MISSION JOURNAL - NOVEMBER 2007

Friday, November 16, 2007 As we started our second day in Nellore, another attack on our health has begun. Brother Jeff Sorvick has come down with a stomach bug of some sorts that would claim 2 more victims before our lights were turned off for the night. There is nothing more miserable than being sick and feverish half way around the world from your own bed. Again, we are holding fast to the Lord's faithfulness to see us through.

In spite of Satan's attempt to derail this train, the Pastor's conference was nothing short of miraculous. First, the attendance had more than doubled from yesterday; more pastors, more pastors' wives, more widows. They came in hungry for a strategy to help their churches, their villages, and ultimately all of India.

With each passing talk that our pastors gave the excitement grew. They were getting it! And they were being energized by the Holy Spirit as the vision of what their ministries could be was revealed before their eyes. The brothers in Manna Ministries' leadership were getting excited too, watching God move through these men and women called to His service..

On the bus on the way to the center, CarolMarie was given a word from God concerning the widows... that they were to impart a healing touch on these women that would break the hurts and fears that have consumed these precious souls for years. In the break before she was to speak, she and Darlene were standing outside and offered a hug to a couple of these ladies and immediately, miraculously, with just a touch, without a translated word, the widows began to sob in their arms. God was fulfilling his promise and began breaking the chains that had bound them since they had lost their husbands and felt the cruel, straight arm of rejection from the world. When the others saw what was happening, they flocked around our ladies and one by one with a physical touch from man and a spiritual touch from God, each widow found herself wrapped in the healing arms of Jesus as they wept cleansing tears of surrender and joy. WOW! God was manifesting himself to these women that society has turned away and he was raising them up with POWER.

Finally, CarolMarie was called back up on stage, leaving poor Darlene covered in widows that were hungry to be healed. She had them clinging to her from all sides and with just a touch they were set free.

CarolMarie's address to the room was three fold. She addressed the pastors' wives as the link between the pastors and the widows. She spoke to the widows about their active roll in the church and community. And she spoke to the pastors about the incredible source of power that existed in these women of might. She had the widows pray over the pastors and their wives and then had the pastors turn and bless the widows. The presence of God in the room was so real and thick that even a non-believer who might have wandered into the room accidentally could not have denied that something big was going on. Hands raised and voices cried out as God orchestrated the formation of the bonds that would energize churches all across the region and take this festival to a new level. I wish you could have been there. Mere words cannot convey the very real and present power of the Lord that filled that place. We praise God that he is alive, and real, and still active in our lives. We can't wait to see what God has in store next.

While the Pastors' Conference was rocking the house, part of the team went out to visit some of the small churches in the surrounding villages. As we moved through these impoverished collections of block and thatch houses we were humbled by the spirit of the people who greeted us.As they invited us into their humble houses, the wife would scurry about picking up anything that was out of place, exactly like we would do when someone comes to call. It was so funny and so familiar. They were proud of their home, all two tiny rooms of it and they wanted to be a welcoming host. In each home you would find a bed frame of wood and some type of strapping woven between the poles to sleep on. There were usually shelves that housed their few worldly possessions. Some pots used in cooking in there outdoor kitchens and a cabinet to store their few articles of clothing was about all that was found. The walls were meagerly decorated with an occasional picture or clock. If there was electricity, a bare bulb hung from a frayed cord in the middle of the room. (although as we were leaving we did see on home that had a small satellite dish on top! How bizarre!) And yet most of these women seemed meticulous in keeping their home presentable, even down to sweeping the bare ground outside their doorstep to reduce the dust carried into their home. Some have even made little garden spots outside their dwelling in an effort to beautify their already lush jungle-like environment. My friends these people are just like we are. They are very poor, but they are loving, caring and generous with what little they have. They want to be good hosts and are honored that you stopped in for a visit. Please pray for them.

For a short time we were immersed in their culture. The people in the village showed us their fighting roosters and gave a brief demonstration of a cock fight. There was a large group of men gathered under a tree playing cards. My guess was that because of their unwillingness to be photographed they were probably gambling. Herbs simmered in a silver pot over an open flame outside one home. Dogs roamed the streets and oxen and goats were found outside many of the homes. But in each case, we when we encountered people in the streets were met with smiles and a warm welcoming bow of the head.

We visited their churches too. Simple one room buildings decorated with streamers and colorful painted sayings and images on the wall. One small fellowship with forty members had no place to meet so they built the foundation of their church by hand and covered it with a thatched roof.. As you walked into this humble little temple, with waist high walls, bamboo beams and a palm frond ceiling you could not help but imagine those families gathered in faith that Jesus would meet them at their point of need.. For them, they don't come to church for soft pews, plush carpet or air conditioning. They come to worship the God who sustains them from day to day. They understand the scripture that talks about the birds of the field and how He provides for them and absolutely will for us too... they count on it for their very survival and God does not let them down.

I met a 17 year old Hindu boy who was proud to take me around and introduce me to his aunts there in the community. They were just as warm and welcoming as our Christian brothers and sisters. He showed me his 2 room block home too. He was so proud of it and yet by our standards, I would venture to say that many of us have tool sheds that are bigger and better appointed than this. In his bedroom, he had a prayer corner with pictures and statues of his gods. He lovingly introduced me to each that he prays to and relys on. I shared that I was a follower of Jesus, and encouraged him visit the church in the neighborhood and meet the pastor. Please, dear friends, right now, where you are, pray that this precious, gracious young man meets our Jesus face to face. I believe he has the heart to help win this community to Christ.

We left the village and went to the ocean, less than a half mile away. Here we found fishermen on the beach, their boats pulled up onto shore safely stored in case the cyclone would have come. The seas were still too rough for fishing this day so they sat in the shade and fixed their nets. One could not help but imagine that these were the types of men called by Jesus to fish for souls. These men were a tough, weather-worn lot, but once again we were greeted with smiles and a healthy curiosity.

You cannot come on a trip like this and not begin to understand just how real God is, and that he is still in the business of doing miracles. These people we encounter do not have 800 numbers to call for help... they don't have physical resources to count on... they look to spiritual solutions for their troubled situations, and that my friends is when God steps up and makes himself known.

We had the opportunity to interview two pastors who shared their testimonies on tape in our hotel room. As their stories unfolded we were humbled by their commitment to Christ and willingness to go to any length to follow Jesus.

One pastor, who is now a vice president with Manna Ministries grew up Hindu and as a young man even taught their mantras and songs to the children. And then, he was invited to a Christian meeting where he heard God's audible voice speak and call him unto Him. He gave his heart to Christ, but on his return home, his father spit in his face, threw him out of the house and told him he was no longer worthy to be his son. His brothers beat him nearly to death but he escaped back to the church. The family followed him, determined to beat the pastor, but instead met Rev. Rachel Komonapali, Bishop Ernest's wife, who told them that the boy now belonged to Jesus, a fact that he would never deny.

Bishop and his wife sponsored him through bible college and he became a pastor and boldly preached the gospel. On one night, false accusations were leveled against him and he was nearly beaten to death and sent to jail for his faith. Ironically, the very site where the beating took place is the site where the new Manna Convention Center is being built that will seat over 5000 believers.

I asked him if through his persecution, he ever had doubts. He said yes. He saw all these non-Christians with plenty of food and nice clothing; they weren't being harassed or persecuted and he struggled to make sense of it. But each time the Holy Spirit spoke to him through the word of God, encouraging him to persevere with promises that one day all would be made right. We praise God that those same promises hold true for us today, and that God will encourage us to keep on in the faith if we will just pick up His Word and let the Holy Spirit speak to us. We just have to make time to "be still" and hear his voice.

The second pastor was born into a Christian family but got involved in drinking, drugs and gambling. His life was on a downward spiral and he went into the forest to kill himself. But there he met God. He too heard an audible voice calling him into ministry and he was delivered. He eventually felt called to minister to the tribal people in the mountains. These folks were serious idol worshipers. He went to them and shared the Gospel and they told him they did not want to hear about this Jesus and that he needed to leave and never return. But God told him to go and preach his word to these people so he kept going back. He won a few to Christ and took away their idols. Eventually he took a team into the mountain and dug up the "powerful idol" they had buried beneath a tree. The villagers would make sacrifices to this god and sprinkle the idol with blood.

After it was removed, the well in the village went bad and the water turned dark like blood. The villagers were dumbfounded and went to a witchdoctor up the mountain who told them that the gods were angry, so they put a curse on this pastor so he could not come back up the mountain. The pastor did not know this, but suddenly his legs began to break out in sores that would not heal. The skin seemed to be rotting from his bones. He went to doctor after doctor but no one could figure out the problem. Then he got word that the witchdoctor, in a drunken moment blabbed the whole plot and told of the spell cast upon the pastor. The pastor then turned to God and told Him that if He would heal his legs that he would go back up the mountain and preach His word. God did heal his legs and the pastor went back up the mountain and told them again and again about Jesus. They were shocked that this Jesus could break the curse and the people began to talk amongst themselves about it.

There was a woman in the village, the daughter-in-law of the head man, who had just had a baby and instead of milk coming from her breast, blood came. She was told that if the baby did not get milk it would die. The head man sent word to the pastor of the situation and asked if his Jesus could cure her like He did him. The pastor said yes... he prayed for her and her milk miraculously began to flow. The head man and his family came to Christ as have most of the villages in that mountain region.

Do these sound like fanciful tails from a children's story book? No more so than biblical accounts of Moses turning the river into blood, or Jesus turning water into wine. These are incredible stories of faith that humble us and make us realize that most of us really don't know what it means to make a commitment to follow Jesus... no turning back, no matter what.

It also makes us realize that the people who will make decisions to follow Christ at our crusades may be facing total rejection from their families and communities, not to mention the possibility of physical punishment and persecution. For these people when Christ reveals himself to them it is a real enough experience to make them risk everything.

When we prayed together as a team before the crusade, we prayed for all those who would come to know Christ and that God's manifest presence would be so real this night that He would begin to move in the crowd, just by us arriving on the festival grounds, and that is just what happened.

The crowd was nearly twice what we had seen last night. The smoke that had challenged us on Thursday was gone (as we had prayed) and the Spirit of God replaced it with what felt like an invisible blanket of energy covering the grounds. Music filled the air and a Spirit of boldness rested on each person on the stage; from the choir, to the musicians, to our worship leaders to Bishop Ernest and Dr. Pete. There was a festive celebration exploding in this place and we all knew God was at work. The people continued coming onto the grounds right up to the time that Dr. Pete began. He spoke with authority, compassion, and with love and affection. He told them that Jesus loved them and would meet them at their point of need and they would never again have to worry about what would happen when they died. And as you might expect God was faithful and reached into the hearts and minds of these beautiful souls and manifested Himself in a very real and tangible way. So when the invitation came, thousands upon thousands were willing to risk it all, come forward and raise their hands and say a resounding YES to Jesus.

After the prayer, Dr. Pete said that he felt that the Lord had already begun to move and that people were now experiencing the healing touch of Christ. He asked them to come to the side of the stage to testify about what God had just done. As people began to move, Pete prayed for the sick who still remained. Many of them were healed as well. Blind eyes, deaf ears, pains in every part of the body, some with body parts that had not moved in years, all healed in the name of Jesus.

My friends, if you think that miracles were for another time, in another place, for other people, you are wrong. Jesus is touching lives and healing bodies right before our eyes. It is real, and it can be real for you too.

As I alluded earlier, 2 more of our team are oppressed by this stomach bug. Gary Skeen had to leave the platform in the middle of the service to go back to the hotel, and our photographer Stevi Rouse, said she was feeling really sick by the end of the night. On a good note, Jeff was feeling much better after we prayed for him. His fever broke and he was able to attend the services without incident. We praise God for his healing presence in our team.

We expect even more people tomorrow night as word spreads that "something's (or someone's) afoot" in Nellore... and his name is Jesus.