Trip TO INDIA

From February 15 to 26, Brigitte and I traveled to Sri Lanka and to India. After  our short stop over in Sri Lanka, we flew to Hyderabad, the capital of the province of Andhra Pradesh, and changed for another flight to get to our destination, Visahkhapatnam, also called Vizag. There, our friend, Pastor Spurgeon Raj Jalem met us at the airport and brought us to his home where he lives with his parents, his grand mother and his brother.

The next day, we visited a few sights of the area, the fourth largest port of India and a very industrial city. On Sunday, we visited their church. As we entered the room where they meet, we were deeply impressed. The congregation (women on one side and men on the other side) sat on canvas laid on the floor, singing loudly with all their heart, clapping their hands at the sound of Indian style Praise and worship music. Both, Brigitte and I shared the Word. On Monday, Brigitte shared the Word to the women's ministry. We left that night (very late) for a two hours ride to a smaller city called Narsipatnam. We were surprised to see our pictures on posters written in Telugu, filling the city walls and stores.

To summarize these three days of open-air Gospel crusades, I insert below the report written by Pastor Spurgeon himself.

"I praise God for the opportunity to greet you all in the name of the most-high God, once again through this newsletter from my homeland of India.

SUCCESSFUL CONFERENCE AND SALVATION GOSPEL FESTIVALS OF SIEM:

The Spirit of the Lord God is up on Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent Me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and freedom to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, and the day of our God's vengeance; to comfort all who mourn. Isaiah 61:1-2

As you remember I had asked for your prayers for the success of another SIEM event in my last newsletter. It was actually a scary and challenging time for me as I entered into the month of February 2005. Since so many things needed to be accomplish by the end of the month like preparing many tapes for the TV ministry while preparing and conducting Crusades & Conferences in a larger way than we had before.

It looked absolutely impossible for Me and the Team to go through FEB 2005 unless God would take us through that time. We needed a lot of faith operating and effort organizing lots of things for the new activities in the SIEM organization.

But now I am so glad to inform you about the wonderful time we had from Feb 22nd to 24th 2005 in the town called Narsipatnam which is 2 hours drive away from our home city VIZAG where I am living now. It is actually close to the place where I grew up. So this area has been on my heart for a long time, finally God had given me an opportunity to preach good news to this area.

Nearly 400 Pastors, Evangelists and Leaders, including Prayer Warriors and Believers attended the Day-time Conferences. More than 6000 people attended (2000/each night) and listened to the power packed gospel messages at the night open air and mass Evangelical Crusades. The Holy Spirit moved in a special way and touched each and every one of those in the crowds at the venue. Hundreds of people gave their lives to God each day and made new commitments in their lives to follow God and to live for His glory in this world.

I want to thank God for his gracious anointing and fire in our hearts to speak life, healing and blessings into all of those precious lives who were ministered to during these three days. We had a special Canadian couple “Pastor Rene & his lovely wife Brigitte” also who left their ministry in Hong Kong to come to India as Guest Speakers. They assisted me in this fantastic time of Ministry with the entire burden that God had put in their hearts for this Nation of India. 

We could see the move of God in these meetings in a powerful way as people stayed on at the venue ground even up to 12:00 pm at night for more of the word of God, more prayers for healing and blessings from the ministry team. It would have been impossible to finish the evenings at 9.30pm as the people were so hungry to be touched by God. And It is understandable when you think that this a first time happening in the entire history of Narsipatnam town. In a mighty response to the altar-call, we saw most notable miracles! Hundreds of people received healing in their sick bodies, were filled with eternal joy and peace in their lives as God solved their problems. A young man called Pedabbai who was healed & delivered from his mental illness as he was brought to the Crusade as a mentally retarded person. An old man was completely delivered and got healed from his back ache which suffered him since long tome. I saw another person came in front of the stage while I was preaching and got delivered from evil spirits these are just for a  quick say but

We receive very special reports for these meetings every day.  All glory to the Lord

I notice that this is the time to thank you all for the wonderful partnership of prayer with us to see the manifestation of the power of God in all the lives of the people through these meetings."

(Please visit and see the UPLOADED Pictures of Conf & SGF 22nd -24th FEB 05 from the link provided below).

http://photos.yahoo.com/spurgeon_raj

THE JALEM FAMILY

Pastor Spurgeon's father (who is also a pastor) was extremely sick. His body was swollen all over and felt pain all over. He could hardly walk up the stairs to the podium. His family wanted to put him in the hospital. They were concerned that he could die any day. He strongly insisted of going to Narsipatnam to organize the crusade. He said: "Even if I should die, let me do it for the Lord". Before the crusade, he spent one month with his body in extreme pain, taking care of all the details that made this crusade a success. After the crusade, he was put in the intensive care unit in the hospital. After a few weeks, the Lord restored him.

One of his brother, Prahsad, is a teacher in a remote village to four tribes of "primitive people". Now sixty of them believe in Jesus and meet for Bible study. Each day, he traveled for two hours to go to his school (he walks one hour in the jungle) and the same way he returns home. He really loves and care for these people.

His younger brother, Guna, has one of the most outstanding servant heart we have ever seen.

His mother and grand mother are always in prayer supporting the family ministry.

Pastor Spurgeon himself (a young 26 year old pastor) is walking in the footstep of Reinhard Bonke. He has the faith to move mountain and rely on prayer to fulfill the ministry God gave him. He has an international TV ministry, organizes Gospel crusades in India and travels internationally. His organization "SIEM" supervises 26 pastors and churches. Click here to see a photo album of the Jalem family.

OUR IMPRESSIONS

Both Brigitte and I have been challenged by the strong Christian witness we have encountered during this trip.

The minority Christian population is still heavily persecuted by extremist Hindus who at times attack, beat and kill Christians. Nevertheless, the church is strong, mature and very committed to remain faithful to the Lord Jesus.

We thank the Lord that he put in our heart the desire to go to India and participate in His work there. What a privilege to serve God and participate in the ministry of others. The following verses express very well what we feel about our trip to India:

We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ... 7 And so you became a model to all the believers... 8 The Lord's message rang out from you not only in [Vizag and Narsipatnam (Andhra Pradesh)]--your faith in God has become known everywhere... 1Thes 1:3,7-8 (NIV)

Thank you for your prayers, love and support,

John 3:16

René & Brigitte Lussier

Click here to watch short video clips