Felipe’s* Story: Cartel Member has a Healing Encounter

*Name and image changed for privacy.

Filipe was positioned as a guard at the entrance of the cartel’s favela, watching for police or rival gang activity. In Jardim Gramacho, a slum in Brazil, it’s the cartel that run the place and decide who can come in and out. So today, on our outreach, Filipe was one of the first cartel members we approached..

He carried a pistol at his waist and held a radio to notify his leaders of any suspicious movement. He couldn’t have been older than his early twenties, maybe even younger. In this region, many cartel members are teenagers or young adults who have grown up surrounded by drug trafficking and gang violence. Fear, poverty, and hopelessness often lead these young people into involvement with the cartel. This was likely Filipe’s story.

His home, Jardim Gramacho, was once the location of the largest dumpsite in Latin America. Before the government shut the dumpsite down, many of the poor in the area survived by feeding off the trash as it entered. Since its closure, the area has been overtaken by the Rio cartel and is now filled with slums and favelas, home to many families living in extreme poverty. Drugs, poverty, gang activity, and brutal violence have become the reputation of Jardim Gramacho. Many children are growing up in this environment without hope, and there are countless broken families and individuals addicted to drugs and alcohol.

Like many cartel members, the name of Jesus was familiar to Filipe. Having grown up around Catholicism and Christianity, some even claim to be Christians themselves. However, few have ever encountered the real, living Jesus.

Yet when we approached Filipe and asked if we could pray for him, he responded politely—handing his gun to a friend and removing his hat to receive prayer.

Before we prayed, Kelvin received a word of knowledge that Filipe had pain in his shoulder. Surprised, Filipe shared that he had recently injured it while weightlifting. As we prayed, he began moving his shoulder and was shocked to discover that the pain was completely gone.

This moment opened the door for us to share Jesus with him. For Filipe, Jesus revealed Himself as more than a religion—He showed Himself to be a living God. It was a seed planted in his heart, and we trust that the Holy Spirit will continue to water it and bring the increase.

Filipe’s encounter took place during our time serving with the IRIS Jardim Gramacho team here in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As part of our extended outreach after graduating Harvest School, we had the privilege of spending the last two weeks with the team in Brazil. We participated in regular outreaches into the slums and cartel-controlled regions, joined the intercessory team daily in their prayer room, met local children through after-school programs and children’s services, visited hospitals to pray for the sick, and connected with the community through a church planted in the middle of the slums by the base leaders..

During one outreach in a region locked down by the cartel, we also witnessed multiple cartel members receive physical healing—one young man’s shoulder and another leader’s back—which opened a door for us to share the gospel with them.

But Filipe’s story is the one that stays with us. Because in the middle of cartel-controlled streets, Jesus revealed Himself as more than a name or a religion, and we trust that what was planted in Filipe’s heart will continue to grow.