About Richard
I became a servant of this Gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of His power (Ephesians 3:7)
Interview with Richard - Oct 6 2009
This is a 6 minute interview with Richard Samuel done on October 6, 2009 where he discusses family, the recession on India, and a couple ministry stories.
A Heritage of Ministry
Director of Christ Community Ministries (“CCM”), Richard Samuel is an incredibly gifted, yet sweetly humble servant of the gospel. Richard grew up in a ministry family. His parents worked with orphan children and in evangelism. His father, P. Samuel, was a faithful servant of the Gospel until he went home to be with the Lord in 2005. P. Sam was one of the founders of the Friends Missionary Prayer Band, a completely indigenous mission agency started in 1967 by a group of university students in Madras. Richard recalls that it was the normal course of events for his father to bring home street children to be cared for in one of the orphanages. He even remembers waking up in the morning more than once to see a new kid in the bed next to him wearing his clothes!
A Heart for Ministry
Having seen much ministry around him growing up, he felt the need and desire for lasting fruit. (John 15:16) After earning a BA in Hindu Philosophy at Madras Christian College and a Master of Divinity at Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky, Richard worked for Fishhook International in Lexington, Kentucky, from 1993 to 1997. He moved back to India in the spring of 1997 and founded the CCM work. He is married to Annie and is blessed with four wonderful children: Timothy, Alicia, Lydene and Kristina. In addition to CCM, he also directs the CBMC ministry and Crown Financial Ministries in India.
A Hope and a Future
Richard emphasizes that the foundation of CCM is not his leadership but a reliance on the Lord through prayer. His ministries reflect his heart to serve the Gospel in two broad areas of need: One objective is to reach out with the hope and love of Jesus to those who are forgotten and discarded in Indian society. Secondly, Richard seeks to use business models to build sustainable ministry based on Psalm 90:17.
“May the favor of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.”The Lord has given Richard a vision of incorporating an economic engine into every CCM program so that it can sustain not only itself but also feed new ministry. As of now this desire is a vision, not reality. Fishhook, along with Richard and others at CCM, are praying and working to build these sustainable ministry models. If you would like to help Richard develop micro economic “ministry as business” projects, please contact us.
