Oasis of Love In A Needy Land
This
article appeared in the Minnesota
Christian Chronicle on October 23 , 2002
Click above to view the article at its original
source.
By Julie Saffrin
To
the land of dark faces, one hundred degrees, and Hindu gods comes a white
man crusading for Christ in India. Tom Elie, 48, calls himself a pioneer
for Christ. The edge of the earth is where he likes bringing the Gospel. "India is a nation of a billion people," he says. "It
is the ripest harvest field on all the earth."
Elie should know. In March he returned from the southeastern state of
Andhra Pradesh, where over 10,000 Indians made decisions for Christ in
two five-day "Waters of Love" crusades sponsored by Oasis World Ministries
(OWM). It was Elie's ninth trip to India and his 20th crusade. As founder
and evangelist
of OWM, a non-profit Minnesota corporation, he is dedicated to reaching
one million people to Christ within the next decade.
With India being 85 percent Hindu, 12 percent Muslim, and only three
percent Christian, reaching a million souls may seem daunting, but Elie
is determined. "God can do in six minutes what I can do in six years," he says. With OWM's
passion for holiness and its vision for harvest, Elie feels confident the
goal is reachable. "What's happening in India truly is a God thing," he
says.
Elie's heartache for India began six years ago. "I went to a clergy conference
in Georgia and talked with a pastor from Asunción, Paraguay who once trained
six hours a day for the Olympics," Elie recalls. "The Lord spoke to him
when he became a Christian and said, 'I want you to give Me the same amount
of time you gave to training.' The man started a church in his home with
ten people, a broken accordion and a tattered tambourine. When I met him
in Atlanta he was checking out the Dome for construction ideas, for that
same Asunción church now runs 6,000 people."
A humbled Elie came home and prayed. "I felt the Lord say to me, 'Double
your prayer time, not to seek My hand but to seek My face.'" Changing
his prayer life changed Elie's life.
Within 30 days he had invitations to conduct crusades in both Africa
and India. "I'm a six foot-three Norwegian," he points out with a chuckle. "I
don't get invited to St. Paul much less India. I call it experiencing
God's
favor. God can open doors that no man can shut when we delight ourselves
in Him first. Since a young boy of twelve, I've had it on my heart to
reach
masses of people."
Little did Elie know that upon arrival in India he would stay with Y.
Jeyaraj, the general superintendent of all 3,000 Indian Assemblies of
God churches.
Elie gave his first two crusades in Tenka Si and Tamil Nadu and fell
in love with God's brown-eyed human race in India. "It was incredible," he
says, breaking into a dimpled grin. "Now if I can just learn to like
curry. When I'm there I keep looking around for lefse."
His third crusade, sponsored by the largest Assemblies of God church
in India (12,000 people), took place on a platform on the beaches overlooking
the Bay of Bengal in 1998. Over 1,400 souls were converted. "Who could orchestrate
that but God?" says Elie.
To look at Elie, one almost sees the sea of faces in his translucent
blue eyes. His vision is focused, his plan bold. Though India is a third
the
land size of the U.S. it has twelve times the population, with thousands
of unreached villages of 10,000 people each. OWM targets towns in Rayalseema,
(similar to a U.S. county) where it is more of a spiritually dry area
and
crusades have not been held. "There are many evangelists in India's cities,"
Elie says. "Show me an area of need that no one else is reaching for
Christ, and I'm interested in going!"
Last March, nightly open-tent Waters of Love crusades were conducted
in the towns of Taddipatri and Maddipadu. Masses of people were brought
in
on tractor-trailers designed to hold 250 people each. "We had 74 vehicles,"
Elie says. Along with a sermon, Indian local, Kanna David, performed impromptu
skits of parables, based on Elie's sermons. "Hindus very much believe in
the spiritual realm," Elie explains. "They have a simple approach to
faith and a desperation for God to touch them physically because they
can't afford
doctors. They don't have all the latest technological advances available
to them in these outlying areas. We pray for the sick and we've seen
many
deaf ears opened, and lame healed, with a relative or friend attesting
to the miracle. Hindus see this and say, 'Your God is alive.' God meets
these
people on their level."
With
over 330,000,000 gods, the Hindus are willing to accept Jesus as a god,
too. "But we tell them there is only one true God because of two things,"
Elie says. "One, our God resurrected from the dead, where none of theirs
has, and two, the Bible says in John that Jesus' miracles validate who
he
was. We are very clear that for them to be a Christian they must serve
the One True God, Jesus Christ."
Hundreds of local pastors and volunteers help at each crusade, setting up
the PA system and the platform where Elie preaches from, and acting as counselors
at the altar call. Of the 1,000 who signed decision cards each night, each
person was given a packet containing a pencil, decision card, a tract and
the gospel of John translated into Telegu.
Another component of OWM's ministry is bringing fresh water where there
is no immediate drinking water. "We go into a village where there is
no source of fresh water where at least 30 Christians meet together.
We erect
a 20-by-40 church that holds 120 people and put in a freshwater bored
well on the property, offering unlimited use to the village and surrounding
areas,
sometimes affecting the lives of 15,000 people."
Wells are bored down 150 feet, deep enough to prevent the well from failing
during the dry season. Once the water pump starts flowing, its use is continual.
The presence of the well significantly changes the village women's lives.
No longer must they spend four hours a day obtaining and purifying water
retrieved from ponds shared with animals, or get water from open-tube
wells
- both places where potential for bacteria and disease runs high. "The villagers
say, 'The Christian God gave us this.' It is all geared toward winning others
to Christ," Elie says.
Since its inception, OWM has built 1,700 churches and bored 15 wells.
Over 250,000 people now have access to fresh drinking water, where once
they
had none. Church attendance has more than doubled in some rural areas. "Last
year we brought in the first Christian church in 110 surrounding villages," Elie
says. That move alone has the potential to reach a million people.
During the day of the crusade, Elie and his team, led by several members
of Elie's congregation and local Indian pastors, conduct three-day pastor
and leadership training seminars. Half the pastors' train fare is paid
for,
and lodging and food is provided free of charge. Without the discount
and free room and board, many pastors could not attend. Once Elie and
his crew
head back to Minnesota, OWM continues its ministry by conducting monthly
three-day mini-crusades run by national Indian evangelists throughout
Andhra
Pradesh, drawing pastors from across denominational lines to help sponsor
the citywide crusades. Currently OWM has 30 people in short-term Bible
school,
training to be evangelists. "The people of India have a great passion for
the Kingdom of God," Elie says.
Another Waters of Love crusade in Andhra Pradesh is scheduled for November
2002 with plans to erect ten more churches and drill freshwater bored
wells.
As part of ongoing follow-up, OWM will conduct Celebration Dinners. "We're
planning dinners in the towns for everybody who receives Christ at a
crusade.
This will function as the first of four Bible studies. If a person attends
all four, they will be given a Bible."
Elie pauses a moment, his voice grows quiet. "In America, God's word
is everywhere. We turn on the radio we hear it, we reach a hand up on
a bookshelf
and hold it in our hands. We are only six percent of the world's population
yet we have over 50 percent of the world's wealth. We can't take that
wealth
with us. But souls, we can bring souls to Heaven."
He looks at a picture of Indian rice paddies. "These fields are huge
in India, yet it is the Gospel of Jesus that feeds forever. We just need
to
get there to tell them what will nourish their souls."