Empower International is a non-profit organization committed to empowering next-generation leaders in Thailand, Myanmar and Pakistan.
From the time he was a little boy, Todd Powers had a desire to know about God. “But nobody ever talked to me about Jesus,” he shares. One day he looked up at the sky and said, “God, if You’re real, show me who You are.” When he was 15 years old, he met a young woman who finally told him about Jesus. Her name was Julie, and she later became his wife.
As teenagers, they attended the West Coast Believers’ Convention in Anaheim, California. “It was in those moments, as a teenage boy, that the teachings of Kenneth and Gloria Copeland began to really get into my heart and into my life,” says Powers.
At 17 years old, Powers knew he was called into ministry. “Even though I had no idea what that meant,” he states. After graduating high school, he and Julie got married, then moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma to attend Bible college. At 22 years old, they took their first foreign mission trip to Guatemala. It was on this trip that he had an encounter with the Lord, and he knew in his heart that he was being called into global missions.
Todd Powers was a special guest on Inside the Vision with Pastor George Pearsons. Watch here:
Empower International Is Born
In 2002, they registered Empower International as a non-profit organization, which is committed to empowering next-generation leaders to communicate the message of God’s love and salvation to people who have never heard it before.
In 2003, they sold their home and everything they owned, and officially launched Empower International. They moved their young family to Bangkok, Thailand because they knew the Lord had called them to that nation and to that city. Says Powers, “17,000,000 people, and we didn’t know a soul in that Buddhist nation.” However, they had a passion and love in their hearts for the people of that part of the world, and that’s what drove them to get started.
“Our vision is summed up in our name,” says Powers. “‵Empower’ is our vision. And it’s to empower leaders in those nations to succeed in their mission to reach their people for God.”
When the Powers initially went to Thailand, they saw many pastors from that nation that were struggling. These pastors had no network, accountability or resources to do what God had put in their hearts to do. God spoke to the Powers and said, I want you to empower existing leaders. They allowed the Lord to highlight and lead them to the right people so that they could begin fulfilling this mandate from Him.
To date, here are just a few areas in which they empower leaders, impacting local regions:
- Bible Schools
- Student Sponsorship
- Human Trafficking Prevention
- Local Churches and Pastors
- Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Aid
- Children’s Homes
- Water-well Projects.
Empowering Leaders to Reach Their People
In the nation of Myanmar, one of the poorest countries in the world, the Lord instructed Todd to empower leaders there by providing them with debt-free land, homes and buildings for their ministries. Many of them were struggling, living in little bamboo huts that were suspended a few feet over water and mud that was littered with trash.
Powers recalls the time he pulled up to one of those homes, and a pastor named Timothy was standing out in his front yard on a piece of bamboo, brushing his teeth. Powers noticed there was a plastic cup nailed to the tree that the pastor was standing next to. It had about fifteen toothbrushes in it belonging to all the orphans they had taken in, as well as his own family; they would all stand on that bamboo to brush their teeth.
“I can remember thinking, If only I could provide them a building for the orphans. If I could only provide them with a home for their family,” recalls Powers. “To know they don’t have to worry about a mortgage or rent, and they can focus on the ministry that God has called them to, to reach their people…that to me is empowerment.”
Powers understands this empowerment means recognizing that he’s not going to change somewhere like Thailand, as a western English-speaking American Christian. “But what I can do is find the key leaders that God has called and anointed to reach their people in that region,” he shared. Usually, these leaders have previously been part of the false religion of that nation, and they understand the culture of the religion of their nation. Plus, they speak the language. “Learning the Thai language is very difficult,” says Powers with a chuckle. “It’s almost impossible, it seems.” However, if Empower International can go in and help equip those local leaders to succeed in their mission to reach their people with the gospel, the army of God has increased and been empowered, and there’s nothing that can stop that.
“So, that was our strategy and our goal in reaching into the existing leaders,” says Powers.
Empowering The Next Generation
Reaching the next generation of leaders is something Powers really enjoys. “Investing in children, teens and young professionals, the younger generation…that’s really my happy place,” says Powers.
He wants to empower the next generation of leaders with that same passion that he had when he was a teenager, and help them discover God’s purpose for their lives, His vision for their futures, and then help them to pursue it with everything they’ve got.
One of Powers’ favorite things that they’re doing right now is going into places like Pakistan, which is an Islamic republic— meaning Christians are in the minority — and starting schools there.
As they began going in to plant churches in Pakistan, they’ve discovered that many children of Christian families are not allowed to go to school. Because many of these children came from poor families, they were forced to work as slaves in brick factories and in the fields. When the Powers saw that, they developed a vision for children’s education.
Their first school had about 30 kids. Today, they have multiple schools with around 1,000 children! All of this is on debt-free land and in debt-free buildings.
Their students are performing academically at such a level that the government is coming to them and asking what they’re doing, because their students are outperforming all the private and public Muslim schools. Some of their graduates are even getting full-ride scholarships to some of the best universities.
These children learn the Bible, pray and worship God every day in school. “To me, education is a vital part of empowering a young person,” says Powers. “But not just any education: Bible-based education with biblical values teaching them not only academics, but godly-life.”
Empowering Leaders With the Gospel in Buddhist Schools
In Thailand, which is a Buddhist country, Empower International has doors opened to preach the gospel in virtually every public school in the entire nation. “These are Buddhist public schools, but they love Empower International; they love what we do,” says Powers.
With their team of Thai leaders who were once Buddhist but have been born again, they hold school assembly programs in these public schools. These leaders share their testimony of how God came in and changed their lives. They don’t experience resistance from the teachers, the principals or the superintendents, and the students love to hear the stories of Christianity, the Bible and how God changed these Thai formerly Buddhist people’s lives. They share the simple yet powerful gospel, and many of the students say, “That’s what I want in my life.” Empower International is not restricted at all in these schools!
Empowering Leaders Through Free Education
Empower International covers the entire cost of a school year for students. Transportation, school uniforms, textbooks, aptitude tests, curriculum, labs, field trips, family counseling, tuition fees, teachers and more are provided by Empower.
They believe that access to quality education is crucial in preventing human trafficking, exploitation and the perpetuation of poverty. As stated on their website, “We are committed to breaking the chains of oppression mentally, generationally and spiritually. Our goal is to empower children and young adults to believe in themselves and recognize their capabilities with the support of God and their leaders.”
In faith and action, they embody 1 John 3:18, which says, “Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.”
Your Giving Is Helping Empower Leaders
Partner, your support for KCM has helped support Empower International and its mission for over 20 years, because each time you give to KCM, we sow 10% into other ministries who touch the lives of people we normally could not reach. We call this twice-sown seed.
Says Powers, “I just want to say to the Partners of KCM that we are so thankful for you, because as KCM supports us out on the mission field in the most unreached part of the world, we would not be able to do that without your partnership. Thank you. We appreciate and are so thankful for what you’ve done in supporting us to reach the world for Jesus. People’s lives are changing. It’s a matter of life and death. It’s matter of eternity in the hearts of the people that God has called us to reach. Thank you for helping us do this.”
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Twice-Sown Seed: Something To Smile About
A Home for Neglected Children In the Philippines
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