It was Bro. Finu’s first ministry trip to his home country of India. The first two days in the country were filled to capacity with meeting family that he hadn’t seen for 5 years.
Our first gospel service was scheduled to be held in the northern part of Kerala, the southernmost state of India. The city of Irrity and its surrounding towns have a very small evangelical Christian population. Hindus, Muslims and nominal Christians make up most of the population of the region. Trusting in God, our host pastor Eldo Thomas, rented out the largest available auditorium in town. It seated 750 people. It was a leap of faith for him as something of a similar scale had not been undertaken in the town before. Although there was much in the way of hindrances towards the services, including lack of participation from local area pastors of other denominations (what a curse to be in Christ and yet divided), the lord was so faithful to his promises. At the first service, the hall was packed. Bro. Finu preached the gospel and many came forward to receive Jesus into their hearts. The Lord also healed many of the sick in the service that day. Many came forward to testify of how the lord had touched them. We had scheduled a second service but due to a transportation strike, it had to be cancelled. The one service that we did conduct created ripples throughout the town. In fact a week later, the local police department contacted the pastor’s office to enquire about what had happened on that day.
Next we held two services in a town called Kelakam. Majority of the dear people in this town were nominal Christians. Although they did go to church, they were not born again. As the apostle Paul said, they had a form of godliness but they denied the power thereof. Both our services here were powerful. Many, many were saved. The pastor later mentioned that around a 100 people had given their life to the lord. Also, mighty miracles took place in these services. Tumours were healed, Cancer in the blood was healed, those who could not walk, began to walk etc. Jesus Christ is alive and he still performs his work.
Next we crossed state borders and held a one night service in a village in Karnataka. The conditions here were beyond the comprehension of the western mind. The people seemed to be living in the 19th century. Their living conditions were desperately primitive. It was almost like another world. We had an awesome service that night. Many of those precious people gave their life to the lord.
From there were took a flight to Vijayawada, Karnataka. The host pastor and his family greeted us at the airport in traditional style with flower garlands. We spoke first at a house church. The believers held their service on the veranda of the pastor’s home. Next we had a 3 night crusade. We also held a pastors seminar on the Saturday morning. About 150 pastors gathered for the service, we had a great time. In the night meetings, many were saved and many received miraculous healings as well. Chest pains, tumours, serve back pains and many other sicknesses bowed to the name of Jesus.
From Vijayawada we travelled by train for 7 hours and got to Nagpur, in the state of Maharashtra. Nagpur is the geographical center of India. We were in the city at the invitation of Rev. Saji Lukos. Bro. Saji is the founder /president of Mission India, a huge church planting ministry with about 1500 pastors and churches and bible colleges in almost all of the India’s 26 states. The ministry was holding their Annual Pastors and ministry leaders’ conference with pastors arriving from all over India, travelling up to 7 days, covering thousands of kilometres.
Bro. Finu shared first in the State leader’s consultation. And then in the general conference with more than 1500 ministry workers in attendance. It was a very refreshing and encouraging time as many of the pastors shared their experiences from the most remote parts of India. The price that these men of God pay is immense. This was also a great time of networking as many of the state leaders expressed their desire in having Passion to Reach Ministries hold crusades in their states. We are actively praying and planning towards organizing a trip in October/November 2008.
From Nagpur we flew one hour to Mumbai the financial capital of India. With an estimated population of 18 million people, Mumbai is one of the most populated cities in the world. We were there at the invitation from Rev. Sunny Philip of New York, founding visionary of the Global Network of Indian Christian Leaders (GONCIL) conference. Evangelist Finu was invited to speak at the youth session of the conference as well as to share his healing testimony during the night crusade. The youth session was attended by about 375 young people and about 5000 were present at the night crusade. We had an incredible time there.
All in all this trip to India was incredibly fruitful as many scores of people were born again and many were healed by the miracle working power of the Holy Spirit. Partners, thank you for supporting us. You gifts have travelled thousands of kilometres and touched the lives of thousands. Your reward is great in the Lord Jesus.