How IGPN Originated

I am so glad I did not delete his friend request on Facebook! You see, that request from Nagarjuna was the beginning of a relationship of which I had no idea God was going to use so incredibly in my life. He never asked for money - he only asked how he could pray for my wife and me and that we would pray for their work in India. For the next couple of years, we would message back and forth a few times a week encouraging one another. 

The relationship deepened over time and my wife and felt more and more like we should financially assist with their church building efforts. It was absolutely incredible to see what he did with the minimal dollars we were able to send. He sent many photos of him and his family doing very hard work with dirt, stone, concrete, tile, etc.

It wasn't too long after this that Tammadu (honorable younger brother) shared with me, Anna (honorable older brother) that he had a passion to bring together pastors from his region who didn't have much training or fellowship with other pastors.

They were sort of outcasts because they were reaching the poor and unwanted of India. After some prayer (which didn't take too long since Nagarjuna had such a great vision), we began investing not only more resources but time as we launched a monthly meeting for fellowship, training, and resourcing. In just a short time 30-40 pastors were gathering every month! Incredible. International Grace Pastors Network (IGPN) was born!

Fast-forward to today ... we are training over 2000 pastors every month! That's 2000 congregations who are being encouraged, trained, and equipped to transform their communities. The return on that small investment comes in the form of churches being established, new people finding hope in Christ, widows and poor being fed, and outreach to children. The kingdom of God is powerfully advancing! 

Leadership Model

Indigenous Leadership is integral to the model. In order for us to establish a network in an area, there must first be a trusted relationship built with someone who demonstrates the anointing and skill to partner in such an initiative. 

This person must demonstrate the following:

1)       Humility to lead and not make it about themselves

2)      Apostolic calling

3)      Servanthood approach to ministry

4)      Heart to serve pastors

5)      Demonstrated ability to build teams

 Five-fold Ministry and Every Believer as a Minister as described in Ephesians 4 are foundational to our assignment as a network. We are convinced that Christ gave the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to prepare believers to serve as ministers in their designed works which God prepared in advance for them.

The clergy is not separate from the laity.  The clergy is not more important than the laity.  In fact, the clergy, first and foremost are members of the body who have been assigned to prepare God’s people for works of service so that the body of Christ can be built up.

139 Model 

The 139 model employs a paradigm observed among Jesus and his disciples.  Jesus pulled three disciples a little closer to him in quite significant moments and also related to the 12 as a whole.  In this paradigm, Jesus is the “one.”  Peter, James, and John are the “three.”  The rest of the disciples are the “nine.”  Adapting that relational model into a network looks like this:

As part of the network, I commit to the following:

1)      I commit to praying for my “3” daily.

2)      I commit to calling or texting my “3” weekly.

3)      I commit to pray for my “9” regularly and connect with them monthly (this group of 9 is made up of my “3” and each one of their “3”).

As this model functions, a pastor/leader will have one person praying for them daily and reaching out weekly, and another pastor/leader praying for them regularly and reaching out monthly.