I was born and brought up in a Christian family. My parents used to take my five brothers, two sisters and I to church every Sunday to attend Sunday School services. As a result, I was quite familiar with some important tenets of Christianity right from the beginning. Sadly, my traditional Christian background and the Christian upbringing I received failed to do me any good during that time as far as personal salvation was concerned. I am not saying that they were totally fruitless; in fact, all the things I learned about God and the Bible during my childhood became an important source of spiritual nourishment and inspiration after I became a true born-again Christian.
As I reached adolescence, I fell in with the wrong kind of guys and began spending most of my time loitering at street corners. I developed unchristian habits like smoking, drinking and running after all sorts of worldly pleasures. I became so bad that I began rebelling against my parents and neglecting my studies.
One amazing thing about my life back then was that I felt awfully bad most of the time. I had no sense of inner peace and contentment. I was doing what I wanted, living my life the way I wished, rebelling against all sorts of authorities, but instead of making me happy and satisfied, I felt bad and restless. I sometimes felt angry without any reason at all. Actually, I was at the end of my rope.
My studies at Western Theological Seminary have extensively enlarged my vision for our church and the role we can play in northeast India
In 1983 a pastor with a team of counselors came to our church and conducted an Evangelistic Crusade. He was preaching a series of messages on the need to have a personal relationship with the Lord. Though I was not very enthusiastic about it, at the invitation of a friend I began to attend the services. As I listened to the sermons, I had a sense God was speaking to me quietly from the depth of my soul.
Gradually it dawned on me that all the problems I had been going through were because I was a sinner by birth, and that my sinful nature made me do all these things. I also came to realize that Jesus Christ, the beloved Son of God, had come to earth, born as a human being, and paid the penalty of my sin and all the sins of the world through His death on the Cross.
On the third evening I came to the full realization of all these things. I confessed my sins to the Lord, and that night I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. That was the turning point. In fact, my life began to change and have new meaning. Life began to be exciting and extremely joyful because of the assurance of God's salvation. It feels so good to be a child of God.
As I continued to grow in my spiritual life, a year after my conversion I was able to commit my life for fulltime Christian service. The decision was hard, but the calling of God was persistent. I am so grateful that the Lord is willing to use a worthless worm like me!
After my theological study, I started fulltime Christian ministry in 1991 as Lecturer in the Evangelical College of Theology, which is an important branch of the ministry of my denomination, Evangelical Congregational Church of India. I consider it a great honor to have a part in the training of future leaders of the church of God. I am now serving as the General Director, Evangelical Congregational Church of India. I am grateful that my studies at Western Theological Seminary have extensively enlarged my vision for our church and the role we can play in northeast India as we submit ourselves to the leading of God's Spirit in the building of His mighty Kingdom.