JL sitting with Impact International Founder and CEO, Murli Menon.  In the background is the beautiful grounds where the new “South Asia Institute for Leadership and Cultural studies” is being built.  NDI has had the privilege of helping purchase this property and partner with Murli in the development of it.  Through the following pictures, come take a quick tour of this exciting partnership and project!

Dear Faithful Friend & Partner,

It is a great joy for me to introduce you to one of my long time Indian friends and partners, Murli Menon.  Many of our NDI partners know him already through one of his visits to the States when he spoke in their church.  He is one of the most strategic thinkers and dynamic speakers I know of!  I have learned so much from him as a Christian thinker, speaker and writer.

Murli was also the very first person who met me when I first went to India years ago.  When I stepped off the plane in Bombay—now Mumbai, we started a relationship that has deepened to this day.  Through the years Murli and I have had a mutual mentoring relationship that has stretched and grown me as a Christian leader and missiologist.  And together with his wife, Usha, and my wife Patt, we have had more times of co-ministry together in India and America than we can recount!  Through the years we have stayed in each other’s homes so much that we are indeed family!

It has been our joy as a ministry to partner with Murli and Usha in the relocation of their ministry from Ooty to Coimbatore, South India.  We were privileged to make a big step of faith with them and help purchase a former coconut plantation that is absolutely gorgeous!  It borders a large wildlife sanctuary inhabited by many animals indigenous to the area—including elephants!  It is truly one of the most beautiful places in all of South India—and it exists to glorify the Lord by ministering holistically to people in need—especially children.

So come take a quick tour of this beautiful complex that is being developed. It will soon be the new home for his Bible College and Children’s Homes.  Better yet, plan to go to India with Patt and me for the dedication of “Phase 1” of this facility on April 17th!  It would be a mission trip you would never forget.

In His love for India,

PS:  Murli was featured along with me on the latest edition of the NDI newsletter.  If you have not received it, please go on line and download it (www.newdirections.org).

Impact Founder and CEO, Murli Menon, standing on the second floor of the building looking out over the spacious courtyard.

The inside courtyard of the new College where major conferences and events will be held.

The outside of one side of the Complex where classrooms and dormitories will be.

The outside of the opposite side of the Complex.

Constructing the reception and stage area at the front of the courtyard.

A wider view of the reception and stage area for the Dormitory and Class Rooms Complex.

The brick yard for the building with the tractor and trailer provided by an NDI partner.

This tractor and trailer is used both for building and for the coconut forest that surrounds the College.

Murli in front of the bricks for building the various buildings yet to be completed.

Two of the Impact staff in front of the first “Girls Home” for little girls saved from female infanticide.  Several more of these will be built on the spacious property.