Pastor Stephen Ghandi Pothula was born on May 10th, 1967 in Jagannadhagiri, East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh, India. Pastor Ghandi completed the 10th grade and speaks fluent Hindi, Telugu, and English. He is married to his wife, Hepsiba (Hep-seeba) and has an adopted son, Joel Sukumar.
Stephen was adopted, himself, into a family who already had four daughters. His adoptive family was of strong Hindu background and were horribly poor, working all day in the fields. His family strongly worshipped idols and made animal sacrifices to them to bring peace to the family. They had very little clothing and food and Pastor Ghandi tells us that there was no peace or harmony in the family at all and no idol was able to help.
One day a pastor came by and witnessed the Gospel of Jesus Christ to his family. His mother began to attend church regularly and the church took his admission request to Missionary School. At this point he attended Sunday School and had started to develop a belief in Jesus Christ. Unfortunately due to financial issues in the family, Stephen was forced to leave and go back to work in the fields. After doing this and working in a car repair shop, Stephen moved to Mumbai to make more money. Here, he began working for a consultant as he began to develop his own consultant group of his own. During this time he attended Catholic Churches around Mumbai. In 2003 after hearing God speak to him one morning at 0430 he left his business and dedicated his life to full time ministry. Today Pastor Stephen minister's to his own church El Shaddi ministries and organizes praise, worship, and pastor's conference in Mumbai and throughout the Greateer Mumbai region..
El Shaddi Ministries includes a Christian Daycare for 40 children, 2 growing cell groups, a weekly fasting and overnight prayer service each week, a quarterly gospel meeting and medical camps for tribal people and numerous pastor's conferences.
Pastor Stephens father died in 1993 and his mother in 2012. He states that presently, God is using him mightily for His glory and he will continue to serve Jesus Christ until he draws his last breath.
Stephen was adopted, himself, into a family who already had four daughters. His adoptive family was of strong Hindu background and were horribly poor, working all day in the fields. His family strongly worshipped idols and made animal sacrifices to them to bring peace to the family. They had very little clothing and food and Pastor Ghandi tells us that there was no peace or harmony in the family at all and no idol was able to help.
One day a pastor came by and witnessed the Gospel of Jesus Christ to his family. His mother began to attend church regularly and the church took his admission request to Missionary School. At this point he attended Sunday School and had started to develop a belief in Jesus Christ. Unfortunately due to financial issues in the family, Stephen was forced to leave and go back to work in the fields. After doing this and working in a car repair shop, Stephen moved to Mumbai to make more money. Here, he began working for a consultant as he began to develop his own consultant group of his own. During this time he attended Catholic Churches around Mumbai. In 2003 after hearing God speak to him one morning at 0430 he left his business and dedicated his life to full time ministry. Today Pastor Stephen minister's to his own church El Shaddi ministries and organizes praise, worship, and pastor's conference in Mumbai and throughout the Greateer Mumbai region..
El Shaddi Ministries includes a Christian Daycare for 40 children, 2 growing cell groups, a weekly fasting and overnight prayer service each week, a quarterly gospel meeting and medical camps for tribal people and numerous pastor's conferences.
Pastor Stephens father died in 1993 and his mother in 2012. He states that presently, God is using him mightily for His glory and he will continue to serve Jesus Christ until he draws his last breath.
Bio on Pastor Sundar Rao
I was born in a Hindu family in a small village called Ayodhya lanka in west Godavari district in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India .I am the eldest son in my family with three younger brothers and one younger sister who are all settled with their families. I also got married and am blessed with three kids who are pursuing their higher studies. The first child is a girl named Noya ( 21 yrs) doing her third year in engineering, second Child is Noel(19 yrs) doing his first year in engineering and third Child is Joel(17 yrs) doing his 11th std in Commerce.
ABOUT MY EDUCATION:- I am a B.Com graduate from Andhra University (Andhra Pradesh) India.
ABOUT MY SALVATION:- At the age of 9 one MISSIONARY named K.G. DONALD came to our village to preach the gospel when my parents accepted LORD JESUS CHRIST and brought us up in the LORD. This MISSIONARY enrolled me in his boarding school where I completed my graduation. During my studies I was elected as the college representative. I conducted various activities such as Bible Quest, Seminars, Youth retreats, etc. Everybody appreciated my leadership. After my graduation I went back to my native place. I started a small business where I earned good profits, in order to expand my business I required more capital for which I thought of going to abroad I came to Mumbai and met one agent who took money from me to get the visa but later on he cheated me. I had already heard about the agents cheating the people and got cheated knowingly whereas, people get cheated unknowingly. Vexed up with all this I dropped my plan of going abroad and with the money that I had with me I started a business in partnership but my fate did not acknowledge me there too because my partner also cheated me. Where ever I went I confronted failures I did not feel like facing my family and finally decided to commit suicide by coming under the train. “As I was going towards railway station I heard a GOD SERVANT speaking in the revival meetings he said what benefit is it if you die, be alive and turn your heart towards the LORD, be obedient to the LORD and definitely GOD will exalt you”. These words touched my heart and gave a new hope in me to live. I went back to my room and prayed to GOD with tears and asked HIM to speak to me . The next day morning I saw a vision in which I was going around and preaching the gospel to the people. When I got up I realized that GOD had a plan for my survival. Since, that day I decided to serve the LORD. ABOUT MY MINISTRY :- After my marriage both me and my wife started serving the lord. We came to know that there is no regional language church in the city of Navi Mumbai. So we came to this city and started our ministry here. We registered our church as “Grace Gospel Church “with very few members (seven) initially. As we kept on praying for the growth of our church, gradually the number of members grew. We used to gather in a small classroom in a school, very often we faced problems from the authorities and were finding it difficult to worship in that place. We fasted and prayed to God for about ten years after which God answered our prayers and blessed us with a plot of land at vashi to construct our own Church. Now we are gathering in this church since 8 years. We have cell groups at two different places where we have Bible Study. Many youngsters attend the Bible study to know many things about Lord and enhance their Spiritual life. Also we conduct Youth fellowship and Sunday school.
As I have been serving the Lord since many years and in these years God really blessed me with manifold blessings and is helping me to continue in my ministry by overcoming all kinds of trials and tribulations.
ABOUT OUR MINISTRY FOR CHILD AND ADULT EDUCATION:-At Kopri goan (vashi) in the slum areas where there is no scope for the poor children for education,they are all fishers, we are running Day-Care Center from past 3 years, where Children as well as the adults can pursue education free of cost. And all this finance is supported by our Church.We have started a new Day-Care Center at Thane which you have already visited.This was started this year, where there is no scope for the poor children for education.By God’s grace many parents are sending their Children to the center to study where the teachers are educating them also teaching God’s word and Prayer Songs. At the end of the day we entertain the children with various eatables.
I was born in a Hindu family in a small village called Ayodhya lanka in west Godavari district in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India .I am the eldest son in my family with three younger brothers and one younger sister who are all settled with their families. I also got married and am blessed with three kids who are pursuing their higher studies. The first child is a girl named Noya ( 21 yrs) doing her third year in engineering, second Child is Noel(19 yrs) doing his first year in engineering and third Child is Joel(17 yrs) doing his 11th std in Commerce.
ABOUT MY EDUCATION:- I am a B.Com graduate from Andhra University (Andhra Pradesh) India.
ABOUT MY SALVATION:- At the age of 9 one MISSIONARY named K.G. DONALD came to our village to preach the gospel when my parents accepted LORD JESUS CHRIST and brought us up in the LORD. This MISSIONARY enrolled me in his boarding school where I completed my graduation. During my studies I was elected as the college representative. I conducted various activities such as Bible Quest, Seminars, Youth retreats, etc. Everybody appreciated my leadership. After my graduation I went back to my native place. I started a small business where I earned good profits, in order to expand my business I required more capital for which I thought of going to abroad I came to Mumbai and met one agent who took money from me to get the visa but later on he cheated me. I had already heard about the agents cheating the people and got cheated knowingly whereas, people get cheated unknowingly. Vexed up with all this I dropped my plan of going abroad and with the money that I had with me I started a business in partnership but my fate did not acknowledge me there too because my partner also cheated me. Where ever I went I confronted failures I did not feel like facing my family and finally decided to commit suicide by coming under the train. “As I was going towards railway station I heard a GOD SERVANT speaking in the revival meetings he said what benefit is it if you die, be alive and turn your heart towards the LORD, be obedient to the LORD and definitely GOD will exalt you”. These words touched my heart and gave a new hope in me to live. I went back to my room and prayed to GOD with tears and asked HIM to speak to me . The next day morning I saw a vision in which I was going around and preaching the gospel to the people. When I got up I realized that GOD had a plan for my survival. Since, that day I decided to serve the LORD. ABOUT MY MINISTRY :- After my marriage both me and my wife started serving the lord. We came to know that there is no regional language church in the city of Navi Mumbai. So we came to this city and started our ministry here. We registered our church as “Grace Gospel Church “with very few members (seven) initially. As we kept on praying for the growth of our church, gradually the number of members grew. We used to gather in a small classroom in a school, very often we faced problems from the authorities and were finding it difficult to worship in that place. We fasted and prayed to God for about ten years after which God answered our prayers and blessed us with a plot of land at vashi to construct our own Church. Now we are gathering in this church since 8 years. We have cell groups at two different places where we have Bible Study. Many youngsters attend the Bible study to know many things about Lord and enhance their Spiritual life. Also we conduct Youth fellowship and Sunday school.
As I have been serving the Lord since many years and in these years God really blessed me with manifold blessings and is helping me to continue in my ministry by overcoming all kinds of trials and tribulations.
ABOUT OUR MINISTRY FOR CHILD AND ADULT EDUCATION:-At Kopri goan (vashi) in the slum areas where there is no scope for the poor children for education,they are all fishers, we are running Day-Care Center from past 3 years, where Children as well as the adults can pursue education free of cost. And all this finance is supported by our Church.We have started a new Day-Care Center at Thane which you have already visited.This was started this year, where there is no scope for the poor children for education.By God’s grace many parents are sending their Children to the center to study where the teachers are educating them also teaching God’s word and Prayer Songs. At the end of the day we entertain the children with various eatables.