India – a great nation with millions of gods, hundreds of languages, multiple religions, 5 rivers and 1 hope: Jesus Christ.
In 2009, we were honored to minister in Southern India at the city of Coimbatore with Pastor David Prakasam of Bethel City Cathedral. In February 2010, we returned to India but to the north in New Delhi and Lucknow to be with Pastor Augustus Anthony (Tony) of Assembly of Believers’ Church (over 400 churches and 40,000 believers all over India). They also have an International School of Worship in Lucknow started 6 years ago with the help of Mark Smucker in Harrisburg, Oregon.
New Delhi Worship Seminar:We arrived in New Delhi first after a grueling 30+ hours in the air. Pastor Rahul Patrick Singh (an amazing electric guitarist) picked us up. After acclimating to our new surroundings at the YMCA in Delhi (food was surprisingly good) we eagerly started our first Worship Seminar at a Baptist Chapel with about 120 attendees. The immediate entrance into worship was exciting for us. They all jumped in quickly and we had a rousing round of praise before entering into a time of teaching. Tim taught on the Vision of Worship and Releasing the New Song. By the end, everyone was singing their own song wholeheartedly and praying over one another as God released His power and love on this great group of musicians, singers, leaders and pastors from all over the area.
- New Delhi Combined Service: That night we celebrated again at a combined churches meeting at the YMCA. Pastor Patrick led the worship band from his guitar. Their excellence of musicianship and great vocals made it easy to join right in (even though a lot was in Hindi so we sang a lot of ‘watermelon’) We got to lead a long session of worship in English (usually we learn many songs in the native tongue before we come but sadly we were unable to this time). The flow of worship was easy to attain as the people joined in even in English. Todd was on keyboard and played trumpet occasionally; Maryl played flute and sang; I led from the Ibanez guitar donated to the School of Worship by Dave Gauthier and friends from around the world (Thank you!!) and got to play a cello rented from a local Jewish Synagogue (how cool is that?) The turning moment of the evening was when I asked Patrick to play a guitar solo during a sweet song – accompanied by cello, flute and keys! It was powerful and sensitive all at once. You could feel hearts melting and relaxing in the presence of the One we love. From that point on, ministry was easy. While playing the cello, I felt led to invite people to come forward for healing while we played over them. About 40-50 people came and received healing that night! A wonderful night and a great start to our time in India!
- New Delhi Sunday Services: Sunday morning, they split us all up and sent us to three different churches around Delhi. I got to minister at Pastor Patrick’s church – I took my cello and guitar there but only played cello. Starting off the platform with the cello, they brought two mics down for me so I ended up ministering in song and exhortation off to the side. Finally, Patrick invited me onto the platform and asked me to play the cello for a while over the congregation. What an honor and what a moment as I played prophetically over them and then sang and played over them. I had never done this before and God gave me lots of grace to accomplish this. After transitioning into preaching (while holding my cello) I was thrilled to see four people receive Jesus at the end of the service.
- Lucknow – International School of Worship: Sunday night we flew from Delhi to Lucknow (about 45 minute flight) and drove straight to the International School of Worship 30 minutes outside of Lucknow. This School meets for 10 weeks Jan-Mar and is led by local pastors with international speakers (like us) brought in throughout the sessions. This particular time was being led by Rocky Anthony, an amazing worship pastor and musician and son of Pastor Tony. Monday morning we dove into 4 days of teaching and impartation to 15 eager and receptive students from all over India. Fortunately, they all spoke English so there was no need for translation there. I opened the sessions with the Vision of Worship followed by a series over three days on Songwriting for the church.
- Monday afternoon we took a tour of the Conference Center grounds that Pastor Tony has developed over the years literally by divine inspiration (he has no experience in construction or design and yet God downloaded an amazing plan to build this beautiful facility with no blueprints! You have to see it to believe it – great vision, great foresight! Ultimately this will seat 12,000 people for nationwide conferences totally self-supported. They already host Billy Graham conferences and others here. In the middle of it all is a school and hostel for 250 orphan boys!)
- In the evenings we had two hours of worship and ministry with Todd, Maryl and I leading, singing and exhorting the students in many areas. They were so receptive that this time just flew by. This was our session to sing, dance, laugh, cry and seek God like never before.
- The other classes we taught throughout the week were:
It was great having an experienced team that could teach and impart a lot in such a short amount of time. We ended the week with an amazing night of worship, native dances and prophetic songs and prayers over one another. Such a great sense of destiny on this class as they release worship around India!
- Lucknow Worship Seminar: on Friday, we went to the city of Lucknow (over 4 million people) to do a combined 4-hour church worship seminar with about 300 people there. The worship was all in Hindi and very spirited. I shared on the Vision of Worship and Todd ministered on the 7 words of praise (actually 4 because of time) and released a great spirit of faith in worship. We stayed the rest of our time at Pastor Tony’s house with his wife, Neelam, and son and daughter-in-law Rocky and Chiffy and their 3 year old son Aaron – a budding drummer and guitarist. This humble house is also home to Tony’s disciples and about 100 Bible Students! Tony loves to cook and they serve meals to a minimum of 30 people every day. Big, amazing hearts to love and nurture so many people – at all hours of the day.
- Lucknow Combined Service: On Saturday night, all the ABC churches of Lucknow and the ISOW students gathered for a Combined Worship Service in a big hall (about 1200 people). Their worship again was in Hindi and very strong, led by Rocky Anthony. Then they had 5 different ‘events’ or performances by various groups in the area. I especially enjoyed the authentic Hindi songs since the vocal style is so unique and different to our ‘western ears’. Very refreshing. Then we were honored to lead about an hour of prophetic worship with songs they knew and new songs via the Holy Spirit. There was a lot of ministry going on in the congregation as we encouraged people to respond to what God was calling them to do in their lives. Then Todd ministered a powerful word that stirred the hearts of all there. It was also interesting to see many former Sikhs there with their traditional turbans on, yet worshiping Jesus wholeheartedly! In fact, one of our main translators was a former Sikh!
- Lucknow Church Service: Sunday morning, Todd preached at another church and then joined us at the ‘mother church’ for a great meeting. Pastor Tony asked all of us to share/preach so I started out with Songs of Faith, Maryl preached on David and Goliath, and Todd ended with ‘Open eyes and ears’. Great time, good response.
- Final Service: Sunday night at Tony’s house, he invited us to speak to a ‘small’ gathering of about 100 people upstairs in their ‘hotel’ chapel. It was packed and we delighted in being able to give some final impartations, exhortations and prophetic stirrings for our new friends in India.
- After a short night we packed and got on a plane back to Delhi, then to Taipei, on to San Francisco and then home sweet home in Oregon! Praise God!
- We believe God is doing an amazing work in northern India and feel honored to have participated and sown much seed into a good field. The worshipers, leaders and songwriters of India are awakening and plowing new ground of His presence, His grace, His sound on the earth! Our prayers continue for these and other great works of God in India as they flourish and prosper in all that they do! God loves you India! and so do we.
in Him, Your worship missionaries – Tim and Maryl Smith; and Todd Beal