Ministry in India

I arrived in India on Friday morning around 1 a.m. It was a long flight and I fell asleep just before we landed in Chennai. I must have been in a deep sleep because the flight attendants had to wake me up and tell me I had to get off the plane. I looked around and I was the only passenger left! It did not matter as it took a long time for the luggage to be unloaded and I had to wait for it. Two Ywamers from Ywam Chennai were there to greet me and take me to their base where I have been staying and will stay until Tuesday. The director took me around on Friday afternoon to see some of the ministry they do. It is pretty impressive as they work with street kids, AIDS victims, a leper colony and conduct 3 schools. The staff have been great to me and I appreciate their hospitality. On Saturday I gave a workshop on evangelism at the New Life Assemblies of God church which was attended by 700 plus people. It was translated into Tamil, the language of this part of India. The people were listening attentively, taking notes and really enjoying the learning process. After the workshop the church divided them into groups and they hit the streets to share their testimonies and invite people to a healing crusade on Monday night as well as the church service on Sunday. The pastors told me they had good success talking with people and that the members of the church who attended the workshop were very encouraged and better equipped to share their faith. Today I was asked to speak at one of the 9 services that are held on Sunday morning for their 35,000 members. The first service is at 5 a.m. and 4,500 people attend. The final service begins at noon and there were about 3,000 attending. It was a privilege for me to be able to share with the brothers and sisters about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Several responded not only to the invitation for the baptism but a family of 5 came forward to receive Christ as Savior! Chennai is a city of 8-10 million people of which many are unsaved. It is a great harvest field but it is also a difficult area because of the opposition of the enemy. God is reaching out to many Hindus and bringing them to the knowledge of Christ. Pray for the churches in Chennai to be able to evangelize the lost in this city. Pray that the believers will be empowered by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses of what Christ has done in their lives and that their testimonies will bring many to a saving knowledge of Jesus.