Evangelistic Crusade Draws 800,000 in Nigeria

More than 800,000 people attended evangelistic meetings last week in Numan, Nigeria, with several thousand reportedly making decisions for Christ during the five-day crusade.

Evangelist Daniel Kolenda of Florida-based Christ for All Nations (CFAN) said the meetings were marked by signs and wonders, with a woman who had been blind for two years regaining her sight and a man who had been paralyzed from a stroke being miraculously healed.

“Many of the local pastors already reported that their churches were flooded with new converts this morning and an entire city has been impacted by the power of the gospel in a profound way,” Kolenda wrote in an update Sunday from Numan, located on Nigeria’s eastern coast. “This is every soul-winner’s dream.”

Some 45,000 people also attended the ministry’s Fire Conference, which teaches indigenous church leaders about evangelism and the power of the Holy Spirit. “The Holy Spirit fell, touching the thousands of people [and] church workers that packed the stadium to capacity,” Kolenda said.

During the crusade, which ended Sunday, Kolenda said a Muslim man was healed of chronic back pain. “He announced to the crowd that Jesus had healed him and unashamedly said, ‘Thank you, Jesus,'” Kolenda reported.

He said another woman who had been unable to have children testified that she had given birth to a baby boy after receiving prayer during a crusade two years ago. She said she named the child Reinhard, after CFAN founder Reinhard Bonnke.

Kolenda, who has been ministering with Bonnke for the last several years, reported numerous other testimonies—of blind men and women receiving sight; a woman who had been deaf for seven years being able to hear; and lame men suddenly being able to walk.

“We saw many incredible miracles … but the greatest miracle of all is the miracle of salvation,” Kolenda wrote Saturday. “Though we have seen millions of people receive this miracle, it never gets old. … It is always remarkable and we thank God on our knees.”

Bonnke has been leading mass crusades throughout Africa for more than 30 years, at times drawing more than a million people to one event. CFAN reportedly has seen 52 million people come to Christ in the last decade.

CFAN’s next crusade will be held in Takum, Nigeria, in the next four weeks.