With hundreds of Alumni worldwide, God is really doing a move in communities and churches through the training offered at the School of Evangelism. Established in 1977, the school has a strong reputation of sending people out for Christ to be a world changer. Our modus operandi is “equipping servant leaders for the body of Christ.” Documented below are just a handful of stories of what God is doing through the lives of some of our alumni; however, stay connected as we continue to update testimonies from our alumni network.
Rusty Birkeland – HSE Graduate 1979
Rusty graduated from HSE in 1979 and immediately sensed the Lord leading him to serve the people in China. Today, John “Rusty” and his wife, Kitty, are missionaries in Macau, China. John came to Macau in 1980. He and Kitty were married in 1990. They serve together at Horizon Christian Fellowship Macau.
The ministry consists of outreach to children from the ghetto, teens on the fringe of gangs, adults involved with gambling and crime, and contract workers from mainland China.
Juan Domingo – HSE Graduate 1979
Juan graduated from HSE in 1979. Juan was aggressively seeking career in Business at San Deigo State University when God called him to drop everything and seek Him at Horizon school of Evangelism. After graduating from HSE, Juan had a heart for the people of Mexico. He moved to Mexico City from the United States in a VW bus, changed his name, and immigrated into Mexico. God inspired him to establish a church in Mexico City. There he met and married his wife, Tania, who is a wonderful, spirit-filled Christian woman and they have three children. In 1992, the Domingos moved to Queretaro, and again God used their lives to establish another church and a School of Evangelism which continues today. In 1997, God moved the Domingo’s to relocate to Ensenada, Mexico where they started yet another church. Since that time, Juan has launched thriving evangelistic radio and television ministry.
Brooks Gibbs – HSE Graduate 2001
Brooks grew up in a family damaged by divorce, struggled with drugs, alcohol, depression, and thoughts of suicide. He had a life-changing salvation experience in the middle of his high school years and God placed a desire in his heart to share his new- found hope with other youth. By his junior year, Brooks was hosting a local teen talk show and his desire to minister grew. In 1999, Brooks met his future wife Jill in Columbine as they were both ministering to students in the aftermath of the shooting tragedy. Jill shared a message of hope that rang true from her own experience–as a result of a gymnastics accident in 1994 that paralyzed her from the neck down. Brooks is a passionate preacher of the Word and has a special burden for broken and blended families.
Bill Smith – HSE Graduate 2005
Bill left his Calvary Chapel church home in Massachusetts in Fall 2004 to attend HSE with a vision to get equipped for discipling others and sending them out to change the world. His wife, Sandy, also attended the school a semester later and now serve together in Minot, North Dakota assisting in the building of the Horizon Broadcasting Network. The Lord used HSE to teach Bill the value of relationships and the influence that healthy relationships bring for the Gospel. This has prepared him to minister in an area now that is largely traditional in both ethnicity and liturgy. The ability to form strong relationships with the locals has given him many opportunities to share the Gospel. The ability to form relationships with other evangelical churches provides the opportunity to network with the Body of Christ at large and together build the Kingdom of God. Bill is now the pastor ‘Calvary Chapel Minot’, a church that has grown from a bible study they planted in the summer of 2005.
Jim Foote – HSE Graduate 1981
Jim and his wife Christa have been building up God’s church in Mexico for 25 years. They are from Arroyo Grande California, and met on the mission field in Mexico. Jim attended the Horizon School of Evangelism from 1980 to 1981. He went to the Billy Graham Crusade in Mexico City and God called him to Tehuacan, Mexico. Jim and Christa were married in 1984 and lived in Tehuacan with their three girls Bethany, Keilah, and Lia where they planted and pastured a church, Koinonia, for 18 years. In 2005, Jim was asked to pastor a church in Cuernavaca, Mexico, Semilla de Moztaza, where he moved with his family. He currently is also overseeing four church affiliates, Semilla de Moztaza in Taxco, in Mexico City; in San Jose, Costa Rico; and Koinonia in Tehuacan, Mexico. Jim has assisted in many Festivals of Life Outreaches in Mexico and Christa has been writing and recording songs with Mexican Christian artists such as Maria Del Sol. Their girls assist in ministry and work in Cuernavaca. Bethany teaches school, Keilah teaches English as a second language and plans to marry Carlos, who is pasturing the church in Tehuacan, soon. Lia is sixteen and helps with outreach ministries such as street children and youth prisons.
Tanto – HSE Graduate 2003
Tanto graduated from HSE in the Spring of 2003. He immediately followed the calling God had given him as an apostle and went out to preach the Gospel in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, serving on the Festival of Life Team with Horizon Christian Fellowship. He returned to the US after the Festival was over only to go out to Chiapas, Mexico with another pre-festival team with Horizon Christian Fellowship. Following that festival in Chiapas, Tanto served in youth ministry in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Tanto and his wife Cinthya are now ministering in the town of Villa Madero in the Mexican state of Michoacan. Their plan is to impact that area of the world for Jesus. The Pastor’s alliance of Michoacan recommended Villa Madero for them as missionaries to preach the Gospel because there has never been a church here. Their plan is to win the area over by serving the people through social service and blessing the community through action.