Prasanth Bethu
Master of Arts in Leadership, Asbury Theological Seminary, 2018.
Current D.Min. Student.
Published: January 21, 2025

A Family Legacy of Faith
Prasanth Bethu’s faith is both a product of the Lord’s grace and a testament to the faithfulness of a resilient woman who was radically saved in a majority-Hindu context: his grandmother. She heard the gospel from someone traveling through the area on business and the simple gospel was enough for the Lord to work. “The ministry of the Holy Spirit convinced her totally that Jesus is the only Lord,” Prasanth says. “So, she quit worshipping the idols.”
Prasanth’s father followed his mother’s faith, and after he was married, he and his wife were kicked out of the family and ostracised. Prasanth was only a few days old when they moved to a completely unfamiliar region in India, to a city called Mangalagiri. However, his parents felt the Lord calling them to minister there. Witnessing his family’s suffering and many challenges because of their choice to follow Jesus and pursue ministry, young Prasanth decided definitively that he did not want to be a pastor. Instead, he went to college in the city of Hyderabad to earn a Bachelor’s degree in software engineering.
Called to Ministry: Software Engineer to Master of Divinity
During his third year of college, Prasanth visited the city of Tirupati, a major hub for Hindu worship in India. It was in this significant place of idol worship that the Lord called Prasanth to ministry. “I was standing in a place where there is a parade going, like thousands of people walking behind this parade and they were shouting for this god,” Prasanth says. “And there was a real voice in my ears saying, ‘You are saved, you are secured. What about these people?’”
The question echoed in Prasanth’s mind, but he returned to college and completed his studies as normal. He was admitted into graduate school soon after completing his Bachelor’s degree, however, he could not shake the call he felt to ministry. “There was literally pain in my bones all over,” Prasanth says. “You cannot really express what it is. It was some very strange experience I had.”
He visited his parents and told them that he did not want to pursue his planned Master’s degree but instead wanted to get a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree. He was worried about their reaction, but they offered their full support. “They said, “Well, congratulations, we’ve been praying for this,’” Prasanth says.
Despite still being introverted and disliking speaking in front of others, Prasanth was confident after receiving his M.Div. that he wanted to continue to pursue ministry. His parents arranged for him to marry Anusha, his now wife of almost 10 years, who shared his vision to answer God’s call to ministry. They had been married less than five months by the day Prasanth randomly found himself online searching the top ten theological seminaries in the world. He lingered on Asbury Theological Seminary’s website. “One thing that stopped me at Asbury Seminary is the slogan… the Whole Bible for the Whole World. That drew my attention, so I did not open anything else.,” he says.
From India to Asbury Seminary
Though he had no previous intentions to return to school, Prasanth found himself filling out the application form for Asbury Seminary. Much to his surprise, a week later he received an acceptance email. Without any scholarships or even the finances to take Anusha with him, and after miraculously receiving a visa and fully covered plane tickets, Prasanth was shortly en route to Wilmore, Kentucky.
Prasanth arrived in the U.S. during a harsh January, facing cultural adjustment, language barriers, and financial hardship. He worked for a period as a dishwasher in the dining hall, which became a holy place of prayer as he cried out to God amid his challenges. Eventually, he secured better employment and received much support from the community. His experience overcoming challenges and pursuing his studies profoundly shaped his faith and ministry vision.
Before completing his degree, Prasanth met Jeff Kersey, an alumnus of Asbury Seminary and pastor of Mt. Horeb Church in Lexington, South Carolina, who was seeking applicants for an associate pastor. Even though he was looking for some short-term experience before returning to India, Prasanth accepted the role at Mt. Horeb church. He still did not have much practice in preaching or ministry experience, but the opportunity, along with Jeff’s mentorship, supplied him with vital ministry experience. “I cannot thank him enough, and I cannot thank God enough because he brought Pastor Jeff into my life,” Prasanth says. “I can definitely say he saw something in me that I couldn’t see… and one day he put me on the pulpit with an Indian accent in this huge auditorium.”
By this point, Anusha had been able to join Prasanth in the United States and she was pregnant with their first daughter. Mt. Horeb had been such an encouraging community and supportive community that there was some temptation to stay in the United States. However, with much prayer and counsel from family, they knew that they were called to return to India.
Fulfilling the Whole Bible for the Whole World
Since doing so, Prasanth has been pastoring at Krupa Samajam Church in Mangalagiri. The church has grown significantly in the past few years. In 2023, the church finished constructing a new building on one acre of land. Prasanth and the leadership hoped the building would be filled in five or more years. At the recent Christmas Eve service, the building was packed and continues to be almost filled since. The Sunday service is facilitated by approximately 150 volunteers. For this reason, Prasanth is especially grateful for how his Master of Arts in Leadership taught him how to empower and raise up other leaders.
Despite the good fruit, Krupa Samajam Church faces challenges with rapid growth, a changing city environment, and judgment from others in the city. However, Prasanth is confident that Krupa Samajam Church is doing the work to which he and the whole body are called. “A lot of people don’t like us because our church is more than 80 percent first-generation Christians,” he says. “But we are called. Go to the ends of the world and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and we are doing it. That’s how the Whole Bible [for] the Whole World can influence many others.”
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