We wanted to thank you all for your earnest prayers for us, especially for the Easter outreach. Every day throughout the outreach we could experience our Lord’s presence, which surrounded us and protected us. During the fifteen days from March 16th to the 31st, 722 of our house church leaders’ trainees and other young brothers and sisters went out to share the gospel in unreached villages and among unreached people groups. Our goal was to reach 435 villages and over 10,0000 homes and conduct 150 public meetings in the villages.
By our Lord’s grace, more believers joined in the outreach, and our brothers and sisters were able to reach 513 villages, visited more than 123,000 homes, and shared the gospel and prayed for the people. As the outreach ended, from April 1st to the 5th, we conducted 178 public meetings in different villages, with a combined attendance of between 32,000 and 35,000 people. According to our brothers, for more than 70% of the people who attended, it was their first time attending a Christian meeting. More than 6,128 people responded to the altar call during the public meetings, accepting Jesus into their life. Our brothers also reported many miracles and deliverance in the lives of the people during the public meeting.
To the Dear and Near Ones.
On Palm Sunday after an early church service, hundreds of believers joined for a special outreach called “To the dear and near ones.” They visited non-Christian friends and relatives. Hundreds of believers joined this special outreach – visiting, sharing, praying, and fellowshipping with them.
It was a great blessing and opportunity for many believers, some who had been rejected or disowned by their family for many years. They had not visited their family and relatives because of their faith in the Lord. During our outreach, hundreds of families travelled back to their villages to meet their parents and relatives, rebuild their relationships and make peace with them. Some of them found that many of their friends and relatives had become believers.
Manu and Vidhya, who came from a Hindu background, came to the Lord 11 years ago. When Manu’s family came to know that he was worshiping Jesus and going to church his parents, along with other relatives, forcefully took him from a church service after beating up the pastor and some of the believers. He was tortured and locked up for several weeks by his own family. He endured lots of hardship for his faith in Jesus. Finally, he ran away from home, and the family publicly disowned him. For years Manu lived in hiding in another state.
After hearing about the ‘To the Dear and Near Ones’ outreach, Manu and Vidhya called me and shared their desire to go and share the gospel with their family members. I warned them to mentally prepare themselves for the worst. They travelled 1,200 miles to Manu’s home. When they reached there, his mother invited the daughter-in-law (Vidhya) inside the home. According to Manu and Vidhya they went inside and touched the feet of Manu’s father and mother and grandparents (according to their custom this was a sign showing Manu’s and Vidhya’s respect for them). They all were shedding tears, but they were tears of joy, because after 11 years they were seeing one another. The next day, on Palm Sunday, Manu and Vidhya somehow wanted to bring the family together and share the gospel with them, but it seemed that everyone was busy getting ready to go somewhere. They were disappointed and went to their room, but after 10 minutes they heard some people singing a Christian song nearby. They knew the song very well – in fact, it was their favorite song. Manu and Vidhya got ready and slowly walked to the area from where the song was coming. On the way there, they met some of Manu’s distant relatives who had been against him 11 years ago, walking in the same direction. When they reached the singing, they found a beautiful church hall where more than 200 people were standing and worshiping the Lord. As they entered, they could not believe their eyes. They saw Manu’s parents, grandparents, and many of the relatives who had accused him and tortured him, all standing and worshiping the Lord. According to Manu “I fainted to the floor, crying loudly. I could not control my emotions; 11 years of emotion poured out in a loud cry, my father came and supported me and asked me to sit with him. That day they asked me to share. I stood up to share, holding Vidhya’s hands looking at the smiling faces of my parents, grandparents, and relatives. With tears I said ‘Eleven years of my prayers have been answered, and I never thought it would be this beautiful.’ That day after the service we had the greatest privilege to see my 89-year-old grandfather and 84-year-old grandmother being baptized in the water, along with 21 other people.”
Mentally Ill Receives a Miracle Healing
During the public meetings on Good Friday in the village of Dhara, a man who was mentally ill for 21 years walked into the meeting expecting some food. He was the only son of a locally famous witchcraft doctor; he was well educated but for the last 21 years he walked around the village begging for food. More than 200 villages were attending the meeting; our brothers were worshiping the Lord, but for almost everyone attending, it was their first time in a Christian meeting, so they had no clue what was happening. As Sherly and I arrived there with other brothers to share Gods word, this mentally ill man came in front of me and put a garland of leaves and flowers around my neck, welcoming me to the meeting. Everyone was laughing at the act of this mentally ill person. Without knowing his condition, I hugged him, said thank you, and walked to the front. After the worship I shared about the suffering of Christ on the cross. As I was sharing, this mentally ill man started to weep. Everyone in the village knew of his condition and did not care, but he could not control his weeping. Slowly it spread to the other people who were attending the meeting. I was explaining the suffering, people were listening very carefully, and at the same time they were weeping. Tears were rolling from their eyes, including our brothers and sisters. Everyone sensed the presence of the Lord was moving in that place. At the end of the meeting, responding to the alter call, almost everyone lifted up their hands to receive Jesus as their personal savior. As one of the brothers was leading them in a prayer of repentance, some of us walked among the people laying hands on them and praying for them.
After the meeting, the mentally ill person came to me, shook my hands, and went around shaking hands with everyone. As everyone was looking at him, they all realized there was a change in his behavior.
Last Sunday, we started our first prayer meeting in that village, in the house of the witchcraft doctor. According to our brothers more than 200 people attended it. Their son Sonu was healed and delivered from all the mental illness and now acts like a normal person. His father told me on the phone “For the last 21 years I tried all the evil ways to heal my son, but I could not. But your brothers came and brought light into our village.”
He opened his house for us to start the prayer meeting. His worship room was cleaned up and last Sunday it was used for the meeting.
During Easter week we had more than 768 baptisms, as reported from different mission stations.
We want to thank you all for standing with us, praying for us, encouraging, supporting, and providing all the resources to reach out to the unreached. Because of your prayers the outreach was peaceful. In a few places we faced some opposition and 7 public meetings were cancelled due to the opposition from Hindu radicals. But more than that, our Lord’s abundant favor and grace were upon our brothers and sisters. Praise His Name!
| Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me. (Psalm 23:4 KJV) |
Proclaiming the Gospel…
…until He come