On April 24, 2014, I had a life-changing encounter with Jesus in a prison cell.
After more than a decade of addiction, immorality, and crippling anxiety, Jesus met me in a moment that changed everything. I was saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit, and from that day forward, I carried a deep desire to see others encounter Him the way I did. That same year, I began attending Life United church in Shreveport, Louisiana, where I was discipled and began to experience the transforming presence of God in my life. In 2015, I enrolled in Life United’s School of Ministry and graduated in 2017, continuing to grow in the Word and prepare for ministry.
After graduation, God led me to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where I joined Global Ventures, an international missions organization focused on evangelism among the unreached. After graduating their three-year internship, I served as the International Project Manager. Over the next nine years, my life was marked by the reality that billions of people still have never heard the name of Jesus. During that time, I helped coordinate major evangelistic projects, led evangelism teams, oversaw discipleship & follow-up efforts, and preached in crusades. In 2018, while ministering in China, I experienced one of the most defining moments of my life. I met people who had never heard of Jesus, yet when they encountered the Gospel, many wanted to know and receive Him. That moment deeply marked me and compelled me to devote my life to reaching those who have never heard. In total, I personally participated in 24 mass evangelism projects across 17 nations with Global Ventures.
In 2024, the Lord began stirring my heart toward serving more fully among the unreached. In early 2025, after extended prayer and fasting, it became clear that He was calling me into a new season. While in Asia in February 2025, I visited Japan for the first time. What I expected to be a brief time of rest became a defining moment of calling. There, I sensed the tangible call of God for laborers and churches to be planted. After further confirmation and another trip later that year, it became clear that God was calling me to Japan.
In January 2026, while praying for the ministry name, the Lord gave me the word Ekballo. It is the very word Jesus used in Matthew 9:38 when He said to pray for laborers to be sent into the harvest. That word now defines both the urgency and the assignment of this ministry: to go, to preach, to disciple, and to help establish people in lasting faith.
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Years Since Salvation
From a prison cell in 2014 to a permanent call in Japan.
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Nations Reached
Nine years of taking the Gospel to the nations
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Mass Evangelism Projects
Facilitating and preaching the Gospel in streets, schools, prisons, crusades & more.
Moving to Japan
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August 2026
Birth of Ekballo International
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March 2026
Visited Japan for the first time.
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February 2025
Became ‘International Project Manager’ with Global Ventures.
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January 2021
Graduated Global Ventures School of Missions.
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April 2020
Moved to Tulsa, joined Global Ventures.
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August 2017
Graduated Word of Life’s School of Ministry in Shreveport, LA.
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May 2017
Life-changing Jesus encounter in prison cell.
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April 2014
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FROM THE FOUNDER
David Hawkins
Founder, Ekballo International