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Beacon’s First Graduates

Dr. Sathish
as told to Jeannie Lockerbie Stephenson

“I do not know how to preach. I just take a verse and talk about it,” Dinesh admitted.

Dinesh was born into a Hindu family in southern India. His mother was deep into witchcraft and suffered mental anguish as a result. In a vain attempt to help his wife, Dinesh's father tried medical treatment and offerings to Hindu gods and goddesses.

Then Dinesh's sister met some Christians, attended their meetings, and became a believer in Christ. Through these people’s prayers, the mother was healed, and Dinesh accepted the Lord Jesus as his Savior. When he proclaimed his faith by baptism, however, his extended family ostracized him. A woman getting healed was one thing; a son disgracing his family by changing his religion was another!

Dinesh fled from his home but began to serve God as an evangelist. He also met a Christian woman named Ancy. After their marriage, they sensed God’s call to work among Gypsies.

Gypsies are widespread throughout India. Most of them live in poverty; their healthcare, nutrition, and education are poor. Dinesh and Ancy realized the Gypsies were spiritually poor also, since most have never heard the gospel. The young couple tried to teach and preach to them, but they themselves had no theological training.

In 1999, ABWE-GAP missionaries Sathish and Helen established Beacon Seminary, and Dinesh and Ancy immediately applied.

Many times Dinesh told Dr. Sathish how God answered his prayers by bringing the seminary to his doorstep.After one year, however, the school had to relocate to a city 300 miles away. Dinesh and Ancy were disappointed and wondered how they ever would complete their studies.

For the next three years, Dr. Sathish and a local pastor traveled and taught the young couple in their home. Dinesh and Ancy completed the M. Div. course in 2002 and are Beacon’s first graduates.

Today, the Gypsy church continues under its own leadership, and Dinesh and Ancy are starting another church in northern India. Dinesh told Dr. Sathish, “Sir, I did not know how to preach from the Bible, but after studying homiletics and expository preaching, I am able to present the Word of God more clearly.”

* Names edited for security.

Beacon Seminary in Southeast Asia, has forty-three students from four countries and fourteen ethnic groups. The school is committed to teach faithful men and women to go and make disciples of the nations.