievable. Literally she had hundreds of hours of conversations personally with her husband and by phone with Dr. David Chigurupati to make these projects a reality. May God richly bless her for her services to the Telugu Christian community.
A little later God gave an idea to Rev. Dr. Joseph Paturi to start a missionary organization in US to serve the Indian christian community and thus was born “TRANS-WORLD TEMPLE MINISTRIES” in Cincinnati, OH with the help of Rev. Dr. Darrell Horseley, the senior pastor of the Temple Baptist church and the Chancellor of the Temple Baptist college and Dr. Wesley Smith, the President of the Temple Baptist college with Rev.Dr. Joseph Paturi and Dr. David Chigurupati as the other members in the board. A word of thanks and gratitude is in order for the leadership of the Temple Baptist church and college for their right hand of fellowship they have for these ventures. All the printing and mailing was done from those facilities. God bless them and their institutions abundantly.
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Robin Smith
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