May 2007
It is amazing how Jesus works in the hearts of those tuned in to His voice, and gives them leading and direction to minister to His Body on earth. The story of The India Healing Rooms is one such incredible journey. We recount it here for the glory of God, and as an encouragement to all those who faithfully support this ministry.
Merina Netto, National Director of Aglow International in India, first heard about The Healing Rooms from Jodie Feldman, who had worked with Merina in India under the banner of Aglow. Jodie introduced Merina to Dan and Sarah Shepler, Regional Directors of San Diego Healing Rooms. They gave Merina the history of the International Association of Healing Rooms and took her through the process, and this touched her deeply. She loved the concept and her heart desired to bring The Healing Rooms to India. She kept this matter in prayer and waited for the Lord to open the door in His time and in His way.
Later Merina requested that Jodie help launch The Healing Rooms in India where they are so very needed. Jodie began soaking this request in prayer, asking God for guidance and confirmation. She already knew that she would serve the Lord in India, having been there several times already. God confirmed this to her in answer to her prayer, and three states having Healing Rooms in the USA (Missouri, California and Washington), endorsed and embraced the idea of working toward launching the same in India. Preparations began for this venture, not knowing when or how it would actually materialize.
Across the globe in India, Pastor Sekhar and his wife, Sheila, were making preparations to visit the U.S. They decided to attend The Healing Rooms conference in Spokane, on Merina Netto’s recommendation. This couple had done intensive study and training in inner healing, but was still hungering for more, wanting to meet the needs of people in a holistic way. Sheila, being a medical doctor, felt there was a missing link between physical and inner healing which needed to be put in place. She and Pastor Sekhar went to the U.S. with anticipation for what the Lord would do. When they arrived there, the Lord made provision for them to visit San Diego to meet Jodie and the Sheplers. In fact, the Sekhars shared a flat with Jodie during The Healing Rooms conference in Spokane, and began a friendship with her.
God sovereignly brought together others in Mumbai who had heard about the Healing Rooms, giving them an opportunity to get involved. These included Leon and Teresa Fernandez and Francis Barbosa who had previously been exposed to the ministry of The Healing Rooms and were keen to get involved. So when they heard about the five-day seminar being planned in Mumbai, they immediately registered. The Lord then began to make provision to set up The Mumbai Healing Rooms site. Funds were donated to totally refurbish the chosen site, as the place had been badly damaged in the flash floods that hit Mumbai in July 2005.
In February 2006, Jodie and a team from Inner City Light arrived in Mumbai with a mission to prepare the ground for the actual launching of the IAHR India Healing Rooms. There was a lot of preparation and anticipation for the five-day training school planned for April 2006. This was a time of real anticipation and soaking in prayer.
The Sheplers led this five-day IAHR Training Conference with Ron Durham from the USA. The training school was a great success, with more than a hundred participants attending, along with pastors from five other states within India. There was a separate one-day introductory seminar for Aglow India with eighty women in attendance. Following the school, a team of potential Healing Rooms technicians was empowered with the vision and the model of The Healing Rooms. It seemed like the stage was now set for a great awakening to the ministry of The Healing Rooms in India.
After this conference The India Healing Rooms was officially launched with Dan and Sarah Shepler, Jodie Feldman, Pastor Abraham and Sheila Sekhar and Merina Netto attended the inauguration and a cake cutting celebration!
The India Healing Rooms is now headquartered in Mumbai and follows The Healing Rooms model as per Spokane IAHR guidelines. The headquarters is also the hub for training technicians. From here, other Healing Rooms have developed throughout India. Technicians who are committed to serve Healing Rooms regularly have been trained at the Mumbai Healing Rooms hub. There are also slum Healing Rooms in Mumbai.
Prayer is the infusing force to keep the India Healing Rooms not just running but well-managed. The Aglow group has committed to pray for the Healing Rooms each Thursday and is very diligent in this effort. There is also prayer each Friday night at The Mumbai Healing Rooms site.
The finances are overseen by The Healing Rooms leadership, with accountability in place. Leon Fernandez is The Healing Rooms’ full time Secretary and Associate Director. He and his wife Teresa have a firm grasp on The Healing Rooms vision and model. Both are zealous and committed to this ministry.
The India Healing Rooms Board is in place, with all board members united in their vision for the ministry and committed to fulfilling this vision in unity and mutual submission to God's Word and to each other.
Training in the IAHR model and establishing of Healing Rooms across India is going on progressively. Lee and Doris Harms from Heartland Healing Rooms in Kansas City, Missouri, flew to Mumbai in January 2007 for a three-day Healing Rooms seminar and stayed and worked for several weeks. The seminar was attended by 65 delegates representing nine churches and mission organizations from three different states.
India has a total population of over a billion people, and Mumbai has a population of over 17 million. There is tremendous need for the sick to be healed and the oppressed to be set free. The vision of The India Healing Rooms is sure to be an instrument used by God to bring healing and deliverance to the Body of Christ in this country, and to equip the saints to take on this much needed ministry of healing to the masses.
To this date we are pleased that thirty-two India Healing Rooms have now been established in five Indian states. Praise be to God!