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During Sam Kumar's childhood in India, his faith-filled father dedicated him and his four brothers to five continents. Later in life, Kumar's father told him that his continent was Africa, but Kumar has been preparing the way for revival all over the world like a "John the Baptist."
Kumar, who later helped to establish relationships for the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) in India, leads India Center for Revival in South India. With two master's degrees from Regent University, he is well-prepared to serve the body of Christ in the 55 countries to which he has traveled to study revival.
Persecution has increased in his home country, church buildings are being burnt, and pastors and believers are being attacked. But God is moving among His people in that great land.
"We have a great move of God that's birthing in India," Kumar said. "We sense an unusual unity with the churches and the pastors. Our leaders are coming together to pray for revival, and we are praying for a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit in India."
As a child, he didn't understand everything that was happening in his home—his brother once appeared to be dead when the angels took him to heaven for four hours—but the Holy Spirit was clearly at work.
"God placed the burden for the world in our hearts," he said. "When we were kids, we didn't know all this. All we knew was we were dedicated to the continents and to the nations."
After attending Bible college in India, he came to America in 1991 to study at Elim Bible Institute in New York with just $20 in his pocket. Along the way, God taught Kumar that he has many people to pray and provide for him, and in large part because of that provision, he has been able to travel the globe.
Kumar says God is setting up "revival hubs" all around the world. The Lord has led him to do "Spirit-led research" on revival and says, "He wants us to pray so that we are prepared."
He observes that there have been revivals in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Chile, Korea and India, among other places where God is moving, and he expects to see more.
Although Kumar has observed changes in America, he affirms the fact that this country was dedicated to God at Cape Henry, Virginia, on April 29, 1607. God led Kumar to Cape Henry when CBN celebrated the 400th anniversary of that dedication in 2007.
"God was reminding me that this was a nation that was dedicated to God," Kumar says, adding, "God's purposes will be fulfilled. When you give it to God, it's in His hands."
Revival is ever on Kumar's heart and mind, and it was the day he visited Cape Henry too.
"One of the things God spoke to us is that there would be flames of revival in the last days," he said.
Kumar is among those praying that God will again visit the United States.
"God's hand will be on this country and heal this land," he says.
Kumar also believes when God uses you, you become "a nobody," and that God is working in all denominations.
"I met with the Catholics in Rome. God opened doors to share in the Moravian Church." He has seen revival among Methodists and Presbyterians and says, "There is no way there's going to be revival without Catholics."
Although Kumar is "more from the Pentecostal line," he didn't really care for the word "Pentecostal" until he realized more fully what it meant and how it related to revival.
"I think God is bringing all the Christians together (in) unity," he says. "Revival is global. Revival is, 'I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh' (Acts 2:17)."
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