Inside The Timothy Initiative: Tracing the breadcrumbs of founder David Nelms’ visits to India and Christian conversion activities

On 18th and 19th April, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids at several locations linked to the Christian missionary organisation named The Timothy Initiative (TTI). According to the investigation agency, in just six months, TTI used foreign bank debit cards across different states to withdraw Rs 95 crore. It included Rs 6.5 crore withdrawn in Naxal affected regions of Chhattisgarh. While doing so, TTI bypassed FCRA regulations. Notably, the organisation is not registered under FCRA, which means it cannot legally receive foreign funding. Intially known as “Project India” as it started in India, the organisation has been active in India since 2007. But its history in the country dates back to 1992, when its founder, David Nelms, came to India with his associate and decided to plant churches in every village of the country. OpIndia is doing a series of reports on how TTI functions. Source: TTI During our research, we found that TTI not only has its own network in India and other countries, but also collaborates with other churches to push its agenda. In our previous report, we described how TTI’s manual guides church planters to enter Hindu dominated villages, approach Hindus, avoid suspicion and use caste leaders to push evangelism in the country. In this report, we will trace the history of TTI’s origin and how it functions alongside other churches. The aim of TTI is to convert Hindus and members of other communities to Christianity and have at least one church in every village in the country. Following ED’s action, a lot of content has either been blocked in India or removed from social media platforms. However, there are still a lot of breadcrumbs that need to be followed and documented. Documented earliest visit of David Nelms to India In January 2023, a person named Dan Burrell, who himself is an evangelist, shared a post on social media platform Facebook about his visit to India in 1992 with David Nelms, founder of TTI. Source: Facebook In his post, he wrote that the 1992 trip to India and Thailand was a life changing mission trip. He clearly noted that for over 30 years, he and David have been in the business of religious conversions. There is a possibility that this was the visit mentioned on TTI’s website, where Nelms appeared to be “heartbroken” because there were only temples and mosques in India, and not churches. According to the website, that particular visit gave birth to the idea of TTI. Source: TTI Global This post is the oldest proof of David’s visit to India and his indulgence in conversion activities. The post contained a blurred image of both Dan and David, which we have enhanced using AI. Person on the left is David Nelms, founder of TTI. Source: Facebook/Dan Burrell Following the breadcrumbs left by TTI As the documented history of the organisation on its website, which is blocked in India, suggests, it was founded in 2007. In 2009, a person named Tony Armour shared a video on Facebook where he had tagged David Nelms, and the location was set as Bengaluru, Karnataka. The video was titled “India 2009”. The first image that appeared in the video was of possible Indian church planters sitting happily with David Nelms for a group photograph. Source: Screenshot from video shared by Evangelist Tony Armour who visited India with Nelms in 2009. (Image had been enhanced using AI) In the video, Nelms and other foreigners were seen roaming around a suburban location, meeting vulnerable families and spending a lot of time with children. It appears that they used children to get comfortable with the families to push the conversion agenda. Notably, towards the end, Tony Armour was seen with UB Bhat, an entrepreneur from Karnataka who was one of the victims of the IC814 Indian Airlines hijack. In one of the books, TTI asked church planters to use caste leaders to build a rapport with the locals so that they could be converted. It seems that they not only used caste leaders, but also prominent personalities, whether they were involved in conversions or not, to establish TTI’s reputation among Indians. In 2013, David Nelms posted on Facebook that he would be in India from 11th to 18th September and invited people to come and see the work TTI had carried out in India, Nepal, and Pakistan. Source: Facebook/David Nelms In July 2016, David posted on Facebook that he was headed towards India. Source: Facebook/David Nelms In January 2017, David posted a photograph on Facebook with the caption, “Having fun with my Punjabi peeps!” Notably, Punjab is among the states most affected by Christian missionary activity. Lakhs of Hindus and Sikhs have converted to Christianity over the years in Punjab. Source: Facebook/David Nelms In February 2017, David Nelms posted on Facebook that he had returned to the US, adding that “India/Nepal were both a blast”, indicating that he had visited both India and Nepal. Source: Facebook/David Nelms David’s son, Jared Nelms, is currently serving as president of TTI. In the same year, TTI posted about him on LinkedIn. The post mentioned that Jared and his wife, Amber, served as missionaries in India for almost five years. Notably, the post suggested that Jared possibly lived in India for five years to push the church planting agenda. It is unclear whether the stay was continuous, or whether he and his family came to India multiple times during that period. Source: TTI’s LinkedIn Profile What David Nelms has left in the public domain about his visits to India is actually very limited. What remains today is mostly a few Facebook posts, an old tagged video, and references that can be pieced together only after careful tracking. This is especially important because much of TTI’s online material has either been blocked in India or removed from public platforms. So while the available record is small, it is still enough to establish that India was not a one off stop for Nelms, but a repeated and important part of TTI’s activity. Even from these scattered details, one thing becomes clear. David Nelms visited India multiple times over the years, and his son Jared Nelms appears to have had an even deeper presence here. TTI itself said that Jared and his wife Amber served as missionaries in India for almost five years. Whether that stay was continuous or spread across multiple visits is not fully clear, but it strongly suggests that the Nelms family was not engaging with India through brief tours alone, but through longer stays linked to missionary work. This becomes even more serious when seen alongside TTI’s own claims. In its “Kingdom Impact” material, it says it has planted over 2,68,750 churches across 50 countries since 2007, including India, and converted 23,92,427 people to Christianity, including 2,01,954 widows and orphans. In the next report, we will trace how churches have collaborated with TTI over the years in India, or in efforts directed at India.