This was my first time, since my serious health issues over three years ago, that I have preached two consecutive ‘5-day Conferences’ in one foreign mission trip. It was very apparent to me that many of you were diligently praying for this outreach and for my physical condition. I can thankfully testify that our God did an extraordinary and superabundant work of grace, in giving me strength, which enabled me to carry out the work; and also in the hearts and lives of those 120 Indian pastors and church-planters from 9 different states of this vast nation. Both the pastors who attended in Goa, as well as, the pastors in Hyderbad, exhibited a spiritual hunger, humility and teachability. I can joyfully testify that the Spirit of God, once again, accomplished a profound ‘life-transforming and ministry-transforming’ work, by reforming both their message and their methods of evangelism. These precious brothers made a new commitment to do ‘God’s work of evangelism; using God’s ordained ways, for the glory of the Lord’. There were a plethora of glorious testimonies of the mighty work of God in our midst! I have previously shared, in other newsletters, that over the span of many years, there has been a subtle drift away from the biblical plumb-line of doctrinally sound practices of evangelism. This doctrinal drift has actually mirrored the same downgrade that has occurred within American evangelism. There has been a great need for a blazing return to the ‘God-ordained message and methods of evangelism; within the evangelical church in India! Dear friends, I can gratefully report that God answered your prayers, for we witnessed an awesome work of repentance in the hearts and minds of these pastors and church-planters. This initial testimony I want to share with you is from a key teacher in a national ministry called ‘Mission India’. He is just one of the 120 men, in whom the Spirit of God did a gloriously transforming work. He wrote the following note.

“I am R. Prakash, Seva Bharat, (Mission India). I am one of the participants of the very meaningful and fruitful seminar on ‘Christ Centered Evangelism’ in Hyderbad, India. I don’t know how to express my gratitude to God for sending you to India. I know that it was God’s divine plan for me to attend your sessions on ‘Christ Centered Evangelism’. I am a theological graduate with a Master of Theology degree. I have been teaching the subject of evangelism for more than 15 years. But the Spirit of God has used you to shatter many of my unbiblical opinions, beliefs and methods of evangelism. Your teaching was absolutely scripture based. Furthermore, I am sure that your teaching has brought a ‘sweet smelling aroma; to the Lord. I thoroughly cherished every hour of your teachings, for they have already been highly fruit bearing in my life and ministry. Every year, I train over 2500 church-planters across the nation of India for the ‘Mission India Ministries’. Undoubtedly, I will be using the material, which you have exposed to me, to train these leaders from many different states in the future. I have great confidence that God is going to multiply these tremendous teachings, through my ministry of ‘church-planter’ training, for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ! I am also so challenged with the truth that, in spite of your health issues, you are traveling around the globe. May the Lord continue to be with you and grant you the needed strength and good health for His mission. Praying for your ministry and family.” 

 Next, I want to share a precious testimony from Raj, our dear brother in Christ and my interpreter into the Hindi language, at the conference in Goa. “It was an amazing time that the Lord gave us, to sit under the ‘Christ-centered Evangelism’ teaching with you. You have been a constant support to me spiritually, mentally, and financially, to equip me for the work that God has been continuing through us. I would like to share a few things that I’ve experienced during your time in Goa. God has changed my life, my ministry and my teachings through the teaching of Christ-centered Evangelism. As you were teaching and I was interpreting, I experienced the divine unction of the Spirit of God in our lives. It was as if the fire of God was burning and blazing inside of my heart. I was granted the great privilege of witnessing the mighty work of the Spirit of God, as the pastors and leaders were being broken by the Word, and shedding continuing tears of repentance.

 Many came and testified to me that they have been guilty of attempting to do “God’s Work of evangelism in man’s ways’! But glory to the Lamb, they have repented of evangelizing with unbiblical messages and methods. They were joyfully willing to fully return to the instructional manual of the Word of God, and make a new commitment to do ‘God’s Work, God’s Way, for God’s Glory’! They were also all testifying that they are committed to bring these teachings to the rest of the Indian pastors and leaders. For many of their fellow pastors have adopted ‘man’s ways to attempt to do God’s work’. I have challenged them to teach these truths and multiply them in the lives of others. Altogether, I am thrilled to testify that this was a time of the powerful manifestation of God’s Spirit and His Truth. Bro. Ed, though you are weak physically, we can clearly see the strength of the Lord through your life, as you deliver these profound truths. We continually pray for your good health. We also pray for sister Dianne as she ministers to others. We are looking forward to flooding the rest of the nation of India with the ‘Christ Centered Evangelism’ message.