TAN Mission Report August 2025 – Sri Lanka 2025

When I received my first invitation to minister in Sri Lanka, I had not even heard of the country.  It was only the picture of the nation on the postage stamp that gave me a clue that it was the island that I knew of as Ceylon, a country whose pavilion I had visited at the New York World’s Fair when I was a fifth grader in 1965.  I remembered seeing the many elaborate exhibits and learning that the country was totally dedicated to Buddhism.  It turned out that the letter was from a college student who had been born again in this non-Christian environment and had reached out to every Christian organization he could find in hopes of getting materials to help him grow in his faith.  One of the ministers he had contacted was my friend Nicky Cruz, the former New York City gang leader whose testimony was made famous through David Wilkerson’s The Cross and the Switchblade.  When Nicky saw that the letter came from a college student, he wrote back telling him about my ministry among college students.  The result was the mysterious letter from the far away island nation of Sri Lanka.

 Over the next almost five decades, Peggy and I have had the privilege to return to the resplendent island (as it was called during the colonial days) nearly a dozen times, including doing relief work there after the 2004 tsunami devastated fourteen nations and left a quarter million dead.  What we found in Sri Lanka was anything but resplendence; rather what we encountered was too overwhelming to describe.  My understanding of flooding was limited to a flooded basement resulting from a broken pipe or news coverage of natural disasters in faraway places.  However, we saw a totally different picture as we drove down the coast for hours, covering hundreds of miles.  There was no relief from the devastation.  No matter how far we drove, there was seemingly endless destruction and rubble.  Heaps of debris and splintered remains marked what had once been the homes of people whose lives had come to tragic ends in a split second.  We were on the battlefield of nature versus mankind, and, from all we could see, the brutality of nature had triumphed.  Even though the help we were able to provide was essentially only a “drop in the bucket,” we were blessed to be able to be the Lord’s heart and hands in the lives of the few people we were able to bless.

 My current trip to Sri Lanka came as the result of having to alter the ministry plans Peggy and I had for a Muslin-majority country when hostilities broke out in the region.  So, instead of going behind the Quran Curtain, the change in plans make it possible for me to accept a long-standing invitation to Sri Lanka where I was requested to teach in a Bible school, hold a pastors’ conference, and minister in two local churches.  If you have read my book Your Part in the Grand Scheme of Things, you will probably remember the story about our association with Sri Lanka which goes back to the time when I went there in response to the letter requesting help in raising up a ministry among high school and college students.  Shortly after Peggy and I were married, I felt led to return to Sri Lanka for follow-up discipleship with the students that I had left under the care of a local evangelist.  When we arrived in the country, the evangelist told Peggy and me that we would have to cancel our plans because the country was experiencing a severe drought and there was no water at the camp where the meetings were to be held.  After a night of prayer, we experienced one of the most incredible miracles of our lives – the rains began to pour down in torrents.  Before long, we received news that the cisterns at the camp were full and overflowing!  We were able to hold a very successful training conference with one especially significant outcome – one highschooler was called into the ministry.  Today, he is one of the most prominent pastors in the country.

This year’s trip made that miracle very fresh in my heart and mind because I was there during the monsoon season when we experienced torrential rains every day, reminding me of the downpour that came as a result of our prayers – only this year’s prayers were that the rains wouldn’t hinder the students and pastors from coming to the meetings.  It was amazing to see how it only rained during the night, when we were inside a building, or traveling in a car.  During our entire trip, we were never caught outside in the rain.  One especially remarkable incident came on our one free day when we visited the elephant orphanage where we had the opportunity to get “up close and personal” with the gentle giants.  The whole time we were at the orphanage, the skies were clear; yet, the rains came as soon as we got back to our hotel.

On this mission, I brought with me my friend Amit who has recently been promoted from the directorship of the Indian operations of Global Action Ministries to become the ministry’s all-Asia director.  As I had previously done in Nepal, I wanted to introduce him and his ministry to some of the Christian leaders in Sri Lanka.  Having Amit with me was a blessing in many ways in that, in addition to opening new doors for Global Action, Amit was able to provide the pastors and students with resources that will advance their ministries.  Additionally, he gave me breaks each day when he covered classes for me.  In addition to the Global Action materials, I provided complimentary copies of my book Maximum Impact to all the students and pastors who are able to read English at both the college and conference.  I was also able to provide access to audio Bibles from Faith Comes by Hearing in all three languages of Sri Lanka – Sinhala, Tamil, and English.

When one of the students at the Bible college shared with me that his pastor was one of the students in the youth ministry that I had led almost fifty years ago, I was reminded of Jesus’ words, Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain (John 15:16), confirming that all of our work in Sri Lanka and the other nations of the world is God-ordained and producing lasting results.

As I completed the mission and started to head back to Colorado, I was reminded of another biblical passage, Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. (Matthew 24:6)  Due to the Israel-Iran conflicts, my return flight through Dubai was canceled, forcing me to find an alternate route home.  Fighting in the country where we were originally scheduled to be ministering had disrupted our initial plans; now, more fighting “threw a monkey wrench” into this trip.  But the part of the verse where I choose to focus is not about wars and rumours of wars but the section that says that the end is not yet.  Jesus went on to add that the end would not come until this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations. (Matthew 24:14)  Teach All Nations is dedicated to continuing to train and equip leaders in all the nations – Sri Lanka and beyond – in anticipation of seeing this prophecy fulfilled.  With guidance and empowering of the Holy Spirit and the prayers and financial support of our partners, we are committed to the mission of teaching all nations because we know that the world will not come to an end until the gospel goes to the ends of the earth.