Even before I was born, I had already been to church. My mother was a faithful Christian and always saw to it that I was in church. Though I grew up in a Christian family and learned about Jesus Christ from the Bible, I never believed in Jesus or had peace and joy in my life. I did not realize that Christ’s coming into the world—and His death—was for me. All that I read from the Bible about Him was just like reading and knowing stories of Mahatma Gandhi. It did not lead to my spiritual growth.

Family Heritage

I was born on October 3, 1977, the second son in the family of Shonkholer Telien and Khamnu Telien of Hmongkotjiang, Manipur, India. When I was five years old, our family moved to the village of Phunchongiang, Churachanpur District, Manipur. My grandfather, the late Shonjathang Telien, was one of the first converts to Christianity in our area. After receiving Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord, he started facing negative pressure from his own relatives and society. He was eventually chased out of his village. However, through him, his own father and other relatives believed in Jesus. Later, my grandfather resigned his government service and, until his death, served the Lord as a voluntary evangelist. Since he no longer had a secure income, he didn’t have the resources needed to send his son, my father, to school. As a result, my father was illiterate, and as such, had no option but to join the Indian Army.

Once when returning home for the holidays, my father was involved in a bus accident and injured. As a result of that incident, he was partially handicapped, his right leg being shorter than his left leg. No longer fit to serve in the army, he started serving the Lord as a church helper. His work involved maintaining the key to the church, keeping the church and its premises clean, and ringing the church bell.

I was told that from the time of my birth my grandfather had dedicated me for Christian service. My parents often reminded me that I was going to be a pastor, instructing me that I must not fight with friends at school, tell lies, steal, or miss attending Sunday school. Even as a young adult, my friends used to discourage me by saying that if I became an evangelist or missionary, I was not going to get a beautiful and good wife. In India, many of the evangelists and mission workers are poor, so most women are not willing to marry a man of this calling. As a result of my poor family situation, I was not able to earn a higher education. I only completed up to 12 standards (pre—university course).

Moving into Destiny

During my youth, I served in various youth fellowships in my church and as chairman of Moirang Area Youth Organization. I loved to stand in the midst of people and proclaim the Word of God. But instead of serving for His glory, I was looking for man’s applause, which did not bring joy or peace to my heart. I could boast of reading the Bible from cover to cover, but what I learned, instead of utilizing it to rectify my sinful heart, I applied to others. Looking back, I see how much I did not fear God! Without truly knowing the Lord, I wasted many years of my life.

In 2002, a crusade was held in my village. During the crusade, Rev. Thangjang gave a sermon about the goodness of reading and knowing the Bible. On hearing that sermon, I decided what I needed was to go to Bible School, thinking that knowing theology would bring me salvation, and I’d find peace and joy in my heart. Naively, I also thought that only people who feared God would be in Bible College—that it would be like paradise! But Bible College was not like what I thought. Before entering Bible College, I had given up chewing tobacco, but there were some people who indulged in chewing tobacco, taking pills, and even injecting drugs while claiming to be believers. I saw things I had not seen at home, which was shocking to me.

Thereafter, amidst the confusion of Bible College, I did not find peace and joy in my heart. The following year on Friday, January 24, 2003, I was in my room reading when God opened my eyes to believe. I was reading Timothy Tow’s book “My Homiletic Swimming Pool” and Rev. John Sung’s sermon, “Heaven and Hell” (the story of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16:19–31). That sermon pierced my heart like an arrow! The existence of Heaven and Hell became real to me! I truly believed that Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace and the Way to eternal life. I knew that Christ came into this world to redeem me!

Getting up, I went to one corner of the Bible College campus, and kneeling down, cried and asked for forgiveness for all my sin. In that moment, I was born again. God forgave my sin, and I was saved! Joy and peace flooded my heart! “If you confess with thy mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

Now that I had received salvation, it was my humble desire to take up the cross of Jesus and serve Him till my last breath.

A Vision Fulfilled

In 2007, right after completing a master’s degree from the seminary, I served the Lord as an evangelist among people of other faiths in Imphal, India. On February 8, 2011, God answered my nine-year prayer for a good wife. I married a beautiful, God-fearing, and well-educated lady, the only daughter of T. Siekam, a faithful mission worker. My wife, T. Neishoning, completed her Ph.D. from North-Eastern Hill University, NEHU, and today is my right hand in ministry.

Soon after we were married, my wife and I felt impressed and called by God to fight against the darkness in India. We felt the need for producing Christlike leaders to reach the millions of lost souls by establishing Bible-believing churches in India and beyond. Truly, India is a country of great spiritual darkness!

* India is a country of 1.4 billion souls.

* The population of India is greater than the population of all Europe.

* The population of India is greater than the population of North and South America combined.

* The population of India is greater than the entire African continent.

* According to a projection by the United Nations (UN), India will be the most populous country in the world by 2028.

* Over 80% are Hindus, who believe in many gods and goddesses.

* Another 13% are Muslims.

* Less than 5% of the population is Christian.

* “India is one country with many languages and cultures. More than 19,500 mother tongues are spoken in India.” (“The Indian Express,”published July 1, 2018)

* India is one of the least evangelized countries of the world, yet only 1.25% of the world’s missions giving is directed to the country of India.

* Two-thirds of the people in India live in poverty.

God’s goodness and faithfulness in the past was the basis for our vision for the future. His unfailing love became our stronghold during the ups and downs of our journey. We held onto two Bible promises:“With God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26), and “All things work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:28).

A Vision Realized

From a humble beginning of just INR15,000 (US$230) in hand, my wife and I started Mission India & Beyond (MIB). The initial startup began operating the ministry out of a rented building, with three faculty and twelve students. After a few months of running the ministry, the local government officials tightened their rules and regulations for our locality. MIB was restricted from putting up ministry signboards and was warned by the local village defence force to discontinue conducting ministry in the building. Thus, MIB was not able to operate the ministry peacefully. But our God was so good and faithful to us. We were able to move to Guwahati in March 2015, and since then, MIB has continued to grow and function peacefully in a rented facility.

We rejoice that from our humble beginning until now (2023), God has been faithful in leading us, and we confidently move forward towards a global vision of reaching unreached India and neighboring countries with the gospel. Besides training Christlike leaders to establish Bible-believing churches, our mission is also to help in nation building through transformational community development programs. We share the love of Christ with poor and needy children by giving them free tuition, school accessories, and nourishment so they don’t drop out of school and will have a better future.

In 2020, God showed favor on MIB. Mission India & Beyond was registered by the government of Assam, India, as a leadership and community development initiative to transform communities with the gospel of Jesus, one life at a time.

My wife and I have been blessed to have a small part in taking the gospel to our needy, beloved, homeland of India. All Christians are called to be willing to lay down their lives for Christ, to seek His Kingdom first, and to serve Him above all else. As we hold on the faithfulness of our God, all of us together can do great things to fulfill the Great Commission of our Lord.

“The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few…” (Luke 10:2, KJV).

“And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Romans 10:14, KJV).

Rev. T. T. Kom graduated from South India Baptist Bible College & Seminary and completed his postgraduate degree from Trulock Theological Seminary. He is the director of Mission India & Beyond’s ministry-training and church-planting center, South Asia Baptist College of Theology & Missions (SABCT&M) in Guwahati. He has a great burden for the unreached people of India. In his free time, he enjoys gardening. His favorite Bible verse is Romans 8:28, “All things work together for good to them that love God”.