Mr. Alfred Bhaskar — When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going

It was the fall of 1997. There was a small group of Indian Christians who were bonded by a strong cultural identity and a sense of purpose. Moved by God, they had a strong desire to start

a new church in central New Jersey. One of the leaders in that group was my father, Alfred Bhaskar. He was instrumental in bringing the group together and was driven by his mission to support missions programs in India. He felt starting a church to support missions was a great way to spread the Gospel. Putting their faith and trust in God, they founded the new church, calling it United Evangelical Christian Fellowship (UECF). The great success that UECF enjoys today as a church is due to God alone who empowered that group with leadership and vision to achieve His purpose.UECF focused on two very important things: every Sunday there should be a good praise & worship and a strong Biblical message. To this end, they bring in special guest speakers on nearly every Sunday.

You will always hear a special message every Sunday that is sure to enrich your faith. That is the legacy left behind by its founding members and we thank them for it.

Since my dad retired from his regular job, he devoted all his energies full time to building the church. When the UECF first opened its doors in Roselle Park, there were only 10 people who attended including the original 5 or 6 who started the church. Within a month they had an “official” opening where almost 200 attended most of whom were visitors and invited guests. People loved the service and the message by the senior pastor, Rev. David Ravinder. The dinner that followed was great too, served in traditional south Indian style. My father made it a point that there would always be dinner served at every UECF service and this has become a cultural tradition of this church since its beginning.Praise and worship music was another strong feature that has always been present. The church has been blessed through the last 20 years to have had great musicians serve in this church. My father loved Indian classical tunes and he would lead the Telugu songs for many years. He sang his own style but always made sure that everyone had the right talam, ragam, and shruti. If any singer kept out of tune he made his displeasure known. He was passionate about UECF. He made sure

they were formally organized as a non-profit entity,

regularly conducted its trustee meetings, and kept the

church together with his leadership and vision.UECF

has never been affiliated to any Church, Christian

institution or group and totally depends on its

members for support. It has always beenthe founders’

vision that the independent nature of the church

should never be compromised. For this, the credit

should go to Alfred Bhaskar and the original founders along with all the presidents and trustees who have faithfully served this church tirelessly. By the grace of God, under the leadership of Joshua Pilli, the church has seen tremendous growth in the last 20 years. My father was and would surely have been proud of the success UECF has enjoyed.

An endearing feature of my father’s personality was theempathy he had to others in need. This always led to him to be generous. He always knew when another person was down and needed help. He related to them very well by being alongside them, listening to them, knowing about their issues, and doing all he could to help them even if it had to go against all odds. He was generous to a fault in his giving. This is one thing among others that I have learned from my dad. Always be ready to help another especially when nobody else wants to.He at times, alienated people with his abruptness and anger which he did have in plenty. He always took a bold stance on issues and ultimately was proved right on most occasions even if it rubbed people the wrong way. He was very well versed in the Bible and preached at UECF and other churches when called upon.

My father wouldn’t have been complete without my dear mother Shanthi. If he was the head, she was the neck. She was always supportive of all my father’s effortsat UECF. To be fair, she has been supportive and been with him every step of the way in their entire marriage. While others might feel the same way about their parent, I feel that as a parent, there was no other person who stood by his children as well as my father did. He was there for us always. He was there to teach us or disciple us while we were growing up as kids. He made sure we went to Sunday school every week. He taught us many of the popular Telugu keertanas from Andhra ChristavaKeertana. He always would monitor our activities and studies at school. He played cricket and ping pong with us and tried to get us interested in track and field which none of us had much aptitude for.He would frequently take us to watch great war or western movies of that time. We even went swimming at a local club where we grew up. He was an avid sports Indian sports fan. We saw cricket test matches, Davis Cup tennis matches involving India and hockey and boxing matches at the recreation club.

By nature he was a tough task master and was always a strict disciplinarian. We have been at the receiving end many times.However, he always had our back and took care of our needs. There are no regrets and I thank God for the great parents that I have been blessed with. Many of my father’sdear friends and relativescan attest to his generosity and the care that he took of them through many issues in life especially how he used his position to help them in need. He also had a great sense of humor and his speech was always full of wit. With his dialog he could

get laughter out of any situation.

Even though his family misses him, we hope that the legacy he has left behind will always endure. God has blessed UECF greatly through visionaries like my father and I hope that the next 20 years at UECF will be even more blessed and enriching for everyone who passes through the portals of this great church.

Congratulations to UECF

Regards, RAVI BHASKAR

October 2017