After Brian Hargarther graduated from high school, he attended Monroe Community College for a year, taking classes in business administration and culinary arts. Brian made poor choices and got into some bad situations that year at MCC—but God was not about to leave him there. He explains: "One night I just had a really, really bad night—and felt like there was no hope—and God gave me a vision. I saw a path in front of me that went two ways. One path was filled with death and destruction, and the other way light and growth…and lead to Him." Brian knew that God was telling him to come to Elim.

His parents had agreed to pay half of the cost of his first year at EBI. In order to pay for the other half, Brian worked in a garden center and did landscaping jobs on the side. During his Junior Internship at the New York School of Urban Ministry in New York City, Brian was unable to work and the money eventually ran out. He met with student finances upon his return to campus and discussed the option to delay payments until he was able to begin working again.

Brian faced an important decision. On the one hand, he wanted to finish the semester. On the other hand, he knew that when God called him to EBI He told him not to leave with a lot of debt. Brian knew that debt could hold him back from stepping into ministry opportunities after Elim. He spent a lot of time in prayer and felt like God was asking; “How much do you want it, Brian? How much are you willing to do? Do you really have faith in Me?”

Rather than delay payments, he chose to go home mid-semester and look for a job in order to pay for a return to EBI in the spring. Going home meant jumping out and taking a leap of faith—trusting that God would provide…and provide God did! Brian explains:

I left on a Tuesday, I think, and Thursday my dad’s best friend called and said that he was starting a construction job and needed help. He ended up paying me $12 an hour – and I started that Monday! Now, if you know this guy, he’s in his 70’s and hasn’t done a construction job where he needed to hire people to help for 12 years. The job started that Monday and ended the Saturday before the spring semester started; it was so obvious that it was God! There’s no other way to explain that. Even telling non-Christians my story they say: “Wow, what a coincidence!” But for me, I’m like: “How can you say that’s a coincidence?! There’s just no other way around it – this had to be a God thing.”

In the weeks that Brian was home, he made enough money to pay off the fall semester and all but $1000 of the spring semester. “I jumped out totally in the dark,” Brian explains, “and to be honest, those were the scariest moments of my life. But, God really showed me a lot and I learned to wait on him and to really trust in him, and I’ve seen that God has a HUGE hand in my life, which is really exciting!”

Brian is currently at EBI for the second semester of his junior year and working to save money in order to be able to come back for his senior year. After Elim he hopes to finish his business degree as a way of complimenting the ministry plans he believes God has for his life.

Each semester, many of our students stand in faith for similar financial miracles to enable them to stay at EBI. If you want to be a part of that miracle in the life of one of our students, please contact Enrollment Services at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 585.582. You can anonymously place a donation directly into a student’s account—helping to prove to these young servant-leaders that we serve a God who provides for our every need. If this is something that God lays on your heart, we encourage you to call today.

A generous sponsor from his home church paid for Ryan Diffenderfer’s first semester at Elim. He was able to secure loans to pay for two more semesters, but in December of 2009, Ryan realized that he did not have enough money to pay for the upcoming spring semester. Having known that this would be the case, Ryan had been praying for a financial miracle. When he left for Christmas break, however; it appeared as though the financial miracle he had prayed for was just not going to come.

When he arrived home for Christmas, Ryan talked it through with his parents, and determined that the best decision would be to take a year off. Not wanting to go farther into debt, he would work to pay down some of his earlier loans and save up in order to return the following year. He explains: “It was hard at first, but I got to the point where I knew that if God wanted me to be home for a year that it’d be ok. I got to a place where I was at peace with my decision.”

And so, on a cold Sunday in January, while the rest of the students arrived on campus for the start of the Spring semester, carrying additional belongings to their room after Christmas break and excitedly greeting friends they had not seen for a month, Ryan came back in order to pack his things, clean his room, and head home. He and one of his friends, Jeff, packed everything from his room into his van, and Ryan went to the student center to say goodbye to his friends.

As he walked into the building, his phone rang—it was his father, and he was crying. “You need to call your grandma,” he said. Thinking that was strange, Ryan called his grandma, who was also crying. She explained that his grandpa had been doing odd jobs after retirement, and they had been saving the money. From the time she learned that Ryan would not be able to stay at school, she kept thinking about the money they had been saving. That night she had attended an evening service at her church and God had confirmed what was on her heart.

“Would $5,000 be enough for you to stay at school?” she asked.

Rather than saying goodbye to his friends in the student center, Ryan walked outside to unpack his car and move his things back into the dorm—marveling at God’s “11^th hour” provision.