A Pioneer and a Passionate Leader

Rev. Dr. G. Peter is at present the Superintendent of Andhra Pradesh District of S.I.A.G. He is also the Director of Andhra Pradesh Bible College in Hyderabad. He has been a source of inspiration for many Pastors in Andhra Pradesh. His pioneering work in Bellary (North Karnataka) and Tabernacle School of Evangelism (Started in 1984) are testimonies to his burden and vision in the ministry.

Please recount for us the events that led you into a personal relationship with the Lord?

My Salvation Experience

I was reared in a remote village called Bodapadu in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. My father was a primary school teacher, while my mother was a housewife. My parents were pious Lutherans. For me Sunday school became a part and parcel of my childhood. The story of Samuel found a special place in my heart. By the age of ten, I developed the habit of reading the scriptures everyday – a habit that would stay with me for my entire life. As I regularly read the scriptures, I grew a personal relationship with Lord Jesus. I also felt a burning desire to preach the gospel. I began to conduct Sunday school and actively share the gospel in my own village. As a result many people found the Lord. Sick people were being healed and demon possessed people were being delivered. I knew I had to serve God the rest of my life.

God’s Call for Full Time Ministry

When and how did you feel convinced in your heart about God’s call to you for the ministry?

As a pre-university student I regularly attended Sunday worship service in a Church. Once, in the course of the service I opened my Bible and began to scan few verses. “My eyes were glued to Mathew 16:18: Thou art Peter and on this rock, I will build my Church…I was shaking all-over. At that instant I knew that God had set me apart for full-time ministry. But my entry into ministry was delayed due to the poor financial situation in my family.

I moved to Andhra Christian College, Guntur for my degree course. It was there that I came under the influence of Rev. T. Moses, the student’s Pastor of the college. He was a man full of the Spirit and his prayers made an indelible mark in my life. Those were the days, which I spent in unruffled prayer. I completed my B.Sc. Course and started to work in a tutorial college. I took up other jobs as well. Though I worked for a secular company I never missed an opportunity to preach the Gospel.

I had a routine of daily devotions between 4:00 AM to 6:00 PM. On one such day, the Lord showed me a verse from the Scriptures-I Chronicles 23:13: “The sons of Amran: Aaron and Moses. Aaron was set apart, he and his descendents forever, to consecrate the most holy things, to offer sacrifices before the Lord, to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in his name forever.” It was as if this verse was flashed before me on a screen. After reading this Scripture, I felt a great urgency in my heart to enter into full-time ministry. So I resigned my job and came over to join SABC for the B. Tech. Course, to equip myself to be an effective minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

SABC Bangalore – Impact of SABC on my Spiritual Life

While you were a student at SABC, how did the Lord shape you for the ministry?

I joined SABC without any scholarship or support. My parents were not so happy with my decision to come to SABC. The reason was they were unable to pay my fees and felt that I would be better off in a Lutheran Seminary where I could earn a stipend while studying. But I was somehow persuaded that SABC was God’s training place for me. So I started my journey to SABC with full faith.

I learnt to trust God for my daily needs. The Chapel services were a great encouragement and they strengthened my faith in God. Lessons in the classes nurtured my spiritual life. My prayer life deepened. The ringing of the bell taught me discipline. I tried to make maximum use of my time. Believe it or not, I spent six hours a day in prayer and meditation of Word of God!

How can I ever forget the revival that swept across the campus while I was a student? The move of God was unmistakable and classes were not held for a week! The students and the teachers were bathed in prayer and in the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

It was in SABC that I learnt to live with people from various cultures of different nations. Little did I know that it would back me in my pioneering ministry, later on? The sound teachings I was given, gave me a solid foundation on the biblical books and the historical background of the Bible.

Pioneering at Bellary-Karnataka State

What was the vision and burden that God placed in your heart as you started your ministry?

When I was studying at SABC, I had plenty of time to mediate on the Word of God and to spend time in prayer. During this time, the Lord impressed upon my heart that he wanted me to go among the unreached and plant churches among them. This was a growing passion in my life.

When I was in the first year B. Th. I was asked to go to Bellary-a city in the heart of Karnataka-during my Christmas holidays for evangelism. It was at this time we visited Sriramapuram Colony. I saw that this place had not yet been reached with the Gospel message. My heart was burdened for the people of this area. At the close of my third year, I was married to Salome. After graduating from SABC, I shifted to Bellary along with my wife, to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

My Ministerial Journey

Could you trace for us your ministerial journey right after your graduation?

After my graduation in 1976, my wife and I went to pioneer a Church in Bellary as I had already mentioned. My wife was a great asset for my vision and ministry. She was a multi-gifted, committed and an absolutely dedicated woman who stood by me through thick and thin modes in my ministry.

Our work had to start from scratch. We toiled for twelve long years. By God’s grace the congregation swelled to five hundred members. We were able to plant satellite churches in five areas-in Thornakal, Kurahathi, Allipuram, Mooka, and Hagari.

When I joined SABC, I had no idea that it was an Assemblies of God’s institution. In the course of time however I was more and more convinced that I should invest my life and talents by serving Him with the A.G - a balanced, Scripture-based and Christ-centred organisation. So I joined as a worker in the A.G.

I was elected as secretary of the Central District in 1979 and served in the same capacity until the Central District was branched in 1987.

SABC opened Ebenezer Bible School at Bellary in 1978, as an extension. The school was opened for Telugu-speaking young people. I was designated as the local In-Charge of the Bible School. In 1991, I was elected as the executive member of South India Assemblies of God and I continue in the same capacity till now. At present I am serving as the Superintendent of the A.P. District of S.I.A.G since 1988. I also served as the Director of A.P. Bible College since 1990.

Having led the A.P District of S.I.A.G. over the years and in your capacity as the General superintendent please tell us about the church in this region.

My vision and burden is evangelism and church planting, that’s what God called me to do. I love to see people coming to gain knowledge of Jesus Christ and being established in the church.

Though a course of three or four years of residential seminary training has its God-ordained place in Christendom, I am an ardent believer in shorter mobile training programmes for prospective ministers. Didn’t Jesus give training for twelve by travelling with them place to place? Weren’t his teaching sessions informal yet influential? What Paul did was the same.  With this basic conviction, we started Tabernacle School of Evangelism in 1984. The object of this year-long training programme is to take the training to the very place we want to plant a church. My experience has shown that by the time this course is completed there would be three or four places in the same town or city where they have a nucleus of believers, gathering for prayer and worship regularly. After the completion of training, some of the students remain in the same place to continue the ministry. In this way, we targeted each revenue district headquarters of A.P. for one year. With this vision and strategy, we were able to establish churches in all the headquarters of the twenty four-revenue districts of our state. When A.P District of S.I.A.G was formed as a separate entity in 1987, we had eleven churches in five revenue districts. Now we have all-together two hundred churches and outstations with regular worship services.

We also support ten missionaries in North India. Our tribal outreach among the Koya tribes has by the grace of God brought 1200 people from darkness to light. Five worship places – in the interior jungles, where they live-have been set up. We introduced Scriptpix in two languages – Telugu and Koya. We were moved by God to start Precious Movements-an adoption home where right now thirty-nine abandoned babies are housed. Thank God for the little role A.G. has played in building the kingdom of God in Andhra Pradesh!

One should be fully committed to do whatever God entrusts. One should be completely dedicated for the task for which he is called. One should be willing to make many sacrifices of time, finances, family life and own comforts. One should be willing to face the challenges and the risks that come across in life.

What is your advice to young ministers in general and SABC graduates in particular?

My sincere advice to the Prospective Workers in his vineyard

	You should have an assurance that it is the will of God for you to do what you are doing
	Maintain a self-disciplined regular, steady prayer life
	Trust in God totally for all your needs
	Be sensitive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit and follow his leading

Promoted to Glory

Mrs. Salome Peter was promoted to glory on August 7, 1999.  She was a great support to her husband in the ministry. She also taught in the A.P. Bible College. Let us pray for Rev. G. Peter and their three children whom she has left behind.