A man walks along a street in a city in South Asia (Submitted).
Editor’s note: Names were changed for security.
Feeling God’s call to missions in South Asia, Ethan Curry found an International Mission Board (IMB) trip and signed himself up.
It was not with a church. He did not really know anyone and had never been overseas. He was nervous, but said his fears were alleviated in knowing God wanted him to go.
“I grew up in Texas, being around people who are Indian. My school was probably actually about 15 percent Indian… and just getting to grow up around people like that who were so kind yet had no idea of the gospel, it created this heart in me to see them come to faith in Jesus,” Curry said. “It really alleviated my fears because it felt like God wanted me to go and I wasn’t worried.”
Curry, a student campus minister with Conway BCM and part-time youth minister at Harlan Park Baptist Church, spent his Christmas break in South Asia. For two and a half weeks, he served with the IMB, sharing the gospel in a city with a population of three million people. They would go out twice a day every day and share the gospel for two hours.
![Student campus minister with Conway BCM shares gospel in South Asia 1 EthanCurryIndia2](https://arkansasbaptist.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/EthanCurryIndia2-1024x768.jpg)
“The harvest is ripe; the workers are few. There are millions of people just in this city who don’t know Jesus. We have this opportunity every day to go share the gospel. We shared the gospel with over 60 people through relational evangelism,” he said.
Curry shared a couple stories of impact that highlight that. The first was about David. David is a Christian, but his parents are not. He did not grow up a follower of Jesus but became a follower of Jesus as a teenager because of someone in his life sharing the gospel with him. Now, he shares the gospel with his people every week, working with IMB missionaries.
“Getting to hear his story, it motivated me because he has to keep the fact that he is a Christian a secret,” Curry said. “If he tells his parents that he is a Christian he will likely be disowned by his family.”
In the South Asia country he visited, Curry said most people live with their parents until about 29. If disowned, David would have to find a place to live. It would make him homeless.
“Publicly declaring his faith in Christ is guaranteed homelessness and poverty,” Curry said. He was encouraged by David’s boldness despite this massive fear.
Next, Curry shared about Adwan. Adwan grew up Hindu. When he was a teenager, he joined a Hindu nationalist crime group that persecutes Christians. For years, he was actively involved with that group. And like Paul, he accepted Jesus.
“While we were there, I got to share alongside him with people and got to see him share Jesus. It was like I went back in time to Paul’s first missionary journey. I was seeing the modern-day Paul and that was super cool and inspiring for me,” Curry said.
“I got to share day in and day out with Adwan who unlike David had boldly proclaimed his faith to everyone. … He left the crime group and changed his life. It’s just so inspiring.”
One day on the trip, Curry met friends Sean and Sam at a bus stop.
“They were really excited we were Americans. We ended up sharing the gospel with them. They were very open as most Hindus are. They wanted us to share the gospel with their whole family,” he said. “That night we shared the gospel with an entire family. … We pulled up a video the missionaries had showed us on YouTube that was in their native tongue, and they wanted to watch the whole thing. And we shared the gospel with three generations.”
On his last day in South Asia, not wanting to waste a moment, Curry went out one last time to share the gospel. This time, they went to the slum where they encountered some persecution from people of the Islamic faith.
“There was some tension. But in that tension, we had some of the most open conversations,” he said, noting of the about 13 they shared the gospel with, six said they would go to church the next Sunday.
Over the two and a half weeks, Curry personally shared the gospel with 25 people who otherwise probably would have never heard about Jesus.
“There is a need to fight for Jesus. Going over there, it felt like we were on the front lines for Christ. … I’ll never be able to forget the people I shared with. The things I saw, good and bad,” Curry said.
“If someone is on the edge to go overseas, I’d say just go for it. God is going to be with you. It’ll change your life and there are millions of people who are waiting to hear the gospel.”