Abisha Gross and her husband, Jake, are active in 500K Churches, a non-profit organization. Gross is president of the USA division of the agency that sends missionaries to India. (Photo by Phoebe Muthart)

WINONA LAKE — Some people feel led by the Lord. While some might be apt to brush his work or message aside, Abisha Gross of Winona Lake does not.

Gross is president of the USA division of 500K Churches, a non-profit organization. The organization 500,000 Churches is a fundraising movement seeking to provide for the training and sending of native missionaries in India. It was launched in October 2014.

Gross was born in India but came to the U.S. when she was about 3 years old. Her family settled in Springfield, Ohio. After high school, she attended Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute. She graduated in 2009 with a degree in engineering. She works at Zimmer-Biomet. Gross and her husband, Jake, married in October 2015. Abisha moved to Kosciusko County in 2010, and Jake moved to the area in 2012; both work at Zimmer-Biomet.

Gross went back to India when she was about 12 years old. She was appalled at what she saw.

“I was overwhelmed,” she recalled of visiting the impoverished country. “I had so many emotions. I knew I wasn’t going back again.”

Raised a Christian, Gross knew God existed. It wasn’t until 2011 when she said, “I truly met Christ. I said, ‘This is what I want.’”

Realizing she was a child of God when she got saved, Gross said she hit rock bottom. She read a book that stated you have a purpose. She went to a conference in Kansas and was asked to stand when asked if anyone felt like being a missionary.

“I started praying and the Lord told me, you need to be a missionary in your own country,” she recalled. She continued praying for three years between 2011 to 2014.

Three years ago, she discovered 500,000 Churches. She knew she wanted to be a part of the organization. But she felt called to a spiritually dark country, such as India. Being a Christian, Gross knew this was a daunting task.
“In some areas of India, you can’t freely say you’re a Christian,” she said. “In fact, only 2.3 percent of India’s population are Christians, per The Joshua Project.”

“We have 279 trained missionaries in 21 of the 29 states,” she said. “Sixteen are currently on a waiting list.”
“Our goal is to connect people here to missionaries in India,” she said. The organization was formed locally in Warsaw in April 2015.

They (Indian missionaries) are going based on faith knowing they could be persecuted in India, she said.
Gross said there are 500,000 unreached villages in India that have never heard the Gospel. Hence the name 500K Churches.

“We hope to reach them in the next 50 years,” added Jake. “Our goal is to have 500k ambassadors in each of the 50 states.”

Gross now knows that God has provided a way for her to support her native country and fulfill her calling. Some day, she does, however, hope to go with her husband to India, possibly in 2018.

The biggest need, said Gross, is prayer, money, volunteers and raising awareness of the program. Missionaries, of course, are also needed.

Gross also makes her own beauty products through her business, Back to Eden, using essential oils and other safe ingredients.

For more information, visit www.500000churches.com or www.facebook.com/500kchurches, call Gross at (937) 624-9115, or email her at [email protected].