Ongole, India Crusade Report
God is such an awesome God! I just returned from the country of India. The people of this impoverished country worship over three million gods. Out of all of these so-called deities there isn't one that can set the people free. There isn't one god that can heal the people of their diseases or sicknesses. There isn't one that offers forgiveness of sins. There is only one way to God the Father and Jesus Christ is that way. Through Jesus there is forgiveness of sins. Though Jesus there is healing for the body and only through Jesus can one receive the gift of God, eternal life.
This was the message that we brought to city of Ongole, India. The crusades there were a tremendous success. There were so many powerful miracles and salvations it is hard to put into words. For example, on the last night of the crusade in front of over 50,000 people, God opened the ears of a teenage boy that was born deaf and mute. In front of the entire crowd he began to hear and speak proving that Jesus Christ is the Risen Lord!
In this region where the crusades were held it is illegal to convert people from the Hindu religion to Christianity. We were sternly warned that we could be deported if the government officials decided to enforce this law. But don't you know that God is bigger than any government and that the government's rest on the shoulders of Jesus. The Hindu governor of the region came to the crusade the third night and was so impacted by the miracles that he boldly stood in front of the masses and gave his approval of Christianity and he declared that Jesus was the mighty God! The next day the papers carried this story and we experienced incredible favor from that point on.
Night after night many people flooded the crusade grounds. During five nights of crusades we witnessed over 100,000 salvations! We also were able to give every new believer their own copy of the gospel of John translated into their local language. Hundreds of wonderful miracles, signs, and wonders demonstrated that Jesus Christ is still the same yesterday, today, and forever!
As a part of impacting this region for Jesus Christ we also held a three day ministers conference. We not only paid the transportation cost for every pastor in the region that wanted to come but we also provided them with group lodging and fed each of them three times a day. We had planned on having 200 Pastors attend three days of ministry designed to train and help them in their call and office. However, the first day over 300 registered and 400 were registered by the end of the second day. We finished the conference with over 600 registered. We were able to sow several books into each Pastor's ministry. We had wonderful times of instruction and encouragement in the presence of God and all were blessed!
This week was history in the making. Never before in this region have all the churches and denominations come together like this before. Almost every Pastor that we had the opportunity to talk with expressed the joy in their hearts to see everyone working together. A local minister's alliance was formed due to the meetings. Each new convert was helped in filing out salvation cards and this new alliance will be responsible for distributing the cards to the local pastors for discipling and follow up. This region of India has been greatly impacted with Jesus Christ and the wonderful message of salvation. It will never be the same!
We have been praying and working on this crusade for nearly 5 months now and God did exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we expected. It takes a great deal of work and planning to hold a mass crusade like the one we held in Ongole. The cost of this one crusade was nearly $40,000. That may seem like a lot but it works out to roughly 40 cents per soul and by my accounting that's a good investment. The work is expensive and sometimes exhausting but we know that we are not doing it alone. Your prayers and your financial support help to make it possible. Without you we wouldn't be able to go. Your part in this ministry is vital to it's continued growth. We are praying to see more than 500,000 salvations in the nations of the word this year and with your support we'll se it.
Your missionary evangelists,
Kenney & Neja Linhart
