In July 2004 the Lord opened the door for Brother Bill to minister
in Muslim Malaysia along with his wife Lucy and two younger
daughters. They held training & Crusades in the capital
city of Kuala Lumpur as well as a city-wide Campaign
in Ipoh, two hours
north of the capital. While Bill and Lucy taught the
adults, Sarah and Christina were busy teaching the same principles
to
the children who attended.
Malaysia is a prospering economic powerhouse in Southeast Asia where
in some ways the churches are beginning to resemble churches in the United
States. Many churches are mature; they are giving and sending churches.
And just as in the United States where churches immersed in secular western
culture rarely encounter the supernatural, miracles are not commonplace
in the life of Malaysian churches. In order to witness miracles, Malaysian
believers must go on mission trips to Third World countries like India.
In Ipoh
the meetings were organized by the Secretary of the Ipoh Pastors’ Fellowship,
Pastor David Tan. Prior to the meetings there was a serious need for
revival among the churches. Moreover, with three different language groups---English,
Tamil, and Chinese Cantonese---there was a lack of unity between churches.
Even within the Tamil-speaking churches and Chinese-speaking churches
of the city there were troubling fractures. On top of that there was
the usual divide between conservative evangelical churches and their
charismatic counterparts.
Bringing the pastors and churches together for a meeting would be difficult,
especially in the spiritually lethargic climate of the city. But the
Lord gave grace to Pastor David to personally visit the pastors of the
city, not to invite them to attend a teaching about healing, but one
that might enable them to further the Great Commission. It would be a
teaching to raise up an army of nameless and faceless believers who could
prove to the world that their Lord is the true God through miraculous
healings. In the beginning Pastor David prayed for an impossible goal
of 500 registrations knowing that even if 300 people signed up it would
be a satisfying turnout.
But Pastor
David’s
approach struck a responsive chord with the churches, and to everyone's
amazement approximately 650 pastors and leaders
from over thirty churches representing the entire spectrum of the body
of Christ in Ipoh showed up for the two evenings of training. It was
historic for Ipoh. The Holy Spirit Himself also graciously showed up,
and infirm believers were healed at the demonstrations which capped each
evening.
Then began three evenings of evangelistic rallies. The first two evenings
for English and Tamil speaking people were attended by over 2,000 people.
Brother Bill told the crowds that Jesus was the only way to the Father
and the Lord used the trained believers---both evangelical and charismatic---to
heal the sick in the name of Jesus as indisputable proof that He was
indeed the Son of God. When the invitation for salvation was given, precious
Buddhist and Hindu souls responded. On the third and final night with
Cantonese-speaking people present, forty-four mostly Buddhist souls streamed
to the front to accept Christ as Lord and Savior. The gospel was so convincing
because of the miraculous healings which confirmed its truth. Among many
other miracles of healing done in the name of Jesus by the trained believers
was that involving a young woman who was completely deaf and dumb since
birth. She demonstrated before the amazed crowd that she could indeed
hear and speak for the first time in her life.

Trained believers heal the sick to confirm the gospel
Of greatest significance is not the total number of souls which accepted
Christ during the three evenings. What is most noteworthy is that unlike
a typical evangelistic healing service in which the speaker does all
the ministry, the Lord used the trained local believers to publicly minister
healing to the sick. Brother Bill only preached the gospel. The conclusion
is that a special gifting for healing given only to an elite few is no
longer a requirement for an effective evangelistic healing Crusade. We
are now in the last days and the Lord is restoring His power to the whole
Church, to every witness of Christ. The dry bones of Ezekiel 37 are being
resurrected to form a mighty army for the Lord.
Pastor David
Tan wrote to Brother Bill, "We believe that the
Lord sent you to teach the evangelicals and remind the pentecostals & charismatics
again of things that one part of the body had 'missed out' and the other
part of the body had slowly left 'defunct' due to carelessness and disuse.
The feedback I've gotten so far is very positive. Many evangelicals....have
been most impressed with the 'systematic and biblical way' the subject
was taught!"

Buddhists
and Hindus accept Christ as Lord and Savior