We just finished a glorious week of meetings in Suryapet, Andhra Pradesh, India.
The festival grounds were packed with thousands of people from rural unreached villages. The people traveled in by dozens of tractor trailers. By God's grace, we will have seen around 9,600 people come to Christ through our ministry efforts in the last two weeks.
Perhaps the most touching testimony was that of an 11-year-old girl who came to our stage with her grandmother. She had been completely deaf for four years, but now her ears have been opened by Jesus!
Also while in Hyderabad, we ministered at a church where 300 people were expected, but 1,100 people showed up! It was like walking into the fruits of our faith as we entered the church. The atmosphere was electric with worship and expectancy.
Among the healings was that of a blind woman. She had been hit in the eye with a stick when she was a child and was blind ever since. While attending the festival, God healed her eye, and she can see! God has been so very good to us.
We are now beginning our final week of festival meetings. I will be leading a festival in Shathinager and my friend, Pastor George Bunnell, from Maple Grove, Minnesota will be leading a festival in Pamulapadu.
Thank you for your prayers! They have made a huge difference... please keep storming heaven for souls!
Intentional for souls,
Tom Elie
Evangelist/President
Oasis World Ministries
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Never tire of seeing miracles
Bucchi Reddy Palem, Andhra Pradesh was the location of our first week in India. We held a five-day gospel & healing festival and a three-day pastor's school.
I said, "Demon, be quiet in Jesus' name." Then I invited the woman forward to the altar so that we could pray for her. Before I finished the sermon, she calmly walked back to her seat, completely set free!
Another miracle was that of a paralyzed 15-year-old girl who lifted her arm over her head for the very first time in her life! And another miracle was that of 12-year-old girl who had been born deaf. Her father wept when God restored her hearing! By God's grace, around 3,600 people will have come to know Jesus Christ during this first week!
God is giving us great favor. During the pastor's school the regional pastors were so grateful for the teaching and encouragement. While we were there, the Oasis team did village evangelism. We were told by the local people that we were the first white people to have ever presented the Gospel of Jesus Christ at their village.
Tomorrow we leave for our next festival and pastor's school. Please continue to stand in prayer; it means so much to India!
Intentional for souls,
Tom Elie
Evangelist/President
Oasis World Ministries
oasisworldministries.org
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The Tyranny of the Urgent
"And the crowd sought Him and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them; but He said to them, 'I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also because for this purpose I have been sent'" (Luke 4:42-43).
Ministers know what I mean when I say, 'we know pressure'.
Pressure to please people. Pressure to have the church service shorter, and longer, and sing this music and teach that topic. Pressure to be funny, to be serious, to be 'deep' (whatever that is) and to be relevant. Pressure to reach the neighborhood, yet maintain everyone's needs within. Pressure to pay off the building and simultaneously add an addition. Pressure to live within budgets and do more with less. The list goes on and on. If we're not careful, we'll try to make everyone happy instead of simply hearing from God.
Jesus was pressured too.
The crowds were growing, people were getting healed, and His fame was spreading. Who wouldn't want His problem? The people pressured Jesus to stay with them for extended meetings. But Jesus was adamant. His success was not measured in numbers or dollars or healings. His success simply came from 'OBEYING GOD'. This was the yardstick by which He measured everything.
Jesus was not distracted from His purpose... "to seek and save the lost". So He moved on to other towns where they had not heard of His salvation. He left the "reached" to find the "unreached".
What's pressuring you? What's keeping you from being His ambassador to the lost? Our supreme task is to reach the unreached. Our life's purpose is only complete when we obey God.
The crowd will keep us busy inside the church until we retire, and we'll still be frazzled and unfulfilled. But when we obey God and take His love 'outside' the church, our fire will burn brighter, the sky will be bluer, and the grass will be greener.
'Obeying God' is the best 'pressure-relief' valve ever!
Intentional for souls,
Tom Elie
Evangelist/President
www.oasisworldministries.org
P.S. The Oasis Team will be in India February 11-March 1. Please keep us in your prayers. We will conduct four "Gospel & Healing" Festivals, three "Ignite the Fire" Training Seminars; dedicate seven churches and 17 fresh-water wells that were recently completed. During the final few days, I will be meeting with our National Evangelists for training and encouragement.
Ministers know what I mean when I say, 'we know pressure'.
Pressure to please people. Pressure to have the church service shorter, and longer, and sing this music and teach that topic. Pressure to be funny, to be serious, to be 'deep' (whatever that is) and to be relevant. Pressure to reach the neighborhood, yet maintain everyone's needs within. Pressure to pay off the building and simultaneously add an addition. Pressure to live within budgets and do more with less. The list goes on and on. If we're not careful, we'll try to make everyone happy instead of simply hearing from God.
Jesus was pressured too.
The crowds were growing, people were getting healed, and His fame was spreading. Who wouldn't want His problem? The people pressured Jesus to stay with them for extended meetings. But Jesus was adamant. His success was not measured in numbers or dollars or healings. His success simply came from 'OBEYING GOD'. This was the yardstick by which He measured everything.
Jesus was not distracted from His purpose... "to seek and save the lost". So He moved on to other towns where they had not heard of His salvation. He left the "reached" to find the "unreached".
What's pressuring you? What's keeping you from being His ambassador to the lost? Our supreme task is to reach the unreached. Our life's purpose is only complete when we obey God.
The crowd will keep us busy inside the church until we retire, and we'll still be frazzled and unfulfilled. But when we obey God and take His love 'outside' the church, our fire will burn brighter, the sky will be bluer, and the grass will be greener.
'Obeying God' is the best 'pressure-relief' valve ever!
Intentional for souls,
Tom Elie
Evangelist/President
www.oasisworldministries.org
P.S. The Oasis Team will be in India February 11-March 1. Please keep us in your prayers. We will conduct four "Gospel & Healing" Festivals, three "Ignite the Fire" Training Seminars; dedicate seven churches and 17 fresh-water wells that were recently completed. During the final few days, I will be meeting with our National Evangelists for training and encouragement.
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