Arrival - Tuesday, 21 August 2007

Dear Mission-Partners,

Yesterday we arrived in Kabba by road from Abba/Nigeria. What was to be a 3 hours drive, turned into 14 hours. Shortly after Abuja we got stuck in a massive traffic-jam. A huge truck loaded with goats and workmen crashed on a bridge with a minibus. The truck tilted and fell into the river head down. The road was blocked. Some of our CfaN-people rushed to the bridge to try and help, but I sat in a SUV surrounded by machine-gun- toting police. We were side by side with people – everywhere. Then I let my window down and I saw people’s faces freeze with amazement, shouting “Bonnke, Bonnke!” “We saw and heard you when we were children”, some said,”but now you are so near. Can we take a photograph?” Of course they could. “Please pray for us!” I heard from all sides. And then a Gospel-meeting began in the traffic-jam. Multitudes were kneeling on the road and between the vehicles. When all was said and done, our brothers returned from the scene of the accident, sad and heart-broken. Rob Birkbeck had counted ten corpses. With me was John Darku and Andrew Colby and Andrew had counted seventy-five converts.

Late that night the King of Okun Land in Kabba gave us a hearty welcome. When we arrived at our lodge, we were all dead tiered.

Today is Wednesday. Within the next few hours we are leaving for the first crusade-meeting and expect a great harvest for the Lord. Till then,

Yours in His love and service, 

Reinhard Bonnke, Evangelist,
and the whole CfaN Team.

Day 1 - Wednesday, 22 August 2007

Dear Mission-Partners,

We have just returned from the first crusade-meeting here in Kabba. It was great start indeed, although only 70.000 people had gathered. The Word of God rang out forcefully and I am sure that more than 50,000 people got saved this evening. The miracles of God were fantastic. One woman, who hadn’t walked one step for 4 years, rejoiced in her healing. Two of her friends had brought her to the service – and Jesus had decided to give this miracle. Kabba has never seen anything like it.

This was just the beginning and I am sure that the attendance will rapidly increase. Kabba is not a highway, but a byway and ready to be reaped for Jesus. Thank you all who contributed and made this harvest possible. I love and appreciate you very much.

Yours in His love and service,

Reinhard Bonnke, Evangelist,
and the whole CfaN Team.

Day 2 - Thursday, 23 August 2007

Dear Mission-Partners,

Today was the second day on the huge field in the middle of Kabba. In the morning the Fire Conference started. About 15,000 registered church workers gathered already at 6 AM, and I started preaching about 2 hours later. It was glorious. Daniel Kolenda did the second hour – spreading much blessing. The Fire Conference is a very important ingredient to our whole Gospel Crusade - concept.

In the afternoon it began to rain in sheets! It sounded several times as if lightning had struck just next to us. When the evening meeting started, it still rained, but it did not cause the people to stay away. And the crowd was much bigger than the night before. THIS IS AFRICA! A CONTINENT HUNGRY FOR JESUS.

Miracles followed the prayer for the sick to be healed. Cripples walked and the blind saw. The people were shouting mighty praises to the Lord.

Thank you for standing with us in prayer, especially that the heavens may stay dry.

Yours in His love and service,

Reinhard Bonnke, Evangelist,
and the whole CfaN Team.

Day 3 - Friday, 24 August 2007

Dear Mission-Partners,

Today’s Fire Conference was another Holy Spirit highlight. Peter Vandenberg preached his heart out – and I did the same. We expect a massive outpouring of the Holy Spirit in tomorrow’s meetings. Just minutes ago we returned from the big crusade-field.....Unfortunately we had to cut the meeting short due to very heavy rain. Evangelist Daniel Kolenda, who preached before me, was able to get in his short message, followed by an altar-call. There was a huge response. The huge crowd stood in the water like a rock.    

I still prayed for the sick to be healed, which was the end of the service. But we don’t whine. We are fisher’s of men who sometimes get wet in the process. We get whet and we get dry, but we will not give up!

It is the greatest privilege for us to preach the Gospel, right here, in the heart of Africa. What is the Gospel? The Gospel is the word of the Cross and the power of God. To see it in operation, it must be preached - its own fulfillment follows. The “dead” hear and live. The Holy Spirit has invested everything in the work of Christ. The proclamation of the Cross is the catalyst which brings the Holy Spirit into instant action. The heart of the Gospel is the pierced heart of the Son of God. Socked to the skin, we shout a big HALLELUJAH! Jesus Christ is Lord. Please continue to pray for this weekend.

Thank you for all your love, your prayers and gifts which make this ministry possible.

Yours for Africa to be saved,

Reinhard Bonnke, Evangelist,
and the whole CfaN Team.

Day 4 - Saturday, 25 August 2007

Dear Mission-Partners,

This morning was the climax of the Fire Conference here in Kabba. Since 6 AM the field was packed with people hungry for the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, although I only started to preach at about 8.30 AM. The fire of God fell with great force and men and women were set alight for an effective service for Jesus. I was deeply touched. The Holy Spirit does not choose the strong and the capable, although he does not ignore them either. His purpose is to give strength to the weak and needy, the little folk who think little of themselves.

Their weakness does not repel but attract his power, his all-sufficiency and life-giving dynamism. He comes for the best and for the worst of us, the Father’s promise sent by the Son. What a glorious gift!

The evening-meeting was hit again by hard rains – so hard, I thought I saw Jesus walking on the water. I was still able to make an altar-call for salvation. And - almost unbelievable -120,000 people stood throughout the horrendous rain with their umbrellas or with absolutely no rain-protection. I have never before witnessed how the fire of the Holy Spirit fell during such powerful rain. God’s Fire prevailed and the water could not extinguish a single flame. The altar-call was huge tonight. JESUS CHRIST IS LORD. Tomorrow is the last meeting in our Kabba-Crusade – and it will be wonderful! Thank you for your prayers and support.

Yours for Africa to be saved,

Reinhard Bonnke, Evangelist,
and the whole CfaN Team.

Day 5 - Sunday, 26 August 2007

Dear Mission-Partners,

Today was the final day of our Kabba Crusade. A big crowd gathered this evening and the Lord kept the heavens dry. This week surely hundreds of thousands found salvation in Jesus Christ. The Lord is the God of salvation.  That is His own revealed identity. That is God – and there is no other.  “I, even I, am the Lord, and beside me there is no Saviour”.  Salvation is not an aspect of God. That is God, the only God we can come to, and the only God to be sought or found is the salvation God. The people of Kabba knew that this was their only chance for a happening like this – and defied all odds.    

Tonight Evangelist Daniel Kolenda opened the meeting with a short Gospel-message. He truly has the heart and ministry of an evangelist. I thank the Lord for him. And then I followed. I preached my heart out and the altar call was a huge success! After the sick were prayed for, miracles of healing followed by the thousands and we heard many most notable testimonies of people healed and delivered. This is God-related work which will last forever, but all non-God related work will eventually come to nothing. Thank you so much for standing with us and helping us to build God’s eternal Kingdom here in Africa.

Yours for Africa to be saved,

Reinhard Bonnke, Evangelist,
and the whole CfaN Team

Every Word Feeding Every Spirit

It was Saturday night in the rural town of Kabba, Nigeria and Evangelist Bonnke was nearing the end of his message on the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. A cool wind and the threatening smell of rain blew from the adjacent hills across the massive gathered crowd; all night lightning had lit the skies. I was waiting for that amazing moment when, all across the field all hands would be raised and every mouth would speak in new tongues, in one accord and with one voice. Not a single person moved, each one eagerly taking in the words of Bonnke’s message with an impassioned hunger, absorbing every sentence… every word feeding every spirit.    

Umbrellas Went up and the Spirit Came Down
Rain began to fall. In West Africa, there is no light rain during rainy season, the sky just opens and simply pours. One would think this would spell disaster for the outdoor gathering yet amazingly, not one person ran for shelter. The crowd stirred for a brief moment then, as if it had been rehearsed, like a flowering garden right across the field, a sea of multi colored umbrellas went up… and with the sound of hundreds of thousand of voices, the Holy Spirit came down. The people spoke, but God gave them utterance as an ocean of passionate souls spoke forcefully in spiritual languages. The thunderous sound always fills me with awe… and that night was no exception… except that it continued unabated, despite the  torrential tropical storm, the people’s cries swamping the thunderous deluge of rain.

Walking for Hours in Mud
The multitude had come, some walking for hours, across the recently cleared but muddy field with full knowledge that there was every likelihood that they would get soaked, just like the previous night and indeed the night before. One lady had walked to the crusade, full term and in the midst of the spiritual and physical downpour, right there on the field, gave birth to twin boys… promptly naming one ‘Reinhard’ and the other ‘Bonnke.’ The hunger was such that rain would not keep the people away, their passion for the things of God would take more than a tropical downpour to quench. They had waited for years for this moment and getting wet was not going to dampen their spirits or their enthusiasm for the ministry of the Word. They had come to hear Bonnke and nothing could shake their desire for greater things in God.

Faithful and Determined
I smiled when I thought that tonight to count the crowd, one could just count the number of umbrellas and multiply by four or five…each umbrella sheltering a cluster of people, yet as I looked down, Peter van den Berg, CfaN’s Vice President, faithfully waded out into the deluge to statistically count the huge gathering that stretched across the massive field. The technicians too struggled to cover stage speakers to protect them from the rain, but everywhere the meeting went on, just as normal, unfazed by the pouring rain.

Potent Proliferation
That morning had seen a similar gathering at the culmination of the Fire Conference. Tens of thousands of fervent church workers had come together to hear the impassioned word and to receive for themselves a Holy Spirit impartation to match the Great Commission…equipping them to go into the harvest fields of the world in the power and the might of the Holy Spirit. This dimension of the ministry, in the last decade, has seen over one million in attendance at Fire Conferences around the world.    

A Mighty Harvest of Souls
Across the town, outside many small houses, bags of sun dried cashew nuts sat waiting for collection, the combined harvest of hundreds of families and months of labor. On the other side of the city at the Gospel Crusade grounds there had been a different kind of harvest. Hundreds of thousands of hands had been uplifted during the week, a physical indication of a spiritual decision to receive the redemptive power of Christ into their hearts. It was a different harvest that had also taken months to prepare for… the combined work of the city’s churches. Tens of thousands of counselors had been trained and now at the end of the week, these precious new souls would be followed up, nurtured, and ushered into the local church.

Dear Mission-Partners,

It is the greatest privilege for us to preach the Gospel, right here, in the heart of Africa. What is the Gospel? The Gospel is the word of the cross and the power of God. To see it in operation, it must be preached – its own fulfillment follows.

We traveled to our Gospel Crusade in Kabba by road from Abba, Nigeria. What was to be a three hour drive, turned into fourteen hours. Shortly past Abuja, we were stuck in a massive traffic jam. A huge truck loaded with goats and workers rashed on a bridge with a minibus. The truck tilted and fell into the river upside down. The road was blocked. Some of our CfaN team rushed to the bridge to try to help, but I sat in an SUV surrounded by machine-gun toting police. We were side by side with people everywhere. I let my window down and saw people’s faces freeze with amazement, shouting “Bonnke, Bonnke!” “We saw and heard you when we were children,” some said, “but now you are so near.” I heard “Please pray for us!” coming from all sides.

10 Corpses and 75 Converts
Then a Gospel-meeting began in the traffic jam. Multitudes were kneeling on the road and between the vehicles. When all was said and done, our brothers returned sad and heartbroken from the scene of the accident. Rob Birkbeck had counted 10 corpses. With me, were John Darku and Andrew Colby. Andrew had counted 75 converts! This is Africa – a continent hungry for Jesus!

The Kabba Gospel Crusade was continually inundated by rain. On the final night of the week’s meetings in Kabba, 120,000 people stood throughout the horrendous rain with their umbrellas. Despite rain, thousands upon thousands committed their hearts to Jesus Christ in the evening crusade meetings. God’s fire prevailed and the water could not extinguish a single flame. Soaked to the skin, we shouted a big Hallelujah!

Thank you all who contributed and made this harvest possible. I love and appreciate you very much.

Yours in his love and service,

Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke