A BSSM first-year student shared this testimony with us: When I was four years old, I was diagnosed with leukemia. The doctor declared that I was not going to make it to the next day; my white blood cell count was so low that if someone touched me, I would bruise. My parents felt they should go to the chapel so they could pray for me. There we found a man who said that God had told him to go to that chapel and pray for me. As soon as he started the prayer, my parents remember, a gust of wind came into the church, opening and shutting the shutters and bending the candle flames to one side. As soon as he ended his prayer, the wind stopped. The next day, the doctor took X-rays and tests again. He said, "I don't know what happened, but the leukemia is gone!" He sent me home with only antibiotics, and I was a healthy kid. I regained full strength immediately. I grew up in church, but I did not know who God was. He was just some god in the sky to me. We moved from Texas to Idaho, and I started to lose my way a little. I was in gangs because I wanted to be accepted. I wanted to be loved and to have someone who had my back. I was married at 18 and divorced the same year when my wife got pregnant with another man which broke my heart. I fell into depression and picked up drugs. I was living in death. I did not know who I was. I was earning money, and that was all that mattered to me. I had not had a close relationship with my dad since I was young. My sister prayed for me for those seven years from the time I was 18 (I'm 27 now). She had a prophetic dream that there was a big flood and the house was floating away, but our whole family was in the attic and our whole house was going to be saved. In February 2015, I went through another breakup. I'd been in and out of relationships. I had given all to this one and hadn't felt so hurt since my break up with my wife. I was tired of the way I was living. I'd also been robbed twice, and nothing good was happening in my life. Then I felt an unction that I should speak to God again. Little did I know that my sister was praying for me, and I was her answer to prayer. I told her about my decision to go back to God, and she celebrated and pointed me to a church. At that church, I got connected to one of the pastors. I e-mailed him, and he met with me and showed me around. For the first time in my life, I felt so loved and accepted. I had never really understood worship, but during worship that day, I started singing along, but not just that: the words were hitting my soul. It was like someone turned on the faucets in my eyes. I never cried like that in my life. That's when I had an encounter with the Father for the first time. It was like electricity running through me, a heat wave all over me. I never felt his raw presence before. It was such a tangible love. That's when I was filled with conviction and told God that I was going to give up drugs and alcohol and I was going to start living for Him. That day I was under the influence of drugs and alcohol, but when I had that encounter, it sobered me up! Then the pastor connected me with others, and I became a part of a Bible study and also the sound team. For the first time in my life, I felt valued, and because of living for Jesus, I was able to connect with my dad again. My dad was happier than he'd ever been, and I was on fire for the Lord.
There was a small crusade back home, and I led three people to the Lord for the first time in my life. I was unstoppable. Being such a baby in the Lord, I was reading and studying the Word, and it became so alive to me. I even got to lead and teach a small group. Then in May, my sister was graduating from BSSM first year, so I came to Redding and fell in love with the culture, and I felt a conviction that I should come to the school and see what happened. Two months later, I got accepted for First Year and cried. Though I'd told the whole truth, they still accepted me. Before I came to First year, I was given a prophetic word that God was going to open up a gift during worship. During my first service at the Bethel Twin View Campus during worship, I was singing and felt the power of God and started singing in tongues for the first time. In First year, I built my foundation: my identity, who I was, and whose I was. All year long I got prophetic words that they saw an evangelist and a pastor in me. I had not seen the fruit of that yet, but I've been holding on to those promises. On Christmas of my first year, I went home to Idaho and started to see the fruit of what was spoken over me. My aunt was getting really sick from a blood infection. I felt God say I should pray for her. I did, and the power of God came and I felt it through my hands and through her. She started to weep, and I felt like God did something. My other aunt took her to her doctor's appointment. They could not explain what had happened. They compared X-rays and there was no blood infection. My other aunt said, "I guess there are still miracles!" My aunt whom God healed has a son who had never seen the raw power of God before. He was hungry for it and wanted more of God. So I discipled him and spoke life into him. I got him connected to a local church, and he gave his life to the Lord and cried for the first time, too. Some of his friends were making fun of him, but one week later, one suddenly came to him and said he wanted to go to church with him. And at church, his friend gave his life to the Lord. That's when I started seeing the fruit of the words that had been spoken over me. Now the people (friends and family) who used to call me for drugs call me for prayer. They look up to me now. My dad became my main supporter for BSSM tuition and mission trips. My story has become about power, identity, and redemption.