Dan McCollam, an evangelist and worship leader, is the son-in-law of Jim and Carol Carper. He and his wife, Regina (Carper), live in Vacaville, CA with their three sons and are on staff at Vaca Christian Life Center. Dan is founder of Firesounds Ministries as well. Dan went to India to minister to native pastors in the late part of January 2002 into the early part of February. He returned to India in the late part of February 2002 with another group. This is the story of the first trip to India.

India February 2002

How do you describe a nation whose primary function for a cow is to make firewood from its droppings? This is India. India is a land of darkness. Even the air is thick with black blankets of pollution and the stomach-crunching stench of death and disease. The taxi ride to our hotel is indescribable. Bustling chaotic traffic reflects the every-man-for-himself struggle for survival that is a daily reality in Calcutta. The streets are lined with dilapidated shanties made from every form of animal, mineral, and vegetable. Every car is scratched or impaired; some are fire-bombed. A stoplight means a barrage of beggars rapping at your windows with knurled leprous knuckles, or desperate mothers with brown-eyes bundles on their hip. How do you say, "No?" Where do you begin to say, "Yes?" The needs are so much greater than our ability, the demand eons beyond supply. From the very start we know that whatever we can bring to this nation is a single match in a monstrous cavern of darkness. Isaiah 60:2, "See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you."

Bokaro

Our conference began in the city of Bokaro. Take Calcutta, divide the population by 100, subtract the tall buildings and occasional glimmers of wealth, multiply the poverty by 2, ad several hundred wandering cows and goats and you have Bokaro. Sixteen meetings in five days with two - three hundred pastors, church leaders and hungry believers in a musty hall with stained and sagging ceiling tiles. Our mission is to stir up the power and anointing of God upon these leaders so that they may take it back to their churches. For many years, Americans have come with bowls of rice and crusades of tens of thousands. When the evangelist leaves so does the support and so do the miracles. The humble beginnings of the Bokaro meetings are to try are reverse that trend. India's church must be empowered and released in the anointing that is on each believer. Mark 16:17-18, " And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."

Police protection

As we arrive at the hotel we see a troop of armed police awaiting us. Immediately we wonder if they are for us or against us. In India, many are beaten or imprisoned for their faith. Quickly it is made known to us that these soldiers are our personal body guards for the entire conference. Each day six armed officers were assigned to our hotel, and sixteen to the conference building. Every drive to the conference site is accompanied by an armed police escort. I must say that this aided our sense of peace for the trip. Just two days before our arrival an attack on the US Embassy in Calcutta left five dead and twenty injured. The state department was encouraging Americans to return home because more terrorist activity was predicted among tourists.

The true beauty of our providential protection was still to unfold. At the first nights meeting one of the police officers came up for healing prayer. After being supernaturally relieved of years of pain, he brought his epileptic son for prayer. The son was also healed. Soon, every meeting was followed by a squadron of police petitioning our team for healing. One officer no longer needed his cane. Dozens were healed. Even though the meetings were planned for church leaders we turned the evening services into opportunities to receive Christ as Savior. At least half of dozen of the police force surrendered to Christ as Lord and Savior.

Crooked teeth and broken English

I had the privilege the first night of the crusade to pray for a man with crooked teeth and broken English. From what I could understand he had suffered many years from a back and neck injury and also severe stomach problems. As I laid my hands on him and prayed the prayer of faith I felt the virtue going out to him. I asked how he felt and he said that his condition was better. We praised the Lord together and he slipped back into the crowd.

The next morning I saw the man and he was beaming with joy. "I woke today. No pain!" He jumped up and down a few time and threw his head in a few circles. Slapping his stomach with his fist he said again, "No pain! No pain!" Again, we praised the Lord that he had gone from some relief in the night service to no pain the next morning.

That afternoon I saw the man again. He performed the same ritual of the spinning head the pounding on the stomach and the testimony, "No pain." This time though, the man had two young ladies with him. He introduced them as his daughters Moni, and Ruby. Both were in need of healing. Moni had a severe back problem and Ruby had a large cancer in her mouth. After prayer from the ladies on the team both were healed. Now the Father was jumping and skipping with delight.

The ladies on our team asked the girls if they would like to receive Christ as Savior. Being Hindu from birth they were hesitant at first. One of the national pastors had encouraged all Hindus to try only Jesus for ten days and if He was faithful to them they should throw away all their other gods and serve Him alone. The ladies offered the ten day trial to the girls and they accepted. Later that night the mother came for prayer also. Now the whole family had been radically touched by the power of God.

By the last night of the crusade each of the family members testified of God's power. Rudy, who had been healed of the cancer, said through an interpreter, "I don't want to wait ten days. Jesus Christ, the Almighty God, will always be my only God." The other family all nodded in agreement. What a blessing to see an entire Hindu family convert to Christ's love and power.

Karankamar and the students of Bokaro

On Thursday afternoon we met several students from an upper class school in Bokaro. They were fascinated to meet Americans and asked many questions in English. The young men were dressed in sharp brown blazers and striped ties. After spending an hour or two together we invited them to stay for the meetings. They accepted the invitation and came later for prayer. God's power touched them and some were slain in the spirit. After the meeting we prayed with five of the boys to accept Christ as Savior. As we finished the sinners prayer one of the young men commented, "I feel different already." I went to the book table and bought them all Bibles in the Hindi language. A week later I received this email:

"I am Karan from India who meet you at Bokaro club. And you give me a holy book (bible). I read it half and got very excited because it is really a great book."

Karankamar and I have been staying in touch by email and I pray that God will mightily use these young lions. Before the conference was over, Karan and his friends brought five other young men to receive Christ also.

Demons out!

I remember at least three strong cases of demon possession from the meetings. Most of these were children or teenage girls. In India, because the church has been so void of power, many people take their children to witch doctors for healing. The witch doctors often give them amulets or necklaces to wear and perform demonic rituals over them. It was great to see how quickly these parents would rip or cut off the necklaces and amulets in order to see their children set free.

One teenage girl and been repeatedly sexually abused by family members. She had also been involved in demonic rituals and sacrifices. As we prayed over her and rebuked the spirits in the Name of Jesus voices would speak, "You can not have her." "We will not leave." The voices were sometimes in English which the girl did not speak at all. Of course demons lie and you can't believe what they say. John 8:44, "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

These drastic cases of multiple possessions take a little more time and patience but we saw many of them dramatically set free. In the end, over one hundred people had testified to some form of major deliverance. All glory to God who still exercises his authority over every devil.

Trouble at the Train Station

On the way back to Calcutta we took the train. After a four and a half hour journey our train was boarded by two gangs. One gang was dressed in red and the other in blue. These gangs are the official porters of the rail station. The problem is that there are no rules over who gets what train car or territory. The twenty men gathered in the aisle of our train car and began to argue vigorously over our luggage. This argument went on for several minutes and our guides informed us that these could break out into all out brawls. We would have liked to just take our luggage ourselves and got off the train but our way was blocked by the gang war. In the hottest moment of the argument Michelle let out a screeching, "Hallelujah!" All the men just stopped and stared and the whole train car went silent. A few moments later all our baggage was off the train.

Still, the battle wasn't over. Now that the luggage was off the train the two gangs were fighting over who got to take it to the cars. This time there was more elbow room and it looked like the skirmish would surely come to blows. Again, at the hottest moment of the argument Michelle had a strategic revelation. She pulled out her camera and prepared to take a picture of the guys fighting. As soon as they saw the camera the two gang leaders who had been most heated put their arms around each other and smiled for the camera like they were posing friends from youth camp. Seeing that the strategy worked Michelle aimed the camera at the rest of the gangs and they struck similar poses. The change was so sudden and drastic that we all let out a huge laugh. Michelle's kodak moment was just what was needed to bring peace to the gangs and get us off on our way.

Sunday's breakthroughs

It was the Sunday after our conference and we were wondering if the pastors and church leaders had really caught what we had attempted to share. Would they take God's power and presence back to their churches or stay with their religious programs. Later that afternoon our answer came as reports began to pour in to Anjan Biswa. Bokaro reported a blow-out service where many people were slain in the Spirit. Dunbar saw many Hindus saved and the church weeping and repenting at the Altar. Takedari was another service just saturated with God's presence and power. Istanpul gave a report of fifteen people healed as the conference attendees laid their hands on the sick to see them recover. Praise God. Our mission had been successful. God's power was sparked again in His church and the pastors and leaders were going for it.

India is a nation of thousands of gods and much supernatural evil. Only the power of the Holy Spirit will take this nation. A philosophy, a religion, a moral code will not impact such a spiritual people. Yet, when these people see the raw power of God they are quick to abandon their idols and serve the one true and living God. Psalm 145:10-12, "All you have made will praise you, O LORD; your saints will extol you. They will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, so that all men may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom."

Revealer of mysteries

On Friday afternoon Carol Dew taught a great session on prophecy. She shared from 1 Corinthians 14 on how God would have us all to prophesy for the comfort, encouragement and strengthening of the Body of Christ. After the session we had agreed to model the prophetic gift by speaking words over the people. Each team member would call out someone from the audience and speak a prophetic encouragement over them.

I was the last team member to prophesy and the Lord had me call out a pastor from Dunbar who they call Dando. The word that the Lord gave me is that there were four men in his city who would become very important to the church. One man was a successful businessman, the second was a business man who had not yet come in to his success. The third and fourth men were businessmen outside of his church that would soon be an impact and a blessing to him. The Lord impressed me that he should meet with these men and teach them the foundations of the word in a private bible study setting. Through this time together many businessmen would come to the Lord and wealth would be added to the church for God's kingdom purposes.

The pastor was greatly impacted by this word. He literally said that it would be a turning point in his life and ministry. When I asked him why, he explained that a few weeks ago one of the businessmen in his church had called him to come and pray for the daughter of a sick friend. The successful business man from his church brought with him another friend from the church who was also a business man but not yet successful. These two man accompanied the pastor to the house of a very wealthy man who was not yet saved. His daughter was on deaths door and after prayer she was miraculously healed. The event so impacted the man that he gave his life to Christ and said that he would like to start attending the church. That man is the wealthiest oil barren in the state. The man also said that he had another wealthy friend that he would like to bring to the church with him. Thus all four men from the prophetic word had already been accounted for recently in Pastor Dando's life.

The word was prophetic confirmation and encouragement that God specifically knew what was going on with Dando. Also God was reaffirming his promise to bless the church with kingdom resources for the spread of the gospel. Daniel 2: 47 says, "The king said to Daniel, "Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery." When God reveals specific mysteries through prophetic words and encouragement men know that God is God of gods. All Glory to Jesus for His wonderful gifts and the things that He reveals to men.

Many other things

John 21:25 says, "Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." In this kind of meeting it is difficult to recount all the things that Jesus did. I am sure that greater things happened that we don't even know of. Every miracle has a wonderful story behind it and we usually get less than half of the story on all the marvelous things that God does. In the end, we just trust Him to move in power and confirm His Word with signs. May all glory and praise go to Him.