God does the impossible when we pray.
We believe that He challenges and transforms us through prayer. And through prayer, God brings transformation to the lives of others.
This is why we integrate prayer and intercessory support into our training efforts. When a new discipleship-mission training program begins, the director and the supporting churches are encouraged to establish a team of intercessors. This group is committed to pray for the training program, leaders, and the disciple-makers who are sent out. Intercessors and the ministry of prayer are essential for the spiritual battles faced by the trainers and disciple-makers.
Philippe directs discipleship-mission training programs in Tanzania. He started with 25 participants and his wife was also part of that first group. Now she pastors one of the churches planted during the training outreach!
Since then, Philippe and his church network have added leadership training, equipping church planters to be effective in leading the new churches. They developed a small farm and a cyber-café—thanks to Global Disciples’ small business training—and that income provides financial support for the ongoing programs.
They also have an active team of intercessors! It started with ten intercessors during the initial training. But Philippe reported, “Our intercessors have continued to increase. They meet each Saturday, and they host ongoing prayer each day at the church.”
These prayer warriors take on the spiritual forces they encounter with a passion. Philippe shared one of their experiences.
“Some witches tried to test the power of our God,” he said. “A lady came to our church, crying and terrified. She told the intercessors that when she had washed her face, she poured out the water and it turned to blood as it flowed to the ground. She tried again, and again the water turned to blood as she poured it out.”
Philippe described the crippling fear of the villagers. They told the intercessors that if their water would stop turning to blood, they would believe in Jesus.
So, the intercessors went to pray in this community. And after a time, when the people poured out water on the ground, the springs of blood stopped. “The devil was defeated,” Philippe rejoiced, “and as a result, many people believed in Jesus, and the church is growing.”
Never underestimate what God will do when His people pray. Or how significant your role is when you intercede for other people, and God’s work, through prayer. We absolutely need His people to carry on the ministry of intercession, no matter where we are in the world.
Prayer and intercession are great ways to get involved with Global Disciples. Just sign up for our monthly prayer calendar, or contact us about participating with our intercessors.
Yanick came in, walking with crutches. His legs, twisted and useless from birth, held his weight long enough to move his crutches one step forward. Then another. His friend had insisted he come to this meeting to be prayed for in the name of Jesus.
Born in a Muslim village in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Yanick had never met a group of Christ-followers. It was a small group. Yanick was surprised to see several people he recognized. They talked about knowing Jesus, and a man taught from the Bible.
Then someone asked Yanick if they could pray for Jesus to heal his legs. “Of course!” he agreed, but he nearly laughed at the question. After all, he had been born like this.
A short time later, Yanick walked out of the meeting carrying his crutches! And in the following days, he and many of his family and neighbors came to know Christ.
God does the impossible when we pray! We hear stories like Yanick’s all the time. Miracles like this are quite common in places where people have never heard the Good News of Jesus.
As Global Disciples, we want all that we do to be conceived, birthed, and carried out in prayer, believing that God transforms both our lives and the lives of others through prayer.
Transforming prayer takes us from self-centered, wish-list praying into a passionate pursuit of Jesus. As we pursue intimacy with our Heavenly Father, the Holy Spirit transforms our minds and reorders our priorities. The Holy Spirit softens hearts, opens minds, and draws people into relationship with Jesus. Through prayer, God removes the blinders that keep people from seeing the light of the Gospel that displays the glory of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:4). Prayer is foundational to any evangelism or mission effort.
We regularly practice prayer and fasting within Global Disciples and with our partnering churches and programs. On the first Friday each month, our staff, leadership, and the programs we serve in 71 countries, are asked to fast and pray for the people and trainings affiliated with Global Disciples. It’s been our pattern now for 28 years.
We facilitate prayer teams sent to areas with little Gospel witness, in need of spiritual breakthrough. God has honored those intercessors as they stand in the gap on behalf of people isolated from the Good News of Jesus.
Some on our Global Disciples team set alarms on their phones for 9:38 A.M. and 9:38 P.M.—a reminder to ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers (Matthew 9:38). We ask for Jesus to fill us with his compassion for the lost.
In prayer, your lives and ours are transformed as we delight in being co-laborers with Christ in the mission to which we have been called together. What an honor! May we continue to grow in prayer and see God doing immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine for His glory (Ephesians 3:20).
–Galen Burkholder, CEO & Founder
For years, I have shared Global Disciples’ stories of amazing miracles, dramatic healings, and transformations of people’s lives through the unseen power of the Holy Spirit.
As I talked with friends of Global Disciples, so many have asked, “Why don’t we see these miracles here is the United States?” Maybe you’ve thought that as you read or heard our testimonies from around the world.
I’ve wondered too. And I never dreamed I would witness one of these amazing miracles firsthand!
What should have been one of the happiest days for our family quickly turned into a desperate plea to the Lord for his saving, supernatural, healing power.
Our granddaughter Elliana (Ellie) was born January 12, 2023, with a severe heart defect that hadn’t been picked up in any prior ultrasound. Within seconds of her birth, a very experienced nurse called for the crash team, and rushed Ellie from the room. My daughter, Sarah, and her husband weren’t given an explanation—it all happened so fast!
The next 48 hours proved to be hopeless. Ellie’s organs began failing; she had multiple seizures and then a significant stroke. When we arrived at the hospital, at least 40 people in the ICU were working to save her life. She was put on an ECMO by-pass machine, and we were told she probably wouldn’t live.
I cried out to the Lord, “How will we survive this? Please have your will in this situation but sustain us through our grief!”
The Lord was nearer to us than I could have imagined.
Our family was sitting together in shock and despair when a young women approached us. She said she felt compelled to pray for us and that she didn’t need to know any aspects of our situation. We invited her to pray; she took out holy water, anointed my daughter’s forehead and proceeded to pray over us with details she couldn’t have known. At one point, I opened my eyes to look at her because it seemed so surreal. Before she left, she said it was a privilege to pray over us…and by the way, her name was Ellie.
What? Ellie? No way! Looking back, I think she was an angel sent by the Lord to speak His mercy and love over us.
In February, my granddaughter was able to have surgery to repair her heart. While surgery was successful, her lungs and kidneys began to shut down. Lord, we need another miracle!
There were multiple instances where the staff came and told us, “This is our last option; if this doesn’t work, you need to prepare yourself for the worst.” And each time the Lord stepped in to intervene with miracles.
Ellie continued to improve. In July, they needed to move her feeding tube from her nose to her stomach. She would have to go without dialysis for three days. This was high risk because Ellie’s kidneys were wrecked—in fact, they were looking around the US for a doctor who could come and give her a kidney transplant.
My daughter and I laid hands on her before her procedure asking for the Lord’s supernatural healing for her kidneys. The first 24 hours she seemed stable, then the nurses began to see that Ellie was producing more and more urine. On day three, her labs looked better than when she was on dialysis, and her kidney function was really beginning to kick in! After ten days, they said she wouldn’t need dialysis anymore! Praise the Lord!
Ellie’s kidney specialist, the head of the department, said there was no scientific reason for her kidneys to begin working. He asked Sarah if she had been praying and if she had a church praying? She told him thousands of people were praying—all over the world! He said, “Then I will begin to pray also.”
Ellie was finally discharged from the hospital at eight months. The staff told my daughter that they would now put all their worst patients in Ellie’s room, because God had been in the room, and it was holy ground!
I don’t understand why God chooses to heal some and not others. I have so many questions and not many answers. But I recall talking about this with one of Global Disciples’ international leaders—a man with great experience in prayer and seeing people healed. I asked the question so many have asked, “Why don’t we see these miracles here in the United States?”
His response hung heavy with me. “Are you in America praying to receive the gift of healing? Praying for the ability to see and be a part of miracles?”
I know that since that conversation, my prayer life has expanded. And over the last four years, I have been praying for those things, and now seeing them in the life of my granddaughter. “Lord, allow me to be part of your divine miracles here on earth.”
And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever… (John 14:13-16)
–Julie Stratton, Great Lakes Partner Relations (and Ellie’s grandmother)
You can read more on Ellie’s miraculous journey and her mother’s talks with God here.
The following is an excerpt from the book, Ordinary Disciples, Extraordinary Influence: Stories to Fuel a Life of Unshakable Faith, by Galen Burkholder and Brother Tefera
Sejun was an illiterate farmer living in an isolated village on the border of Nepal. He was a Buddhist, and no one in his village had ever heard the name of Jesus.
When his wife, Ehani, became deathly ill, Sejun hiked the mountains looking for witch doctors who may be able to help, hoping someone would be able to heal her. But no one could. Soon, Ehani became bedridden, waiting to die. Their home was a place of quiet sadness.
Around this time, two young men from their village left for seasonal work as Sherpas, trekking and helping visitors climb some of the highest Himalayan peaks. One expedition took them into the foothills and to a town close to the Everest base camp. A Christian medical doctor in town found out about the visitors, invited them for a nice meal, and asked if they had ever heard about Jesus the Messiah. As they ate and talked, he shared freely, telling stories of Jesus that amazed these young men.
During their conversation, a couple came to the door, seeking the doctor. Their young daughter was very ill. The doctor asked them to place her on a cot, and he went back to the Sherpas to explain the situation.
One Sherpa asked the doctor if his Jesus could heal the little girl in the next room. If all the stories he had told were true, it seemed a small thing to heal the girl. The doctor replied that sometimes God heals with miracles, and sometimes God heals through surgery and medication. “But we can ask Jesus to heal her,” he concluded, and the three of them went into the other room with the little girl and her parents.
The doctor knelt by the bed, laid his hands on the girl and prayed … and she was healed!
When the Sherpas saw this, they were convinced, and they decided to become followers of Jesus. Since they were illiterate, the doctor taught them a few simple songs that would help them remember the truth about Jesus. Having encountered something new and amazing, they left with joy in their hearts. They sang the new songs as they traveled on their expeditions and continued singing them when they returned to their village after the expedition season.
Once home, these young Sherpas went to Sejun’s house to tell him what they had learned about Jesus and how they had seen the little girl healed.
“Do you think this Jesus could heal my wife?” Sejun asked. They told him what the doctor had told them—sometimes Jesus heals with miracles, and sometimes he heals with medicine and surgeries. They walked over to her bed and did what they had seen the doctor do, knelt and
laid their hands on Ehani, praying for healing in the name of Jesus.
Ehani sat up in her bed, something she had been unable to do for weeks. She was hungry and began eating and regaining her strength. Sejun was beside himself with joy! She was completely healed—without the help of any medicine or witch doctor.
Soon after, she conceived and gave birth to a son they named Basta.
After Ehani’s healing miracle, Sejun was so amazed he couldn’t pull himself away from his wife to go work in the rice fields. But after a few days, he returned to farming, working all morning and then spending the afternoon marveling about what this Jesus had done for him.
Having seen God at work so powerfully, Sejun got an idea—he would walk through the village and look for sick people to heal in the name of Jesus. He knew many people had
family members who were unwell, and he wanted them to experience what he and Ehani had experienced. So, Sejun worked the fields in the morning, ate lunch at home, and then went out looking for people who were sick. He would tell them all he knew about Jesus (which wasn’t much and came from the songs the Sherpas had taught him) and then he prayed for them. They would be healed and subsequently accepted Jesus as their God.
It didn’t take long before the sick people in Sejun’s village were all well, so he started trekking the mountains, visiting neighboring villages, and doing the same thing. A foreign missionary who lived in the city heard that many people in the mountain villages were being healed in the name of Jesus and coming to faith. The missionary tracked down Sejun—the 5’1” illiterate rice farmer who was preaching the good news and praying for people.
The missionary introduced himself to Sejun, took him under his wing, and taught him all about the Bible. The teaching immediately began to impact Sejun. One day, they were studying and came to Ephesians 5:18, “Do not get drunk on wine.”
“Wait! I didn’t know that!” Sejun exclaimed. When he prayed for people and they were healed, the family would often give him a rice brew—the traditional way to thank witch doctors after they healed someone. He would stagger home after enjoying the gift, go to bed, and sleep it off. But from that point on, he never accepted any rewards for his prayers for healing.
Sejun and other Christians in his village were persecuted, beaten, shackled, and warned harshly not to speak to anyone about their faith. Ultimately, this persecution drove them away from their home.
Forced to settle in a new town, Sejun vowed he wasn’t going to tell anyone about Jesus because he wanted their children to grow up in peace. Shortly after they arrived, however, the mayor knocked on the door, and said he had heard that Sejun was a healer. Sejun couldn’t lie, so he reluctantly admitted that yes, he served a God who healed.
The mayor said, “Okay, come with me.” He took Sejun out to the field where several cows were lying on their side, foaming at the mouth. “Heal my cows,” the mayor insisted.
Sejun had never prayed for animals before—he didn’t know if Jesus would heal a cow or not, but he knew the mayor could hurt him if he didn’t agree, so he prayed for the first cow. They watched as it shook the froth from its mouth, stood up, and walked away … healed! The mayor then insisted he pray for the next cow. Sejun did, and it, too, was healed.
With the mayor’s blessing, Sejun was now able to remain in the village, preach the gospel, and participate in even more healing.
Sejun’s son, Basta, was one of the first children from his village to go to school, hiking an hour over the mountains to another village in order to attend. Basta learned to read, and then accompanied Sejun on healing trips, reading Scripture while his father preached and prayed for people. This went on for years, and over time, they began to see the miracle of multiplication taking place.
[Through a connection], Basta reached out to Global Disciples and asked for our help—they had more than a hundred churches within a five-day walk from where he and his father lived, but no way to train their people.
We [Global Disciples] invited Basta to attend a meeting of discipleship-mission directors we had equipped. It was there I met Basta, and we talked about the wonderful things God was doing in his community and surrounding villages. He prayed long into the night about how Global Disciples might be able to support what he was doing. The next morning over breakfast, Basta came back to me and said, “God spoke to me last night … God told me we are supposed to look to him to provide, not depend on support from the West. So, I won’t be asking for any money or seed funds from you.”
I knew their resources were limited. “How are you going to collect the money you need to run these training courses?”
“We don’t have to collect money,” he said. “We’ll put baskets by the church, and the rice farmers can contribute rice, and when the baskets are full, we’ll fill bags, and when the bags are full, we’ll have enough food to start the training.”
“Do me a favor,” I said. “Let me know the market value of the rice, when you’re ready to start.”
Basta agreed, and I told him we would like to send a gift toward their startup costs. The people in this church supplied chickens and rice to feed the participants. We considered the value of their gifts of food in kind to be 51 per cent of their training expenses, and we sent a gift for the remaining 49 per cent—$137 for Bibles, mats to sleep on, and some supplies. And their first discipleship-mission training was launched. And more trainings have followed their lead, primarily sustained by the local resources God provides!
On it goes. What began many years ago with two Sherpas and Basta’s father—a solitary, illiterate farmer desperate to help his wife—has become an influential disciple-making movement—most of it supported by local resources. And now assisting many groups of churches from various tribes and regions to multiply new fellowships of believers all across Nepal.
For more stories like this, get a copy of Ordinary Disciples, Extraordinary Influence, available in print and ebook from Amazon and Barnes & Noble
…Jesus asked them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”
“Twelve,” they replied.
“And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”
They answered, “Seven.”
He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
-Mark 8:17-21
Do you still not understand? That’s the question Jesus asked his disciples here in Mark 8.
It came at a very interesting time in his ministry. He had just fed a hungry crowd of about 4,000 people with seven loaves and a few small fish. A few chapters earlier in Mark 6:30-44, we see Jesus feeding 5,000 men (plus women and children) from just five loaves and two fish.
But after the second crowd-feeding miracle, Jesus had some questions for his disciples:
“When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? They said to him, ‘Twelve.’ And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? And they said to him, ‘Seven’” (Mark 8:19-20).
Why the numbers quiz?
The more I study and reflect on the life and ministry of Jesus, the more I see his heart for all nations coming through so clearly again and again! He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). Jesus’ heart for all peoples was evident from the beginning of his ministry (Luke 4:18-29), and it got him in trouble!
We often miss the powerful global mission emphasis in these miraculous stories of feeding the crowds. The numbers quiz Jesus gave his disciples indicates he was interested in more than filling stomachs.
The first miracle—feeding 5,000 men from five loaves and two fish—took place in a Jewish area. The number five had great significance to this crowd: The Torah, the five books of the law of Moses, was highly revered. And twelve basketfuls were gathered in the end: 12 is significant for the 12 tribes of Israel.
The second miraculous feeding of 4,000 happened near where Jesus had cast demons out of a man living among the tombs, and into a huge herd of pigs that ran into the sea and drowned. In this largely Gentile area, 4,000 people ate from seven loaves and a few fish. Seven basketfuls of leftovers were gathered.
In Scripture, both the numbers four and seven are very significant. Do you know why? Four is commonly used early in the Old Testament to refer to the whole world (i.e. Genesis 28:14): the north, south, east, and west. And seven is the number of completion and perfection.
In John’s account (John 6:22-40), after feeding the 5,000, Jesus explains the real significance is more than filling hungry stomachs: “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger.’” Jesus is the bread of life for the Jews first—five loaves for 5,000 and 12 baskets full for 12 tribes.
Jesus is also the bread of life for all people from the north, south, east and west—from all four corners of the world. And there were seven full baskets leftover! Perfect, enough for everyone to complete our God-given mission!
As an interesting note, the Greek word translated “basket” in the feeding of 5,000 is literally a kosher food basket—fully appropriate for the Jewish people. In the story of the 4,000, it’s literally a work basket used in the field—common and appropriate for the Gentiles. And you know us Gentiles, we’ll eat just about anything!
Do you now understand why Jesus asked the question? He came to seek and save the lost—from every tribe, tongue, and nation!
–Galen Burkholder, President/CEO
“My people need to hear the message of Jesus,” Komeza told Chikuni, his discipleship training leader.
Komeza’s family came from an isolated, mostly Muslim area in Malawi, home to the Yao people. His parents moved to a city when he was a child. Now an adult and a follower of Christ, Komeza is eager to see his people know and follow Jesus.
A third of our world has not yet heard the Good News of Jesus—including over two million Yao living in Malawi, and three neighboring nations. They have a long history of resistance to the Gospel, holding tight to traditions and practices blended with Islam.
Yet, people like Komeza, Chikuni, and their church cluster are within reach of the Yao. Trained through Global Disciples, Chikuni is now equipping Komeza and others to go and make disciples among the Yao. Their vision is to reach about 800,000 people living in a region that has only one or two schools and no churches.
As Chikuni and the disciple-makers walked to the place Komeza had in mind, their journey—and plan—was interrupted. A man stepped onto the road and blocked their way. He was a well-known witchdoctor and an influential force, the one everyone turned to for help.
“Who are you? Why have you come? I want to know what brought you,” he demanded. The disciple-makers explained how they came with good news about Jesus. The witchdoctor listened eagerly.
Chikuni said, “We saw the power of the Gospel at work. This witchdoctor was regarded as a great spiritual leader by many people, but he was disarmed by the power of the Gospel and surrendered his life to Christ. At his request, we destroyed his charms by burning them.”
After seeing this, another ten Muslims followed the witchdoctor’s lead and put their faith in Jesus, Isa al-Masih. People from their community sought out the disciple-makers, asking them to pray for those sick or bound by evil spirits. God answered with miracles of healing and deliverance, and soon 45 new believers were meeting under a tree as a new church!
One man from the training program has now moved into this community with his wife and children. He is nurturing the new believers, and equipping them to reach the Yao district.
Komeza’s heartcry is being answered—his people are hearing the Good News of Jesus, and God is doing a new thing among a least-reached people in Malawi.