RESUME

NAME : ARVIND MADHUKAR MANTODE

ADDRESS : WIMCO HOUSING SOCIETY TADWADI, PLOT No.13, “MAMTA” AMBERNATH (EAST) – 421 501 DISTRICT THANE, STATE MAHARASHTRA, INDIA

CONTACT: Mobile No. 9323125986 E-mail address: arvindmantode@yahoo.com

Website: www.gospelnewsindia.synthasite.com

DATE & PLACE OF BIRTH : September 12, 1954, MADRAS

CHURCHMEMBERSHIP : Vernon Memorial Methodist Church,

Kalyan.

LANGUAGES 1) English: Medium of instruction OF 2) Hindi : National languageCOMMUNICATION: 3) Marathi: Mother tongue

EDUCATIONALQUALIFICATION : B.E. Metallurgy, 1973 – 1978. Visveswaraya Regional College of Engineering,

Nagpur, Maharashtra State.

Passed in First Class.

WORKED INORGANISATIONS: 1) Greaves Foseco Ltd.

2) J.K.Engineer’s Files 3) Mahindra & Mahindra LTD.

THEOLOGICALEDUCATION : Master of Divinity, 2002.

SEMINARY ATTENDED : Central India Theological Seminary, Itarsi, Madhya Pradesh, India

& PERIOD : July 1, 1999 to March 31, 2002.

TEACHING 1) Staff in Central India Theological Seminary.EXPERIENCE : July, 2002 to December, 2004

2) Working with Precept Ministries in India. Teaching Bible Study groups from Precept Books. Period: January, 2005 to August, 2006.

Pastor’s Experience: 1) United Pentecostal Congregation, Mumbai. Period one year (April, 2005 to March, 2006) 2) Free Methodist Church, Andheri, Mumbai, where I am Employed as a pastor since April 2006 and I am still

working with them, responsible to take care of the Free Methodist Church in Saki Naka, Andheri (East) and the Free Methodist Church in Thane. The weekly program consists of my wife and I leave to conduct the Saki Naka church service scheduled for 11.30 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. and after we finish taking this service we proceed to Thane to take the worship service there which is scheduled to be between 5 p.m. and 7.00 p.m. Every Tuesday we have TAFTEE (The Association For Theological Education by Extension) class between 7.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. Our members, Mrs. & Mr. John Pinto work in a secular organization and John is in the managerial cadre, but even in their busy schedule they have opted to study the Life and Ministry of Jesus Christ which is based upon the Gospel according to Matthew. The name of the course is Certificate Level program (CLP) and I am the instructor and we learn the Introduction and Infancy stage of Jesus Christ, Year of Preparation, Year of Popularity, Year of Passion, Year of Passion(Last Week of Jesus Christ), Resurrected Life. The course duration is 18 months.Besides being a pastor of these two churches, I also teach in a Bible College in Mulund Check Naka, from Mon-Fri between 12.30 p.m. to 4.00 p.m.During my stay in Shillong and Jowai, in Meghalaya, I had an opportunity to share the Gospel with the prisoners in the jails on three different occasions. It was my ardent desire to share the Gospel with practically every person that I met which led me to quit my secular jobs as I was working in private companies, sometimes of renown, and sharing of gospel with the workers was restricted during company hours.

Other Experiences : Prior to coming to the ministry, I have worked in several industrial

organizations in the managerial cadre but because my passion was to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with all people I found it pertinent to inquire God’s will regarding the choice of career and upon His call I entered into ministry and today I am a pastor serving with the Free Methodist Church. I have also served in the Bible Society of India (Mumbai Auxiliary) as Distributor Promoter between September 1986 and March 1987. And again I worked in Mahindra and Mahindra Co. for a couple of years after my marriage (Jan.11, 1987). When I was in the North-East India where I went for ministry preparation, I worked as teacher in two schools during a period of 31/2 years of my stay in Meghalaya and a couple of prior years which I spent in Diphu, Assam.

A) Mount Calvary Home Academy, Diphu, Assam B) Belmont School, Shillong, Meghalaya C) Faith Academy, Jowai, Meghalaya And took private tuitions.

In the Central India Theological Seminary, Itarsi as Assistant Librarian (Jan. 2000 – Dec. 2004).

Family Status : Married on January 11, 1987Wife’ name : Shubhada A. MantodeSon’s name : Reuben A. Mantode (date of birth May15, 1988)

Job Objective : Called to be Pastor, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up, until we all reach unity in faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.[Ephesians 4:12,13 NIV]

Educational Information:

School: Lourdes English High School, Kalyan Duration: 1960 to 1971 Passed Secondary School Certificate in First Class

Colleges: 1) D.G.Ruparel College of Science, Matunga Duration: One Year (1971 – 1972) Passed First Year Science in First Class 2) Visveswaraya Regional College of Engineering, Nagpur Duration: 1973 -1978

Theological Education: Master of Divinity Seminary : Central India Theological Seminary, Itarsi, M.P. Duration : July, 1999 – March, 2002

Prior to attending the seminary for Master of Divinity, a two-months short term Bible School (October – November,1998) conducted by the Delight in the Lord Ministries at Nagpur was successfully completed. The teachers at this school come from Rhema Bible College, USA.

Recently I could attend the Advanced Leadership Seminar conducted by the Haggai Institute in St. Pius Seminary Goregaon, Mumbai for ten days (November 27- December 6, 2006)Some of the subjects covered in this seminar were:1) Christian Leadership & Management2) Biblical Basis for Evangelism3) Youth Evangelism4) Stewardship5) Communicating Effectively6) Integrity & Commitment of the Christian Leader.

THE SCHOOL: Lourdes English High School a convent co-education school is managed by the Roman Catholic Fathers. Known for its discipline, scholastic performance and sports is an excellent institute for the over-all growth of the student. A library with good collection of books and the accessories promote zealous atmosphere for learning. The extra-curricular activities such as dramatics, speech & debate competition, sports, drawing & painting special classes also aid the growth of the student.

At Ruparel College of science the usual science subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Biology are introduced.

Visveswaraya Regional College of Engineering located in Nagpur is a residential college and it was my first opportunity to stay away from home and in a hostel along with other students. The experience taught me to be more diligent about personal things and also be more disciplined. In the Metallurgical Engineering we were exposed to such subjects as Foundry Technology which includes, study of refractories, melting furnaces, pattern-making, molding & casting, melting characteristics of certain metals, etc. A thesis was required to be submitted in partial fulfillment towards the degree of Bachelor of Engineering and the title thereof was, “Measurement of stresses in specimens of casting, welding & rolling by the stress-coat technique.”

THEOLOGICAL EDUCATION:

By the grace of God I had the opportunity to study in one of the finest Seminaries in India. CENTRAL INDIA THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY in Itarsi, in the State of Madhya Pradesh, is situated in the centre of the map of India. Known for its loving care, devotion and commitment towards the Word of God, the Seminary has grown and prospered from a small Bible School called Bharosa Bible School, (bharosa means trust). And so by trusting the Lord’s provision this school was started with seven students in the year 1963 by pioneer missionary to the North India by the name of Dr. Kurian Thomas, who hailed from the State of Kerala. He came with his wife, just in the second year of their marriage and laid down the foundation of the first Pentecostal Church of God in North India in the year 1945 in a place called Itarsi which the biggest railway junction in India in the State of Madhya Pradesh. The place was in a very primitive condition and Dr. Kurian Thomas and his family consisting of his wife Mrs. Annama Thomas and eight children had to suffer lot of reproach and discrimination at the hands of the Hindu religious fanatics. Today this Seminary has produced nearly 1200 Pastors who are ministering all over India.Through the leading of the Holy Spirit when I approached Mr. P. Abraham, the Managing Editor of the Light of Life magazine a Christian monthly publication , and who is also a family friend of the Dr. Kurian Thomas, to find for me a suitable Theological Seminary where I could afford to study for Master of Divinity, and he recommended me to attend this Seminary and subsequently I took admission in the July of 1999. Upon completion of Master of Divinity, the Principal, Dr. Matthew K. Thomas recruited me in the teaching staff of the Seminary and I continued to teach the B.Th. students for the next two and a half years. During this period, I taught at the B.Th. level such subjects as Pentateuch (Moses’ first five books), OT & NT Survey, Minor Prophets, Christian Education, Missionaries Biographies, and Introduction to Bible (which gives the evidence that the English Bible which we hold in our hands today is an exact replica of the most ancient & original transcripts). Since the media of instruction was English & Hindi, I had to teach in both the languages.Even when I was doing the Master of Divinity studies, since our Librarian was being treated for the heart ailment (having survived a heart attack) and later on when his wife fell sick with a terminal disease, I was asked by the Seminary authorities to look after the working of the library and its maintenance. This turned out to be a great boon to a voracious reader like me and in my free moments I could find time just to do a little extra reading. There were great theological commentaries and gems in the library for me to glean and subsequently make note of the explanations of difficult passages in the Bible.The Chinese proverb : “ A good memory is not as good as a little ink”, had done a lot good to me in storing such invaluable data for my future reference, which I make use of even today while preparing sermons. The Seminary library consisted of 40,000 plus excellent theological treatise and volumes, most of which were donated by the Christian Life College, Chicago, USA. Besides reading in the library and making it a competent source of Biblical information for me, the hundreds of sermons preached by great men of God around the year for five and a half years became a great bank of precious thoughts for preparing sermons in days to come.

The topic of my thesis as a requirement for the completion of Master of Divinity, was “The Necessity and Validity of Christian Mission in a culturally diverse nation. Good news to India.” My guide was Dr. Johnny Ashburn who was also the Academic Dean for the Seminary. It is worth mentioning some of the books referred to while writing this thesis, though their names are mentioned in the bibliography:

“Eternity in their hearts” by Don Richardson “The Master Plan of Evangelism” by R.E.Coleman “Missions & Meaninglessness” by Peter Cotterell “ Kingdom Concerns” by Ken Gnanakan “Christian Mission in the Modern World” By JRW Stott “Tell it often – Tell it well” by Mark McCloskey.

Facing Persecution:

Today when I reflect back on my career, I am more and more convinced of the definite and urgent call of God which I sensed that I had on my life beckoning me to come to be trained as full-time minister of God so that I may be able to shepherd His flock with patience and concern. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that, “God makes all things beautiful in His own time.” Naturally I had to wait for His time, when He would work out His intentions which He had proposed to do in my life in His time. Already I had responded to His call and resigned from my secular organization known as Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., on December 1, 1990 since the Lord had been kind to guide me through Isaiah 61:6, which says, “But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall boast yourselves.” But there was something else besides, on my mind, that had not only inclined my focus on Ministry but had also helped reinforce my convictions to serve the Living God what may come. It was the persecution that I and my friends from our church had experienced during distributing tracts & Gospel packets on the Independence Day, that was on August 15, 1985.We were participating in the free distribution of tracts & Gospel packets along with other brothers and sisters, in a project conducted by the Bible Society of India. It was already notified earlier, hat the participants should restrict themselves to the railway station premises only, while distributing the tracts and other literature. But seeing the healthy response from the recipients to whom we three friends were distributing, we were allured to go out of the station premise and on to the public streets and then further into privately owned residential area. Contrary to our thinking of doing a service to mankind by bringing a saving Gospel to them we were proved to be mistaken. Because shortly after distributing the handouts to some of the tiny children, and who were innocently asking for more, brought them home and gave them to their guardians that suddenly one of the religious fanatics came towards us demanding to know the miscreants who were responsible for the distribution of this gospel which was nothing but filth for him. We acknowledged

our misfortune that was soon to come on us and bowed down our heads in shame. Retribution was certainly on the rife, but in which way it would be paid back was not very clear. But not for long, because it seems Satan always does everything in haste and finding a group of 10 to 15 drunkards passing by, the man who came out storming at us, instigated the unholy group against us, who thoughtlessly began to bash us and caused harm to us. One of them even lifted a big stone and was about to throw it on the head of one of my friends. Hailing from South India, and unable to speak the local dialect, I had to intervene, while trying to dissuade the drunken man from performing this heinous act. Unfortunately for me that man gave a good blow on my left ear and it was not until late in the night when I couldn’t sleep because of exceeding pain, that I realized that the eardrum had burst and fluid was oozing out. It was only when I went to see a doctor the next day that I was medically treated and fond comfort from the pain. Earlier after the real miscreants had manhandled us they thought of having more fun with us and so when they found a barber going along the way they stopped him and a secluded spot, took us there and asked the barber to slash off hair randomly to make us look funny and then they left to go on our way which we did. But on the way a Police van came along and seeing our condition, took us to the Police Station to file a case against the culprits, and after we had filed the suit, they asked us if we wanted to take any action against them but we declined to do so. The result of this persecution was very interesting, since that I could get a job in the Bible Society of India, Mumbai as Distributor Promoter. I worked in B.S.I. for a year and a half. But the story doesn’t end there since I found my life-partner while working for the Bible Society and got married to her on the 11th January, 1987.

Work Experience:

The industrial working period was not more then five years but most of my life time was spent in being equipped for the forthcoming ministry. Of course this may have been included in the Divine Plan of the Almighty. As a business venture I purchased an Import-Export course from Anthony Wade Consultants, Swindon, London and following the laid out instructions I got printed letterheads with the name for my trading agency as “ARVIND INTERNATIONAL TRADING AGENCY” and drafting introductory letters sent them to several organizations abroad. Surprisingly I received reply from PMR Dental Suppliers Ltd., Swansea, England. This company wanted representation in India for their dental products to be marketed to the Dentists. The Director Mr. S.A. Ramsay-Williams sent correspondence explaining me as how to go about the business of introducing their products in the Indian market and I had to follow his instructions. This is how I practically learned the excellent techniques of written communications. Thus I was steady with the PMR Dental Suppliers for a period of seven years, until at last I succeeded in introducing their dental products to the Indian Dentists . The simple reason for not continuing with them further was the money constraint.The industries that I could represent were M/s Greaves Foseco Ltd.,(for a period of six months as Trainee Engineer in the managerial cadre); M/s J.K. Engineer’s Files (as Assistant Metallurgist for a period of eight months) and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.,( Production, Planning & Control where I worked for nearly two years ) and

several others while I was trying to find the most fitting job for me but basically my inclination was towards ministry though things were not very clear also, and I needed to wait for the opportune time when the Lord would open the door for me. My search came to an end when the Lord spoke to me saying that I could get the full benefit of Matthew 6:33, which says, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you”, only when I serve in His ministry viz… ‘And all these things shall be added unto you’ that I need not have to concentrate only on getting them for myself.Also I can now virtually identify with what John MacArthur,Jr. has to say about the preacher’s responsibility and how to shoulder it. He says in the introduction of his book “Rediscovering Expository Preaching” ‘No profession has as high a liability potential as that of the preacher of God’s Word. God will judge every on the truthfulness and accuracy of his preaching. What is it that equips a man to be qualified for preaching responsibility? Certainly I could argue for the following elements: reverence for God, respect for dignity of pastoral duty, good sense, sound judgment, clear and deep thinking, love of reading, commitment to diligent study and meditation.’ So in order for me to meet these conditions and be adequately equipped for the preacher’s responsibility I had to sacrifice the beautiful jobs that I was working for and that too before allurement set in and steal away the zeal and the joy that I had for serving the Living God.Again it would have been in vain that I would have struggled in trying to build my house since Psalm 127:1(a) tells us, “ Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it….” Hence I am happy that the Lord is in the process of building my house.While being at the Bible Society of India, my job was to sell the New Testaments, Bible Story Comics, Gospel Packets in Christian Schools in Mumbai and also show the Christian Films like Jesus, Daya Sagar (which means ocean of compassion), etc, besides we went in teams for outreaches and sold Bibles and other literature.My teaching experience included teaching in two schools in Shillong, Meghalaya, for a year’s period. Teaching in the Central India Theological Seminary in Itarsi, for the B.Th. students for about two & half years. Working in the Seminary Library for nearly four years. Teaching Bible Study groups while working for the Precept Ministries in India.Being a Pastor for almost two years now. One additional responsibility I have to uphold is assisting my father in his ongoing work of publishing the Thompson Chain-Reference Bible in Marathi language, that I have to attend Crusades and other meeting places to share about this burden of the publication and also book orders for this Bible on payment of the pre-publication cost, collect donations and even to look for sponsors, advertise in magazines. Presently I am in the process of getting a website done for this Bible.Therefore, total working years are 24 and total years that I put into studies are 23.

My Family Background:Our individual family consists of my wife Shubhada and our son, Reuben who is a Bachelor of Commerce graduate and presently working in an International Call Centre. Shubhada is a fine Montessori Teacher having a small nursery school at home itself, where 10 to 15 children take fresh admissions every year. Competition to school business is stiff since every year new schools come in to being. She is also a gifted Sunday-School teacher and has been taking care of the Sunday-School children for the last ten years now.My wife and my son are my first disciples and that too quite trustworthy, loving, and obedient to the Lord and His people. My extended family consists of my parents who are quite elderly people but very strong in the Lord. Presently they are occupied with a huge project of translating and printing the Thompson Chain-Reference Bible in Marathi language. They both were involved in the translation of this Bible from English to Marathi for the last 23 years and now they are in the course of raising funds for the printing of this Bible in Marathi, which is our native language. A formal and written permission from the President, Mr. David Gage, of the Thompson Bible Technology, USA, has been granted to publish this work. For doing so my father has put together a small trust consisting mainly of Pastors, by the name of Bharatiya Suwarta Mission, in order, to have this Bible printed for the benefit of Marathi Congregation. The Good News is that now this KJV Marathi Thompson Chain-Reference Study is fully printed and available for use to the Marathi Christian Congregation. Praise the Lord!I have two brothers and two sisters who are all married and well settled in their individual families. My brother and one of my brothers-in-law are serving as full-time Pastors in other Churches.

Preparation for the Ministry: Aptly has a man of God been quote to say something like this, “I have not conceived faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in child-like innocence but in the very furnace of doubts”. Surely I couldn’t have brought myself to the present level of faith unless I had thrown myself at the mercy of the Lord and His provision for my life, to build me up, and be in a position to profess to others my faith in His unfailing love unless I had first experienced it. Therefore after I had quit working in secular organizations and finally stepped in to full-time ministry, which was in the year 1991. I set out for the North-East India a beautiful place full of mountains and other naturally occurring environment. Plenty of coniferous and teak wood forest spread all over the mountains and terrains. Except for one year which I spent at the Lucknow Bible College in Lucknow, U.P. (that was in 1992), the majority years until 1998 were spent in the North-East India while preparing myself for the ministry. In fact I would assert it being the leading of the Holy Spirit that I found my way to this place. For it is an ideal place to begin to minister in the Lord’s Vineyard, not just because it is isolated but contrary to the busy city life where people hardly find time to devote to the things of the Lord this place was able to provide me with congenial environment to fully exploit my talents creatively and thoughtfully to bring glory to His name through proclamation of His Word, sharing my testimony, singing songs in various churches, distribution of tracts, selling Christian books, attending Crusades, Seminars, prayer meetings etc. In fact this was

also a place where missionaries had come more than a century ago to teach the primitive tribal people, who were even ignorant of how to clothe themselves even until the late 1900. They speak a phonetic language which has a homogenous mixture of various sounds retained from the words spoken by the different missionaries coming from different countries. For my livelihood I worked in the local schools and also my parents supported me financially. My wife had got herself formally trained in the Y.W.C.A. as Montessori teacher and later uses her resources to support our son’s education.The last 31/2 years of my stay in the North-East India was spent in Shillong & Jowai, main cities in the State of Meghalaya. I could exclusively devote myself to the study & meditation of the Word of God. The initial years since 1991, I could spend in other places where I encountered various other tribal people. Sometimes living conditions in such distant hilly places especially among the tribal people can be very tough. And so too it was my experience of accommodating myself in the cleft of the rock as Moses was asked to do, if he desired to view the glory of God as He passed by the rock. Naturally, Moses must have had to strain himself to get somehow accommodated in that rock, and so it is with all ministries that unless we chip off the unnecessary from us we could hardly be able to see the glory of the Living God.

I want to end my Resume with a quotation from a recent website which depicts three American Leaders of the FREE METHODIST CHURCH, bicycling 2000 miles through India starting from Nagercoil in Kanyakumari district in the tip of South India on December 30, 2006 and going up to New Delhi in the North to reach New Delhi by February 8, 2007. The leaders are Bishop Joe James, Bob Yardy and Pastor John Hay, and they bicycling to raise awareness and $ 600,000 to rebuild UMRI CHRISTIAN HOSPITAL, an aging medical facility serving residents of Central India. And it is at this website bikeindia.org that I happen to read what Mark Twain has to say about India and I would like to quote him: “Land of religions, cradle of human race, birth place of human speech, grandmother of legend, great grandmother of tradition. The land that all men desire to see and having seen once even by a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of the rest of the globe combined.”8520/

Statement of FaithThe sole basis of our beliefs is the Bible, God's infallible written Word, the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments. We believe that it was uniquely, verbally and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit and that it was written without error (inerrant) in the original manuscripts. It is the supreme and final authority in all matters on which it speaks.We accept those areas of doctrinal teaching on which, historically, there has been general agreement among all true Christians. Because of the specialized calling of our movement, we desire to allow for freedom of conviction on other doctrinal

matters, provided that any interpretation is based upon the Bible alone, and that no such interpretation shall become an issue which hinders the ministry to which God has called us.

1. There is one true God, eternally existing in three persons -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- each of whom possesses equally all the attributes of Deity and the characteristics of personality.

2. Jesus Christ is God, the living Word, who became flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth. Hence, He is perfect Deity and true humanity united in one person forever.

3. He lived a sinless life and voluntarily atoned for the sins of men by dying on the cross as their substitute, thus satisfying divine justice and accomplishing salvation for all who trust in Him alone.

4. He rose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He lived and died.

5. He ascended bodily into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father, where He, the only mediator between God and man, continually makes intercession for His own.

6. Man was originally created in the image of God. He sinned by disobeying God; thus, he was alienated from his Creator. That historic fall brought all mankind under divine condemnation.

7. Man's nature is corrupted, and he is thus totally unable to please God. Every man is in need of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

8. The salvation of man is wholly a work of God's free grace and is not the work, in whole or in part, of human works or goodness or religious ceremony. God imputes His righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ alone for their salvation, and thereby justified them in His sight.

9. It is the privilege of all who are born again of the Spirit to be assured of their salvation from the very moment in which they trust Christ as their Savior. This assurance is not based upon any kind of human merit, but is produced by the witness of the Holy Spirit, who confirms in the believer the testimony of God in His written word.

10. The Holy Spirit has come into the world to reveal and glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to men. He convicts and draws sinners to Christ, imparts

new life to them, continually indwells them from the moment of spiritual birth and seals them until the day of redemption. His fullness, power and control are appropriated in the believer's life by faith.

11. Every believer is called to live so in the power of the indwelling Spirit that he will not fulfill the lust of the flesh but will bear fruit to the glory of God.

12. Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church, His Body, which is composed of all men, living and dead, who have been joined to Him through saving faith.

13. God admonishes His people to assemble together regularly for worship, for participation in ordinances, for edification through the Scriptures and for mutual encouragement.

14. At physical death the believer enters immediately into eternal, conscious fellowship with the Lord and awaits the resurrection of his body to everlasting glory and blessing.

15. At physical death the unbeliever enters immediately into eternal, conscious separation from the Lord and awaits the resurrection of his body to everlasting judgment and condemnation.

16. Jesus Christ will come again to the earth -- personally, visibly and bodily -- to consummate history and the eternal plan of God.

17. The Lord Jesus Christ commanded all believers to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world and to disciple men of every nation. The fulfillment of that Great Commission requires that all worldly and personal ambitions be subordinated to a total commitment to "Him who loved us and gave Himself for us."