After a long time preparation, finally came the big days.  This is the second UPC crusade held in Kolkata. Everybody was very excited but also very nervous. We can say that this Crusade was happening because of God Himself.

Two weeks before the crusade, we were still quite struggling as we didn’t know if we can have a full man power to do this crusade. This crusade was held for all Kolkata and was planned since few months ago. We were expecting that all 3 UPC churches in Kolkata would join hand in hand, working together in this crusade. But at the last minutes, we ended up only with the team from UPC Dum Dum as the other 2 churches stepped back from this ministry. The new supervisor which was sent from North East also couldn’t show his ability to build the cooperation between the churches, and neither had he showed himself to be cooperative.

We were bit discourage, but we believed that it was not by might or power but by the Spirit of the Lord that we would be able to do this crusade. One month before the crusade, the church fasted and prayed to seek the will of God.

On 15th February afternoon, 2 days before the crusade, the team from Dum Dum church had a meeting with Bro. and Sis. Corbin, and Bro. Garren. The new supervisor who supposed to join us in this meeting with the other 2 pastors from Batanagar and Howrah refused to join this meeting as they wanted personal invitations would be given to them.

On 16th February morning, the team had walking prayer leaded by Sis. Corbin. They visited some spots in Kolkata to pray for Kolkata.

On 17th February morning, the Dum Dum church had a prayer meeting which the set-up team left for the meeting hall for the preparation.

When we arrived in the meeting hall at 11 am, we felt bit discourage as the sound system which was supposed to be set-up by 9:30 am wasn’t arrived yet, but thanks to God that after quite struggling quite some time, we got the sound system set-up, by that time it was already 1:30 P.M. and we didn’t have much time to practice the songs or to test the sound system.

At 4 p.m. the crusade finally started and we started with our praise and worship. It was a wonderful praise and worship and the back up singers really encouraged the people to praise and worshiping God. They jumped and danced praising the Lord, when they people saw this; they also started clapping their hands and jumped to praise the Lord.

After the praise and worship we heard the preaching from Bro. Garren, Bro. Daniel interpreted the preaching into Bengali language. After the preaching, the altar call was opened and one by one people came to pray

The service was closed with the Bengali songs and people keep asking for more and more songs.. until we have to cut it out because it was already 7 p.m. and we have to prepare ourselves for the next day crusade.

Next day, 18th March 2007, we started our day with Sunday Service, and again we had a wonderful time with our brothers and sisters from Bihar, it was a wonderful service, they way they praise and worship God was so beautiful. Bro. Garren brought the Words of God and it was a very good preaching the way he illustrated David and Goliath.

After the service, there were 8 people from Bihar were baptized in Jesus name.

When the service was over, the team had our lunch together, we were very exciting for the last day of the crusade. After the previous day crusade, we were lifted up in our spirits, it was a wonderful service that we couldn’t forget.

After the lunch we headed to the hall and prepared ourselves for the ministry, we also practiced a little bit some of the songs. Finally we started our service. We started with praise and worship, and again it was a wonderful praise and worship. We were jumping, we were singing and dancing, the people also did the same thing. It might be strange for other people who don’t understand the way we worship the Lord as there is no other church in kolkata who worship God the way we do, only UPC Dum Dum practicing this way of praise and worship. People might say that we are foolish by the way we praise and worshiping God. But we want to please the Lord Jesus as He is the only God... Praise the Lord!

After praise and worship, Bro. Corbin delivered the Words of God, and he didn’t need interpreter as he can speak Bengali. People were amazed how fluently he spoke in their language, but this is the way God has used him in a great way for the Bengali speaking people. Altar call was opened after the preaching and this time more people came to the front to pray.

The service was closed with praise and worship, and people showed they joy when they praised the Lord. In these 2 days crusade, there were about 400 people came and 66 people filled with the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongue.

We sincerely thank God for His blessing in the crusade and the way He worked amongst us. We also thank Bro and Sis Corbin and also to Bro. Garren who have the burden for Kolkata, we thank their love and desire to bring the revival in the city of Kolkata. We thank all brothers and sisters who pray for this crusade and for Kolkata specially. And last but not least, we would like to thank those who participate in this ministry.

We believe that God will do something bigger in the city of Kolkata.

In His ministry,
Kolkata, 20 February 2007

Agustina Baid