Before coming to faith in Jesus, Jay was a successful political leader in Nepal. But all his money and power couldn’t save him when he was struck with a heart disease. It was debilitating and he was in and out of hospitals for 5 years, exhausting his wealth and will to live. The doctors told him to prepare for the worst.

Jay’s wife became a Christian and urged him to join her at church. He eventually relented and the pastor and church members prayed for him for 6 months. When he returned to his next doctor’s appointment, his doctor was shocked to find his heart fully healed. “I realized in that moment that God had healed me,” Joseph recalls. “So I shared that and the Gospel with the doctor.”

Jay’s life was completely transformed. “I had lost my will to live. I thought I would die but God healed me, so I want to do his work.” He left politics and became a pastor. After graduating from the ServLife Pastor Training program, Jay started his ministry in his hometown in east Nepal. “I shared the Gospel with low caste people and two families came to the Lord,” Jay shares. “One of my relatives accepted Christ. Then another person. So I started a fellowship there and we had 30-35 people. Then I started another fellowship in another village.”

His friend Sam in a nearby town criticized his departure from politics, calling Jay foolish for giving up money and power. But when tragedy hit Sam’s life, he reached out to Jay who told him, “brother, no one loves you like Jesus.” Jay visited Sam again the next week and shared the Gospel with him and his entire family and they came to Christ. Sam eventually went to the Pastor Training and became the pastor of a church that Jay had started in his town.

Despite challenges, Jay continues to endure and share the hope and love of Jesus. He concludes, “It’s difficult to share the Gospel in this area. The government has put up signs saying you can’t change religions and can’t share the Gospel. I was detained along with some friends. They wanted to throw me in jail but I spoke with them and shared the Gospel with them and they let me go.” To date, Pastor Jay has started 25 churches throughout east Nepal. His life is now the embodiment of 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”

* Names have been changed for security reasons.