Leaders’ conference in Mulhouse
Daniel Kolenda: “God is looking for people naive enough to believe him and obey.”
About 500 pastors and leaders from different denominations and cities in France gathered in Mulhouse for the annual pastors’ and leaders’ conference, organized by the church “La Porte Ouverte Chrétienne”, with Daniel Kolenda as the main speaker. Additionally, pastors from as far as India, Madagascar and the Ivory Coast flew in just for this conference. The atmosphere was electric right from the first day at registration, as the pastors came expecting to be touched by God.
The conference started with a powerful time of worship and the host pastor Samuel Peterschmitt led the congregation in a time of intercession for the presence of God for France. There was a great sense of unity and passion as people prayed in small groups. Daniel Kolenda encouraged the leaders to make the greatest mission statement of all times their own, as it is a guarantee for success: Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers – freely as you have received, freely give! The leaders got excited as he emphasized the fire of God.
The evening of the first day was open to the public and even though it was a work day, more than 2,000 people came out. Some traveled 3 to 4 hours to be part of this. Daniel encouraged the French Christians not to be afraid of Islam, as he shared from firsthand experience how much Jesus loves Muslims, and how he sees multitudes of them getting saved and healed in Africa. “I believe they are coming to France so you can help them meet Jesus. France shall be saved!”
Looking at Luke 9:60, Daniel Kolenda urged the congregation to follow Jesus right when he calls us – and not to delay for any reason. “If you are waiting for a better day to say yes to Jesus, the devil will make sure you never have one! There will always be a more convenient time.” Daniel Kolenda pointed out that the problem is with two little words: “But first…” He warned the listeners that those words are the worst enemies of their life - that there are people in hell, not because they said no, but because they thought they could say yes tomorrow - and tomorrow is not promised to anyone. Now is the day of salvation!
Responding to this urgency of the Gospel, many answered the call of God and came to the altar to receive Jesus as their Savior. Then, referring to the story of the prodigal son, Daniel encouraged the people who were not at the front to ask the person sitting next to them whether they needed to respond to this call to come back to the Father - and another large number of people came to the front to rededicate their lives.
Encouraged by the testimony of healing of both a crippled Muslim king and a deaf man, many people received their own healing as Daniel called out words of knowledge and proclaimed healing of backs, arthritis, sinuses, etc., and instructed people to lay hands on their neighbors, commanding sickness to go in the name of Jesus. He reiterated that it’s not any wonderful prayer, but the power of Jesus that heals. Those who were healed testified by coming to the front and giving glory to God, which led to a great celebration and worship with dancing and singing.
On the second morning of the conference, Daniel Kolenda felt led to not preach the sermon he had prepared, but rather to share his testimony of receiving the power of the Holy Spirit. He emphasized that, without God, we can do absolutely nothing! We need the Holy Spirit to reach this generation for Christ!
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Pastor Samuel Peterschmitt and his team for being wonderful hosts to this well-organized and meaningful event. These ministers and leaders will go back changed and charged!
