“Shalem” Evangelism Update!!
God has been MIGHTILY at work in our ministry “Redeeming Hope Crusades.” I know that many of you have been faithfully praying for this undertaking and for the Lord to continue to bless with the outpouring of His Spirit . . . God’s great power has certainly been on display!
Bro. Bharath Kumar has been hard at work conducting our 3 month “Evangelistic Expedition for Christ” since the beginning of March. (A HUGE update will be coming for that soon!!) Meanwhile, my dear friend and our team member Bro. Shalem Raju has been able to conduct 19 Crusades as well since December 1st, 2023 (We will be sharing that summary soon! Amazing stories of the Gospel touching lives. 😭🙏🏻🙌🏻)
I wanted to take a moment and share the most recent Crusade Bro Shalem Raju has been able to hold for us! (‼️This post will take you 5-7 minutes to read through but it is worth it 🙏🏻)
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The Lord used Bro. Shalem Raju and our team to reach the village of Bheemaraju Gutta with the Gospel through the film Redeeming Hope on April 11th. Almost a third of the village came out that night (population of approximately 2,000)! Over 20 Baptist pastors were involved with the undertaking, praying and fasting and soulwinning — and God blessed.
Even though around 95% of the people belong to the Hindu and Muslim communities while the remaining 5% attend the Anglican Church, Bro. Shalem Raju shared that on April 9th they “reached the village and distributed 1,500 invitation flyers to each and every home in that Village. I stayed in the village looking after the things and preparing for the crusade. On the April 11th morning my team arrived at the village on a van with our equipment. The boys in our team have worked hard in the ground preparing it, and it was ready by 5pm. To God be the Glory.”
That night over 600 people came to the Crusade with at least 380 souls trusting Christ as their personal Saviour!! 😭🙌🏻
Here are just a few of the testimonies of how people were touched by the film that night (I am sharing them as Bro. Shalem Raju told them to me 😇🙏🏻👍🏻):
1. God saved a Man, who is drunkard and spoiled his health with alcohol. He said he came to the Ground with anger, he doesn’t want us to stream the movie in his village, he was shouting loudly, our team members spoke with him nicely and gave him the chair to sit and watch the movie. “After watching movie,” Bro. Shalem wrote, “while people are talking to me, he came and testified that God saved him while he is watching the film. He understood how pathetic his life is, he said he invited Jesus into his heart, and he felt peace in His heart like he never had before.” To God be the Glory!!
2. God saved a woman who is cheating on her husband. Her husband fell sick and he is on bed rest for two years. Since he doesn’t get away from the bed, she started cheating on Him. She never cared about her husband, God or children; she is enjoying her life in this world. There is no fear of God in her life. But after watching Redeeming Hope movie, God opened her spiritual eyes, God reminded her how sinful life she is living. God convicted her of her sins and she prayed with tears asked God to save her life and save her from the sin. Her children also came to watch the movie, while she is sharing her testimony her children also cried and thanked God for His mighty Work.
3. God saved a woman, who is living a sinful life. Her husband died few years back, and she turned to alcohol and spending whatever she earns for drinking, smoking and taking drugs. She is an atheist and never believed that God exists. But after watching Redeeming Hope movie, she got to know that there is life after death. She realized there is hell and heaven after the death. This truth frightened her, she got to know that Christ died for our sins and if we just accept Him as her personal Savior, she would go to heaven. She had never head this truth before. When she heard this simple truth from Redeeming Hope movie, she was so happy and accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Savior.
4. God saved a whole family. After watching Redeeming Hope movie, they came to me and sharing their testimony. They go to Anglican Church and they got sprinkling baptized in their church. They go to church; they give tithe offering to the church and they were very religious. They said they did not eat meat during the lent days. But they never know that by simply believing in Jesus alone they go to heaven. Their pastor preaches in church that, to get to heaven, they must do good deeds, help others and live a sinless life. They never heard before that simple faith in Jesus can save them. When they heard this simple truth from Redeeming Hope movie, they opened their hearts and accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, all these family members accepted Christ! To God be the Glory.
5. PERSONAL TESTIMONY — “Last Sunday we heard about this movie coming to our village, our pastor (Anglican church) told us not to watch the film. He doesn’t want his church members to watch Redeeming Home movie. Brother Shalem came to our home and gave us flyers and invited us to come and watch the film. Though my pastor warned us not to watch the movie, we decided to go and watch the movie. While I was watching movie, I really cried watching How God saved Denver. After watching film, I realized God never want anything from us, he wants us, he wants to live in our hearts. Before I never understood this about God. My pastor never preached Gospel in our church. While watching film I realized the True Gospel. I understand Christ died for our sins and resurrected from the dead. Now I accept Jesus Christ as my Personal Savior and Lord. I do not want to go to my church, please do pray that God help me to find a True church.”
6. PERSONAL TESTIMONY — “I’m deacon in Anglican Church, I have been going to church since my childhood. I took baptism and do all the rituals. I was so proud that I was a deacon, I use to think that everyone should listen to me in the church. But after watching film I realized, I’m sinner, living a sinful life. I never understand about Christ in my entire life like on this night. I realized Jesus came and died on the cross to save me from my sins. I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. I never understand this simple truth of Gospel, I’m so thankful to God for allowing me to watch this film and saving me from my sinful life!”
7. God saved two Hindu brothers who came to create a hindrance to the movie. They came to fight with us and they thought that we came here to play movie, brainwash people, and create religious fights between the villagers. But after watching film they realized Jesus is not belonging to any religion. They were addicted to drugs; they have been taking medicine to overcome drugs, but they can’t. When they seen how God changed Denver’s life from drug addiction, they wondered and understand what Christ can do in any individual’s life. They wondered if there was hope for them too. They realized Jesus paid sin’s penalty on the cross. They understand they need Jesus’ blood to wash their sins, and they accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Amen.
8. God saved an atheist who is also a government employee. When coming from job, he saw that we were making the ground ready for the Redeeming Hope Crusade. He also came to watch the movie to get entertained. After watching movie, he realized his belief on God was false. He realized Jesus is the one true God and came to this world to die on the cross for our sins. He got convicted that Jesus died and rose again on third day. He gladly accepted Jesus Christ as His personal Savior. To God be the Glory!
These are just a few of the testimonies among many many that were received…. Again — it is overwhelming to consider how that God saved well over 380 precious souls!! ❤️🔥🙌🏻
THANKFULLY — there is an independent Baptist church there located outside of the village to follow through on baptisms and discipleship. Bro Shalem gave me his word — “With God’s help We are praying to visit that place along with that Pastor and train those people regularly Sir.” PRAISE THE LORD!!
I was told that the 20 pastors who came that night were all challenged by the movie and greatly encouraged. After the Crusade, ten pastors approached Bro. Shalem and asked him to come to their villages to conduct a Redeeming Hope Crusade. “They are really excited to show this film in their villages,” he wrote. “They have witnessed the revival that happened in this crusade, they have witnessed people coming to Christ and surrendering their lives to him. They want this revival in their villages as well. Most of their villagers are filled with idol worshippers and lost souls.”
The village names are:
1.) Eelaprolu
2.) Pallendla
3.) Velvadam
4.) Obulapuram
5.) Athkuru
6.) Guntupalli
7.) Geddamadugu
8.) Pragatipuram
9.) Ganapavaram
10) Koduru
They are expecting 400 to 500 people to attend each crusade, giving us the opportunity to reach approximately 4,000+ souls through these Redeeming Hope Crusades with the clarity of the Gospel. During the day, our team would focus on conducting street evangelism and personal soulwinning in each village, distributing Gospel tracts and invitation flyers of the Redeeming Hope Crusade for that night.
SOULS!!!!! ETERNITY!!!!!! THE GOSPEL!!!!!!!
