Warning: The following story contains descriptions of violence that may be unsuitable for some readers.

We had done about 16 baptisms and I tried my best to do it as privately as possible, but one of the kids from the village had seen us doing the. By the time we came on the main street, we were surrounded by people from all directions and they were screaming at us, "Come out, come out." If it had been just me, it probably would have been easier for me, but my wife and both my daughters were there as well. It was a bit scary.

My name is Avish Petras and I'm from India. Let’s talk about India. I have been stoned twice. I have seen another pastor who was badly beaten when I went to visit him. I could not even identify him because his face was swollen and a few of his teeth were broken. It was bad.

One of my friends has a wife and young children—a two-year-old and few-month-old baby. Upon returning home from a church service one day, his wife and his kids were on the street with all of their belongings, and he asks, "What's going on?"

"Oh, the house owner, he threw us out the moment he learned that you are serving God." his wife responds. So that's the scenario people are going through.

I know some of the ministers whose wives have said to me that when their husbands leave, even just to go pray for other families, they look at their husbands as if they're looking at them for the last time because they do not know if they’ll return. On the way, they may be abducted or kidnapped or even killed.

Someone being ready to get baptized actually understands that he's getting ready to be killed. Right at this moment even while we are talking, the northeast state, Manipur, is under horrible, horrible persecution. Many Christians in India are hiding in mountains and hills and caves.

When we were in Chhattisgarh as part of a young adults and worship team, we would practice on Saturdays. And during these practices, the local people would throw stones into the church with paper wrapped around the stones. When we opened the paper, there would be writing on it that said, "Do not dare come tomorrow at 10:00 AM." They would threaten us to not show up the next morning. And every time we would get such threats, surprisingly, we noticed over the next two to three months that those Sundays would be packed. People from all corners would come. They were thriving and they were hungry for God. And we as the young adults team would always be waiting for those stones to be thrown at us because we knew next day the service would be awesome. That was the picture that we had about persecution.

We always had this idea that the more persecution there is, the more growth there is, the more the move of God is there. Jesus said, "The world is not going to love you." That is what Jesus went through. We are surely going to go through that, too. When someone is persecuted, know that your reward in heaven is great.

I love my people. I would like to see them saved. For that, if I have to shed some drops of blood, it's a privilege. Like Peter said, “At least I was found eligible for this much.” Anything and everything for the kingdom of God.