After laying the foundation of the Gospel in their students, Charis Bible College prepares them for practical ministry during the second-year program. Not only do students clock volunteer hours at local churches and ministries, but they also plan and participate in missions trips at home and abroad. It’s amazing to hear their testimonies. They always return with wonderful ministry testimonies of salvation and healing, with personal growth testimonies as well.
Recently a group of second-year students returned from their missions trip in Brazil, excited about the revelations God had given them while outside their comfort zone. “This trip became an empowering, equipping encounter with the Holy Spirit,” student Christian Estrella said. “It brought clarity and definition in my life and ministry. I learned to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit, to discern people’s needs, and to allow the gifts of the Spirit to move through me more freely.”
At one of the local churches where students were ministering, a baby was brought forward who appeared to have a neurological defect. The eight-month-old could not move under her own power or sustain the weight of her head. Stirred with compassion, students Christian and Flor stepped forward to pray. “My wife and I held that child in our arms and began to declare the Word of God over her. We commanded the spirits of sickness and infirmity to leave her body in the name of Jesus, and within moments, she began wiggling!”
Another student reported praying for a man with a shattered leg. Four surgical pins stuck out of his right leg, and he felt constant pain. “With an authority I never thought I would have, I spoke to his leg and commanded pain to go,” Diana Netotea recalled. “I spoke life and healing over him and watched as he walked away without limping. The next day, the man was in church jumping on his pinned leg, shouting, ‘Look! I have no pain!’ I’ll never forget the miracle I witnessed that day—in his life and mine.”
Every member of the Charis team returned to the States with similar testimonies. “My time in Brazil was too amazing to put into words. God moved mightily in and through the entire team,” Kris Turner said.
Another student experienced God’s supernatural protection. “My first morning in Brazil, I stepped onto what I thought was a rug. Apparently it was not, for the next thing I saw was the ceiling and a steel pipe sticking out of the ground next to me.” Falling through the floor into a three-foot hole, Chris Sheya wasn’t sure if he could stand. “My roommate grabbed my hand and pulled me up saying, ‘You’re healed in the name of Jesus. Walk!'” Still in shock, Chris maneuvered outside, speaking in tongues and stretching his ankle for the next hour. “My calf and ankle swelled grotesquely, and I limped for the next thirteen days—but I walked!”
These students and the many others who have taken the Gospel of grace all over the world because of the impact of Charis Bible College can testify that God watches over His Word to perform it (Jer. 1:12)!
