Bethel Seminary

Just your average, everyday Visionary by Kirk Livingston

John Varughese (left) with Pastor
Kennedy Paul, whose church in South India
includes many fishermen left homeless after
the December 2004 tsunami.A visionary wears small, square-framed glasses and a soul patch, right? Or maybe a visionary has every hair in place, like a CEO explaining quarterly profits on TV. Or is it possible that true visionaries differ only in how they respond to life situations? Because if vision is about responding differently to life, then that starts to explain my friend John Varughese.

Varughese ’84, originally from the state of Kerala in southern India, looks like your average, everyday Joe. He wears a shirt. Puts his pants on one leg at a time. Walks and talks like anybody else. So you wouldn’t immediately know that God has used John and a small team to provide for the people of India in a number of visionary ways.

I met John and his wife Juni just after he graduated from Bethel Seminary in St. Paul more than 20 years ago. They were on their way back to India. I didn’t realize it then, but these two would provide an object lesson for the next 20 years on how to live a "John's eyes and ears just seem to be wired differently from mine. I see what is. John sees what could be. That's a big difference."visionary life. I’ve wondered how a person gains vision about anything - ministry, work,family, relationships, the local church body. In watching John’s example over the years and as a result of our conversations,I’ve learned how to see and hear with God’s intent.

John and Juni, along with John’s brother and sister-in-law George and Kay, run Evangel Ministries. John and Juni are on location in India; George and Kay contribute to the ministry from St. Paul, Minnesota, where George recently retired after years of working in the United States. Along with a few friends, supporters, and most importantly, the Holy Spirit, they have ministered to the people of India in countless ways.

Envisioning the possibilities
Picture of men working in at the Evangel Press
Workers cut and count paper for
a print run in the back room of
Evangel Press.John’s eyes and ears just seem to be wired differently from mine. I see what is. John sees what could be. That’s a big difference. If you were to chart personality types, you might call John an “idea person.” This Christ follower refuses the label of visionary and downplays his own involvement. He will tell you he is a facilitator, that he doesn’t know the technical side of things. But he is good at prayerfully initiating projects based on what he has seen and heard, and then finding the right people to carry out the details.

For example, John and I might both see a need - say, poor people coming for treatment to a busy regional hospital from outlying rural villages. Medical care means a huge financial outlay for a family, leaving little for room and board while seeking treatment. My heart might break, prompting me to say, “Wow, that’s tough.” Maybe I would look for a place to send a check. But John? His response would be, “Let’s start a hospitality house near the hospital for the poor people who come from outlying rural villages and cannot afford accommodations.” In fact, that’s just what he said. And here’s another difference between us: John would follow through and do something about it.

This is how the Home of Hope came to be established near a state-run hospital in Calicut. The ministry started when John and his team were distributing tracts to the poor people congregated around the hospital. After two to three years of this, they found they wanted to help more. So in 2004 Evangel Ministries purchased a large house with the hope of providing food and temporary shelter for needy patients. In fact, John, Juni, and their daughters plan to move in soon to do ministry with volunteers from a nearby Bible school.

Feeding the hungry
"Never mind that John didn't know a quoin from a web. He started the press in 1978 and never looked back."Not long ago most any reading material in India was fair game for Indians hungry toread anything and everything they could find. Even an ad, a flyer, or a page from a catalog merited attention. That still holds true today.

John Varughese “saw [good reading material] as a great need because Indians read whatever they can get their hands on.” It was in seeing this capacity of the nation and recognizing the lack of biblical material available to a majority of people that caused John to think of starting a printing press. Never mind that John had no background in printing. Never mind that he didn’t know a quoin from a web. He started the press in 1978 and never looked back.

Evangel Press, now 27 years old, has produced a steady stream of tracts, booklets, and devotionals since it opened. Today the enterprise employs about 15 people, serving as a vocational training ground for printers who learn the skills and then graduate to take different positions around the country. The training at the press is open to all sorts of people, not just young Christians. In many ways, the press is the heart of Evangel Ministries and has helped finance other ministries.

Friends, neighbors, visiting pastors, and other
honored guests celebrate the opening of
Calicut Theological College.

Listening for direction
In 1992, while conducting a gospel tour in Calicut, John and two other pastors and Bible teachers noted that there were few evangelical churches in the area. Perhaps a theological college would do the trick, they thought, and they soon located a missionary to fill the role of principal. The school began in 2004.

Not everyone was on board with the project right away, but John pursued it anyway. Today, Calicut Theological College has 22 students, with six completing studies and graduating in 2005. The hope is to start two new mission stations in northern Kerala in the new year.

Even as John waits on God to hear what He would say about a particular need, he also listens to others. People like his wife: “Juni is more cautious and checks me on things,”John says. “And she corrects me sometimes. She’ll say, ‘Is it really on your heart?’ or“You don’t have to do it just because they did it.’”

Now John and a number of pastor-friends in the area are listening for what God wouldsay to them about reaching out to the growing Muslim population in India.

Accepting God’s provision
John was in the United States just after the tsunami hit a section of India in December2004. During a Sunday sermon, he mentioned he was returning to India and that there was a particular need he and his co-laborers hoped to meet in the tsunami-ravaged Picture of Pastor Jim Olson and John Varughese dedicating the new theological college in Calicut
Pastor Jim Olson from Bethel Christian Fellowship
in St. Paul, Minnesota, along with John Varughese
and guests, dedicate the new theological college
in Calicut.region. That day a check for $4,500 came in from his host church, one-third of which was available for John to use for relief work in India; the rest went to Sri Lanka and Indonesia. God’s provision for the work is one of the ways John and the others know that their particular vision is in fact part of God’s larger plan. John says he never worries about the money. “If the money stops, praise the Lord,” he says.

John doesn’t beg people to meet the needs he sees, but he has no qualms about letting those needs be known. Their response is between them and God. Given the resources available, John wants to make the best use of them. “I am not accountable for the things I have not received,” he says. “I spend only what I have. God does not expect me to borrow for His kingdom.”

Seeing and serving
Vision seems to be one of those things you are born with or not. But the experience of John Varughese might lead us to another conclusion: that vision comes not from some mystical place but instead from seeing, hearing, and then telling others about needs observed - even as you are in the service of those needs. It helps that John, Juni, George, and Kay have organized their lives around the seeing, hearing, and saying that God has repeatedly rewarded over the years. It seems to me like a good way to live.

Kirk Livingston was a student at Bethel Seminary when he met John Varughese some 20 years ago. Now he is a freelance writer and proprietor of Livingston Communications in St. Paul, Minnesota.