A member of this Assembly recently traveled to India with a team from Global Awakening. Below is a personal account of her trip:
It was such a joy to go on a missions trip with Global Awakening. Global sends out teams on missions to many nations in the world. Just some of the trips are to Brazil, Mozambique, India, China, etc. I met people on this team who had gone on many trips. We had couples from Australia, Singapore, and a student from Germany, as well as many from all over the United States, and people of all ages from their early 20s thru to one who is in her 70’s. God can use all ages.
Two teams were set up thru Global to stay about 10 days and minister in 4 cities to reach more people. The teams were of about 40 people. We all joined on the first night to pray together, and then departed.
We had been sent a tape and some key words to use for the local language. We began in December to memorize as many phrases as possible, but also hoped to have a good number of translators to be with us.
We also brought suitcases of supplies to be distributed among the orphanages.
When we arrived in the first city, we were met by a pastor who had coordinated the gatherings. They had a wonderful music team begin with music at each service, and the pastors from Global gave teachings that encouraged and poured into the pastors and leaders of the region in the morning and afternoon. After the talk, as a team, we would go to as many as we could individually and prayed with them. As is typical in this region, men sit on one side of the gathering, and women sit on the other. So, they requested that the women pray for the women and the men for the men. The pastors typically dress in all white cotton tunic and pants, and the women dress in beautiful bright colors in Punjabis and saris. They all had such a heart for God. The Lord met with the power of His Holy Spirit and touched people in wonderful ways, and we prayed with the people each day in the first city. God was equipping His leaders.
In the evenings, the people of the region came, and we were amazed at the turnout. The coordinating pastors had arranged for trucks to be available to bring the people who would wish to come. And, of course, others came by bus, by bicycle, on foot, or however they could. Each night the numbers grew. We found out that by the last night they had reserved 120 trucks. Each truck could carry up to 100 people. On our way to the meeting site, we would see and passed many of these trucks packed with people all standing in the back, packed like sardines! They would wave as they would see us come. When we arrived at the site, it was amazing. – so many people!!! Each night the number grew, and they estimated more than 35,000 came on the final night there!!
Part of the Global talk each night is to tell the Good News about Jesus and ask if the people wish to receive Him as their Savior. In such a large crowd, we cannot have everyone come forward to the altar, so the pastors ask them to wave both arms to receive salvation. We saw thousands receive Jesus. That was so beautiful.
But, also, many people were healed in the crowd as well. We prayed for the people during the service, and God began to touch the people that came to the gatherings even before we could go to pray for individuals. Many stood and waved their arms to say that the Lord had touched them with healing.
Then at the end of the message each night, they had built some fencing to keep the people from surging forward and we would spread out and pray at the fence for as many as we could – and God met us in awesome ways. We did have a number of interpreters, but we would try to speak some Telegu phrases ourselves, and that seemed to touch the people. But what happened was beautiful.
Many people had headache, back problems, and joint problems. (We found out later that much of the head pain was often due to Malaria). Some people also requested prayers for diabetes, and women requested prayers to have healthy babies, and some illnesses not so easy to “measure”, so we couldn’t “tally” the results of those prayers. But for headaches, back problems, and joint problems, and even many other health problems God was touching people swiftly. Some on the team even had people with hearing problems or blindness come for prayer and they saw amazing healings! In fact, an interpretor came to help me, and the interpretor would tell me for the person, “the pain is gone!” and it seemed so quickly, and I would double check. I asked, “Are you sure”? Can you ask again? And they would check and would say, “The pain is gone!”. God was touching the people in awesome ways!!
One young boy about age 10 came to me with his parents for prayer for a tumor on his collarbone. I could feel it and it was about one inch around. I began to pray for the Lord to come and be with us with His healing Hand and I began to feel something – the tumor was getting smaller. I kept feeling it…..yes…..it was truly getting smaller!! I kept praying and let the Lord pour thru for about 7 or 8 minutes and told the interpretor to ask him to just “stay put” a few minutes. People were pressing in, and I prayed for a few more needs. Then I went back to the boy. It was even smaller!!! I prayed a little while longer and we again asked him to stay and prayed for a few more people and came back. I felt for it, the parents felt for it, the boy felt for it – it was gone!!! Halleluia!! God had dissolved a tumor – before our very eyes!!! We rejoiced in God’s wonder!!!
We were all so excited when we got on the bus and told our stories as we went down the road. Our God is such a real God, He is still a healing God, He is such a wonderful God!! We just rejoiced!!
And it was hard to leave on the last night there, but we knew we were meant to go on to Vizag. We gave many hugs.
One of the organizers for the outreach wrote an article and I would share just 2 paragraphs he wrote:
"The conference and crusade were wonderful. Many of the (500+) pastors—both men and women—were deeply impacted by the conference. The worship was great, and many of them wrote to say that the subjects taught by Pastors Tom, Lucas, and Pastor Michael, were inspiring, Scripture-supported, and practically useful in their churches and out on the street. One pastor wrote, “I was surprised by how much more clearly I heard the voice of God during those four days. I was hearing Him better than I ever have in my life, and I was starting to receive words of knowledge.” Another testified to being healed in the conference: “I really praise God for the way He touched me in these meetings, both spiritually and physically. He removed the stones from my kidneys!” Speaking for all of them, a pastor asked us to tell Global, “Please do return and minister to us often. We need this type of encouragement.”
On the last night of the crusade, the spirit of celebration was amazing. Jesus was there, and He was being honored. The crowd praised, danced, and waved palm branches. Trucks, loaded with villagers, were continually arriving. Fireworks and confetti filled the air. We released three white doves that evening, and one of these returned and perched on the backboard of the stage, where it sat until the event was over. The gospel was preached in power. The presence of the Holy Spirit and angels was evident, and many healings and salvations occurred as team members laid hands on thousands of villagers. One young man reported praying for a boy with a crippled hand. Suddenly, he said, the boy “grabbed my hand and held it. This was something he could NOT do before! …I could see the glory of God all over him.…” A pastor on the team prayed for a boy with a bent leg and saw him miraculously healed. Another team member was excited to report that about 80% of the people who approached him for prayer were going away healed!”
Praise God for the reports which are still coming in!
And so we went on from the first city of ministry. It was a long full day’s ride to Vizag the next day and we were about to meet a few obstacles – but God was about to turn them all around for good.
We arrived to minister to the pastors and regional leaders for the morning and afternoon but met an obstacle immediately. They told us a complaint had been filed in the courts to prevent us from speaking and that any American pastor who try to preach would be arrested.
Pastor Tom Ruotolo wrote an article for reprint as follows:
“Warfare was high in Vizag, from the moment we arrived. On the first day we had heard rumors that Hindu Radicals were trying to shut down our meetings, but the coordinators of the trips reassured us that all the legal permissions had been obtained and that everything would be fine. We arrived at the meeting location to see 20-30 police around our meeting tent. At first we were told that they were there for our protection. But then, hold it, we need to wait -- The police have orders to stop the meeting if a foreigner speaks. We waited for a phone call as an Indian pastor gave a message. Finally, a phone call came -- it was OK for us to speak. Tom Ruotolo got up to greet the people. But within a minute, the police came in, interrupting the meeting. We were not allowed to speak due to our tourist visa. How discouraging! We spent the next two days trying to figure out what we were going to do. But, despite the problems, we were allowed to minister to the people one on one and pray for people and God showed up in awesome ways.
It is a longer story, but after two days, for the first time, a judicial mandate was set forth to allow foreigners the right to speak openly about their religion. History was made in India that day and now all ministry groups will be able to use this court ruling as a precedent for future legal battles. If the State or city they are ministering in tries to stop them, they can fight with the knowledge that a National legal mandate has been set, states Rev. Clark. This ruling paves the way for so many ministries and missionaries. One missionary living in the country and speaking anonymously stated. ‘This is such an amazing ruling. The States have continued to make and enforce their own laws against those of the Constitution. For the first time, there is a legal precedent set to uphold the National law!’
Global Awakening came ready to minister the Gospel and healing power of Jesus Christ to the nation of India. When that was placed in jeopardy, their intercessors heeded the call and held fast in their prayers. Praying that the Gospel would go forth as in the book of Acts: "Acts 28:31 Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the lord Jesus Christ." Global Awakening believed it should come under the authority of the land and took the low place humbly allowing the Indian pastors to step up and preach. Agreeing to pray for the sick and needy, seeing miraculous healings take place every day and night, Global Awakening allowed God’s sovereignty to change the laws as He saw fit. Truly a remarkable turn of events for the nation of India.
Recently, word has also come that another crusade being led by Americans was being shut down in another area of India. Due to this court ruling, a similar legal action was placed and the crusade was allowed to continue. We believe this same process will be repeated hundreds of times throughout India!
Despite the resistance in the beginning, God had his way in Vizag. During the first two days, we were not sure if we were going to be allowed preach (but we were allowed to pray, and prayed for many people). Brainstorming on the next best possibilities, we asked the police if they would allow us to show videos of us preaching. They said that this is acceptable. So Randy went to a small church nearby and recorded 2 messages on video. If permission didn’t come for us to speak, we would have these ready to show to the crowds. Of course, we did get permission so we did not have to show these videos. The conference organizers decided to air these two videos of Randy on TV! God turned around the attack against us as these videos were broadcast to 1 million homes throughout the state of Andre Pradesh!!"
And God reached out to many with His hand. Not everyone was healed, but many were. There were so many testimonies. Here are just two:
“I prayed for two ladies today who had cataracts. One lady came up and started talking about how she had cataracts and so I placed my hand over her eye and started praying for her, commanding sight to be restored and for the cataracts to dissolve. Then another lady came up who had the same problem. I had another team member helping me pray, and after about 10-15 minutes they were both healed. I was so excited, probably more excited than the two women!! I started dancing and praising God right in front of everybody! Also, during one of the night meetings I prayed for this sweet little old lady and her granddaughter. The older woman had pain in her arm, which had been there for about 6months-to a year (I later found out). So I started praying for her, Randy had just done words of knowledge so she learned to start testing out her body. As I was praying, she kept moving her arm body. As I was praying, she kept moving her arm up a little, and up a little, and up a little, making a face like she was in pain. After about two minutes she moved it completely above her head with a huge, sweet smile on her face -- the pain was all gone!!! PRAISE GOD!” (Anna Perdue, Global School of Supernatural Ministry Student).
“The second night of meetings I had a word of knowledge as a pain in my appendix. Randy was not allowed to speak yet and we didn’t have the opportunity to share. I wondered, what’s with this? During prayer time, a man interrupted us and said, Please, I have sharp pain right here. He pointed to his lower right side. I asked a translator to tell him my story and that God wanted to heal him. By the time he told him, the man smiled and said, The pain is gone! Our only prayer was to bless the name of Jesus.” (Doc Watson, Healing Rooms Advisor).”
It was a great blessing to be a part of the Global Outreach for both cities. God moved in marvelous and amazing ways and the testimonies of many poured in – too numerous to put them all here.
Missions trips can be so touching – both for the people of that nation and for us as we go. They can be life-changing for all. I cannot say enough about this type of ministry.
May we fulfill the “Great Commission” to reach our towns, our region, our churches, and our nation -- but also the people of all nations. God is reaching people in power and strength. May we be obedient to His call.
Here are the trip stats from the teams:
INDIA STATISTICS Totals
Total Attendance 196,500
Physical Healings, of these: 27,872
Blind or legally blind seeing better than 80% 104
Deaf or mostly deaf ears now open and hearing 86
Tumors or cysts disappearing before our eyes 55
Those who could not walk now walking 22
Emotional/Inner Healings/Deliverances 1000
Salvations 31,403
Blasted (Touched powerfully by the Holy Spirit) 506
Called into ministry 125