November 2007
The Elijah Challenge in North America
Elijah Challenge Equipping
Pastor Dindo Caporal and his wife Barbara lead Good News Fellowship, a congregation of mostly Filipino-Americans in Houston, Texas.
At the Saturday training sessions the Lord performed some powerful miraculous healings as the believers-in-training ministered to the infirm. One sister had had chronic problems with her knees for years. She could get up only very slowly from a sitting position by pulling herself up with her hands. When lying down she could arise only with various contortions of her body. She could not stand up for long without experiencing pain, let along run. She testified that even “if a tiger were chasing me, my knees are so bad that I would just lie down and let it eat me alive.” Two sisters in attendance were asked to come lay hands on her and exercise their authority over the infirmity in Jesus’ name. Afterwards we pulled up a chair and asked her to sit down on it and to get up. She sat down, and then stood up effortlessly. There was no pain. We asked her to run around the hall. She took off running, circling the sanctuary with no difficulty or pain. She wept in gratitude to the Lord. The next day on Sunday she came back to church beaming with joy and moving around normally.
Later another woman—a non-believer—came forward. Four years ago she had suffered a back injury in an accident. Her condition deteriorated over the years. The pain had spread down to her waist and up to her neck and head. Three members of a family—father, son, and daughter—came forward to lay hands on her back. They rebuked the pain and commanded her back to be healed in the name of Jesus. The woman felt a surge of tingling in her back, arms and hands, like electricity. Afterwards she felt no more pain, saying she felt fine.
The Lord was gracious to anoint us to teach and equip His servants. Pastors Brian Burns and Juan Guajardo from Church of the King along with their families had driven from McAllen, a town at the Mexican border six hours to the south of Houston.
Our final meeting on Sunday morning was fruitful. After the gospel of Jesus Christ was proclaimed, the trained believers ministered healing in Christ’s name to demonstrate that He is indeed the only way to the Father and in fact the Son of God. There were several testimonies of healing. Here are two of them.
One of the sisters in the church is a nurse who works at M. D. Anderson Medical Center, the world-famous cancer treatment center in Houston. In 2004 she herself was stricken with cancer in her neck. Since then for the past three years there has been pain in her neck and she could not turn her head freely. She was receiving treatment by radiation for the cancer. Because she worked in the medical profession, she had difficulty believing in supernatural healing from God. During the healing-at-a-distance on that Sunday morning as she sat in her seat she discovered that the pain had disappeared and she could turn her head freely.
Another lady had plantar fascitis, or bones spurs in the heels of both feet. She could not put her feet down flat because of the condition and had to wear heels all the time. When some sisters, including worship leader Kari, laid hands on her in Christ’s name, the bone spurs disappeared and she was able to walk normally.
The saints were greatly encouraged and built up in their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and are planning to apply what they have just learned. Youth Pastor Chris will be leading a team to conduct a “Free Healing Prayer” outreach in a shopping mall this Friday, the day after Thanksgiving—the busiest shopping day of the year in the United States. Their target will be either Houston’s big Galleria or Willowbrook Mall. We believe that bold obedience will be very pleasing to the Lord. Click here to learn more about such public healing outreaches.
Pastor Brian Burns of Church of the King in the city of McAllen was gracious to tell us that the teaching was “life-changing.” He and his wife Gloria will return to Houston in February 2008 to attend The Elijah Challenge Advanced Seminar to be trained how to equip others with The Elijah Challenge. Pastor Brian and Gloria will be leaving in June 2008 as missionaries to the Philippines to join Carl Henderson, Elijah Challenge Coordinator for the Philippines. Our host Pastor Dindo Caporal of the Philippine-American church and his wife Barbara are also making plans to attend the Advanced Seminar in February 2008.