05/06/2026
A personal note from Wayne:
ONE YEAR TO LIVE?
On this day, June 5, 2008, I was told I had less than a year to live. I was six months into a year of chemotherapy when my chromophobe renal cell carcinoma broke through, popping up with a few small spots on my liver and a large and rapidly growing tumor in my lung. My oncologist said I was already on the best chemo program for this type of cancer and there was nothing else they could do. He advised against surgery as the cancer would rapidly spread throughout my body even with the surgery. Instead, he said I should get my life in order and prepare for a season of peaceful palliative care until I died.
I had a trip to Kenya planned for that month. My oncologist encouraged me to go. While there, I was tasked with training East African pastors and ministry leaders on how to use media to share Jesus with children and youth in their communities. Unbeknownst to me, one of the directors of our ministry who was also at the conference had told the pastors of my expected soon-coming death. They asked if they could pray for me, and I gladly accepted the offer.
As I stood in the middle of the conference room, the lead pastor of this group anointed me with oil as dozens of others laid hands on me and prayed. It seemed like the prayer went on for 30 or 40 minutes. During this time, the anointing oil poured upon my head began to seep down my body and I could feel a supernatural presence working a miracle within me. By the time the prayers were done, I felt a strength I had not had in months, and a joy that I had not experienced since my initial cancer diagnosis more than a year before.
A week after returning from Kenya, I was scheduled for a CT-guided biopsy of the tumor in my lung to confirm the diagnosis. I was under sedation for this procedure. When I awoke from the sedation, the surgeon who performed the procedure would not comment on his findings, telling me I'd have to wait for my appointment with my oncologist the following week. Suddenly doubt overwhelmed me!
At the appointment that next week, my oncologist put up two slides. One showed the tumor in my lung before I went to Kenya. The other showed the same scene taken as part of the CD-guided biopsy. In the former, was an exceptionally large and clearly defined tumor. The latter showed an empty spot in my lung, slightly larger than the tumor, with precision as one would expect from surgery.
As Tammy and I sat there with the oncologist, looking at these slides, the oncologist asked where I had gone to for the surgery and how they did it endoscopically. I replied that I did not receive any medical treatment other than at his hospital. Then I told him about my prayer encounter in Kenya. While the oncologist did not acknowledge the work of the Holy Spirit in my life, he did say that a few weeks ago I had less than a year to live; but, on that day, he pronounced me cancer free and told me to enjoy a long life.
This story has been told hundreds of times in churches across Russia, Ukraine, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia. More people have responded to this story of God's supernatural deliverance from cancer than any other message I've preached. In Thailand, this story has touched dozens, especially in northeast Thailand, where our family started a new church plant four years ago.
Yes, today is a reminder of how fragile my life is. I call it my deathiversary. It is an annual reminder of God's amazing grace upon my life. In July 1982, God saved my soul from eternity in hell, and in June 2008, God delivered me from the cancerous clutches of death. God has been so good to me!
I hope as you read this account that you are encouraged, especially if you are enduring a season of struggle. Without regard to your current circumstances, if you are a follower of Jesus, you can be assured that God is at work in your life...even when the world's anticipated outcome is the end of your life.
