BUILDING UNITY, MATURITY & POWER IN THE CHURCH
FOR TRANSFORMING COMMUNITIES & NATIONS
Testimony and Background
Hello! I believe it's important to find out about the leadership of a ministry. Who are the people that are offering their spiritual guidance for others to follow? Are they called and sent by God to bring the commissioned authority of the Lord Jesus Christ? Do they understand the spiritual significance of a ministry that allows the liberty (freedom) of the Spirit of Christ Jesus to live and move through people? Are the leaders true servants? Are their motives pure? Are they coming underneath people to work with the Lord in lifting them up into their full purpose and destiny? Are they recognizing, nurturing and training individuals in their special gifts?
We must admit that anyone is capable of making mistakes and being wrongly deceived. Therefore; everyone must be transparent, vulnerable, teachable and accountable. I'm glad that I am always learning and growing in the Lord. We must all humbly seek correction and rebuke. Christians are under the covering of Jesus Christ, and we must submit to the Spirit of Christ in each other. God's Word and Spirit must lead and guide us all. The place of humility where we fully depend on our Lord Jesus and each other is the safest place to be.
Enjoying a wonderful, loving, personal, and spiritual relationship with Jesus is paramount. We must go on from there to spiritual maturity and be trained as a valiant soldier in Christ. God has dynamic plans and strategies for building His Church. His victorious Church will rise up to cooperate with Him as He sets the captives free!
Allow me to share a bit of my personal background. My testimony is only important in that you may discover how the Lord Jesus Christ has proven Himself faithful in my life. Apart from Him, I have no righteousness in myself. I can boast of nothing other than what Christ is doing in me and through me.
I grew up just outside Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. Although I attended a church with my mother, brother and sister; I did not develop a personal relationship with God during these early years. It was a shame that even though we belonged to a Christian church, I never learned how to accomplish this. Jesus was not real in my life and therefore had no meaningful impact.
Upon graduating from high school and a brief stint at college; I served a term in the U.S. Army as a military policeman, where I was able to complete a college degree. After an honorable discharge from the Army, I joined the Baltimore City Police Department.
Around 1982, a Christian friend gave me a Bible and suggested I read the book of John. The seed of God's Word was being planted in my heart.
One evening I attended a Christian music ministry presentation. I remember the woman singing while her husband played the piano. Tears began to well up in my eyes as a lump formed in my throat. The Holy Spirit was revealing a void in my life that only God could fill. Upon returning home that evening, the Holy Spirit truly convicted me of my sin and made me aware of my need for God. I knelt down and repented, asking the Lord's forgiveness for the sin in my life. This is when I began a personal relationship with God. I told the Lord Jesus that I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior. Standing to my feet, I had the distinct impression that I was supposed to do something "important" for God. I did not know at the time that God has a special purpose for each person in His family.
Not everything went smoothly over the next several years. I still had many problems and conflicts in my life that had not been resolved. I had deep hurts and bitterness that the Lord would need to help me with. It would be awhile before I began to reach any appreciable level of spiritual maturity. Like many Christians, I found it was easier to know Jesus as Savior than it is to really follow and obey Him as Lord. Part of the problem for me was the lack of true discipleship and training in the Church.
Another problem that slowed my spiritual progress was the lack of effective Christian counseling. Although there are some fine Christian counseling ministries, this is still a shortcoming in the Church. Christians often must resort to going to ungodly, worldly therapists for unscriptural coping skills and long-term mood altering medication. I'm thankful that the Lord finally led me to mature Christian leaders who could help me. They understood that the true spiritual realities, along with the sin and root problems needed to be addressed in my life.
After ten years on the police department, I resigned because I had become bored with the day-to-day routine. Next, I started a burglar alarm company and managed it for the next six years. Then my excitement and attention for business waned and my financial success also began to fade. I felt unfulfilled, restless and disturbed in my spirit. I was still searching for answers.
In addition, I realized that God was provoking in me a frustration and uneasiness with the mundane and the status quo. What God was doing in my heart would eventually steer me towards the type of ministry work that He had for me. An important emphasis of this work would be a dissatisfaction with doing things a certain way "just because that's the way they were done."
In 1995; while attending a local church, I told the pastor of my desire to begin evangelizing in the neighborhoods. I simply wanted to begin sharing Jesus with people and thought this would be a worthwhile activity for the church members. He said they were not comfortable doing that.
The Holy Spirit led me out of that church and in and out of many others. Part of my frustration was that none of the pastors recognized or developed my spiritual gifts. I was unfulfilled because I was not rising up into my godly potential.
Shortly thereafter, while in prayer, the Lord gave me a vision. I saw myself and had the understanding that I would be going to the nations as a minister of the gospel. The emphasis of God's call was that I was to somehow help all Christians and ministers to "work together more effectively." After receiving this vision, I got up from my knees. I was astounded, and asked the Lord; "How am I supposed to do this?" The Lord immediately answered and I heard His still, small voice say; "Don't try to do it with your intelligence or ability. Do it with My wisdom and power."
It wasn't long before the Holy Spirit led me into the city of Baltimore. For the next few years I worked mostly with the youth at an inner city church and in the community. I'm grateful to the pastor for imparting his lifestyle of holiness and prayer. During this period the Holy Spirit led me to pray for a young man with reported brain damage who had been in a coma for three weeks. He instantly came out of the coma and was completely healed. It is a joy to teach of the many ways to show the love of God and lead people to Jesus.
I continued to live in the inner city even after the Holy Spirit led me out of this church for the same reasons as before. The next few years were ones of intensive prayer and study. The Lord provided an education that was outside traditional religious institutions. I mainly learned personally from the Holy Spirit and from the books and tapes of leaders with international ministries. The Lord used this time to help mold and prepare me for ministry. Most important was how the Lord had ordered my steps by removing many worldly distractions. This allowed me to experience life in the spirit in a deeper way. I'm so glad that the Holy Spirit led me to get to know Him, and Father God, and our Lord Jesus in such a wonderful and intimate way.
After the Holy Spirit anointed me for public preaching, Jesus helped me to start house churches. After a year or so, I felt that I was still missing "a couple pieces of the puzzle." Things weren't going quite as smoothly as it seemed they should. People weren't committed to discipling others and multiplying.
I wanted to discover God's way for rapidly multiplying churches, and raising disciples who love Jesus and were committed to Kingdom growth. I knew that all of the people should be doing the work of the ministry in whatever sphere of society they were called to. During the next couple of years, the Lord faithfully sent more teachers into my life who helped me to fill in the missing pieces of the puzzle.
In 2002, Father God blessed me by sending a wonderful godly woman into my life! Peggy and I were married and we spent this important period of our lives building a wonderful love for each other by keeping Jesus at the center of our marriage.
Presently I am employed in the emergency medical field.
Our Lord Jesus has a plan for building His Church and the Holy Spirit has given us specific direction for the ministry. We are obedient to our call and desire only to do exactly what the Holy Spirit directs us to do, at the precise time, and in the way He leads us. We are excited about everything that God is doing!
On May 5th, 2008, after an intense period of groaning and travailing, the Holy Spirit helped to birth this ministry. I consider everything we have learned and done up to this period to be part of our preparation and training for ministry. God has now opened up exciting doors for the ministry and given us specific instructions. God has moved us into a supernatural glory realm. We can see how God has developed us to be comfortable ministering in this realm of glory in the Spirit.
It is an honor to help our brothers and sisters in Christ to fulfill their divine destinies and accomplish the impossible with God! It is our privilege to co-labor with churches, church organizations, denominations, and ministries to more effectively advance the Kingdom of God in the world! It is very exciting to see the Church come together in unity of purpose and rising up as a mighty army of the Lord!
Heavenly Father, thank You for providing the way for us to be One with You, in love, for eternity, through Your Son Jesus Christ. May your love, wisdom, and power flow through your people to bless the nations and fulfill your will, vision, and purpose in our lives and in the earth. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.
Love, in Him,
Your brother in Christ,
Charles David Chalson
founder & apostolic team leader,
Ministry Impossible
