Guna, at right, lived in an orphange in India as a child. He was exposed to Christianity during his time there and now devotes his life to informing others of the value of a relationship with Jesus. His wife Victoria, at left, ministers with him, and the couple’s three sons have joined them in working with a Boise non-profit known as Send Hope Now. (Courtesy photo)
By Gaye Bunderson
Editor’s note: Shortly after Drew Brodien was interviewed for this article, he accepted another job elsewhere. Christian Living Magazine was informed of this decision well into the production process in mid-December. CLM was also informed an interim director took Brodien’s place but that Send Hope Now was actively seeking a new executive director.
How do missionaries save souls in a country where converting someone is against the law and open discussions about faith, Jesus and Christianity can bring retribution? Send Hope Now found a way: members don’t speak their beliefs, they demonstrate them.
Send Hope Now started out of Calvary Chapel Boise in 1989. In the late ’80s, an Indian man named Guna grew up in a Christian orphanage in Bangalore run by a German family. In the orphanage, he came to faith and felt called to share the experience with others.
He later came to Boise in search of a half-sister, getting a job in a local flower shop while here. He delivered flowers to Calvary Chapel one day and a conversation ensued with church staff. The then-pastor of the church, a man named Bob, had traveled to India at the same time as Guna had come here. Bob was seeking to start a partnership with an organization in India as an outreach of the church. But God had sent the right person right to the church’s doorstep when Guna showed up.
As current executive director of Send Hope Now, Drew Brodien, explained it, “Bob flew back to Boise and he and Guna talked for a number of weeks, preparing for the ministry that ultimately became Send Hope Now.”
Guna flew back to India and started a church in Bangalore. The Boise church supported its Indian counterpart well at just $25 a month. It turned out to be a great investment. “That multiplied into three or four more churches. In 1992, we started our orphan care,” Brodien said.
Guna himself supported four orphans in his home.
“Over our 35-year history, 2,200 children have graduated from our homes. We currently support 530 children in our homes,” Brodien said.
They support them until they are 18, but now they offer college options for them. “It costs $300 [per year] per child to go to college; 190 of them are now pursuing higher education.” Calvary Chapel Boise held a fundraiser in early November of 2023 – a Night of Hope Gala, Auction, and Dinner – and raised nearly $100,000 for more higher education options for more Indian orphans.
Today, Send Hope Now can sponsor kids in the orphanage for $70 a month or $840 a year.
Another component of Send Hope Now that launched in 2005 happened when Guna was approached at a train station by a dying mother who asked him to take her daughter in when she passed. Both mother and daughter were HIV positive and thus began a program of caring for the diseased. “It became a whole new sector of our organization,” Brodien said.
A Send Hope Now brochure reads: “This drastically changed the ministry as we became aware of hundreds of other HIV children who were turned away from government care because of social stigmas. With so many children on the streets in need of care, we raised funding to build our first ‘Home of Hope’ orphanage.”
In India, there are 11 states, 13 orphanages and, as stated, 530 people in SHN homes. Roughly half of them are HIV positive.
The staff of Send Hope Now navigates Indian culture. The population of 1,454,356,734 people is predominantly Hindu, making SHN a Christian organization working in a Hindu nation – but secretly so. The population of India recently surpassed China as the world’s most populated nation, so it’s ripe for conversion. However, according to Brodien, “One of the biggest sins in the Indian government’s eyes is converting to Christianity. Churches have been burned and people have been beaten.”
Only 2% of the population is Christian, and they largely worship covertly.
All the Send Hope Now pastors in India are native, not American. Brodien, who has traveled to the country, said, “I felt the Lord’s security; and we’ve been doing this for 35 years so we have wisdom about where we should go and what we should do.”
The thing that has opened doors for Send Hope Now is the compassion it shows orphans, widows, and those stricken with such diseases such as AIDS and leprosy. The local populations – and even the Indian government – seem grateful for the ministry’s presence.
The country has anti-conversion laws, with northern India being “the least comfortable” with conversion messages.
Brodien explained that Guna’s son Heinrich – currently SHN Director in India – had this to say about his experiences in the northern part of the nation: “In northern towns, we went in and started churches and did some humanitarian work. In the beginning, people threw rocks at us; but now they’ve seen us supporting the community and they appreciate us – no more rocks. Now they wave at us.”
“There is so much need,” Brodien stated. “The people and the government accept us because we’re caring for the diseased and providing them with an education. We’ve planted 200 churches – house churches – and we evangelize through our provision programs. We give meal kits with nutrient-rich foods, we’re giving them schooling, and drilling wells.
“We build relationships, which gives us an opportunity to show the tangible love of Jesus. There’s a trickle effect; it’s an underground movement. We support people that others overlook. We get a level of respect, and ties into a government connection. It’s an odd dynamic, but we have a way of co-existing. We have to be very strategic in our way of evangelizing, but we have projects from the Himalayas to the southern tip of India.”
The donor base for Send Hope Now is nationwide in the U.S. Brodien stated: “In 2019, we became a 501(c)(3) non-profit and expanded our partnerships.” They partner with 20 U.S. churches, including some in New York, Colorado, and California. “We have 700 active donors, and we are looking for new partners.”
In 2023, donations totaled $1,713,404.
There are stories of courage in a land where the punishment for spreading the Christian faith can be severe. “The year 2020 was a heavy one for us,” Brodien said. “We were hosting a [faith-based program] on Christmas day and someone contacted the government. The police came and were going to arrest the pastor, but the congregation of more than 80 people all stood up in unison and said, ‘If you’re going to take our pastor, you’re going to have to take us’. They showed courage and bravery in their faith.”
No one was arrested.
The work they do with HIV patients, widows, and others helps them proceed because the government is grateful for what they are doing for the lowest people in the population. “Some of the orphans have lost their parents, homes, and hope,” Brodien said. “But they found Jesus.”
Brodien said that seeing the religious practices of India gave him a new view of his homeland, the U.S. Cattle are deemed to have spiritual significance in the southern Asian country, with their sacred status traced back to Lord Krishna, a Hindu deity who is said to have once appeared as a cowherd. Monkeys are also revered there, as the populace believes they are a symbol of the monkey god Hanuman.
“We drove past a monkey temple,” Brodien said. What he witnessed were simians who almost seemed aware of their special status, behaving in a haughty way while eating the food people gave them as a spiritual gesture. “What is strange is that the animals are well-fed but the people are hungry. It gave me a new perspective on America. Many people don’t go to church, but the foundation of Christianity is still here.”
Note: Guna married and had three sons, each with a German name: Ulrich, Frederick, and Heinrich. Guna remains involved with the ministry, as does his family; Heinrich (or Henry), for example, is mentioned in this article. For more information about Send Hope Now, go to sendhopenow.org.
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