It is my great pleasure and privilege to give you a biography of myself and the vision that I have about BITS. I was born in a city called Thiruvilla, Kerala State, India. Due to the mission work of my parents (Pastor T. T. Thomas and Saramma Thomas) in Ranny area, most of my childhood years up until my seventeenth year were in the Ranny vicinity in Kerala State.
At the age of eight, I came to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and accepted him as my personal Savior in a Sunday worship service which was conducted by a famous prayer warrior in Kerala named Bhakthan Kuttyachan. At the age of fifteen, I took water baptism and later on filled with the Holy Spirit. Ever since I was a young boy I had a desire to be a missionary. Many servants of God visited our church and prophesized over the course of many years about the plan of God in my life. At the age of seventeen, God spoke to me that He would open a way for me to go to a foreign country to study the Word of God and to prepare for His ministry. Soon after that, God miraculously opened a way for me to come to New York to study the Word of God at Long Island Bible Institute.
After completing four years of studies there, God opened a door for ministry in Dallas as an associate pastor of an American church. During the one year of ministry in Dallas, God brought many souls to Christ and the church membership increased. In completing one year of ministry in the said church, I moved back to New York and took membership in an Indian congregation in the Bronx. Even though I was ordained as a pastor since the end of 1971, I did not want to take a position as a pastor and so continued to be an active member in the local church. However, in 1990 God specifically spoke to me to take the position as a pastor of a church with a warning that if I don’t obey Him, He will lead me through difficult situations and will bring me out to do His ministry. After going through eight months of hardship and difficulties, I surrendered my life for His ministry.
In the early months of 1991, I started a church fully trusting in the Lord in the area of Bronx, NY. God blessed us with many believers and provided us with a public facility to worship. After a year and half, the church relocated to Queens, NY. Again God added many members in the church. By the grace of God in 1998 we bought a building in Elmont and converted it to a sanctuary for worship. God has been great, and the work of the Lord is being continued.
It was my prayer and desire to start a mission work in India. After many years of prayer and patience, we started a Bible College in May 2004 under the name of Bethel International Theological Seminary. Now we have reached the third year, and over twenty-three students are studying in Malayalam and English. God willing, about twelve students will be graduating in March 2007 with a Bachelor’s Degree. It is our intention to send these young people to areas where there are no mission work currently going on. We have built a three story building with many amenities such as: classrooms, dormitories, libraries, auditoriums, and other modern facilities. We hope and pray that this institution will be a vessel in God’s hands to advance the expansion for the Kingdom of God.

We invite anyone who has an interest in Gospel work to please join us. We welcome you with a whole heart. May God bless you.

In His Service,

Pastor Kurien Thomas, Director