Kingdom Encounters

Florida-based Assemblies of God evangelist Caleb R. Wampler gained his first ministry experience at the age of 8, initiating a weekly prayer gathering around the flagpole at the public school he attended. He followed that with an after-school sports program providing more opportunities to share Jesus. His continued passion for the gospel led him to form Bible clubs and prayer groups meeting four days a week during junior high and high school.

“I wasn’t exactly sure then what to do with this evangelistic calling,” says Wampler, 35. “I had only witnessed ministry from pastors and missionaries at church.”

After high school, Wampler served six years as a youth pastor in Minnesota, first with Summit Church in St. Paul and then with Hillside Church in Mankato. He married college sweetheart Harmonee, whom he met when they both attended North Central University, in 2011. They now are parents of four children, age 8 and under.

Wampler’s evangelistic calling began to come together when he served three years as assistant to AG evangelist Daniel Kolenda of Christ for All Nations, the organization founded by noted late AG evangelist Reinhard Bonnke. The years of mentoring from both Bonnke and Kolenda, along with the experience working with international evangelistic outreaches, proved foundational in preparing Wampler to launch his own ministry organization, Kingdom Encounters International, (KEI) in 2017.

“Jesus appeared to me in a powerful encounter that left me undone,” Wampler says. “At that moment, I knew the Lord was calling me to the nations.”

In the years since Wampler launched KEI, he and his team say they have witnessed 814,450 souls brought into the Kingdom in evangelistic outreaches and outreach ministry trips. They have ministered in 14 countries, including Pakistan, India, Kenya, South Korea, and Uganda, as well as several parts of the U.S. Thousands of healings and deliverances have occurred during the meetings. Many more testimonies are reported after an outreach ends and local support teams hear about them.

In one outreach in Pakistan, 139 non-ambulatory people began to walk at one evening’s meeting — the same night 139,924 people made decisions to follow Christ. A teen girl in Colombia had a large tumor protruding from her jaw to her clavicle and it vanished as Wampler spoke the name of Jesus. An 82-year-old man in Bangladesh, paralyzed on the left side of his body, received instant healing. Witches and demoniacs have been set free and become ambassadors for Christ leading others to the gospel.

Joshua J. Smith, Wampler’s friend since their high school days, joined KEI when Wampler called him prior to the launch. Smith says a trip to Nicaragua where he saw God move in supernatural healing and deliverance proved transformational for him.

“I realized that Jesus would use anyone who is willing, even someone like me,” says Smith, 35. “Now I see supernatural healing everywhere I go because I see God’s heart and my faith has skyrocketed to new heights.”

Smith recounts a time when a little girl in Pakistan needed prayer for her leg. He prayed for God to heal the girl’s leg, and when she started walking, Smith discovered she had been born paralyzed. The girl’s entire family became Christians that night.

Wampler and his team have seen numerous healings occur outside of evangelistic outreaches — at supermarkets, shopping malls, gas stations, restaurants, parks, and even pedestrians walking along a street. People have been healed of ailments, fevers, migraines, and shoulder, back, and leg injuries.

“It is just as simple as giving opportunity for the Lord to meet people anywhere,” Wampler says. “The Holy Spirit is always present and waiting to move. He’s as near to moving as our obedience and our step of faith for someone who desperately needs Him.”

Georgi Granat attended a service at her home church, Solid Rock Faith Center, an AG congregation in Diamond Springs, California, where Wampler spoke in 2020. She had problems walking and could barely go up or down stairs at the time. She had been diagnosed with a torn meniscus, undergoing weekly physical therapy while waiting for a surgery referral. When Wampler specifically called for those suffering from a torn meniscus to come forward for prayer, she says she knew the Lord wanted to heal her. After prayer with the others who had come forward, she returned to her seat, aware that something had changed.

“I was able to move my knee with less pain,” says Granat. “Every day afterward my knee got better. After a week, it no longer hurt, and I had total movement back.”

In each ministry outreach, KEI partners with local pastors and ministry leaders so they can continue to disciple attendees.

“We need the full body of Christ working together interdependently,” says Wampler.

He believes one-on-one intimacy with Christ should be paramount in every Christian’s life.

“It isn’t just about reading our Bibles and praying,” Wampler says. “We need to encounter the Man — the Living Word. We need to know Jesus.”