68th Anniversary
Report
(II Kings 6:6)
There are certain benchmarks
of faith which the Bible sets before us.
Now when we fall short of these benchmarks, then the spiritual
deterioration which sets in cannot be remedied, merely by new policies, fine
agendas and a feeling of well-being generated by apparent advances. The real
level of faith and the walk of faith, can only be
achieved when one is closeted deep in a holy communion with God. Thus even a
reverent recounting of advances and exciting developments can only be totally
misleading. I wish there would be some way of presenting all the friends and
the members of the Fellowship with a peep at ‘the gauges of heaven’. Only those
gauges speak of the real state of our hearts and thus of the work.
In
the 6th Chapter of II Kings, we see a simple picture of how faith
works. Here was Elisha, the successor of Elijah the
great prophet, in the midst of a training session. The trainees were called the
sons of the prophets. These sons of the prophets reported to Elisha with some measure of distress that their
accommodation was getting too crowded. It was proposed that they should go to
the river
Now to many of us such a situation as a lost axe-head would present no difficulty. We would go to a hardware store and buy a proper axe. Many do not however realise that very often in a work of God, there is not money to buy some essential implements. People without faith often imagine that a Fellowship such as ours has plenty of money. Money and faith stand in inverse proportion. When money goes up, faith goes down. But when one has to pray much and seek God’s Face for every little need or purchase, then faith increases.
If Elisha did have a lot of money with him, he probably would have pulled out his wallet and said, “Fine, that is no problem. Go and buy a couple of proper axes, then you can return the borrowed axe and retain the other for our use.” Evidently Elisha’s mind simply did not think in those lines. The thinking that originates from faith is so different. The natural mind of man will get upset and exasperated by ‘faith-thinking’.
What did Elisha do? He asked, “Where did the axe fall?” The place was pointed out in the waters. He simply cut down a stick and cast it on the indicated place in the waters. Lo, and behold, what followed is against all the laws of science! Human minds could never have conceived such a plan to retrieve a heavy axe-head which had sunk into deep waters. Yes, what followed was an act of God and a victory of faith. “The iron did swim!” The young trainee who had been in such distress over the lost axe-head simply reached out and took it up.
Herein is a basic principle of faith. When we talk about God, we are talking about the supernatural. Thus to try and explain all things pertaining to God, in terms of natural thinking and reasoning, is evidently wrong. No amount of natural reasoning is going to explain true faith and the supernatural. The early church was built by ‘God working with them,’ as the disciples went out preaching the Good News that Christ has died for all mankind’s sins and that the perfect sacrifice was made for our redemption. It is when God ceases to work with us that programmes, plans, finance committees, oft-expressed fears, and such like fill the huge vacuum. Now it is for us to tremble before the word of God. It is when programmes and plans increase that we begin to trust in the arm of the flesh.
When placed in leadership either in a small circle or a larger arena, or even as the head of a small family, the understanding and pursuit of the ways of faith are absolutely essential. People who have never learnt faith should not even aspire to leadership or want to appear on the platform. Now seeking the place of prayer, where God instructs you in righteousness and faith, is more important than appearing on a platform.
Oh, may the Living God help us to produce Elishas and not mechanical and mental robots. Let us turn to the precious promises which God has given us and put our whole trust in His unalterable word.
The
following brief and incomplete narration of God’s works are for those who wish
to give praise to Jesus’ wonderful and Holy Name.
New
Centres and Advances
The New
Hall Under Construction in
Whereas
the Scripture tells us, “They were all together in one accord in one place.”
From several angles this is becoming very hard to secure. The largeness and the
diversity of the Fellowship is becoming more evident
to anyone who looks at the congregations at one of our Retreats in
As the congregation has got larger and larger, of necessity they sat scattered under the shade of trees all around. The congregation extended to almost 140 to 150 yards from the pulpit. Now this does not help towards cohesion, togetherness or oneness. But it is becoming increasingly difficult to physically gather everyone under one roof.
The new hall for which some columns had come up as early as three years ago stood as indicators of our poor faith. Now seeing that the projected hall would far exceed what was originally conceived, and being well aware that the engineers of the Fellowship were busy with their own jobs and ill-equipped to handle this huge construction, Bro. Joe prayerfully decided to call in a competent construction company. We were to make room for them to take over the meeting area as soon as the All Asia Students’ camp gave over in October. In spite of the monsoon breaking out shortly after the students’ camp in late October, these construction people with their considerable expertise have managed to make good progress. As to how the considerable bills have been met to date, is something which makes us wonder and give God all the glory.
God willing, it will take at lease six months more of steady work and a great deal of outflow of money before this hall will be fully functional. It is designed to hold a very large congregation.
Our
New TV Broadcasts
The effects of our current Tamil TV broadcast of a little more than one year, are being widely felt. Inasmuch as Bro. Joe speaks in English and the translation immediately follows, it is like a double whammy to those who know English and Tamil. Furthermore, our message which is direct and simple is being used of God to touch many new people.
From
We are convinced that this mindless religious hatred which breaks out in barbaric and brutal acts and bloodshed is due to a total lack of knowledge of the love of God made known and manifest by the coming of Christ, His death and resurrection. Thus on every Sunday morning over a Gujarati channel, the Lord enables us to publish forth His living word. May the Lord burden you to pray for these broadcasts, as they enter strange homes where Christ was neither known or mentioned.
Inching
forward to the heart of
Setting up our own facilities for producing these broadcasts is steadily going forward. We need the touch of God on every member of the crew as they engage in the heavy work involved behind the scenes, in the studios.
In
While
a small Sunday service has commenced in
During
the four days of meetings, most of the team members from other parts of
A New Centre in Panruti,
South Arcot District
Certain
regions around
Panruti is a place of bustling commercial activity. A young pharmacist who at one point actively opposed the Gospel turned to the Lord when the Lord spoke to him. Moved by a desire to reach souls, he built a simple structure and was waiting a long time for its dedication.
Bro. Joe was greatly surprised by seeing a large overflowing crowd waiting at 8 in the morning on a working weekday to hear the message. A team of our brothers assisted him in this dedication service. The vast majority of the people in the crowded hall and the temporary shamiana erected next to it, were of course non-Christians. Many of them would never have heard the word of God before. If and when the fire of God comes down at all our services and especially those special services of dedication, then we will have spreading flames of revival reaching into remote regions. But if this has to be achieved by organisation, then obviously it cannot produce the results which only revival brings forth. No amount of organisation can take the place of revival. Some faithful brothers have been labouring in these parts including Bro. Johnston.
New Hall in Repalle,
Andhra Pradesh
This place which saw revival under the ministry of Mr. Daniel (senior) over sixty years ago, has never had a centre owned by the Fellowship. Now in the midst of rice fields, in a quiet part of town, stands our simple hall where people are receiving God’s word.
In July in spite of injuring his leg very badly earlier in the day, at the dedication of our new hall, Bro. Joe managed to haul himself up the three or four steps to the platform, being in great pain and preached God’s word practically standing on one foot most of the time.
In Gudiwada,
Andhra Pradesh
A small place by the main road leading to this big commercial town bustling with business, has been recently acquired. Three nights of meetings took place here with the crowd seated in the open air. The neighbouring housing plots had also to be used to seat the people, as there was no room in our own premises. By and by as the Lord enables us, a place of worship will be erected.
The New Bookstall in Noida
Just
adjacent to
Now in a much bigger place which we managed to rent, a bookstall with a wider selection of books and Bibles has been established. The Lord is enabling the brothers sent to run this bookstall to take these valuable books to various needy corners in this strategic place.
The School in Bansi,
Uttar Pradesh
This
school situated around 40 km from
Only a single day could be found for this distant yet strategic centre in the busy schedule of Bro. Joe. The Annual School Day function had already commenced when Bro. Joe arrived.
The plays which the children enacted were both revealing and inspiring. They brought new values to the audience who were largely Hindu and Moslem parents. Love and forgiveness which the Lord Jesus exemplifies were set before the people.
When
Bro. Joe spoke, the people listened with rapt attention. Dr. and Mrs. Karunakaran came from
Medical Camps around
Teams
of our doctors and nurses have been conducting free medical camps in the district
around
Our medical camps are drawing hundreds of people. They see these busy doctors and nurses giving of their time, expertise and even free medicine, with love and gentle care. Even the hard and the cynical must surely see that there is something strange here! Surely they must wonder, “While medical doctors are hard-pressed for time everywhere and they are barely able to pay their own bills and establishment cost in many cases, why are these men and women serving us, poor people?”
In the most
recent medical camp, finding no other place from which to administer medical
care to the people, our team actually operated from a panchayat
office (village government office). However men may interpret our service of
love, our motives are clear—we cannot but love and serve such that men will see
Jesus.
Youth and
Children’s Camps
In nearly
all our retreats anywhere, there is a sizeable group of students. But the camps
which are exclusively designed for students and school children are becoming
numerous, as we reach out to many areas.
Our Children’s camps are slightly different. The age group that is to be found at our children’s camps is from the Elementary school level upto the college level.
The well-attended Royapuram children’s camp was held as usual. The large group of children always presents a new heart-warming sight. It is very helpful that many of the parents of the children also attend the camp. This is a plus point which helps and ensures that the light given to the children, will not be quickly snuffed out in the home.
The
At Langol in Imphal the capital of Manipur, our students’ camp is attracting more and more young people. The culture of idleness which is an age-old disease amongst the male population is driving many young men into the arms of insurgent and terrorist groups. Once they are recruited by these groups, it is very hard for them to gain their release. The effort to regain their independence often leads to their being shot and killed. A few of these young people, after meeting the Lord, are quitting these outfits, which terrorize the countryside.
Our
students’ camps at Shillong a certain
The All-Asia Students’ Camp at
It is quite amazing that what began as a students’ camp for fifty or sixty young people has now become one where around 2500 young people gather to learn of the Lord and unlearn selfish values that destroy their talent and potential.
One
of the largest groups at this camp in October was from Arunachal
Pradesh. Their travel alone consumed nearly six to seven days. Now as God gives
us a burden for
Although
the much-awaited North-East monsoon appeared to break in upon us, yet the Lord
stayed its fury such that the students’ camp went on unhindered.
Spreading Labours
It is never easy to continue the momentum generated by a person who would delve deep into the problems and bonds which hold people captive. Late Bro. Francis Daniel was wonderfully helped to reach a wide variety of needy people.
The three nights of meetings, which
came barely a month after the Home-going of Francis, served to strengthen many who
felt terribly bereaved by his death. But alas, these meetings were all too
brief and quite inadequate to address the spiritual needs of this state and
computer capital of
Dharapuram
After a long night’s journey, Bro. Joe was also able to address the meeting next day at Dharapuram in Tamil Nadu.
The crowd here quite overflowed our small grounds. Bro. Jeyaraj, the automotive foreman who was converted forty years ago, when an evening’s walk with his wife in the park brought him within the sound of the preaching of God’s word in the Coimbatore Coronation Park campaign of 1963, has been doing very good work.
This new centre needs further help and attention.
There stands today a rather rickety hall built with much labour by our brothers, hard by a busy section of the city. This small hall was full and spilled over at our humble meetings.
The southern districts of Tamil Nadu such as
New blessing and outreach in and
around
Our team here needs to be augmented by men with prophetic fire.
In Pallamcottah, where the meetings were held right in the middle of the heat wave, we are expecting to see a new outburst of blessing, which will engulf numerous key outlying centres.
The team consisting of Dr. Jesudas, Bro. C. Paul and others was joined by Bro. Joe and Sister Lily Daniel for the last three days of the meetings.
Mettupalayam
The two nights given to the meetings on an elevated ground which has to be developed into the playing grounds of our High School here, made a wonderful meeting ground. A very large number of people gathered from all around and heard God’s word.
Dr. Frank and the team worked hard to get this undeveloped hillock-top ready for these meetings. On the second night, a severe storm which threatened to completely blow us away suddenly stopped when the message commenced. This was so spectacular that everyone could notice it. The stormy wind resumed after the meeting concluded and the people had left! A group of our brothers had gathered behind the make-shift platform and prayed that God would still the storm and the dear Lord graciously answered.
Tambaram
No branch of the vineyard of the
Lord should languish or fail in fruitfulness. It is true that we have not been
able to take special care of the suburban areas around
This college town has a great deal of industry close by now and is such a big centre of population today. Our old prayer-shed with its very limited seating capacity should have been pulled down long ago, to make room for a structure which will hold some five or six times the number, which the present shed holds. We have been slow in prayer, in faith and in building up the lives of souls. The spiritual hindrance to this work lies in the heart and not in physical conditions or limitations of the prayer hall. To build a hall is pretty simple in comparison to recalling people to a state of true brokenness.
Our public meetings always draw new souls, but our follow-up by which I mean travailing for each soul, is poor.
Avadi
Some congregations like the one in Avadi and Ambattur have not been built on the deep foundations of repentance and true faith. People have just come together drawn by the successful glow of our work. Such people are a headache to themselves and to others.
Like John Wesley of old, Bro. Joe is having to scrutinize and remove some of these unspiritual people. Those who are getting voluntary premature retirement with the expressed desire of building God’s work can in fact have other motives. However, most of our people who have obtained premature release from their work places have done so with a sincere desire to give themselves more fully to the Lord and His work.
The two campaigns
which were held in Avadi drew many people, but sadly
the want of personal work has greatly diminished a rich harvest of souls.
Campaigns in Andhra Pradesh
The work in Andhra state seems to be growing numerically all the time in
terms of people and new prayer sheds or halls. By nature and by habit these
Telugu-speaking people are tied pretty strongly to their lands and their places
of birth. In other words, they don’t generally move very far from their own
districts.
When revival first broke out over sixty years ago in the heart of
Now when town to town and village to village our centres and humble
prayer sheds have proliferated, Bro. Joe keeps dinning it into hearts that
halls don’t walk and concrete structures don’t talk, it is the people who must
be moved by God’s love to take the Good News to others. Thus the people in the
Fellowship are in great danger, where people can just get satisfied with a nice
place of worship. Furthermore, this State also is so vast that it is almost
like a big country in
Sturartpuram and
The year’s big campaigns begin with Stuartpuram convention.
Once again this year we enlarged a
section of our meetings place by putting another steel structure of 40 x 210
feet. Now besides the standing structure which totally covers a vast area of
130 x 210 feet, many shamianas and tent fixtures were
brought in to accommodate the bigger than ever crowd which attended these
meetings. Yet many stood outside the protection of these structures and heard
the word of God, remaining under the
We have had to further extend our boundaries recently. Thus the compound wall has to be shifted in the western side of the campus quite a bit. Yet, as the crowds increase our campus of many acres appears quite small.
Our emphasis however is now firmly centred upon depth. We must seek spiritual depth or we shall become a fixture of history. Many people seem not to know this. Riding the high tide of spiritual blessing is easy. But we need a spiritual strength which will ride out every deep trough and squally swell.
Bro. Eric Stewart and his wife helped us at the meetings. John Daniel too managed to get free from his job for some days to minister to the people.
These meetings overlapped
Eluru and
The meetings in Eluru
where in the last few years we had begun to rebuild a work which had sadly been
neglected for some years, merged into the big meetings which followed 80 km (50
miles) away in
Bro. Priya
in
Vizag and
Vizag the port city, 500 miles north of
In the important suburb of Gajuwaka, some revival meetings were held prior to the campaign here. A new prayer hall too has come up in this industrial suburb.
This pilgrim town on the banks of
the river
Nominal Christian leaders of this city have greatly undermined the work of God by showing the non-Christian population here how greedy and dishonest they are, when it comes to selling away mission lands and properties.
Tenali
There is so much hunger for God’s word, especially among the poor in Tenali. With more vision and faith, a great deal can be achieved to see many transformed by the power of God. The need here calls for men of true holiness who will throw themselves with unselfish abandon into the sea of humanity which is crying out for help in these parts.
The need being so great, Bro. Joe
feels that we are touching less than a mere fringe of the need. It was earlier
planned that Bro. Joe would alternate with Dr. Jayasingh
in the neighbouring town of
The Annual Retreat
The
Annual Retreat in May is becoming more and more a crucial time of renewal, of
instruction in righteousness and the opening of our eyes to discern new vision,
for distant fields. Bro. Joe says, this Annual Retreat cost him much prolonged
soul travail, extending over many months of preparation, at the dear Lord’s
Feet.
The Retreat just past required complicated arrangements. Interpretations into various
languages had to take place to various groups, positioned in different parts of
The main meeting was held under the high concrete slab of the gallery above. We could only use a portion of the front section of the hall. Behind the platform stood the high scaffolding which supported the freshly cast concrete of the galleries. The people were forbidden to go beyond this point. Thus many of them would have gathered little idea of the immensity of the hall behind the cut-off point of the platform.
The accommodation at the evening meeting was a little more easy, as the chairs could be set out in the wide open area, which is the apron in front of the hall. A few hundred thatched booths had to be built to accommodate the people during their sojourn at the Retreat.
The severe drought conditions obtaining over large parts of the country did not however affect us. The Lord most wonderfully supplied all our drinking water needs as well as plenty of water for bathing.
Now the Lord graciously helped with the message which we all needed. In fact this is the heart of the retreat—the message and the prayer sessions which followed. The two Johns who preached were used of God. One of them is the oldest of Bro. Joe’s boys and the other John is a real Branch of the true Vine. The latter said that he had longed for the whole year to be with us.
The
kitchen section which had to handle about 2800 inmates worked hard and
efficiently so that all of us were given food convenient to our need. Inasmuch
as some centres had to divide the numbers of those who wished to attend the
Retreat into two batches due to the limited accommodation in
The many mercies that we saw and received from the Lord in spite of the intense heat of the sun, are hard to record here. Our Saviour and Lord did indeed walk amongst us.
Our prayer
and expectation is that the 4800 and odd people who had registered at the
Retreat will continue to take the spirit of the Retreat and demonstrate the
Saviour’s love in many corners of the globe.
There were a few thousand others who attended the open evening meetings,
who were among the unregistered visitors. It is quite certain that few amongst
this latter group could have escaped the touch of the Lord.
Our Schools
Our school in Bansi sent up the second batch of students to the final Matriculation exam in March of 2002 and obtained cent percent results. WE are hoping that the faithful work of our teachers will be likewise rewarded this year.
Our
Our Matriculation schools in
Now
by hook or crook, the government wants to get their foot in the door and
interfere in several ways with our educational facilities and programmes. By
the Indian constitution, minorities have the legal right to run their own institutions
free of governmental interference. President Reagan’s slogan was, “Get the
government off our backs.” But the present servile trend in
Just providing the right kind of classrooms for our schools is costing us a great deal and the concept of sacrificial service is being interfered with by all kinds of government regulations and demands, as regards pay and retirement benefits, etc.
Thus we are swimming against the current, as always. Those who are weak-kneed in faith are bound to fall victims to the system.
In speaking of education we are really talking about the tender, mouldable minds of little ones. We want to produce girls and boys who will live upright and righteous lives which bring glory to God and blessing to many.
Our Good News
Clinics
In Mettupalayam
area, Dr. Franklin is greatly helped by the Lord as he now takes care of two
clinics, one in Velliankadu and the second in Mettupalayam. Besides this, he has to care for the congregation
and the considerable building programme as well, in Mettupalayam.
In Coimbatore, after years of painstaking work in the ancient Lutheran Eye hospital here, Dr. Jesudas is enjoying his freedom and is able to move from place to place, preaching the Word.
In the Gospel clinic in Royapuram, Dr. Jayasingh still puts in long hours of service to the poor and to the large body of patients.
In
In
In Coonoor, Dr. Gladys has added to her medical expertise by finishing a course in gynacology and child health, as an external student.
In Gummidipundi, Dr. Jayanth has been fighting a fresh surge of spiritual battles in that area.
In
Our dental
clinic in
Numerous of our doctors both men and women are labouring in various capacities and helping to take the Good News of the dear Lord and His salvation to many who would otherwise never be able to hear.
Home-call of Bro.
Francis Daniel
The
youngest of the Daniel children, Francis, whom God had been using widely, was
called Home in August. To us who are unaccustomed to seeing people decline in
health rapidly, this was a new thing. Francis himself appeared to be somewhat
homesick for Heaven, but to many whom he had spiritually helped and brought to
the Lord, it was a very painful loss.
To his
three children and Shanthi Daniel, his wife, the
parting no doubt was painful. But even at the funeral, they showed a triumphant
spirit. Although many had hardly any chance to get to the funeral, a very large
number gathered in a big church which was kindly let to us in
Francis who for long years had been the leader of music at the Fellowship and its main meetings and retreats, in his later years, had been teaching the deeper things of God to many, even in our distant centres. We sorely miss him.
Another
brother who from the days of the infancy of our printing ministry, laboured
much in the Lord, Bro. G. Moses was also called Home. Moses turned to the Lord
as a very young schoolboy, after hearing Bro. Daniel (senior) and he is greatly
missed by many. A little less than a year after his Home-going his only son,
Stephen, was also called Home. Let us pray for the comfort of the wife, Sylvia
Moses and the young daughter.
Bro. Vasanth of Hyderabad who was so ably interpreting Bro. Joe into Telugu at so many of his campaigns was also called away at a time when we were expecting great things to come out of his ministry. Although his two children are very young, the dear Lord will carry them and keep them.
Some of our precious evangelists too have been called Home this year. Now that the Fellowship is almost 70 years old, many of our old stalwarts are getting aged and feeble. We do not want anyone however to just fizzle out but rather they would go Home roaring with a roar and a song of praise.
On the
Literature Front
Through our books, magazines and tracts, many are being reached in widely scattered areas. Some of our books are being greatly valued and the readership of our magazines too continues to grow.
We were able to hold book-fairs in six different states. These book-fairs served to scatter the seed of God’s word and many outsiders pick up books, which will certainly turn the whole course of their thinking and make them open to God’s voice.
Our small printing facility has been hard at work, producing books in many languages.
In English, a short life of Bro. Francis Daniel has been published. In Telugu too this book has been published. For our tele-listeners a short testimony of Bro. Joe entitled, “My Story” has been published in English and Telugu. A collection of simple but deep messages of Mother Daniel has also been put out in English first. The striking title of the book is: “A Hundred Years and Still Serving!” The Lord has granted Mother Daniel yet another year. She is now 101.
In the Telugu language, Norman Duncan’s “Abraham’s Journey of Faith” has hit the bookstands . The great missionary life of Henry Martyn has also been published.
As we quickly run out of stock of our titles, we have had to reprint Martin Luther, John Wesley, Hudson Taylor, Francis of Assisi and Esther Gulshan’s Life, “The Torn Veil.”
In Tamil too, many reprints were needed. Every reprint is very expensive and we want more of you to help move these books out to needy people. Hence Sadhu Sundar Singh, the Book of Martyrs, A Wise Woman Buildeth Her Home, Victory over Demons and Fear needed reprinting
In both Hindi and Bengali, our progress is far too slow. We need much grace to penetrate the smugness of the Hindi-speaking areas and the Bengali readers. In Hindi the revival accounts from Finney’s life and Sadhu Sundar Singh were published for the first time. In Bengali, our book on Sadhu Sundar Singh has made its debut.
In Spanish, our publications keep continually growing. Painstakingly Bro. Klaus takes these books to the people.
“Christ is
Victor” our magazine, continues to be printed for the Burmese who are being
reached in the border areas, near Moreh, on the
Indo-Burmese border. The Lord has given us to build our centre a stone’s throw
from
Select portions of “Christ is Victor” have begun to appear in the Bengali tongue too.
News from Overseas
Youth and Children’s Camps in
Germany and UK
Whenever we
had special youth camps or meetings in High schools, all the way from
The youth
camps in
Bro. Joe teaches them to set high goals of faith and vision before themselves. Many of these young people suffer from the want of real role models, in whom they can see the great works of God. Youth is a time of idealism and if one cannot set before these young people great thoughts and dynamic living, our youth camps will come woefully short of the required standard.
The English
children’s camp was held in
Over the years our brothers and sisters have cared for these children and sown the word of God patiently. We look for the time of reaping.
In
Our Anniversary Thanksgiving services of the 15th of July are followed by these retreats, year after year.
Bro. Gunter
Schmid searches hard and long to find a suitable
retreat centre. The strength of our retreats is still small but many nations
are generally represented. As for denting the need in the
In the
winter, our retreat is normally held in Brixton,
The Retreat
in
In
Young
people form quite a bulk of the audience. The older people who have been
faithful over the years are also there. The dear Lord must cause our young
people to catch such a vision, that everything which is static around them may
become a thing of the past.
In this village which has now grown into a town, our team went to work and transformed an old dwelling-place into a meeting centre. Both in October and in January, the Lord helped Bro. Joe to give two days, on each occasion, to evangelistic services here.
Several people in this area who had been touched by the Lord in the early years of our work, have now moved into other churches. Probably some of them felt that our evenings’ meetings on Sundays were more like a spiritual ‘snack’ than a full meal. Since we did not provide a Sunday morning worship, many have moved to the new churches which have now sprung up. Though we have always adopted the policy of not competing with anyone, yet when people hunger for more of God’s word, we should be able to provide them a godly company which meets on Sunday mornings, which provides plenty of spiritual nourishment and fellowship for them to grow in the Lord. It is our longing that God will raise up our young people to supply what the older people could not provide.
In
In
The absence of a central place in
In the
The retreat centre which we use in
In this year’s Retreat, we were able to fit in also the marriage of Richard Rudolf and being a young widower with three little children, being joined to a godly girl, who immediately plunged into the work of a mother, meant a lot to him. Seeing her caring for the little ones touched our hearts. The small children had prayed earnestly and asked God to send them a mother.
The people who are caretakers at this Campgrounds, ours being the end-of-season camp, knowing that we are a disciplined and godly people, look with expectancy to our coming. We on our side are always grateful for their dedicated work in keeping this camp open, in spite of the mounting restrictions and County regulations.
In
the pressures of
The children too have their special classes and are lovingly taught the word by the young mothers. Lydia Daniel too takes a few classes for young girls.
The very little time devoted to meetings here is hardly sufficient. For a revival breakthrough, we need a much more concentrated effort. In fact, the leave situation in most companies is such that many are hindered from even coming to our retreats.
The
Cleveland Heart Clinic being relatively near, hardly 70 miles from the Sebring
camp, immediately after our
In
When some new Indian teachers or computer people appear at our retreats, we know that they are there for a weekend’s trip and visit and often we do not see them again. It is hard to build any work when people like that simply come to our retreats for a ‘change’. They neither touch the local population as they have little burden for them, nor have they any commitment for the ongoing work.
In
On
their way to
The present craving for instant everything has hit the churchgoers as well. Many who desire instant emotion and excitement, all in one package, opt for churches where there is high decibel music which culminates in a deafening roar which is termed worship. Now this trend of losing members has hit some churches with a long record of godliness and sound preaching of God’s word such that many young people have disappeared. These churches no doubt need some intense knee-drill and heart-searching such that they are back in their old role of bringing new life to many.
While
the attendance in the Christian Missionary Alliance church in which the
meetings were held, was nothing too great, yet the people were so earnest and
seemed hungry for more. Schedules which leave little time to accommodate a
breaking movement of revival blessing are another great hindrance to revival.
After the weekend, Bro. Joe and Lily Daniel had to quickly pack their bags and
leave for the meetings in
In
Little
by little we have been covering the principal centres of population in this
small country. This time it was the mining town of
Each night for three days, Bro. Joe and Lily Daniel had to travel a great distance in order to reach this venue. There was in the country and countryside panic over the indiscriminate shooting that certain escaped bandits were indulging in. So not many people were out after dark. Notwithstanding this, under the protective wings of God, the team travelled long distances on dark, empty roads.
The
two meetings in
Dr. Danny however is greatly helped by the Lord to continue the work. He also makes sure that week after week our radio and television message reaches many.
Leaving
The meetings were held in our rented apartment with people seated even in the kitchen. The Word of God however rang out through a few external speakers which carried the message to those who will hear in the neighbouring apartments of this complex. Several of the people in the audience were formerly possessed by evil spirits or in some way oppressed by them.
There were three meetings each day and there were those who made long journeys to get to the meetings. Thus there is a growing hunger for God’s word here.
Much of Bro. Klaus Klingler’s time is taken up with praying with people oppressed by evil spirits.
It must be remembered that there is
a small army of burdened students, teachers, preachers, doctors, evangelists, a
few businessmen and other professionals who actively partake in this work of
making known the saving power and love of Jesus. To record the work of each one
of this vast team is literally impossible. The Lord is using so many of them.
Many of our team members in many
areas continually see mercies and victories which thrill our hearts. They also
face with patience many adversities, threats and dangers. Even at the time of
writing, a report has reached us that in a village where people had being
laying in wait to kill our preacher and his family, a sudden turn of events
made some powerful voices in the village to be strongly raised saying, “We have
seen the lives of these Christian converts for many years, they are quietly
doing their work and they worship without disturbing anyone. No one dare touch
them.” After this warning, those who had planned to ‘kill and burn’
disappeared. Thus God in His mercy keeps answering our prayer, keeping His own
people and advancing His Eternal Kingdom.