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Editor’s Note: The Canberra Declaration called for 72 hours of Prayer, Praise & Worship to God from 14-17 October 2022 as part of our October 2022 Month of Prayer & Fasting for Revival with all the same prayer points. One extra prayer point was added to the existing three prayer points for the month, which was a Spiritual Breakthrough in Nimbin, and that souls would come to Christ!

Tony Baines was the event coordinator for Love Nimbin, and Kevin Stickl, the Leader of YWAM Byron Bay, was one of the major partners in this mission of love! The account below shows how beautifully those prayers were answered. Massive thanks to all those who prayed. Soli Deo Gloria!

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I’ve shared the Gospel in many different outreaches over the years in many different places and ways. After a great outreach in Nimbin, New South Wales, Australia from 14-17 October 2022, I was asked, do you think this was a successful outreach and why?

Here are some of my key points as to why this was an effective outreach.

1. Hearing God’s Voice

Prior to the outreach, Tony Baines felt like the Lord stirring His heart for outreach in Nimbin — he both heard and acted upon it.

Jesus Himself made a clear statement,

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.”
~ John 5:19 (ESV)

He also stated,

“If you don’t believe in me, believe in my Father’s works which He does.” (John 14:11)

He lived a life in unity and oneness with the Father, and I believe that this a great pattern set out for our lives. Jesus heard and obeyed the Father and did the works of the Father.

There was a real sense of hearing God’s voice and following His leading. Tony Baines came to me nine months ago and said, “I want to get to know you more, what do you think about doing an outreach in Nimbin?” and he asked, “Would you pray with me about it?”

As we prayed, both of us felt a great peace and excitement about the outreach, and we started praying and planning together for it. We as YWAM Byron Bay had been doing lots of outreach in the region and had many local connections already, which I’ll elaborate on in another key point.

Following the Lord’s leading is a real key: Jesus said,

“My sheep hear My voice and they follow Me.”
(John 10:27)

2. The Power of Partnership

I believe this outreach to Nimbin was effective because of the level of unity and wonderful partnership. God Himself made a statement about the tower of Babel,

And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.”
~ Genesis 11:6 (ESV)

Even though the motivation from the above text was wrong and selfish by nature, the principle which God makes here is both true and powerful: they can accomplish much together.

Jesus prays for believers in John 17,

“That they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that You have sent me. The glory that You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one. I in them and You in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that You have sent me and loved them even as You have loved Me.” (John 17:21-23)

God also says,

‘God will command a blessing when brothers dwell together in unity.’ (Psalm 133)

During this outreach to Nimbin, there were so many partnerships and varying levels of partnerships that took place.

• Tony approached myself; I acted like a ‘man of peace’ in the area.
• Tony connected in with Warwick Marsh who heads up Canberra Declaration, who ran 72 hours of straight prayer coverage nationally, which coincided and partnered directly for the outreach in Nimbin. I probably don’t have enough time to elaborate properly on this point, but I do believe this was a major key. 72 hours of national prayer headed up by Warwick Marsh, Kim and team. I would love to see more of this partnership and type of partnership take place.
• The local churches; as an outreach, we had both the blessing and usage of the buildings or properties of all the operating churches in Nimbin — the Presbyterian church, the Uniting church and the Catholic grounds — wonderful.
• The local churches in the region were praying for us during the outreach
• There was a wonderful partnership of various ministries which included:
  • Canberra Declaration
  • YWAM Byron Bay
  • Youth for Christ, headed up by evangelist Pat Steele and Sebastian
  • Various churches, pastors, evangelists, worship leaders and intercessors all came together
• A few key locals became people of peace, including our neighbour Keba, and Gi who is on the board for the upcoming Aquarius festival.
• Multi-generational partnership — I believe the outreach was a great model because you had all ages there working together well for the glory of God, with various levels of experiences and gifts combined.
• Pastor James Dargin, who is an Indigenous Elder, came and prayed against the powers of darkness and prayed for our Father’s Kingdom to come. (Psalm 24:1, Matthew 6)
• Many gifted worship leaders led us well to glorify God — too many names to mention, but a special thank you to Dave Way, Rebecca Tekley, Brian Dolling and Geoff Bishop (local worship leaders).

Testimony

I will share a quick testimony at this point. In the early morning prior to driving to Nimbin on the Friday, I felt like I was to really pray into Luke 10. Luke 10 is a chapter where Jesus commissions 72 of His disciples to go out and preach the good news of the Kingdom of God.

In this chapter, Jesus gives many instructions and insights into what ministry will look like, but I want to focus on two for this testimony.

Peace:

“Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’
And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you.”
~ Luke 10:5-6 (ESV)

The moment I drove my Kluger onto the church property, we were welcomed by a very friendly and smiling neighbour. Her name was Keba; she stated, ‘It’s great to see so many Christians here.”

I could sense her kindness and openness, so we continued to chat and I ended up asking her, “Is there anything I could pray for?”

She simply replied, “Yes, peace, pray for peace upon me and my household.” Wow, just like the scripture I had been meditating on that morning.

So I ended up praying with Keba alongside a friend, Michelle Ricciardello, and the peace of God was thick and tangible. I could both feel the tangible presence of God and I knew the Holy Spirit was really touching/ministering to Keba.

Healing

As we continued to pray, Keba stated, “I must sit down, because my foot is very sore from previous injury and pain.” So Michelle and I prayed for Keba’s foot and Jesus healed her. She ended up walking 500m up to the other church and testified about Jesus healing her — Glory to God. She made this walk pain-free.

This also is one of the instructions that Jesus gave in Luke 10:

“Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’”
~ Luke 10:9 (ESV)

The next day, Keba fully gave her heart to Jesus as she repented of her sins and asked Jesus to come in and be both the Lord and Saviour of her life. Glory to God!

So I believe that this outreach was also effective because we were stepping out and sharing the straight Gospel. which has the power to save (Romans 1:16).

3. The Power of Prayer

The scripture teaches so much about the power of prayer. A classic verse is found in James 5,

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.”
~ James 5:16b-18 (ESV)

In Nimbin, approximately 70 of us gathered and we had 72 straight hours of worship and prayer, glorifying God. This coincided with 72 hours of nationwide prayer, all for the specific purpose of seeing God move, salvations and seeing revival come to this ultra-eccentric, New Age town of Nimbin.

4. The Number of Workers and Amount of Time Given for the Outreach

I personally had been to Nimbin 25+ times for outreach and I have seen the Lord work wonderfully over the years, but this was more powerful just because of the amount of committed workers and the time given. We stepped out and saw wonderful levels of both ‘sowing the seed’ of the Gospel and reaping a harvest of souls. Both are scripturally backed. (Mark 4, Matthew 9:37-38)

The believers came from far and wide to share the good news — it was fantastic!

In conclusion, I would say these are some of the key contributing factors that made this an effective outreach.

There were approximately 15 salvations, 3 baptisms, many powerful God encounters, 72 hours of worship and prayer, and many strong and continual relationships and partnerships formed.

This is only the beginning. I believe our Father has so much more, and I for one am committed to follow Him in His ways. Jesus prayed,

“Father, let Your kingdom come, let Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

The Moravians from Herrnhut, Germany who held a 100+ year prayer meeting had a statement,

“May the Lamb Who was slain, receive the reward for His suffering.”

The reward is souls.