The Island Leadership School is sixteen weeks packed full of instruction in God’s living Word. Current and aspiring Church leaders from many differing church movements come in knowing very little in regards to the Bible or how to use it in their lives and ministries and many don’t even have a copy of their own. But at the end of this brief course we are attesting to a gospel that does not hold authority by nature of intellectual reason, but by a demonstration of the Spirit’s power.
In our last month before graduation, we gave a series of practical ministry assignments to encourage our students to become true “doers of the Word,” with supernatural results. (Thanks to John & Sonja Decker for their model of hands-on ministry training that teaches everyday believers to “do the stuff” of real ministry).
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| Our students minister in small rural fishing communities like Senyondo (main street pictured above), where they reside. |
Jessica Agaba shared that she and another sister from the school were requested to pray for a certain neighbor girl who was afflicted with a strange illness. The two had just been taught and assigned to pray for the sick and cast out demons, so in preparation for ministry they spent a whole day praying in the church building. As the ladies entered the neighbor’s home that evening, they found that the girl was not only sick, she was mentally disturbed because of demonic influence and had gone insane, being tied with ropes and chains to keep her under control. The two were surprised and a little fearful of the outcome since they had never prayed for a madwoman, but they spent the entire night in prayer for the girl and left in the morning without seeing full deliverance.
A day went by before the neighbor excitedly came to report that her daughter was in her right mind and that all sickness and insanity had vanished! The removal of physical fetters that bound and cut her wrists were an outward sign of a miraculous deliverance from demons removed through the prayers of these faithful ministers!
Stephen Sekanjakko entered the school in September too shy to speak to anyone about God, but as his community learned that he was being trained in a real Bible School, they began to call the young man Pastor, asking him to pray for their sick from time to time. Last week after participating in a local soccer match, someone requested that he come pray for a certain young boy who was suffering from epilepsy. Stephen was fearful and quickly found the excuse that he didn’t have a Bible with him and wouldn’t be able to go. The man continued to urge him, reiterating that he wasn’t asking for a sermon, just prayer. Stephen finally complied, trembling as he went.
As this fledgling, Bible-less minister laid hands on the sick boy, he was reminded of a certain memory verse he had just completed for a class assignment and prayed it over the boy, claiming healing in Jesus’ name. As he hastily left the scene, someone ran to him exclaiming that the boy had been healed! A crowd had gathered around the boy and all could see that a notable miracle had happened by the name of Jesus.
Yudaya Nabasumba went to a friend’s house to return her borrowed Bible (her own had been burned by her husband who was no longer supportive of her Bible education and drastic life changes). As she handed back the Book and thanked the woman, the Holy Spirit prompted her to ask, “Since I’ve had your Bible these few days, what have you been reading?” The woman opened up and began to describe her discouragement and how weak she had become in her faith, along with her backslidden husband. Yudaya offered to pray for her, and as the two women knelt before the Lord in prayer, the Holy Spirit fell upon the woman, causing her to cry out for God to forgive her sins and help her and her husband to live right before Him. They continued this way for some time, and when Yudaya left the house, the woman’s burden was lifted and she was felt free, forgiven, and encouraged.
These few stories are a small sample of dozens of miraculous occurrences from just the last four weeks. You should see the faces of each student as the realization comes that their God is alive, that He is the same today as He was in the Bible, and that He is pleased to use them to bring about His Kingdom. What an awesome privilege to teach the simple principles of Scripture and watch them work in the lives of needy people.