February 10, 1999
Texans land in India amid violence
___SAN ANTONIO--Texas Baptist evangelist Sammy Tippit went to India late last month to lead a conference encouraging pastors to stand strong in the face of persecution. Unfortunately, the conference had an all-too-realistic backdrop, with Tippit arriving just 30 hours after a Baptist missionary and his two young sons were burned to death by a mob of fundamentalist Hindus.
___Tippit had been scheduled to lead a week-long evangelistic crusade and a pastors' conference in the city of Vijayawada, but the crusadewas cancelled the month before due to escalating violence against Christians.
INDIAN WOMEN listen intently during a pastors' wives conference led by Tex Tippit, wife of Texas Baptist evangelist Sammy Tippit
___"The present situation at Vijayawada, because of the tension prevailing, there is every possibility of reaction and riots," Indian pastor Pratap Kumar had explained to Tippit. "This makes it impossible to hold the evening public meetings."
___That prophecy became a sad reality.
___Missionary Graham Staines and his sons, ages 10 and 8, were sleeping in their Jeep when attacked by about 100 members of the Hindu extremist group Bajrang Dal. The terrorists reportedly poured gasoline over the vehicle and set it ablaze, while a mob prevented the missionaries from exiting the inferno.
___Dozens of attackers were arrested, and a reward was offered for information on the whereabouts of the man charged with leading the group.
___Staines and his wife, Gladys, were Australian Baptist missionaries.
___Against this setting, the pastors' conference opened, with Tippit admonishing 1,000 Indian pastors not to return violence for violence.
___"We do not fight hate with hate or anger with anger," he said. "We fight hate with love, and we triumph over anger with peace.
___"Many people are paralyzed by fear, but God's perfect love casts out fear," Tippit told the interdenominational group of Protestant pastors. "We don't have to be crippled by fear. We can conquer by faith in a loving God who cares deeply about us."
___That was the message also of Gladys Staines at the funeral for her husband and sons.
___"I am terribly upset, but not angry," she told an estimated 10,000 people gathered for the memorial service. "My husband loved Jesus Christ, who has taught us to love and forgive our enemies."
___She then led the crowd in singing the gospel song "Because He Lives, I Can Face Tomorrow."
___Tippit's wife, "Tex," also was able to lead a planned conference for 300 pastors' wives in India.
___Tippit told the Baptist Standard afterward that the atmosphere was different from his previous trips to India. Many local Christians, he said, believe the Hindu-led government's mild stance on past violence has caused the persecution to increase.
___"The government has not done the persecution, but has turned its back and winked, so it has escalated," Tippit said.
___The government of the state of Andrha Pradesh, where Tippit was speaking, is not Hindu controlled, however, and the Secretary General of the ruling party spoke at the pastors' conference, declaring that violence would not be tolerated against any minority people, including Christians. The official, of Muslim background, vowed that any attacks against Christians would be swiftly prosecuted. He also provided the Tippits with a protective guard.
___The pastors' conference and pastors' wives conference were held with incident, but newspapers carried daily reports of attacks on Christians in other parts of the country.
___"I felt very safe," Tippit said. "The threat was there, but there was a peace in my heart that we were there to do the will of God and that nothing would happen outside of his perfect will."
___San Angelo evangelist Gary Maroney also accompanied the Tippits on the trip.
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