Vikarabad and Medak, India.  Open air crusades April 2007


Conducted by Pastor Bruce Oliver of The Ark Community Church.

Vikarabad

I made a very brief evening visit here last year and God moved powerfully on the main Methodist youth minister and many teenagers. They had been pressing for me to go back and conduct a public outreach to the whole town.

Despite the increased restrictions of preaching publicly and the threats from political groups who are opposing Christian ‘conversions’ from Hinduism, God moved powerfully in salvation, healing and deliverance with an awesome demonstration of His power.

The crowd grew from about 400 on the first night to a few thousand over three mid week nights as they saw God moving on people’s lives in a tangible way. Over 220 people surrendered their lives to Jesus in Vikarabad and it was great to be able to present them with my first Telegu publication ‘Who I am in Christ’ to help them in their early days as Christians. They will be followed up by the 20 or so local churches supporting the crusade.

With limited translation to English and the intensity of a pressing crowd, it is difficult to find out exactly what is happening on stage.

I personally prayed for hundreds every night for a personal touch of the Spirit. Many dropped down under the anointing, with many falling without any touch from me. This always encourages me, as I see God sovereignly touching lives, and they know that God has responded to their hunger and desperation for more of Him in their lives. It is worth noting that such manifestations have never been seen here before- only on TV!

Once again we saw an unusual anointing on the children and youth. Many were weeping and experiencing supernatural visions as they rested under the anointing.

The youth pastor, who is responsible for most of the youth follow up, received a powerful anointing and I do believe that God has commissioned him as a key spiritual leader in the town.

Medak

I had visited here some years ago to work with sister Tharamma who is now over 80 but is still in leadership of over 50 churches in the region. She was desperate for a return visit, as God had personally touched her in a special way publicly at my last crusade, in front of a large crowd. Despite the increasing problems in India of corruption and self-aggrandisement, even within the Christian community, we had to deal with some serious threats and intimidation from politically motivated groups who were hostile towards our ministry in Medak.  I really don’t know how long this door of opportunity will be open for us in India to preach the gospel. It sounds rather grandiose to say that I had bodyguards, but I was grateful for personal protection and a Vikarabad Christian police inspector travelling with us as our security team leader!

We saw another 280 individuals of all ages commit their lives to Jesus and it was great to see the heaviness turn to joy as they prayed their own salvation prayers. The crowd grew to around 5000 on the final Sunday night.

The ministry took off like a turbo charger and for the three nights I must have prayed for a few thousand people individually for a fresh touch from heaven. There were reports of healings, deliverance and changed lives as the Holy Spirit ministered to each one at their point of need. Once again Sister Tharamma received a personal visitation on stage in front of her own people.

The hunger for God was tangible and I had to pray through to past midnight each night as no one would go home!

Many dropped to the ground under the anointing and I was thankful that we had an able team of bible students from Hyderabad who spent time praying, catching and holding back the crowd from the stage.

I travelled with Mark Gilmour, youth pastor at Retford Baptist Church, and I was very grateful for his personal care of me in these intense times of ministry, which often are quite risky.

Thank you so much for praying for this trip. I kept well, and despite witnessing a number of road accidents, we had no incidents ourselves.  Security was good, but I would appreciate your ongoing prayer support for an open door to minister the gospel in this great nation.

Bruce.