Jesus Touched Lives in Manipur, India
article by Reid Saunders
April 2010
 
To God be the glory for what He did in Manipur, India! Numerous churches came together for the Manipur festival in one of strongest demonstrations of church unity I have ever seen. These precious pastors and their churches came together as a team to reach their city for Jesus! I have rarely witnessed such unity and fellowship among the churches as they mobilized their people to reach their city for Christ!
 
The Bible says in Romans 10:15, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.” As our team traveled to the remote, mountainous state of Manipur, it literally felt like we were “taking the message of the cross to the ends of the earth.” Together, you and our team of 19 brought the beautiful Good News of Jesus Christ to many who were hearing the message for the very first time. The tribal people of Manipur are seen as lower than the “untouchables,” the lowest of India’s castes. Words cannot describe the joy in the faces of the men, women, and children as they learned that Jesus loves them and gave His life for theirs on the cross. Each night of the festival, hundreds poured to the front of the crowd to give their lives to Jesus. During the days, the wind was so strong that the pastors called a meeting to pray specifically that the Lord would keep the wind and rain away during the festivals. The Lord answered those prayers as each night of the festival, the wind was calm and the rain stayed away! God is so good!
 
There are so many stories of lives changed for eternity on this mission. In my message, I shared that the ground is level at the foot of the cross. To Jesus, everyone is touchable. One “untouchable” who was “touched” by Jesus was a man named Kumar. Kumar
was a young man trying to make sense of his “lot in life.” When Kumar heard the Good News, he was overwhelmed that God loved him and had a plan for his life. Kumar’s eyes were filled with joy as he came forward to give his life to Jesus Christ! God used you and me on Mission Manipur to minister to over 25,000 people, with 4,700 making decisions for Jesus Christ! Our medical team treated 1,453 people, with 130 making decisions for Jesus at the clinics.
 
A local pastor rejoiced as he dropped us off at the tiny airport in Imphal, Manipur: “God has used your team to forever change our city. Your love for our people will never be forgotten. At the festivals so many people came to faith in Jesus Christ that from now on, our city will never be the same.
 
Praise be to God!” Thank you for partnering with me to truly take the message of the cross to the ends of the earth. Please pray for the pastors as they are working very hard to follow up on the thousands of decision-makers. I praise God for you and your partnership in the Gospel! Together, God used us to reach the precious people of Manipur, India… all for Jesus!