Kelsey's Dream Becomes Reality

Some of the CBC-Colorado mission team, including Kelsey Hamilton (far right) pause for a picture on the busy streets of Chennai, India. (Click to enlarge)In January, a team of staff and students from Charis Bible College in Colorado arrived in India to share the love of God with the Indian people. After a series of lengthy travel delays (22 hours worth) the second-year students, led by CBC Instructor, Dr. Delron Shirley, dove into ministry at the CBC extension school in Chennai. While the Colorado students were on foreign soil, they were welcomed by familiar faces; the directors of CBC-India, Lance and Gerri Weldgen, and ministry team member, Jessica Klecker, are each recent CBC-Colorado graduates.

Over the course of the nine days they spent in India, the Colorado team had the opportunity to teach at the school, participate in a local community outreach, minister in churches and during The team stands in front of a promotional banner for a youth celebration. (Click to enlarge)open-air crusades, and they traveled to a gypsy village. They also visited a home for destitute women and an orphanage for HIV-positive children. At each of the two latter places, the student's close interaction with the residents gave the women and the children a taste of love, laughter, life, and in a way, the very nearness of God and His unconditional love.

For one student, Kelsey Hamilton, the journey to India was a dream come true. Before ever hearing about Andrew or CBC, Kelsey had a vivid dream in which she saw herself in the busy streets of India. She knew in her spirit that the dream was of God, and it was her call to the mission field.

CBC staff and students, including CBC-India Director, Lance Weldgen (left) and CBC-Colorado team leader, Dr. Delron Shirley (right).
(Click to enlarge)After learning about CBC, and moving to Colorado to attend, Kelsey found that one of the graduation requirements is the completion of a foreign mission trip. Although at the time, her trip was more than a year away, she immediately asked God where He wanted her to go. As she reviewed the destination options, she remembered the dream she had about India. She scanned the available trips with excitement, but her enthusiasm was dampened as she realized that there were no trips scheduled for India. Kelsey then heard the Lord tell her to call forth a trip to India. She spent the rest of her first year speaking forth her opportunity to minister in India. During her second year, when the time came for students to submit their choices for their preferred mission trip destinations, India had been added to the roster!

Kelsey Hamilton and Divia. Since the trip, Delron has had the opportunity to arrange for Kelsey to return to India this summer to teach English in the Northeastern part of the country!
(Click to enlarge)Throughout her times of prayer, calling forth India as her destination and praying for the people of India, Kelsey continued to have visions of things to come (John 16:13). One such vision included the image of a little Indian girl; when Kelsey saw the girl in her mind's eye, she wept.

During the team's actual visit to the gypsy village, Kelsey came face-to-face with the little girl she had seen in her vision. "Right when I saw her, I knew she was the one I had wept over. She was so dirty and her hair was matted, but she was so beautiful. When she saw me, she clung to me, so I held her the whole time. The one time I did have to put her down, I gave her to her mom, and she was crying and reaching for me; talk about breaking my heart. Her mom handed her back to me and asked, 'You take her to America with you?' I wanted to more than anybody knows. I asked what her name was and was told, 'Divia.' I looked it up and it means, 'Heavenly.' Meeting Divia changed my life," said Kelsey.

Kelsey knew before she went to India that God called her to go there, and now that she has visited, she continues to think about and pray for India and its beautiful people. "I long for the day that I can go back. On this trip I grew closer in my relationship with my heavenly Father and feel so privileged that He chose me and called me to India," said Kelsey.

Jessica Klecker on Foreign Land

CBC-Colorado graduate and missionary to India, Jessica Klecker (right). (Click to enlarge)By the age of 15, Colorado native, Jessica Klecker knew she would serve the Lord on the mission field. Today, at the age of 23, she is fulfilling her call to ministry in India, where she has joined fellow Charis Bible College graduates, Lance and Gerri Weldgen, as they minister to the people of Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai, through the CBC extension schools in the region.

Raised in a Christian family, Jessica was born again at the early age of four, and by the age of 13 she had already begun her missionary journey visiting the Navajo Nation in the Southwestern United States to share the love of Jesus. "By 15, God had shown me that I was going to be doing mission work on foreign land. At that time, I didn’t know where it would be, exactly. I just knew that one day I would be on foreign land sharing the Gospel," said Jessica.

Jessica on retreat with her youth group's praise and worship team.
(Click to enlarge)In her teens, Jessica was very involved at her church, and high school. She participated in her school's student government, played volleyball, and served on the praise and worship team for her church's youth group. During those formative years, Jessica developed a desire to go to India.

As her time in high school drew to a close, Jessica began to explore her options for higher education. It was never her intention to attend a secular university, and with that in mind she looked at Christian colleges and Bible schools. When Jessica was 17, her mother came across an advertisement for CBC in a church newsletter, and she brought the school to Jessica's attention. After visiting the CBC 2009, Jessica and her mother, Pam, at the CBC promotional ceremony after first year. Both Pam and Jessica's father, Jan, have been very supportive of their daughter's choices and pursuit of ministry on the mission field.
(Click to enlarge)website, Jessica decided to attend Campus Days in March of 2008. At the time, she was unaware that Andrew's ministry spanned the globe. Jessica said, "I only knew that he was the president and founder of Charis Bible College. The first time I actually heard Andrew teach was at CBC Campus Days."

At the Lord's prompting, and with His peace, Jessica enrolled at CBC. Her introduction to Andrew's teaching brought major changes to her relationship with the Lord as she realized that she had spent her early Christian walk with a performance-based mentality. She had sought to please Him, and worked to be holy and righteous in her own effort. Through Andrew's ministry, she was set free. When Jessica heard the Spirit, Soul and Body teaching, she began to understand her identity in the Spirit. Jessica shared, "After listening to the Word everyday for two years, my relationship with God changed drastically. I no 2010, Jessica's second-year mission team with staff and students in Chennai, India. (Click to enlarge)longer saw Him as mean and upset, but loving. I no longer tried to please Him, but realized He is already pleased. I came to CBC to learn about mission work, and I received so much more. I received a revelation of God’s love that changed my relationship with Him from being one based on fear to one based on His love."

All Charis students are required to participate in a foreign mission trip during their second-year. While students are given a number of destinations from which to choose, they are not guaranteed to go to their preferred nation. Of course Jessica's first choice was India, but she submitted her choices with a heart to minister faithfully, wherever she was sent. As she sat in a class called "Hearing from God," she heard the Lord say, "Go to India, and be Jessica getting her face painted at an orphanage in India during her mission trip in 2010. (Click to enlarge)a blessing." A short time later she received news that she would be part of a team headed to Chennai, India.

In 2010, Jessica's team ministered alongside CBC-Colorado graduates and founders of CBC-India, Russ and David Forgoston. During the trip, Jessica experienced such an excitement and peace that she knew she had found the foreign land the Lord had placed in her heart when she was 15. When she returned to the States, Jessica longed to go back to the people of India, but she also knew it was not quite time; the Lord had given her a word that He would open doors for her to return. Two years passed before she would have the Jessica enjoying CBC graduation with fellow classmates Katherine O'Brien (left) and Trisha Roberts (right).
(Click to enlarge)opportunity to go back. In the meantime Jessica graduated from CBC, completed her third-year internship and was employed by both AWM and CBC. The extra time spent in Colorado served Jessica well and prepared her for her eventual return to India.

In the summer of 2011, Jessica saw God open the door for her to return to Chennai. Through a conversation with David Forgoston, and a connection with the Weldgens, the new directors at CBC-India, Jessica knew it was time to step back on to her foreign land.

Jessica in Chennai with the directors of CBC-India, Lance and Gerri Weldgen. (Click to enlarge)In 2012 Jessica joined Lance and Gerri just in time for the school's expansion into the cities of Hyderabad and Mumbai. Jessica's service to Charis is varied, but she handles many of the day-to-day administrative duties for the ministry in its various locations. She also has the opportunity to teach and interact with the students, which brings her great joy.

For Jessica, one of the highlights of being on the mission field is witnessing the students' reception of the message of grace and the transformation that occurs as they understand their identity in Christ. She said she is able to see the transformation as it takes place because it is revealed in their countenance.

All of the female AWM-India staff, dressed up in their sarees for the 2012 CBC-India Opening Rally.
(Click to enlarge)There was fulfillment in Jessica's life before CBC, but she always felt like something was missing. "I didn’t know what was missing until I came to CBC and learned about the love of God and my identity in Christ. Not knowing those two things and trying to minister to people can be a train wreck. I used to minister to my friends in high school, but it was actually more condemnation than ministry. I wasn’t loving them, I was trying to change their actions to make them pleasing for God. I guess you could say that I was just making noise (1 Corinthians 13). Now, I have actual fulfillment in what I do because I have a stronger relationship with God and an understanding of who I am in Christ. Now, I can share that with others," she said excitedly!

To learn more about the Charis experience in your area visit Charis Bible College. To find out more about what's happening in Chennai, visit CBC-India.

Meet the New Directors of CBC-India

CBC-Colorado graduates and missionaries to India, Lance and Gerri Weldgen. The two now lead CBC and AWM in Chennai. (Click to enlarge)When the Lord called Charis Bible College graduates, Lance and Gerri Weldgen, to the mission field, the couple responded in faith and immediately made arrangements to relocate to India—more than 8,500 miles from their home in Colorado Springs. While ministering in India had been in the back of Lance's mind for nearly a decade, he had waited patiently for the Lord to reveal to Gerri that the region was to be her mission field as well. For many years, Gerri had not shared Lance's enthusiasm to reach the nation of India, but in January 2011, the Lord supernaturally changed Gerri's mind and filled her heart with His love for the Indian people.

Lance teaching in a small church in Andhra Pradesh, India.
(Click to enlarge)In October of 2011, without knowing exactly what God's long term plan was, the Weldgens moved ahead with what the Lord had shown them, and they trusted that He would reveal more of His mighty plan as they moved forward. "We went to India and ministered the unconditional love and grace of Jesus Christ anywhere we could," said Lance.

Since their arrival, the couple has visited a number of cities and villages throughout the nation, particularly in the State of Andhra Pradesh, where they have made the most of every opportunity to teach the Word and minister healing. With the help of their ministry partners the Weldgens have also been able to aid relief efforts in poor communities by providing basic needs, Lance and Gerri stand with residents in a remote village where the Weldgen's ministry, Son Ministries International, and their partners, recently provided a new well for drinking water.
(Click to enlarge)including the digging of fresh water wells. More recently the Weldgens had come alongside the Forgoston family at CBC-India in Chennai. While all their endeavors produced Kingdom fruit, Chennai has provided a newfound stability for the Weldgens—they have recently become the new directors of AWM/CBC-India.

Lance said, "We have been at the Bible college for the past few months and the more time we spent there, the more clearly we saw God’s plan unfolding, and God continues to fine-tune the plan He has for us. I am blessed and honored to now be directing Andrew Wommack Ministries and Charis Bible College of India!"

Gerri surrounded by bright-eyed children in India. (Click to enlarge)Lance likens the Weldgen's journey to that of Abraham's oldest servant in Genesis 24; the servant stepped out in faith to find Isaac a wife and the Lord led him to the perfect woman. "God was just that faithful with Gerri and me! We stepped out and the Holy Spirit led! We were led to minister in far reaching villages and hamlets where they have not known grace. Once we developed relationships with people who needed the unconditional grace and love message, God led us to CBC to train up servants to go out and do the same," said Lance excitedly.

Lance, Gerri, staff and students pray a blessing over CBC-India's former director, David Forgoston. The Forgostons have moved on to launch CBC-Switzerland. (Click to enlarge)When asked to share their thoughts on the transition of leadership at CBC-India the Forgostons had this to say, "We have known the Weldgens for a few years now and have seen that they have a real desire and calling to minister to the people in India. We're very happy that such dedicated people took up the challenge to move to the other side of the world to help take CBC-India to the next level!"

The Weldgens recognize the staff and students' commitment to spreading the Gospel of Grace to all of India, and they are excited with anticipation of what the Lord is going to do with and through the school in the coming years. Lance and Gerri are thankful to have been accepted so quickly by a wonderful staff and that they have embraced the Weldgen's vision for the school. "Our vision is to see many CBC schools open CBC-India, staff and students.
(Click to enlarge)during the next years, and already we are close in two other major cities in India," said Lance.

In the meantime, CBC-India graduated 20 students in April of 2012, and each of these graduates plans to spread the almost-too-good-to-be-true-news of the Gospel throughout the nation. Their determination to share what they have learned highlights the power of God's Word and exemplifies Andrew's heart for ministry duplication through CBC. Andrew has declared that he will spend the rest of his life advancing the Kingdom based on the model found in 2 Timothy 2:2,

"And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also."

To learn more about Lance and Gerri's ministry and to keep up with their progress, visit their ministry website: Son Ministries International.