Butch
and his wife Janet first trained with The
Elijah Challenge in Zambia in February 2005. Butch
was raised in the Christian & Missionary Alliance
(CMA), and is sent to Africa by Encourager Church
in Houston. Their ministry is Light
of Africa which is based
in Zambia.
More
reports from Butch | Light
of Africa
Before
and after Training with The Elijah Challenge
July
14, 2010
When
I first met you, I had been crying out to God for something more.
I was discipling
some local pastors
and church
leaders in town and pastors in the village. I taught them the Word
as I understood it. It was fine but I knew there was more.
I was bound by denominational traditions and teachings. It was
not bad or error, it was just restricting and blinding me to some
of what the Bible teaches. We had church but not much power or
excitement in the meetings. We prayed for people without expecting
or seeing much change. One day, while I was teaching passages from
Luke 9 and 10:
Luke 9:1 When Jesus had called the Twelve
together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons
and to cure diseases,
2 and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal
the sick. …6 So they set out and went from village to village,
preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.
Luke 10:1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and
sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where
he was about to go. …9 Heal the sick who are there and tell
them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you.’
I looked at the pastors and asked if this was happening in their
churches. They all said NO. I told them I didn't see it either.
I
went home very discouraged. I knew I was the problem but had
no solution. I cried out to God and asked Him
to help show me the
answer. Two weeks later I met you. When you shared your ministry
and The Elijah Challenge teaching, I knew God had answered my
prayer. After learning TEC’s teachings
and the authority I have as a believer in Christ, my hope was restored.
I now see the miraculous often and teach others to do miracle
evangelism. When I visit a church or village and use the authority
to heal someone, the people come to listen and receive. The blind
see and the lame walk. I have had those I taught raise people out
of wheelchairs and heal blind eyes. I have seen churches that choose
to use The Elijah Challenge evangelism, double and triple in (attendance)
in 6 months. Pastors who use TEC get visits in the night by people
from other churches and cults asking to be healed. Some receive
Jesus after their healing or deliverance.
I have been asked to go to churches in other countries to teach
them their authority using TEC. When God comes to confirm His word,
people respond. I had 2 ladies that walked 20 kilometers to attend
a meeting to receive healing and God healed them from years of
pain. Some churches form miracle evangelism teams while others
have started healing services where anyone can come. A few have
done nothing and it dies.
Every
church that has practiced the TEC method has initially grown
and continues to growing.
I was teaching TEC in a rural village in Burkina
Faso recently. When the pastor realized it worked and he was
being used by God
to heal people, he said,”I never believed or expected anything
like this!" People were being delivered and others were healed.
PTL!
Thank you so much for teaching me!
Butch Berner
Founder
Light of Africa
[Note:
The "TEC method" is simply how Jesus generally ministered healing
and how he taught and commanded his disciples to heal
the sick
in the gospels when he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of
God.]
If
your missionary organization or missionaries would like
to train with The Elijah Challenge, please contact us at info@TheElijahChallenge.org.