Delron’s ministry in Sri Lanka dates back to the 1970s when he went there to help establish the first international branch of Full Gospel Student Fellowship. As a novice missionary, he had to learn a lot about not only ministering overseas, but also about God’s provision for such faith ventures. Here’s his story about how the Lord financed those first missions: “While driving through downtown in Raleigh, NC, late one night, the Lord spoke to me through, of all things, the traffic signals. Since there was no other traffic around me, I could see that for blocks ahead lay a virtual obstacle course of traffic lights–some green, some yellow, but worst of all, most were red. For a while my mind dwelt on all those red lights, keeping me from getting home and putting my tired body to bed. But every light I approached turned green, so I just kept driving along at the same speed all the way down the street. The traffic system had been carefully programmed by a traffic engineer, and all the lights were synchronized. By carefully observing the speed limit, I did not have to stop for a single signal. There, in the middle of the street, in the middle of the night, the Lord spoke to me. He assured me that He was the Traffic Engineer who had planned my life, and if I continued going steadily at His speed, each obstacle in my path would become a green light–an open door. I was to concentrate on the green light close at hand and entrust the red lights of the future to His keeping. Oh, how futile it would be to pass up any opportunity to do His bidding simply because some barrier might stop me later. Through the red, green and yellow lights, God had given me a modern-day parable: I was to take one step at a time and, in His continuing present guidance, one day at a time. This was the lesson of encouragement I needed as I prepared for one of my mission trips to Sri Lanka. While I was there the previous summer, God turned one red light after another to green. He opened the door for the Full Gospel Student Fellowship ministry to begin there in Sri Lanka. Miracles of timing occurred. Even though my stay was short, in just a few days a ministry under the direction of a national minister was established. This could have taken months or even years to set up if God’s hand had not been on each moment of my visit. As I was leaving, our national director suggested that we plan an island-wide youth conference for he following spring with me as one of the speakers. The following year, the desire to return grew in my heart; yet I knew it would take divine financial intervention to make it happen. That same day an FGSF brother called to tell me that he had just gotten the job and salary increase for that we had prayed together. The Lord had told him to use part of that increase to help send me to Sri Lanka. He said that if I still wanted to go, he would give me a thousand dollars towards the trip. He then sent out letters to all the readers of our FGSF newspaper, asking them to join in the effort to send me to Sri Lanka. Some time later, the Lord woke me up in the middle of the night with a burden for an urgently needed van for our Sri Lankan director. I offered to cancel my trip to use the money for a van instead, but several brothers and sisters agreed that it was the Lord’s will that I go.
We decided to take on both projects, a great test of faith–raising seven thousand five hundred dollars in a few months! A few days later I received a letter from Sri Lanka expressing the urgency of having some kind of transportation other than our director’s current motorcycle. This letter was dated hours after the Lord had given me the burden in the dream. This was the very first time he had asked for anything since he had come on staff. It was the Lord’s confirmation–the Lord’s timing, assuring us that He is the One who would provide. I began to schedule my flights to be at a youth conference in Japan in July, then to India and Sri Lanka, and then to Greece to see about establishing FGSF in that country. Every time I tried to work out an itinerary, the loose ends got tangled–like my own Pandora’s box! The rates were way up three times over the previous year’s (Tehran, a major stop between India and Greece was closed to American flights due to the recent breakdown of political relationships between the US and Iran. The youth conferences in Japan and Sri Lanka were both rescheduled for the same time slot. It took a while, but I finally realized that God was giving me red lights for the trips to Japan and Greece and green lights for India and Sri Lanka only. Finally, the itinerary was set. Only one thing held me back–money! I had no funds for travel expenses and was still five hundred dollars short of enough to buy the ticket before the airfare increase was to take effect. Had I reached another red light? No! God performed another miracle. He spoke to a friend of mine who was saving for a trip to Norway. God said, “Red light on the trip to Norway; green light on Delron’s trip to Sri Lanka.” How beautiful–God even used the same analogy to speak to him as He had used with me. The next green light I was watching for was the one at the end of the runway at Kennedy International Airport as Air India flight 188 took off on its way to New Delhi.”
The story of his first trip is filled with miraculous “coincidences” that he chronicled in his journals. To fully grasp the context of this story, you might want to open the link to India and read the first few paragraphs as a preface to this article.
“With this miracle experience of ‘where God guides, He provides,’ fresh in my mind, I flew to Negombo, Sri Lanka, expecting to meet a former college student with whom I had been corresponding for over five years. I did not know that he had moved out of the country or I would not have come at all. But God knew!”
“As I scanned the waiting crowds, I was excited in my ignorance. “Lord,” I prayed, “what new adventure awaits me here? Two smiling faces greeted me. One belonged to the president of Lanka Bible Institute in Kandy one hundred miles away; the other to a teacher in the school.”
“My friend heard that I was coming just before he had left the country, so he contacted an evangelical group to host me during my stay. They were unable to make any arrangements for me so they, in turn, contacted these two individuals who greeted me enthusiastically as a brother in Christ from America.”
“When God is running the show, the details fit perfectly. I arrived on the day and the hour they had to drive another brother the hundred miles from their city to the airport. They had been notified, through a typographical error, that I would arrive one hour later than the flight was actually scheduled. And it “just happened” that my plane was one hour late. I also occurred that my flight leaving Sri Lanka several days later “just happened” to be scheduled for the day and the hour they had planned to again drive the one hundred miles from Kandy to the airport to pick up a missionary returning from New Zealand. In the land where gas prices and a week’s salary are comparable, the economy of pooling the transportation round trip from Kandy to the airport both ways was a Godsend.”
“I found Sri Lanka to be like a Tarzan movie set, lush with tropical broad-leaf foliage, the air filled with the jungle sounds heard on TV but never quite believed. Rice curry and fresh tropical fruit satisfied our tummies while prayer and praise satisfied our souls. I stayed with the Bible college instructor, his wife, and daughter. The day before I arrived, they had moved from a one-room apartment into a six-room apartment. The paint wasn’t even dry.”
“He had recently resigned as director of a large international campus ministry when he received the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Since that time, he had been ministering on campuses in Kandy for over seven months without support except for a small salary he received for teaching one course at the Bible institute and a few free-will offerings. He had been invited by six different churches and missionary groups to be pastor or missionary, but each time he said, “No,” knowing that his calling was to the college students. He had received a prophecy that God would send him a man to help him get started in the right way on the campuses. When we met, he acknowledged that I was the man. God had sent me halfway round the world to tell him about Full Gospel Student Fellowship. He accepted the position of Director of FGSF in Sri Lanka with a vision of spreading out into all Asia.”
“Flying out of Sri Lanka, I recalled the question I had asked the Lord when I first arrived, “Lord, what adventure awaits me here?” My mind was boggled. I never did see the student who was the reason for my trip in the first place. Instead, my trip fulfilled several prophecies given in Sri Lanka as well as the US. The Lord had done far above anything I could have asked or thought.”
The miracle of God’s supernatural direction continued into the next visit to Sri Lanka the following year. Here’s the story: “‘Choosing God–Surely, nobody else at the First Annual FGSF Conference in Sri Lanka will preach this sermon,’ I thought as I finished my outline on ‘Disciples and Would Be Disciples.’ The conference theme was “Choose You This Day Whom You Will Serve.” So, with a substantial list of Bible personalities to illustrate my messages, I felt prepared to do my part. Early in the conference, it seemed to me that my sermon notes must have been distributed days ahead to all the other speakers. The characters I had chosen somehow wound up in all the other messages before I got a chance to use them. Abraham was the most popular. Paul ran a close second. I joked with the other speakers that they should not have copied my notes, and that the remaining few names on my list were all mine! The next morning I could hardly believe my ears, as the speakers picked off all the remaining names one-by-one. It was like a conspiracy! After lunch I sought the Lord for a new topic, something that was not a repeat! Very clearly, He showed me to speak on the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Excited about this fresh word from the Lord, I went down for afternoon tea as our national director was calling a “special meeting” to discuss–the baptism in the Holy Spirit! The special meeting was followed by my message on the same subject. When I gave the altar call for students who wanted to receive this experience from the Lord, at least twenty-five percent of them came forward. What a tremendous blessing for us as they received the Holy Spirit! This was the harvest for which we had been praying. This was the highlight of the year. These students would leave this conference with clear commitments to the Lord and power from on high to follow through on these commitments! Of course, nobody except the Holy Spirit had been reading my sermon notes. Actually, He had not been reading mine–I had been reading His! We all had been seeking guidance form the Lord and we all received the same word. Unity in the Spirit, obedience to His voice, and singleness of heart were the key–not sermon notes. The real climax to the week came when the president of the Lanka Bible Institute showed up at the closing session of the conference. I was asked to allow him to speak in my place at the final gathering. Rather unwillingly, I agreed. There was a message that I knew was from the Lord that I needed to deliver. But I trusted that, as the message had been confirmed time and again throughout the week, it would again be confirmed. The message given by the guest speaker did not come close to mentioning what I knew was the word of the Lord for the hour and I sat very nervously throughout the ordeal wrestling with myself over the undelivered message. In the closing prayer, a message in tongues came forth. The interpretation included John 15:16, “You have not chosen me, but I have chose you” — the verse that the Spirit had showed me to use as the conclusion to the week’s messages on the theme, Choose You This Day Whom You Will Serve.”
Delron returned to Sri Lanka a couple times to work with the student ministry there and continued to keep in close touch with the director through the mails. He was also able to help raise funds for the director’s necessities such as transportation, lodging, and ministry supplies. In addition, he hosted the director on a visit to the US to meet the leadership of the ministry and to raise funds for the ongoing operation.
After Peggy and Delron were married, their first mission trips as a married couple were to India and Sri Lanka. Two notable experiences occurred during those early mission trips. One was the miraculous provision of water for a campus retreat that was on the verge of being canceled. When Delron and Peggy arrived in the country, they were greeted with the news that an extended draught had left the cistern at the farm where the retreat was to be held empty. Since the price of filling the tank with water from a commercial source was prohibitive, the only available option was to call off the event. Since this retreat was the major purpose for their having come to Sri Lanka, Delron asked that a decision be postponed until the next day so they could investigate all the options. Well, the main option was prayer—so they prayed. That night, the Lord sent a tropical rainstorm deluge! It seemed as if He was making up for all the missed rain in just one night. The end of the story is that the system caught the runoff and funneled it into the cistern until it was full to the brim. When we got up the next morning, there was plenty of water and no need to cancel the retreat.
The other miracle has to do with a giant overhead fan. When Delron and Peggy were having lunch with the pastor of in the largest church in the country after Delron had preached there in the morning service, the pastor turned to Peggy and asked her to speak in the evening service. Since Peggy had never spoken in public before, this was a frightening invitation. Imagine, her introduction to public ministry wasn’t in a small cell group, but in the largest church in the country! The fact that the last guest speaker at the church had been Dr. Yongi Cho certainly didn’t make the situation any less intimidating. Since Delron had been telling her that she had to prepare for the day when she would be speaking and teaching, she “graciously” accepted the invitation. After a long afternoon of preparing—and agonizing—Peggy stepped to the podium and spread her notes very methodically across the massive pulpit. With as authoritative voice as possible, she began with, “Let us pray,” and bowing her head, closed her eyes. During those brief visionless moments, someone switched on the overhead fan that promptly blew all her papers to floor far beneath. Panic-struck when she opened her eyes to see a bare pulpit, she grabbed for the one tangible thing left—her Bible. But, more importantly, she grabbed for the one intangible thing available—the anointing of the Holy Spirit. With the Bible in her hand and the anointing on her lips, she preached, prayed, and blessed the people in that service and set out on a new career of life-changing ministry that has taken her around the world.
Sri Lanka 2013
As I lay in my cot, wrapped in extra blankets in an attempt to insulate myself from the chilly damp air, vague memories from more than half a century ago began to form in my mind. I remembered standing with a chorus of other Sunday school children with our arms extended as far above our head as we could reach, the palms of our hands turned downward, and our fingers vibrating to simulate water flowing. As we lowered our hands, we belted out the lyrics, “The rains came down.” Then we swept our hand upward while crooning out the following line, “and the floods came up.” Finally, we pointed our index fingers toward the audience and caroled out the warning, “Now hear the Word of the Lord.”
My traveling companion, Fred Taylor, and I had arrived in Sri Lanka during heavy rains that had invaded the country in an unusually intense monsoon season. It was reported that the country had not experienced this much rain in the past forty-eight years. The extreme rains were sweeping devastation throughout the country. Our driver had to stop several times during our journey between the airport in Colombo and the retreat center in Norton Bridge where we were to ask locals which road we should take in order to avoid washed out or flooded areas. The extreme rainfall had created a national disaster in neighboring India where the torrents of water and the accompanying land- and mud-slides had buried entire villages under as much as twenty to thirty feet of sand, gravel, and slug as it entombed thousands of victims and swept hundreds more away, dropping their bodies as far away as Bangladesh.
The drenching rain had not brought devastation on quite that colossal level to Sri Lanka, but it had brought total disruption to the lives of the people. Almost half of the delegates who were supposed to be with us for the youth conference were forced to miss the meetings because of losses at their homes, disruption in the bus service, or sicknesses resulting from the cold. In fact, the young man who was to coordinate the whole program only arrived at the last minute because he had attend to his mother who was hospitalized due to a paralyzing condition brought on by exposure during the unusual cold, wet weather.
I had readily accepted the invitation to Sri Lanka to minister at this youth convention for high school and college students who felt called into the service of the Lord because it totally paralleled with my original history in the country that stretched back to almost four decades ago when I first came there to open up the ministry of Full Gospel Student Fellowship in the predominantly Buddhist island nation. In the opening session, I shared many stories with the students, telling them about how I had to look up the name “Sri Lanka” in the encyclopedia to even find out where the country was when I was first invited there, how God had miraculously connected me with the Christian leaders in the country, how my wife had received her call into and anointing for missionary work when in the country for the first time, and how we had been able to come to bring help and healing after the nation was devastated by the deadly tsunami of 2004. However, I saved one special story for later — the story of another unusual rainstorm in Sri Lanka. I kept that special story about being told that the conference I had come for was to be canceled because there was no water available at the conference center due to a drought in the country for one impactful moment. I wanted to give the account of how God had miraculously sent rain after our prayers and provided enough water to not only allow us to go forward with the meeting but to also salvage the crops that were dying in the parched fields. I shared the specific story and related it to God’s promise to pour out His Spirit like the drenching latter rain when inviting the young people to open their hearts to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and indeed the eager students experienced a mighty flood of Holy Ghost power as tidal wave of God’s presence swept though the auditorium, inundating them with His anointing.
Just like in the children’s song, the rains did come down and the floods did come up. But most of all, the students at the conference heard the Word of the Lord – and went out with both the determination and power to fulfill it!
In keeping with the conference theme of “Spread the Light,” I shared on the three directives that Jesus left us in the Great Commission: to witness, to evangelize, and to make disciples. I also trained the students in how to hold discipleship groups using the Be Fruitful and Multiply approach that I had helped develop for Every Home for Christ’s international ministry. This particular training came with its own unique challenges in that the delegates spoke two different languages.
Speaking through two different interpreters in lecture part of the conference was a fairly easy hurdle to cross, but the interactive part of the training became very interesting as questions had to go through three different languages twice as they were asked and then answered. I was able to give free copies of my book on disciple making to the Tamil delegates and to make arrangements for the book to also be translated into Singhalese so that the rest of the delegates will also be able to attain it for further study.
2010
This was Delron’s seventh mission to the island nation of Sri Lanka, with my first visit dating back to 1978. Concerning this trip, Delron says that he thinks that the theme should be “fruit that remains” based on John 15:16. This was his seventh mission to the island nation, with his first visit dating back to 1978. In those early years, he made several trips in a fairly close proximity; however, as he started raising his family and pursuing his career as a college dean, he lost contact with the ministry on the island for a number of years. His recent involvement with Every Home for Christ brought him back in touch with what the Lord is doing there and actually with one gentleman he met on his very first visit–Sam Thevabalasingham, the national director of the EHC ministry in Sri Lanka. It was his invitation for Delron to take part in the fortieth anniversary celebration of EHC in Sri Lanka that initiated this visit.
Delron’s week in Sri Lanka was a very busy time with a two-day pastors’ conference on the days leading up to the EHC celebration. In fact, the conference ended just in time for him to get back to the hotel and dress for the opening banquet. The next day was a full-day event with approximately 1,400 participants who came in from all over the island to rejoice together for the work that EHC has done in the country over the past four decades. Many of the celebrants were the actual fruit of the ministry in this predominantly Buddhist country. Delron had the privilege of being one of the guest speakers at this event and shared the platform with a number of other international guests, including Every Home for Christ’s international president Dr. Dick Eastman. The next day could best be described as “grueling” in that a busload of the EHC guests traveled to the mountain town of Norton Bridge to take part in the graduation ceremony of a Bible school which is associated with Sri Lanka’s EHC ministry. Delron had taught a week-long intensive course at the school a couple years ago and was glad to get back to the campus to see some of his acquaintances from that visit. The college is located about a three-hour drive from the capital city of Colombo where the rest of the events were taking place.
The twisty road, was curvy enough that it is almost certain that a snake would need Dramamine to make the trip. The bus arrived just in time for a quick lunch before the four-hour ceremony began. As part of his presentation, Delron noted his longstanding association with Dr. Sam by presenting him with a memento of their first meeting–a magazine that Sam had given Delron when they were first introduced thirty-two years ago. This was a tangible example of fruit that remains. As soon as the meeting was dismissed, the group had some light refreshments and made the long trek down the mountain, arriving in Colombo in the late evening. The next day was the closing celebration which began in the early morning and ended in the mid afternoon. Once the final “amen”s were said, Delron and his host headed for the beach for a quick swim to refresh themselves after the long week. But Delron’s work wasn’t over yet.
Before sharing about the rest of the week, you need to be introduced to the host. Again, Delron’s relationship with him goes back more than three decades. In fact, he was the first person Delron met in Sri Lanka on that initial visit in 1978. Delron’s coming to the island had been prompted by letters from a Sri Lankan college student who had recently converted to Christianity from Buddhism. In his quest to understand his new faith, he had written to all the evangelists around the world whose addresses he could obtain. One was Nicky Cruz who was serving on the board of directors of a college ministry Delron was associated with. When Nicky received the letter, he passed it along to Delron since the young man was a college student and Delron was active in college ministry. The two maintained correspondence for a few months until Delron was able to arrange to actually visit Sri Lanka. In an unusual turn of events, the student had transferred to a college in India by the time Delron actually came to Sri Lanka. He asked someone to host the American on his visit, but that gentleman was too busy so he asked a third person to take care of him. That person turned out to be Victor George, who became a close friend and a co-worker in the college ministry as it opened a division in Sri Lanka. As the years rolled by Victor and Delron lost contact, and Victor actually dropped out of the ministry.
t was only after Delron’s association with Every Home for Christ that he was able to make renewed contact with Victor through Sam who was a mutual friend of both men. Through the contact that was made when Delron was in Sri Lanka two years ago, Victor was restored into ministry and actually became one of the most active leaders in the EHC celebration. So you see, Victor was another example of fruit that remains. In preparing for this visit, Delron searched through his old files and was able to find some newsletters and brochures from the early days of his association with Victor. What a blessing it was to be able to share with him some thirty-plus-year-old memories of their time together. One of the documents Delron found was the notes from a seminar he did with Victor in 1979. The concluding verse in the notes was John 15:16, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.”
On Sunday morning, Delron ministered in two different churches. The early service was in a church which is pastored by a gentleman who was a high school student when he and Delron first met at the 1979 conference where Delron spoke from the notes that he gave to Victor. When Eraj saw an article by Delron which was published in a local Sri Lankan magazine several months ago, he contacted Sam who serves as editor of the publication to find out how he had come by Delron’s writings. As a result, he invited Delron to his church where Delron was able to present him with a flier from that youth conference so many years ago. Again, Eraj was fruit that has remained. Delron’s final assignment in Sri Lanka was to preach in a church which is pastored by the gentleman who accompanied Victor when he met Delron at the airport on that first visit. Dr. Chandy was director of a Bible college at the time, and–you guessed it–Delron was able to find an old brochure from the school in his archives. It was a blessing to present him with that memento of their long and enduring relationship–fruit that remains. One really interesting blessing of the day was the fact that the very day Delron ministered in Dr. Chandy’s church was to be the inaugural date for a satellite broadcast that Dr. Chandy was beginning on LeSEA Broadcasting Network–the ministry of Dr. Lester Sumrall where Delron served for twenty-five years!
Throughout the trip, Delron distributed copies of his book Tread Marks as a way for planting seed for a future harvest of fruit that he expects to see remain throughout upcoming decades.
2008
In his first visit to Sri Lanka, Delron became acquainted with Sam Thevabalasingham, a gentleman who would many years later become involved in his life again. The two had not communicated for many years until Delron became involved with the work of Every Home for Christ. Since Sam is the EHC national director for in Sri Lanka, Delron began to meet with him to organize projects that were to lake place in that country. Since it had been almost three decades since the two had seen one another, they actually didn’t recognize each other immediately. It was only after they had met several times that Delron suddenly placed Sam’s face and asked a few questions that jogged their memories of their acquaintance. As a result Sam, requested Delron to returned to Sri Lanka to teach in the Bible college at Norton Bridge and to hold pastors’ meeting. In addition to the public ministry he did while on the island, Delron was able to contact the former director of the Full Gospel Student Fellowship and spend some time with him. Victor had actually dropped out of the ministry after going through a divorce and had not been very active in any Christian operations. However, through Delron and Sam’s contact with him, he was restored and renewed. The result of our encouragement is that he is now active in full-time ministry again! Delron’s blow-by-blow account of the mission follows:
“One very special highlight of the trip was a reunion with Victor George, a dear friend I ministered with in my early days of mission work; however, we had lost touch with one another for many years. What a thrill it was to get to renew old times and pick up where we left off some quarter century back. He actually served as one of my interpreters in the pastors’ conference–I had two men translating each message since part of the group understood the Singhalese language and part of the men understood only Tamil. The conference was held at a Bible college campus in the town of Norton Bridge, several hours trip from the capital in the tea estate area of the country. It was thrilling to be with these men of God from all areas of the country and from various church backgrounds. Because we had had to reschedule the meetings from the original date in July to accommodate the last-minute plans to attend the twenty-fifth anniversary on EHC in Nepal, many of the invited pastors were not able to attend on the short notice we were able to give them; however, we had a very good group of some of the top leaders in the country. All the attendants were blessed, encouraged, and challenged by the teachings. They all begged me to come back again and do a large conference that would allow them to bring all their other pastor friends. One really special blessing at this conference was that the book I was teaching from had already been translated into the two local languages and made available to all the delegates.”
“During the concluding session, I had individual prayer for each of the participants. After everything was over, several men came up and told me that the prayer that I had prayed for them was exactly what they had been needing. For example, I prayed a healing prayer over one very healthy-looking man who told me later that he had a serious disease which only his closest friends knew about–apparently, Jesus must be one of those close friends! The director of the conference shared with me about one of the attendants who been known to leave other seminars when he felt that the teaching did not have much content. Not only did he stay for the full meeting, he sought me out for further discussion. One thing that was of especial interest to many of the conference members was my teaching on the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the operation of the gifts of the Spirit–especially speaking in tongues. A number of the men came from traditional church backgrounds where there wasn’t much openness to these truths. Several of them came to me and commented that the conference had really opened their eyes, and one Anglican minister asked for me to lay hands on him to receive the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in his life.”
“On the day after the conference, we had some free time so we took a drive to one of the larger towns in the tea estate region. As soon as we arrived, the Lord began opening doors of ministry, including praying for teenage girl who was suffering from an epileptic-like problem. After the prayer, he father told us that he is the driver for a gentleman who is an advisor to the president of the country. The next thing I knew, we were in the home of this national leader praying for his demon-possessed daughter. Although she continued to demonstrate some serious demonic manifestations, she did seem to receive a certain amount of tranquility after our prayers. Next, the gentleman asked for prayer for his own health and wisdom in his role of leading the nation. I would ask that you remember this young girl in your prayers. Since the father is a Hindu, I am believing that her deliverance will bring him to faith in Christ which he will share with the president and other top level men. The ultimate result will certainly effect the nation as a whole!”
“Before leaving the tea estate country, I preached in a little church for the tea workers. What a blessing it was to be able to share the victorious Word of God with this simple believers. Many of these precious brothers and sisters had walked for fifteen miles to get to the church. Then they had to make the return trip of fifteen miles, only this time it would be all uphill–symbolic of the hardship they constantly endure. They live almost like slaves with as many as fifty families in one barracks-like facility. The children get only fifth-grade education that really isn’t even up to that standard. In fact, many can barely sign their own names. However, they have a genuine faith in God, and many of them share testimonies of illiterate people who miraculously received the ability to read their Bibles. I met one man who had been bitten by cobra, but did not have access to medical treatment. Instead, he put anointing oil on the wound and went to sleep. The next morning the swelling was totally gone, and he was perfectly healed!”
“One Buddhist man who had never entered a Christian meeting before came forward for prayer for a life-threatening disease. After prayer, he said that he felt heat and tingling inside his body. Please continue to pray for him because he promised to accept Jesus as his savior if the doctor’s exam proved that he has been healed.”
“I traveled to Sri Lanka, one of the first places I did mission work back during my college days. Sri Lanka was also the place I took Peggy on her first mission trip. We had a very good group of some of the top leaders in the country at the pastors’ conference. All the attendants were blessed and asked me to come back again and do a large conference that would allow them to bring all their other pastor friends.”
“One really special blessing at this conference was that the book I was teaching from had already been translated into the two local languages and made available to all the delegates. The editor of a national Christian magazine has asked permission to print my book Keys to the City as a series in the publication and then publish it in book form for distribution to the pastors of the country. He writes, ‘The teaching is a great blessing and will be an eye opener to many of our readers. It has a relevant and appropriate message for our church leaders at this time.””
“On the day after the conference, we had some free time so we took a drive to one of the larger towns in the tea estate region. As soon as we arrived, the Lord began opening doors of ministry, including praying for a teenage girl who was suffering from an epileptic-like problem. After the prayer, her father told us that he is the driver for a gentleman who is an advisor to the president of the country. The next thing I knew, we were in the home of this national leader praying for him and his family. Before leaving the tea country, I preached in a little church for the tea workers. One Buddhist man who had never entered a Christian meeting before came forward for prayer for a life-threatening disease. After prayer, he said that he felt heat and tingling inside his body. Please continue to pray for him because he promised to accept Jesus as his savior if the doctor’s exam proved that he has been healed.”
2005
Tragedy had struck the world we know well. We were all still staggering over the news reports of the devastating tsunami which swept through southern Asia leaving unimaginable death and incalculable destruction in its wake. Because many of the nations affected were areas where Teach All Nations has been actively ministering, many of our close personal friends found themselves right in the middle of the rescue efforts.
A massive relief effort in Sri Lanka is being spearheaded by the pastor of the church where Peggy preached her first sermon on the mission field. (Remember the hilarious story about the overhead fan.) We were happy that LeSEA Global Feed the Hungry and a number of other relief agencies, corporations, and individuals are working with Dr. Colton and his church to help save lives and bring hope back to the people of the island nation. Heart of Compassion, the ministry that usually serves as our base of operations when we are in Sri Lanka, is headquartered in the mountain city of Kandy. Because they are inland some distance, Elaine Miller and her staff were not directly affected by the tsunami; however, they responded quickly by bringing food, supplies, and the gospel message to the desperate victims of this gigantic natural disaster.
Noah Bower, one of Delron’s former students and the director of a ministry in India with which TAN Mission has an ongoing outreach, was in the States at the time the tsunami raged across his land, sucking thousands of his countrymen to eternal destinies. Within minutes, he was able to make contact with family and staff in India and set in motion a supply line to bring spiritual as well as physical sustenance to the crippled population.
In Myanmar, a series of earthquakes as well as the ravages of the tsunami, have destroyed the homes and lives of a people who were already living on the very edge of survival. Dong Mang, another of Delron’s former students who now pastors a church and directs a Bible school in the country, moved swiftly to begin distributing emergency packs to families who have lost the little they had.
As we continued to receive the reports of how the local contacts within the Teach All Nations network were responding to the immediate needs of the people within the nations we love so much, we rejoiced that the Lord has so strategically positioned them and us to be able to bring hope and life in the midst of such a dark hour. We believed that this tsunami was a dramatic display of the enemy’s attempt to kill, steal, and destroy; however, Jesus is ever present to bring life and to bring it in abundance. What the devil meant for evil, God will turn around for good because of the gospel message which will be shared along with each act of humanitarian aid and kindness our friends extend. A tidal wave of blessing was to follow the tsunami of destruction.
Teach All Nation became a part of the flow of blessing by not only raising funds to send to relief operations in India, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar, but also by going to India and Sri Lanka to personally distribute food and supplies to selected villages. In addition, we were able to minister in our true calling by holding pastors’ seminars while in the countries.
Even in the midst of tragedy, we considered it a blessing to be able to return to Sri Lanka, the first foreign country we ever ministered in. Many powerful things which shaped our ministries and lives were birthed in Sri Lanka. Although we had not been there for many years, our hearts were still very much attached to the beautiful people there. As soon as the tsunami struck the shores of this island nation, we began to organize to go there and assist the hurting people. Since the political situation in Nepal prohibited us from going there this year–our first time to miss in fourteen years–we took the occasion to go into India and Sri Lanka to help with the relief distribution and to hold pastors’ conferences.
We’d like to share just one particular experience with you. Delron really surprised the pastors and cell group leaders who had gathered for the Christian Leadership Conference when he opened the session by throwing out packets of candy. You should have seen the frenzy of hands eagerly grabbing the sweets as they flew through the air over their heads. The room was a virtual landscape of commotion and delight as they tore open the plastic wrappers and began to indulge in the unexpected treats. Once they regained their composure and the room settled down, Delron went to work teaching them about the gifts of the Spirit.
After the lesson, he asked for all those who were sick or in pain to form a line across the front of the auditorium. About half the group came forward expecting him and the team to minister to them. Then came another surprise–even bigger than the candy. Delron called the rest of the delegates to form another line facing those who wanted prayer. He told them that the Bible said nothing about having to be a white American who speaks English to be able to operate in the power of God; these promises are to all who will receive them. He then reminded them of the candy, telling them that it was more than just an unexpected blessing–it was an object lesson. Just as they didn’t have to pay for the candy, they would not have to earn the gifts of God. He encouraged them that they could receive the power of God in the same way they got their candy–by reaching out and grabbing it! Delron asked how many still had their candy–and, of course, no one did. Then he encouraged them to immediately put the gifts of God into operation just like they eagerly put their treats to use. As the nationals began to pray for their fellow delegates, every one in the room received a miracle: the sick were instantly healed and the ministers began to operate in a new dimension of anointing. When he asked them how many of them had ever prayed for the sick, everyone responded that they had not! But from that day forward, they were launched into a new dimension of ministry.
