Sowing the Seed

Hey guys n gals,

Here are some testimonies of faith, healing, and deliverance from our trip. Many people have been converted to the glory of God the Father, and many have had their lives changed by the power of the Holy Spirit. I received this email today and wanted to forward it on to you…

Dear most respected Brother Billy, Bill, Brice, Jack, and Jack in Christ,

Greetings to you all in the most precious name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. I thank you so much for visiting our Ministry in India. We will be thankful to you for your successful preaching and Ministry.

I thank you Brothers especially for the Crusades. Nearly 5,000 people heard the message of Jesus Christ in 3 days. Our Pastors estimated that 2,045 people were came to know Jesus and first time they were converted. All this Glory will go to Jesus Christ. Many of these people who heard Message of Jesus Christ came to this meeting for many diseases and Sickness. Over 600 people were healed. Out of this I am writing only the high lights of the healing.

1. Two woman who possessed with Demon spirit for over 15 years were completely healed. Many thanks from the two woman and from their families for casting out demons from them, permanently.

2. A Boy who was born as mentally RETARTED When family have lost Hope, and Doctors are also said he would die soon. But he was completely healed from his Brain, Nerves and his Chest Bones were normal.

3. A Woman who had Fits(Seizures) for over 30 years, she was completely healed.

4. 10 Woman with issue of Blood were completely healed, their bleeding was stopped.

5. 6 Woman were completely healed from Migraine and head ach.

6. A Paralyzed man was completely healed, he is walking.

7. A Boy who was born as deaf and Dumb he could hear and speaking.

8. Many people who had back pain were healed.

9.A couple who do not have Children and Doctors declared that they would not get Children, now the wife was pregnant.

10. Marriage relations between 5 couples were reestablished .

12. Many who do not have peace, Christ restored and comforted them with Peace and Joy.

13. A young boy got Government Job.

15. One Family enemies who are giving trouble turned as friends to this family.

Brother, I thank you so much for praying for the Hindu man near the evening Crusades who had house. He also heard you preaching through PA System and God touched his heart and he promised us that he would not give us any more trouble. What a wonderful thing God has done through your preaching of Jesus Christ. I invite all your Friends and Calvary Chapel to visit us and save many thousands of souls every year. May God richly bless you all,

Thanking you Brother,

Yours in Lord Jesus Christ,

Dr.K.S.Kumar.

Incredible! The Lord is doing amazing things in India. Thank you for your continued prayer for this place and these people. All glory and honor and praise to the One who sits on the throne!

Day 12

Wow, twelve days of full on ministry blow by pretty fast. We are all stunned by how quickly the time went, but also very anxious to get home to our families. 15 days is a long time to be away from your wife and children, and although we have had a lot of good times and great fellowship, we are all feeling pretty lonely and are eager to get on the plane. Extra special thanks to Josh and his family for opening up their home and hosting our team for 6 nights. Here you can see Josh, his wife Dorathy, son Elijah, and his parents.

Its Easter Sunday, and we have sunrise services to be at. Josh and I dropped Brice and Bill off at a church at 5:00 am and headed to his church for the early morning service. I spoke here last year and had a great time and met a lot of people. They were in the beginning stages of expanding the church building last year, and we stood on the foundation of the addition and prayed for God’s blessing on the project, so I was excited to see what had happened in a year.
It was encouraging to see the walls and roof up. They have different building styles and practices in India. It takes a long time and a lot of hard work to build. I could see that they had been working all year on it.

Zach L and Zach S were picked up from Josh’s around 7:00 to go back to Caleb’s church and finish firing off part two of his electrifying sermon series, so when we returned, they were just getting started. We took some much needed rest and waited for them to arrive. We all packed our bags because we would be heading straight to the airport from the evening crusades.

The crusades went well again, with a lot of new faces. There were many non-Christians coming out every night. When the call to repentance was made, the majority of the crowd stood to their feet to call upon the name of the Lord. It was wonderful to see so many people forsake the bondage of Hinduism for the salvation that is found in Jesus Christ. We were able to pray for many people once again and show them that we really care for them.

In the three nights of crusades we held in Vandalur, we packed the building out. I have no idea exactly how many it would hold, but I am guessing between 400-500. Each night, many lost souls were coming forward for eternal life for the glory of God. How awesome it is to be used as a tool in his mighty hands. We prayed and praised God together with Caleb and his senior pastor before leaving. The team is totally fired up and ready to come home and testify to the hand of God on this trip.

Seeing all this incredible fruit puts things into perspective for us as far as all the fundraising went. Sometimes we sure got sick of selling those donuts, and I am sure some of you got sick of eating them, but now that we have seen how far one dollar will go in a place like this, it makes it all seem like it was too easy. What an exciting trip we had! We are eager to come home and share it first hand with you and answer all of your questions.

We did have a glitch at the airport. Thank God for our dear brother John. He is Josh’s brother –in-law, who works at the airport. He met us at check-in and helped us through. It was a good thing, too because Lufthansa had somehow lost all of our information and did not have us on the flight at all. If it had not been for John, I am not sure we would have gotten on the plane. He really went to bat for us and they ended up calling headquarters at Frankfurt and printing us boarding passes. It took a long time and we began to seriously doubt whether or not they were going to get us out of India on Monday. But, after about a half hour, they came out of the back with our boarding passes printed up.

Then, good ole John marched us right through the long line at customs and put us in the diplomat line, so we cruised right through. We followed him all the way to the executive lounge reserved for first class passengers and he got us inside, where we enjoyed complimentary drinks, snacks, and internet service. When our flight began boarding, he marched us straight through the first class line so we didn’t have to wait, and then as I gave them my ticket, they pulled me aside and offered me a business class upgrade. Wow! Praise the Lord! I remembered when we were having trouble at the check-in counter that I was telling the guys it was a blessing in disguise, because perhaps the Lord was going to get us free upgrades because of the inconvenience, but they were a bunch of doubting Thomases. I rebuked them (playfully, of course) and told them they needed to dream big with me. Then, what happens? God blesses me with an upgrade! I am quite certain that my good buddy John had something to do with it, but I believe it was ultimately from the Lord. I walked down to the plane with the biggest grin you’ve ever seen. 10 hours is a long time to fly in a coach seat, but even as I write this we are descending for landing and I can say I could sit here for another 10, no problem. May God pour out a massive blessing on John!

We are almost home, and I can’t wait to see my family. I am also excited to bring our testimonies to all of you who have stood with us financially and in prayer. We are forever grateful to you, and I am fired up for you and the treasures you are building in heaven. Thank you brothers and sisters. This wouldnt happen without your support!

If you have been blessed by this blog, then you may enjoy receiving it in your email inbox as I give updates on whats happening in local evangelism exploits and also bits of encouragement. The blog was initially started as a tool to encourage believers to step out into the waters of personal evangelism in their own lives. There are regular posts that challenge and encourage readers to actively share their faith, as well as simple how-tos and personal examples of witnessing experiences. If this is something that interests you, simply enter your email address on the right side of the blog homepage where it says “subscribe” and follow the instructions. Then, you will begin to receive blog postings in your email. Thanks!

Until the nets are full,

See you on the streets!

Day 11

Saturday. We have been so busy every day for the last 10 days straight. Today we have a bit of a lighter load. All we have for speaking is the crusade tonight, and Zach Lamberson is delivering the message, so I have a day off.

We are using the day to get all of our shopping done. All of us have families and loved ones to buy things for, so we headed to the mall. The new mall here is actually pretty impressive. It is very modern and everything is new. Its hard to believe you are in India when you walk in this place. Everyone got their souvenirs and filled out their gift lists. We also purchased a bunch of sari’s, handbags, purses, silks, and jewelry for a church dinner/fundraiser when we return. We are planning on having a night at the church with dinner and an auction to give testimonies about the trip and raise some more funds for the ministry. Its more for giving encouragement than for raising money, but we know that many people asked us to get these items for them, so we are hoping this will be a win/win for everyone.

We went to the crusades and enjoyed some more great worship and colorful skits. Zach got up and preached the lights out, challenging them to respond to the gospel. Caleb and his church were excited to see many new faces there, and even more so when the call to make a decision was made. At least a hundred more people stood to their feet and prayed to receive Christ when the call was made. We all rejoiced in the Lord and his mighty power as we were witnesses to so many changed lives.

We asked them to come forward for prayer again and laid hands on many sick people, many people suffering with bondage to addiction, and many people, young and old, seeking the blessing of God on their lives. It is such an honor and privilege to be used by the Lord in the changing of a life for good.

We are seeing the fruit of your prayers. Keep up the good fight! We only have one day left!

Day 10

Its Friday morning and we are all realizing how fast the time has slipped by. We have a full agenda today, packed with great ministry. Today is Good Friday, so there are church services this morning that we are to speak at. The plan is to split up into groups of two and hit three different churches at once.

Zach L and Zach S teamed up and went to Caleb’s church in Vandalur. They held their Good Friday services in the same building that we rented for the crusades. From what I heard, the place was packed out and Zach preached part one of a rip-roaring sermon series that he would finish up on Sunday.

Brice and Bill G went to the same place as the orphanage we visited yesterday. The pastor of the church built the orphanage on the second story of his church. There were many people who came to listen to the word of God.

Josh and I went to pastor Rajendran’s church, the place where we held our first pastor’s conferences in Chennai. This pastor was the one who put our crusades together last year in his village. Josh is a great guy to work with in terms of preaching and getting translation across.

The team regrouped at Josh’s place after the meeting and got some rest before heading back to Vandalur for our first night of crusades. Its about an hour drive to get there. We have to hold the crusades indoors this year because the government won’t allow any public demonstrations or rallies of any kind until next month. The state of Tamil Nadu just held elections last week, and they will not publicize the results until next month. There is potential for a huge power shift, so they expect riots or demonstrations no matter who wins. So, they are not allowing us to hold our crusades outdoors because of this reason.

Caleb found a meeting hall that we could rent out. The place is small, but it has a second level, where we set up a couple of big screen TVs with a live feed of the meeting downstairs. I would say the maximum occupancy for us would be about 500. I have to admit I was a little disappointed at first about the building, but it turned out to be the hand of God. God makes all things work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

I say this because it started to rain on Friday. Not just a little rain, but heavy enough to have spoiled our crusades, had they been outside. We would have been rained out if it were not for the building. Praise the Lord for going before us and preparing the way!

The place packed out on the first night. There were all sorts of cool dances and skits that Caleb’s youth performed, followed by dynamic worship led by Josh and Caleb. Zach Smith gave a brief greeting and then I launched into the gospel. When we did the altar call, 75-80% of the crowd stood to their feet and cried out to God in repentance. It was powerful and moving to see so many people eager to receive God’s forgiveness in Christ.

We asked them to come forward after we prayed so that we could lay hands on them individually and pray for their specific needs, and many came to the altar for all sorts of requests. The team is really fired up now, as we are continuing to see the same hunger for God in this place. We are excited to see what else the Lord has in store for us over the next few days.

We’ll keep on sending the updates as time and internet service allows. Thank you for your prayers, brothers and sisters. You are doing battle in spiritual realms and we are winning victory after victory by the power of God!

Day 8

We began the day by going to a small pastor’s conference in the village where we had the crusades last year. About 30 pastors came to the meeting. It was great to worship, fellowship, and enjoy good solid teaching with them. Most of these pastors are not educated and have small congregations, so we wanted to provide them with encouragement to continue the good fight and not to grow weary in the work God has called them to. It was so hot in this place. The building has a tin roof, and the fans inside did nothing but draw the heat from the roof down onto us. It was the hottest part of the entire trip, by far.

Zach Smith received a great word for them from Acts 3 and 4, about how the word of God went out with power, even though the disciples were not educated men. They had simply been with Jesus. Then Zach Lamberson gave instruction on our responsibility as shepherds and what that is supposed to look like. I followed them with and encouragement to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and keep an eternal perspective in all that we do in ministry and in the world.

After leaving the meeting, we all dressed down into more comfortable clothing and made our way to the gypsy community. This is a place near Caleb’s church. They began to reach out to these people by taking their children in to a day care center. They would bathe them, clothe them, feed them, and teach them basic elementary level school. We came here last year, but since then the gypsies have moved on. Some of the young men in the local village tried to force themselves on one of the gypsy girls, and this caused a fight to break out. After a small skirmish, the villages banded together and came to the gypsy colony and beat them severely. They did not spare the women or children. They completely destroyed their tents and their homes. Many of them were put into serious condition in the hospital. After picking up the pieces, the gypsies moved on to find another place to settle. Sadly, many of them left their children behind in the hands of Caleb’s church because they have no other hope of a better life outside of their help. So these are the children we came to see and spend time with.

We played some cricket, had lots of hugs, taught them Bible stories with our own animation, and listened to them sing songs that they had been taught. None of us wanted to leave, but we still had a full plate of ministry left before the day was out, so we gave out candy and said our goodbyes.

We headed straight to the leper colony from here. When we arrived, there weren’t many people moving around. I don’t know if its always that quiet here or if it was just because of the heat. So, we walked up and down the streets of the colony, stopping by people’s homes and asking them to come to the community center. This place is a picture of utter despair and complete lack of hope. I could not imagine being in their shoes. Most of them will never leave this place of suffering until they are dead. It was a long walk down those pitiful streets.

But we brought good news. As we gave them bags of rice and medical supplies, we also told them about the only hope available to any of us, Jesus Christ. It is so important for us to come here. Nobody else will ever show them any love. Only the Christians will come to help them and offer their compassion and service. Some of the pastors come here every week to share the love of Jesus with them. We laid hands on and prayed for all those who came forward and asked for it. It was a blessing to be able to be there for them and touch them. Imagine being locked away in a place of suffering like that, and no one will help you or touch you in fear that they may contract the deadly disease. Then come the Christians, full of love and support, telling you about a God who loves you and wants to give you life in a place where there will be no more suffering, pain or death. It was a powerful and moving experience, not only for us, but hopefully for the lepers as well.

From here, we went to visit a group of vagabonds called irrulars. They make their living by catching snakes from the fields of farmers, and then selling them to hospitals for the anti-venom. I was hoping we could see them do the snake-charming thing, so we could get some pictures of a real live cobra, but we got there too late in the evening. As we walked down the row of huts that they called home, we were introduced to the only Christian in the community. She was healed by God of cancer, and got saved. Then, the believers who led her to Christ began visiting the village and providing food and other provisions, so they now consider her to be good luck, even though they are very hard to reach with the gospel. Zach Smith shared a great word with them and explained the gospel in a clear, simple way. Then I pulled off a little bit of amateur magic for the kids to get them excited. We gave out bags of rice to each of the families and headed home for the evening.

It was a pretty long day, but we have another full day of ministry tomorrow. God has been doing His work through us in mighty ways, but at the same time, I see him doing great work in us as well. Until the next post, may God richly bless you for your continued prayers.

Day 9

First on our agenda for today is to go to the biggest pastors conference in Chennai. It is at pastor Christuldas’ church, and about 100 pastors came to the meeting. We arrived an hour early, because we were supposed to go to the Saint Thomas Mount, (believed to be the place where the Apostle Thomas was martyred) but we never went because the traffic leading to that place was a nightmare. We knew of we tried to go, we would be very late for the conference. So we skipped it for now.

Zach taught first and delivered a great message on shepherding. It was the longest I have ever seen him go. Then I got up and taught about humility and love in our service. We handed out copies of The Shepherd’s Staff, a publication that has been designed as a pastor’s handbook for distribution in third world countries.

In the evening, we went to another orphanage and visited the children there. We played with them and polished up our acting skills with a few skits. We also passed out candy and even did the magic show again. Kids love it. We also passed out blankets that a group of students back in the US made specifically for them.

The children in this orphanage all lost their parents in the tsunami of 2004. It is such a blessing to give them love and spend time with them. They are all so excited to see us and want us to hold them. Every one of them wants to shake your hand. They have such big, beautiful smiles. I try not to think about their situation and the hard life they have ahead of them. It isn’t hard to ignore their plight when they are so cute and rambunctious. It was another moving experience for all of us on the team.

Tomorrow is Good Friday, and we have plenty of things going on, so its off to bed at this point. Until then, God bless you.

Please remember to pray for us!

Day 7

Its our first day of ministry in Chennai, and we are going to come out of the gate at full speed. We have an all day pastor’s conference with the SCY pastors. SCY is for South Chennai Youth Pastors. It is a group of pastors who meet once per month to discuss what the Lord is doing in their ministries and plans on how to come together to accomplish goals and establish the kingdom of God in Chennai.

The core group, or leaders, if you will of SCY is about 7 pastors, but the whole group consistently gets about 150 pastors together for meetings and combined outreaches.

For this meeting, we had 32 pastors and their wives come to a resort on the beach of the Indian Ocean for a day of teaching, fellowship, and relaxation to spend with their wives. The majority of these pastors are far too poor to afford to take their families to a place like this, but we wanted to bless them with a day of solid teaching on the family unit and also treat them to some great food and fellowship with each other. Often pastors go to a pastor’s meeting alone and get a bunch of good teaching, but don’t get a lot of time to spend getting to know each other.

So, we had several goals for the day.

One, to give them solid teaching on what a biblical portrait of marriage should look like, especially for those of us in ministry. Also, there was great instruction on child-rearing and also handling our finances in a godly way.

Secondly, to give these men and women a chance to get to know each other and develop relationships for the future of ministry in Chennai.

Thirdly, to bless them with a wonderful day in a great place with their wives. They enjoyed a fantastic spread of food, beautiful scenery and a relaxing time away from it all with their wife.

I was really looking forward to this meeting because we had such great feedback from last year. It seemed to have a great impact again, so we left confident that God would use the time for his glory. We all had a lot of opportunity to fellowship with them and get to know them personally.

Immediately we began receiving words of appreciation for the teaching and also for the time there. We hope to be there again next year and have them spend the night with their families. Then we could have some more teaching in an evening session as well. We’ll see what the Lord allows.

Sorry for the delay in getting more posts up for you. It has been really hectic since we got here in Chennai. More posts are soon to come!

Day 6

Its our last day in Rajahmundry, and we have a lot to do before we get to the airport. Our flight leaves at 3:30, so it leaves the morning wide open for us.

Today, we baptized 24 new believers. The location is in the irrigation canal in a local village close to the city of Rajahmundry. The water was very dirty, but also very warm, so it was not at all uncomfortable.

We shared a word of encouragement, prayer, and also a brief explanation of baptism with them before they came down into the water. As they came, we lined up in a row and baptized them 5 at a time. This was the first time baptizing for some of the team members, so it was a great moment for all of us.

After the baptisms were finished, we also were very excited to be able to place a brand new Bible in their hands. A Bible is a very precious commodity here. Not everyone can afford their own Bible. The cost is about $6, equal to one week’s pay for many people. It was a blessing for them, and a great blessing for us to give them this gift.

Again, we encouraged them to dig deep into the word and grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, prayed for them, gave them their new Bibles and left back to Kumar’s place to pack and say our good-bye’s. Thank God for Kumar, his family and their generous hospitality. Please pray for this wonderful family.

Josh met us at the airport in Chennai and we wasted no time at all going to Sparky’s restaurant. Here, travelers to India can get some real American food. You have never seen 5 guys get their grub on like this before. Needless to say it was not a problem to clean up our plates.

We settled in to our new temporary home and get psyched up for another week of full on, fired up ministry in Chennai. I will keep you up to speed as things continue to develop.

Blessings to each of you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Please remember to pray for us!