Following his passion

Brandon Sundberg knows exactly what he wants to do with the rest of his life.

“Walk with God,” said the 22-year-old South Kitsap High School grad.

Whatever forms that takes, or where it takes him, really doesn’t matter, he said.

“I want to be a father who walks with God, and have sons that walk with him, too.”

For the past year at least, that desire has taken him on the road, traveling across the country and even to the Dominican Republic as an intern with evangelist Randy Clark.

Tomorrow, Clark will be in Port Orchard, holding a healing session with Sundberg at his church, Christian Life Center.

When he is working out of Clark’s home base in Pennsylvania, Sundberg said he does everything from help Clark interact with the public during prayer sessions, to office work or even taking out the trash.

He has learned a lot from Clark — who mentors Sundberg and the two other interns traveling with them — about ministry, healing and Clark himself.

“I’ve learned that he’s human,” Sundberg said. “I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly. He makes mistakes, but he just loves God.”

What that taught him, Sundberg said, is that it was OK to be human, and OK to be yourself.

“I learned that I am loved, and to just be who I am — to just be Brandon,” he said. “That no matter what I do, I’ll be loved.”

To be Brandon, he said, is to pray. To pray to help people, to pray to heal people.

Sundberg said he believes there are certain wounds that never heal in people because they are infected with spirits — what he calls “spirit afflictions.”

To heal those wounds, he said, you must pray.

“I see someone in pain or trouble, and I just walk up to them and ask, ‘Can I pray for you?’” he said. “I don’t have a lot of fear. I just stick my hand out.”

Offering people that prayer, he said, has worked some miracles. While in the Dominican Republic, Sundberg said he visited a man who was in a coma and not only helped revive him, but helped his son get rid both of a troubling neck pain, and a persistent stomach pain the man said had lasted for 20 years.

Sundberg doesn’t take credit for the healing, however. He said that is done by God. And sometimes, unfortunately, it doesn’t work.

“It’s frustrating and hard, because I’m not the one that heals, and not everybody I pray for gets healed,” he said. “I can’t do that — God does that. I guess I’m the mailman. I bring the news.”

And it’s not just him that can deliver. Sundberg said healing is available to everybody.

“It’s just given out in different measures,” he said. “Not everyone is called to ministry, but everyone can pray for the sick.”

Sundberg said some people may have the gift for healing and not follow it. Still others do not have the gift as strongly.

“Me, I just ran after the gift,” he said, which he said is why he ended up working with Clark, and will continue to keep healing after he’s finished his internship in another year.

“I try to pray as much and for as many people as possible,” he said, even though sometimes he admitted it is exhausting, and frustrating, especially when you can’t immediately see results.

“I’ve lost two grandmothers to cancer, and I lost a brother to drowning,” he said. “I’ve prayed for people and they still die. But I can’t afford to stop praying. I can’t afford to see someone else die. I just keep going after it, and pray one more time.”

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