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About Dr. P.G. Vargis
Dr. P. G. Vargis was born in a very remote village of South India. His father practiced a syncretistic faith of eastern orthodox Christianity and local forms of Hinduism. As a young man, P. G. Vargis tried to find meaning in all kinds of religion, including flirtation with black magic. Disenchanted, he became an atheist. He soon began to indulge in various vices. As a young man P. G. Vargis joined the Indian army. Here he started to smoke about 120 cigarettes a day. He would begin his morning coffee mixed with rum, and would continue drinking till late night. Gambling, stealing and fights became common. P. G. says, “I became a very hardened and cruel man. Borrowing Paul’s words, I too became a chief of sinners.” A series of events led P. G. Vargis to attend a tent-meeting. Here he heard the gospel preached clear and loud. He gave his life to Christ on the second night, and he experienced a powerful transformation. A new man, passionate to share Christ’s love and power began to quickly emerge.
A few months after his conversion, P. G. and Lilly felt the clear call of God to serve as full time pioneer missionaries in North India. They went to Katra, a Hindu pilgrim center, in the lower Himalayan mountain. God began to create breakthrough in this hardened land. Soon, 100 people accepted Christ in few months, a miracle. Within three years that number had grown to 300, and daughter churches began to spring up in surrounding mountains. A movement began to flow out of the first church in Katra. Soon, the movement spread like wildfire throughout Northern India. This was the birth of Indian Evangelical Team.
Today, it is one of the most effective pioneer mission forces in South East Asia. It has birthed more than 27 church planting movements in various regions of South East Asia, focusing on saturation church planting. It trains hundreds of called indigenous men and women to be effective and godly church planters and Christian leaders through its regional Bible schools and the one accredited central leadership training center. P. G. Vargis travels and speaks all over the world. However, he spends more than half of his time traveling to the villages and fields in South East Asia. He also leads one of IET’s regional church planting movement in M.P., one of the hardest and most resistant states in India. He has authored more than 40 books published in India and one in the United States. He was also awarded an honorary doctor of divinity degree and a doctor of literature. Lilly and P.G. Vargis have five grown up children, three children-in-laws, and five grandchildren. Lilly and P.G. live near Delhi, India Read the gripping story of P. G.’s escape from death and the resulting birth of a pioneer church.