Reports from Carl Henderson
Carl trained with The Elijah Challenge in 2006, and then served as a missionary for five years in the Philippines.
Training and Miracles at Youth With A Mission (YWAM)
YWAM has a basic, entry into missions, training school called DTS or CDTS; it is taught at YWAM bases all around the world. We were asked by the Baguio City, Philippines, DTS Director Jothan Gaetz (a Canadian missionary) to serve as guest lecturers for one week with his DTS class and to teach them the Way of the Master (WOTM) and The Elijah Challenge (TEC) evangelism methods. We began teaching the twelve students and eleven staff on Monday, September 17th, 2007. The group consisted of mostly young people who came from many different nations and the Philippines.
We (Marc Chavez, Nethaniel and I, the MOR team) spent eight hours teaching them the basics of the WOTM and then we informed them it was time to put into practice the things they had learned. We went out on to the streets and parks in Baguio City to share our faith. We continued to train them for two more days and did evangelism with them each afternoon. They grew more powerful and competent in the things of God on each trip. They no longer needed a coach watching over them and many of them were powerfully sharing their faith in one-2-one evangelism with complete autonomy.
On the fourth day of class we changed to the topic of The Elijah Challenge (TEC) as we usually do. We showed them their power and authority from scriptures and the clear commands of Christ to heal the sick, cast out demons, and proclaim the Kingdom of God. They told us, “Everything you said would happen during one-2-one evangelism, has happened.” So it is easy for us to believe you and to trust the scriptures on this too.
Pastor Carl teaching the WOTM to YWAM students
YWAM students laying hands on their classmates and healing them at the end of The Elijah Challenge (TEC) class
By Friday, they were ready to put their new understanding of scriptures into practice. We prayed with authority over class members with injuries and we watched as headaches, back pain, knee pain, eye pain and others were healed very quickly. One of the students was going blind with retinopathy, and she had already learned to read brail in preparation for her coming blindness. We ministered to her expecting to see her healed. She immediately told us she could see better than she had been able to see three months before. She said, “The black dots are gone and you’re no longer shadows to me, but blurry figures.” Like the story of the blind man with Jesus in Mark 8:22-25, where Jesus had to make two attempts in order to completely heal him, we were excited at the progress and so we took authority over her blindness again and again.
YWAM student has hands layed on her eyes by her fellow students who were recently trained to do the (TEC)
The student and her fellow YWAM classmates rejoicing, as her vision dramatically improves
At the end of an hour we were all exhausted and there was no improvement other than the initial reversal of over three months damage to her eyes. When class finally came to an end, we were all exhausted, sorrowful and depressed that she had not been completely healed. Her incomplete healing stole the joy from the other complete healings we had experienced.
During the lunch break, several students who had previously been involved in the occult and animistic spirit worship manifested demonic oppression. It was stirred up during the rebuking of the diseases and illness. We dealt with these privately and fairly quickly, and deliverance and peace was restored in Jesus name.
After lunch, we reviewed our plan for the crusade that night and made final preparations for the outreach to our community. The atmosphere of sadness and exhaustion was present with the students. Many were disappointed that their classmate, whom they loved, was not healed. I must admit, I was disappointed also. We finished our meeting and the preparations for the crusade began.
As the hour for the crusade approached, a rain storm came and poured buckets of rain on us. We prayed and the rain lifted, but a light mist remained until we started. We put together the equipment and the crusade began late, in a soggy environment, which greatly reduced the number of sinners who came.
A band from YWAM played a few songs and then I preached a Way of the Master sermon. I preached about sin, repentance, righteousness, judgment, the wrath to come, and the grace of God to those who would repent – those who would turn from sin and to Christ, who would put their faith and trust in Him.
After this I issued “The Elijah Challenge!” If Jesus is God, he can forgive sin, he can heal the sick and he can cast out demons! If Jesus is God and he has “all authority on heaven and earth” then if we obey him, we should be able to heal the sick and trample the works of the enemy as he said we would do. I told them, “If Jesus heals people here this night, then you can never again say you don’t believe that Jesus is ‘Lord of Lords and King of Kings.’” I told them that if Jesus healed people this night they must admit that His kingdom has come and his will must be done in their lives. I told them that Jesus’ word promises us that we will heal and cast out demons in his name. “If we heal in his name, then you must believe that Jesus can also forgive sins and rescue you from sin, death, the grave and Hades.”
Then we asked those who were sick or ill to come and be healed by our new TEC trained YWAM students. A reluctant and very shy group slowly came forward to be healed. Filipinos are generally shy, but this was the shiest group we had ever had. For the first time in our experience, the group was predominantly youth! Our newly trained students began to lay hands on them and pray over them with authority. In less than a minute, many of those present were healed. Those with pain, injuries, headaches, fevers and sore throats were healed immediately. It happened so fast and so easily that it astonished everyone. One of the YWAM staff members was praying for a boy with a knee injury he had endured since he was six years old (he was now eleven). When they finished praying he was asked to test the knee and he found it completely healed. When he told the YWAM staffer it was healed, the staffer found himself saying “It is?!?” Then the boy began to demonstrate by jumping, bending and squatting down.
At first I must admit, I was reluctant to believe these young people because they were healed so quickly and easily. We would question them; asking them again and again about their healing to make sure we understood them correctly. They would insist they were healed and demonstrate that they could do what they had not been able to do before. We had injuries from playing basketball healed, with the boy jumping into the air demonstrating what he could not do before. We examined injured wrists that were healed, migraine headaches, some that were a week old, were gone. Sore throats, headaches and fever were rampant in the group, with all of them reporting the pain, fever, and headaches, instantly healed.
We normally pray for people several times before everyone is healed, but on this occasion, ninety percent of the people were healed the first time we prayed. There is something about the faith of youth and the power and authority of God, which when combined together, is a powerful force for good in the Kingdom of God.
This evening we experienced some of the most complete and rapid miracles we had ever seen. One girl was soaked with sweat and red faced from a fever she had been experiencing. She said she felt the fever go, she could swallow without pain, and her headache was gone. I felt her forehead and she still felt feverish to me, but she insisted it was better. I asked her to go back and have the group pray for her again. She came back in less than a minute and she was cool to the touch. Her sweating had completely ended and she was almost angry that I had not believed her the first time. She told me, “I felt the fever leave before and it was just taking my body a little time to cool down!” When I nodded in apology, her joy returned and she gave one of the best testimonies of the evening. Having to fight for her miracle, with me of all people, gave her great boldness to proclaim it to others.
We tried to get those who were healed to tell the audience but the shyness of their youth made it difficult to hear many of those who were healed. They would freeze up once we put the microphone near their mouths, but they would all shake their head and shyly smile with joy when we explained for them, what they had told us. We would ask them who healed them and they would say, “Jesus.”
We had one high school boy who had kidney disease which caused him severe pain in his back and caused him have difficulty urinating. When he was healed he turned from side to side and he bent and twisted back and forth to show he had no pain. While we were trying to get him to give his testimony, he could not stand still. He told us, “I have to urinate; I have to go right now! I have not been able to go for two days, but I have to go now.” He ran from the stage to find a place to relieve himself. His kidneys were obviously working now!
Another boy with a sore throat, which was swollen so bad that it looked like mumps, had the swelling and pain instantly healed in Jesus name. He went from person to person having them feel his throat and telling us, “The pain is gone!”
After so many youth were healed in the first round of prayers, we had a German missionary with an injured back and side who came forward after observing the other miracles. He said the doctor had told him it would take several months for the pain to go away, but God instantly healed him in the second group of prayers.
We had an elderly woman with a demon who set in the front row of chairs watching the healings. She was doubled over in apparent pain. She was persuaded to come forward for healing. When they began to talk to her they realized she had an evil spirit. They cast the demon out in Jesus name and the woman’s face instantly changed from darkness and anger to lightness and peace. The pain in her chest, stomach, and head were instantly healed. She told them, “The evil spirit left. He is gone!” She looked years younger in just minutes. She told us her stomach pain was gone, her heart pain was gone, and the pulsing in her head had stopped. She was full of joy and gave one of our better testimonies that evening. She was not shy to give God the glory!
After most of the audience was healed, we turned our attention back to the YWAM student who had not been healed earlier in the afternoon. In the afternoon, she said the black spots had come out of her eyes and she could see us moving around like shadows. She told us we had reversed about three months of damage to her eyes. We now began to pray for her again, and in three stages it improved dramatically. First the blackness and grayness in her eyes disappeared; she could see us moving around as blurry figures instead of shadows. Then, for the first time in over a year, she could see colors and she went about on the stage telling us all the colors of our clothes. “This is red… this is yellow and that is blue… she would say as she pointed to peoples clothes. We rejoiced and wept with her as she experienced the joy of being able to see colors, something she had long since lost the ability to do! We prayed again and much of the blurriness disappeared and she even remarked that she could make out who we were, she went around the group saying, “So you are so and so,” and named us as she figured out who we were. When she got to me she said, “So you are Kuya Carl.” (Kuya: The older brother – a sign of respect in Filipino culture). She turned to one of the YWAM staffers and said, “Wow you’re handsome!” before she realized what she was saying. We prayed for her again and there was some more improvement, but her vision was never completely restored. She said it was still a little blurry, though we took authority over it several more times. However, it had improved so much (she said by 90%) that she wept, laughed, smiled and hugged everyone she knew. The service came to a close with a salvation call. The demonized women and a young lady from the neighborhood made commitments to put their faith and trust in Jesus and to turn from sin in repentance.
As the meeting came to an end we recognized the strength of YWAM…their youth! They celebrated the miracles by singing, dancing, hugging, laughing and patting each other on the back and giving glory to God for all that had happened that night.
We now had 27 people healed (this is our conservative number, we think there may be about seven more), including one who had a demon of infirmity cast out, and two people who made professions of faith and repentance, and began their walk with The Lord. The week we were teaching at YWAM one of the students who had been sent by his parents to attend the course (yet wasn’t a Christian) was also born again after one of the evangelism trips downtown. A total of three people!
Once again we were “rained out” and many non-believers went home before the service began or did not come because of the weather. None the less, as we have come to expect, God showed up and vindicated His name and demonstrated His authority and power; through weak, undeserving, frail, nameless, faceless evangelists, like us!
To God be, the Glory!
Pastor Carl preaching and making The Elijah Challenge, as recently trained YWAM students lay hands on the sick and infirmed
The young lady shyly turns her back to the camera was also healed
This young man injured his hand playing basketball the injury is healed
This young lady (with the hat) is healed of stomach pain
This boy is also healed of sore throat and fever
This girl is explaining how her back pain was healed
This lady (behind the microphone) had a demon of infirmity cast out of her which resulted in her instant healing
“Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to you again.” 1 Kings 18:37
Pastor Carl Henderson
TEC Philippines Coordinator
MOR – Mission of Reconciliation