Who are your heroes? Who sets an example that you want to follow?<\/p>\n
One of my heroes is Sundara Rao. The father of Vijay Sastry (who visited DGCC two years ago), Sundara died in Hyderabad, India earlier this week. He was 58.<\/p>\n
Sundara spoke little English. He had no higher education. But he was a man who did all to the glory of God. He was a man whose joy in Jesus was sparklingly evident. He was a man who out of that joy left all and followed Jesus \u2013 whatever the cost.<\/p>\n
Born into a high-caste Hindu family, Sundara came to know Jesus as a 17-year-old, while seriously ill with typhoid. During weeks of illness, he prayed to god after god. He rejected the offer of a local pastor to come and pray for him. But after his condition continued to grow worse and worse, he relented. When the pastor came, Sundara was drifting in and out of consciousness; he only heard bits and pieces of the pastor\u2019s words. But he prayed to this pastor\u2019s God: \u201cIf you are the real god, save me, and I will give my life to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
God did save him, both physically and spiritually. Sundara then eagerly studied the Bible to learn of this God \u2013 and came to understand that it is only through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross that any human can come before God. He embraced Jesus as Lord and Savior, and savored Him as his treasure.<\/p>\n
But this devotion to Christ had a high cost. Sundara\u2019s father told him he could not be a Christian. Sundara tried to honor his father \u2013 to express his devotion and love \u2013 but said that if he had to choose between his family and Jesus, he must choose Jesus. So Sundara was disowned, and sent out with nothing.<\/p>\n
After a period of discipleship and training, Sundara became a pastor. Several years later he went to the village of Ventrapragada to plant a church. He began by ministering practically to the lower castes, living in their section of the village. Those of higher caste were unhappy to see one of their own mingling with those of lower caste, and approached him, offering him a place to stay in their section of the village. Sundara declined, saying he would live with those he was serving. Later the same higher caste folks asked him to come and teach them about Jesus. Sundara declined to hold separate meetings, saying they were welcome to his meetings with the lower caste folks. Jesus, he said, broke down all those barriers of caste and race. None came \u2013 for about a decade. But as Sundara cared for the sick of all castes and persevered in showing the love of Jesus to all, eventually those of higher castes began to come. The church today includes men and women from all caste backgrounds. As one elderly, high-caste villager said, \u201cWhen you\u2019re a Hindu, caste is everything. When you\u2019re a Christian, Jesus is everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Serving predominantly poor people, Sundara and his family had little to live on. But God provided for their needs \u2013 through gifts and, when necessary, through Sundara\u2019s work as a laborer in farmers\u2019 fields. On such days, after hours and hours of backbreaking labor, \u00a0Sundara would come home, clean up, and go out to serve the poor and the sick, or to hold an evangelistic meeting.<\/p>\n
From early days, Sundara invested in young men. Seeing the need for church planters and pastors all around him, he cast vision, offered training, and challenged personally many youth to take their faith seriously and to go out for the sake of the Name. Over the years, dozens of churches were planted from this small village church.<\/p>\n