Derek Draughon on Response-Ability: Fighting Faith Through Crisis and Revelation
About this episode
Pastor Derek Draughon of Saraland First Assembly in Saraland, Alabama — part of the greater Mobile metro area — joins Philip Cameron for a conversation that cuts to the heart of what it means to fight the good fight of faith in a world bent on backing believers down. Derek, who also leads the Fuelcast ministry at fuelcast.tv alongside his wife Courtney, brings a pastor's clarity and a warrior's conviction to the question every believer faces in crisis: how will you respond? Drawing on Paul's declaration in 2 Corinthians that believers possess "divine weapons that demolish strongholds," Derek unpacks the difference between reacting in the flesh and positioning yourself to hear God's strategy. "It's our responsibility," he says — then breaks the word apart: "the ability to respond." He points to Daniel 10, where the angel tells Daniel, "From the moment you set your mind to understand," as the biblical blueprint for crisis response — seek revelation first, then stand, then move. Philip shares firsthand testimonies of God meeting impossible financial needs at the exact moment of surrender, and Derek affirms the pattern: God expands your capacity to respond only as He finds you faithful with smaller things. Whether you are a pastor navigating vision versus income, an entrepreneur hearing the Spirit's whisper, or a believer in a season of crushing pressure, this episode delivers a clear, scripture-anchored call to position yourself, hear God's voice, and step forward in faith. Connect with Derek and Courtney at derekandcourtney.com or watch Fuelcast at fuelcast.tv.
Part of our Faith collection of conversations.
What's Discussed
Pastor Derek Draughon of Saraland First Assembly (Saraland, Alabama) joins Philip Cameron to explore what he calls "response-ability" — the God-given ability to respond rightly when crisis hits. Anchoring the conversation in 2 Corinthians' declaration that believers hold divine weapons capable of demolishing strongholds, Derek draws a sharp line between fighting people and fighting principalities. He walks through Daniel 10, where the angel tells Daniel that heaven moved "from the moment you set your mind to understand," establishing the biblical pattern: seek revelation, position yourself to hear God's strategy, then step forward in obedience. Both men testify that God consistently uses crisis as a seedbed for miracle, and that faithfulness in small things is what earns the capacity for greater ones. Derek also leads Fuelcast (fuelcast.tv) with his wife Courtney Draughon.
- Crisis as a Seedbed for Miracle
- Responsibility as the Ability to Respond
- Fighting Principalities Not People
- Divine Weapons That Demolish Strongholds
- Faithfulness in Small Things Expands Capacity
- Daniel 10 and Positioning for Revelation
- Hearing God's Voice Before You Fight
- Prayer for Breakthrough and Forward Movement
Scripture in this episode
Episode Transcript
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Intro
Philip:Welcome to Daily Faith. My name is Philip Cameron and I am delighted to have you. It is November and we are marching towards the end of this year. Am I the only person that thinks that years are only taking six months to pass these days? The older I get, the shorter the year is. It was just like yesterday I was looking at a new year, now we're looking at the end of it.
Philip:And I can look back over this year and I can see God has been faithful. When this year began, I had no idea that our ministry would be caught up in such drama and such crisis in a country that we've had a home in for years. We've had a home in Ukraine for many, many years. But I had no idea — in fact, my wife Chrissy was in Ukraine with Melody, my daughter, and her son Wesley, visiting our kids in Ukraine the night before the war broke out.
Philip:And I called and I said, Biden is on TV saying Putin's going to invade Ukraine. And she said, I've asked the people here and they all say no, he'll never do that. We're discussing it — he will never invade. The next day he invaded, and that threw us into the most amazing situation.
Philip:Our kids were orphans that we've rescued for years. I've been going out and caring for widows and feeding families and bringing in school supplies and clothes for the poor families, which unfortunately in Moldova there are many. And these kids that had been cooking and preparing food for years just literally turned around on a dime and went up to the border and were feeding — and have fed — thousands upon thousands of people as they ran away. 490,000 refugees came to Moldova and there's only two and a half million people in Moldova.
Philip:So we are in this amazing situation. We had to go up to Odessa where our home was and evacuate our girls from Odessa to Moldova, and they are currently staying in that village — a gorgeous place, a village of six houses around our village green. And our kids are there, and the bottom house on the right-hand side is where our Ukrainian girls are. There's coming a time — and we feel this in the country — that because the war is in a stalemate, Moldova is still paying this horrendous price for refugees, and there are stirrings that it's time to go back to Ukraine.
Philip:And the house that we've been leasing in Ukraine in Odessa, the lease has come up. And the gentleman who owns it wants to sell it. And so we're in a situation where we're going to buy this house from him, so that these kids, when they go back to Odessa, we won't just put them back on a bus and say we can't help because we've got no home left.
Philip:And so this whole thing has developed in the last couple of weeks, and I am believing God to raise the money to buy this house. It's the craziest thing I've ever done — buying a house in a war zone. And I said, when the Lord began to prompt me to do this, I said, Lord, this is insane. And he said, yes, so is going to catch a fish, open his mouth, and find gold coins. That's crazy too. And so is walking on water, and so is so much of what God has done in the world.
Philip:If Ukraine prevails, there'll be more orphans, there'll be more broken families than there have ever been, and this house will be needed. If Russia prevails, this house will be needed because there will be refugees and broken families and broken lives. It will be desperately needed. This house has enough land around it to allow us to build more houses. It's enough land around to put our container there — we must have 15,000 coats currently that are on their way to Ukraine.
Philip:So it's amazing what God has done, and we just are looking for folk to stand with us. When the Lord challenged me about this, he said, would you invest $2,000 to buy this house? And I said, yeah. He said, even if you lose it, is it worth risking the money to save 24 girls' lives? And I said, yes it is. And I began to see this as he began to unfold it. I spoke to my own pastor here in Tennessee, and as soon as I told him, he said, I'm in, I'm gonna give $2,000.
Philip:I have a dear friend Rusty Nelson who pastors a tremendous church in Huntsville, and he called me for something and I was telling him about this thing, and he said, this is God. He said, I'm in. And so we have just seen such an amazing outpouring of giving towards this, and I would love you to be a part of it. If I could stand you at this house and see if we can buy this whole house — we will save 24 girls. For a gift of $2,000, I know most of you watching, if you could, you would do it. And I want you to watch this video and pray, ask what God will have you to do, to give us a place to keep these kids safe when they return to Ukraine.
God challenged us to open a home. You know, this years ago, we looked for many months to find a place big enough to make a difference in young girls' lives. We finally found the perfect place that can house 24 girls. We signed a long-term lease with the owner, and it has just ended.
At the moment we are able to house the Ukrainian girls in Moldova, but as the war drags on there is pressure to have those who escaped the Russian invasion return to Ukraine. Moldova simply cannot afford the cost of maintaining so many refugees. Many have returned to Ukraine. Many have left for Europe and the USA and will never return. Our girls wait every day to return to their homeland. If their home is sold, there will be nowhere for them to go.
In the natural it seems impossible. We have already strained every sinew in our ministry this year to care for thousands of destitute lives. We are about to send at least two containers packed with warm clothes to help these lost souls survive the brutal winter. But what about the young lives we are already committed to protecting? Where would they go?
Can you imagine handing them a bus ticket to a destination and telling them, you are on your own, we have nowhere for you to go, your home has been sold? How would they survive in a country stuck in the no man's land of war? We are going to believe God to buy this special place. We will continue our work in Ukraine and trust him for protection as the days ahead unfold. We will be right there in the middle of tragic events, with a place of refuge for young girls to find rest in a home provided by loving hearts.
If God moves, the home we need is already waiting. We just need you. Will you pray? Will you give? I'm certain everyone who could wouldn't even hesitate to help this miracle take place. That is how this huge door of opportunity could open. We can minister to these dear souls for years to come and be a beacon of hope in a bleak battlefield of despair.
Philip:The little boy in that video — you see him holding a teddy bear with a young lady. The young lady he's standing beside is his sister. And when we announced that we're taking the girls out of Odessa to Moldova, she disappeared and ran away. We thought she literally left the house because she didn't want to go. She appeared the next morning with her brother — that little boy that you're seeing is her brother. And she said, will you please save my brother too? Then another girl left and she came back with the woman that had put her in the orphanage and said, will you save my mom as well? And they're all at this moment in Moldova.
Philip:But we need to buy this house so we have a safe place to have them go back to when that time comes. The house is $150,000. We're gonna have to add furniture to it, and we need to buy a van that will allow us at any moment to get these girls back out of Ukraine into Moldova if necessary. I'm asking you to pray and believe God with me today to help secure this home. A gift — any gift you can give — will help. But if I can get a hundred people to give $2,000, in this season of all seasons as we're coming to Thanksgiving and Christmas, can you please — we are praying that God meets this need by the end of this month.
Philip:And you can be a part of this miracle by giving that special gift of $2,000. You can change their lives forever. You can literally reach into their hand and be God's hand in their life. For your $2,000 gift, please pray with that right now and be part of this group of 100 that I'm part of that's going to see this miracle. The place is very simple — how to get a hold of us: The Orphan's Hands, PO Box 25, Clinton, Tennessee 37716.
Philip:The Orphan's Hands, PO Box 25, 37716. The quickest way to get a hold of us is dailyfaith.tv — so simple. Go to our giving page there, you can click on that and you can send us that gift today and we can count you in as part of that miracle. And also you can go to our phone lines: 833-Daily-Faith — very simple, 833-Daily-Faith. Anyone who gives any gift, we're gonna send you a copy of our book, Our Bummer Lamb, which is the story of how Chrissy and I had this whole thing started when Chrissy and I adopted — we were born in an orphanage in Romania, and that was 33 years ago.
Philip:We've been doing this for 33 years and we are just seeing God's hand be extended. So we want you to pray with us today for this miracle to happen in the month of November. I am delighted to have one of my dear friends, a great man of God, and he pastors a great church called Saraland First in Saraland, Alabama, just in the metro area of Mobile. A great man of God. His wife Courtney serves with him — a great woman of God as well. All of this, the compliments — I know he's gonna be nice to me today.
Crisis as a Seedbed for Miracle
Philip:And we are just so delighted to have Derek. Welcome to Daily Faith. We are so glad to have you, my brother.
Derek Draughon:Greetings, man. It's good to be here. You know, every time I come on with you guys, the opening segment — of course I'm sitting here getting my coffee and praying and listening to the Holy Spirit — but just watching what you're doing never ceases to amaze me, Philip. I mean, it just — I feel emotional about it because of just the connection to you guys and knowing you behind the scenes. Me and Courtney were talking about something this weekend about you guys. I was just sharing something you shared with me, and her attitude was, man, praise God, because nobody is more worthy.
Derek Draughon:And I know we all feel unworthy for what God does, but she was just bragging on you guys, just praising God for what he's doing in your ministry. And I'm just telling you, every time it never gets old to watch that opening segment and see what God's doing. And the thing I love is that you have never quit. I mean, dealing with that house right now and that lease going up — to most people it's like another blow, it's another punch in the gut, but you guys rise to the occasion. And I think that's why God loves you.
Philip:You just raised an important point. Everything I've done — now listen to this, listen to me, pastor watching us, listen to me, housewife watching, listen to me — everything I've done in my life has been the result of a crisis. God uses crisis as a seed bed for a miracle. One day my father called me up and he said, Philip, the truck that was going to go to Romania — this is many, many years ago — he said, the truck was going to Romania has failed its roadworthiness test and I need a new one. In fact, I found one and I've got to pay for it — this is like a Thursday — I've bought the truck but I've got to pay it on Tuesday because they're putting a cab heater in to heat the truck. He said, you're gonna have to find the money.
Philip:I said, you're out of your mind, you just can't call me up like that. I stalled all day Thursday. I didn't talk much to the Lord on Friday, and the Lord said to me one day, are you gonna do something about this? And by the time Tuesday came, a church in Prattville called me up and the pastor said, listen, we want to tithe to your ministry. We just sold a piece of land for $160,000 and I want to give you $16,000. I needed $27,000. And he said — he was opening — he said, go to your fax machine — that's how long ago it was — and I'll send you a fax.
Philip:So he laughed and I told him what happened with the truck. He said, well, here's $16,000 of that money. And on Monday I had preached up in Detroit that weekend and met a guy that was a concrete contractor who sent his entire crew down to Alabama to lay a foundation slab for our building that I was building, and that didn't cost me anything. So all of these miracles were triggered out of this crisis.
Philip:Monday morning the pastor called and he said, can we have lunch today? So we met in a restaurant and he said, I told the folk about the truck. He said, I told them he'd given the $16,000 tithe, and other people began to come to the platform, and when we counted the money it was $27,000. So I called my dad and I said, the money's on the way, don't worry about it. If I hadn't started believing in the crisis, nothing would have happened. Everything happens.
Derek Draughon:Absolutely. And it's how we respond to the crisis. I was thinking this week about the word responsibility — it's the ability to respond. That's what responsibility is. And if God can trust us — the word teaches us — with a little bit of responsibility, then it'll grow and he'll trust us with more. The things you're having to respond to now are way bigger than that. A lot of people out there hear that amount you just talked about and it blows their mind because it's bigger, but it's because God's given them little things that they haven't responded to appropriately, so he can't trust them with more.
Responsibility as the Ability to Respond
Derek Draughon:That's exactly what I wanted to talk about today — the fight. That's what's on my mind. And I know everybody right now, it's like the devil's trying to back us down. If you pay attention to the political spectrum, if you pay attention just to what's going on in the world, the enemy's trying to back believers down. And if we don't — I know we're supposed to be meek, but we're also supposed to put our dukes up and go to war. Paul said fight the good fight of faith. He didn't say fight the bad fight. We're not supposed to wrestle against flesh and blood — it's against principalities, it's against dominions, it's against rulers in dark places.
Fighting Principalities Not People
Derek Draughon:But the reality is we are supposed to fight. Paul said again, we've got divine weapons. I love this — the word that demolishes strongholds. Don't just move to the side so we can get by — Paul said it demolishes strongholds. My God, we've got to fight, Philip. We really got to get in the fight.
Philip:Well, I just know that in my world you don't start off with huge amounts of money. God finds you faithful first. God finds you faithful. Dasha helped us put this book together with Roy — this little children's book that we just made — and she's helped us write a lot of our books. When I first met her and took her to America, she was so shy that she wouldn't go up to the counter at McDonald's to get a refill for a drink. And I fought with her for weeks and weeks — I mean many weeks — saying, go back, no, go back. And one time she went up and she came back and she was crying, she was so nervous.
Philip:And it was the small steps, the little things that you push them and believe in them, make them stand out there. And now she's writing books. And if you're watching today and you're thinking, how can I get to that level — you take baby steps. You start doing what you can do. You don't have to build the Taj Mahal today, but you're going to be faithful to get a refill on a Diet Coke. You've got to, wherever you are, find yourself faithful.
Divine Weapons That Demolish Strongholds
Philip:And let me give a testimony. This last weekend I was in a church in North Carolina, and the weekend before I was with some dear friends up in Philadelphia. I spoke three times Sunday morning in Hickory, and between the first and second service my phone dinged and it was the pastor from the week before. And he said, I just want you to know that $48,000 has come in towards the house. So between the first and second service we got 25% of the way towards the victory. That would never have happened if the need hadn't been there. If you're gonna believe for things, start believing for bigger things and stretch your faith, exercise your faith.
Philip:And God has a way of talking to people in different realms because there's a whole different level. I don't talk to Roy like I talk to Andrew, but I talk in the world that he speaks to. And God deals with us to the level of our understanding.
Derek Draughon:Hey, and here's the thing — I know pastors, I'm a pastor, I deal with financial issues, I deal with vision versus income, all of those things. But here's the key: you didn't start there. You didn't start paying for houses and batches of knowledge and all these big things. You started somewhere. But where it started was a revelation, like we were talking about a minute ago — how you respond to a crisis situation. If you think about Daniel, I think it's in Daniel chapter 10 where he has a vision and we get the Daniel Fast from it. He got the revelation — it wasn't his first revelation — but the revelation came because Daniel saw something in the spirit.
Faithfulness in Small Things Expands Capacity
Derek Draughon:Now for us, that can start out of something as small as, man, I feel something, I kind of got a sense. And it's what we do with that. It's responsibility. It's how we respond. It's the ability to respond to a little voice, to that voice behind us as the Old Testament says — walk in this way. And it's how we respond to that. So Daniel sets 21 days, and when the angel finally gets there he says, from the moment you set your mind to understand — from the moment we put ourselves in a position because we feel like we have a revelation about something from God, not just a crisis, but what is God saying in this — when we get that moment, it's us positioning ourselves, and then direction and instruction on how to deal with it.
Daniel 10 and Positioning for Revelation
Derek Draughon:And I'm gonna tell you, Philip, you're a pro at it. I've watched you work over the last few years. Your ability to respond has expanded because God has seen you faithful. But there are people watching today — believers, people that might not even be a believer yet that need to come on into the family, ministers, ministries — they're entrepreneurs, they're business men and women. And the Holy Spirit, because of the day we're living in, is starting to speak to you. And how you respond to the Holy Spirit is what causes him to come in and give direction that will allow you to do what God's called you to do.
Philip:Oh my. In another testament — I walked around Vander Village. It had been just sitting derelict for nine years, had never been finished. And I walked around this building — a million dollars — I'm walking on these homes. It was impossible. It was the darkest moment of my life. I mean, everything that I'd hoped for was gone. I thought, dear God. And I didn't want to fight again. I didn't want to fight anymore. It was just too much. And I'm walking around this place and I said to Andrew, I can't not — I've got to believe for this. Because once that measure of faith is put inside you, it's beyond circumstances, beyond opinion, beyond whatever. And having done all, you stand. Even though you can't walk, you stand.
Philip:And I know this, Derek — there are people watching us just today and you're in a crisis and you're thinking, oh my God, it's going to destroy me. It will only destroy you if you allow it to destroy you. But if you've got enough trust in God to overcome your own self-doubts and all the things the devil will come with — he's the accuser of the brethren, he will stand there and mock you and ridicule you — but something changes, the dynamic of your life changes, when you stand up and say, I'm standing. And unto like, I walk — I'm standing but I'm not gonna stand all the time. I'm eventually going to walk forward.
Philip:And I believe that as we're talking just now, that faith — I feel faith coming out of this camera into your life — that God is on your side. And if God be for you, who can be against? It's your responsibility to see what God is doing. Hallelujah.
Derek Draughon:Hallelujah. And you know what, I think we have to be careful because if you're like me, when the threat comes you want to fight immediately. And like Daniel, he saw the vision, he had the revelation, but he didn't have the clarification from God. So he took 21 days to set himself in a position. Then we stand up and fight. So sometimes I think if we're too quick, sometimes not hearing the voice of God, not hearing the strategy — God gives us the plan, the direction — then maybe we'll start fighting people. You could go to the guy that held the lease on the building and now wants to sell it, go over to his house, beat on his door and want to fight him, but that had nothing to do with you having the house.
Hearing God's Voice Before You Fight
Derek Draughon:The real move was he wanted the lease to be held by somebody else — he wants you to have it. So that was God's plan. I think sometimes if we jump too quick and we fight the people around us rather than backing off and saying, okay, I'm putting myself in position to hear your direction. I want to know, my God, how are we gonna handle this? And then when God says, okay, go — we have to go. And that's the step of faith. You stand still for a minute, that's where you're listening for the voice of God. You get revelation flowing on the situation. Then you step forward and move.
Philip:You will hear a voice behind you saying, this is the way, walk in it. Don't stop until you hear the voice. Hallelujah. I tell you, every time I talk to you I get something that I chew on for days. We are almost at a time. Can you pray a prayer right now? We've got about 30 seconds left. Pray for us that God will let us see that our responsibility is the response-ability to our circumstance.
Prayer for Breakthrough and Forward Movement
Derek Draughon:Father, we love you right now. Thank you for your presence. I thank you, God, that your presence is not bound to this room that I'm in. It's not bound to this broadcast — God, it extends, Father. And you're there. You're there with ministers. You're there with a housewife. You're there with a person that can't see a way out. God, you're there with the entrepreneur, the business person, Father. All the struggles in our world today — now God, I'm praying, Father, we've said it, we believe your word, Father, that you'll speak to them, God, that you'll give them revelation. And I pray as they set themselves in a position to hear and respond, God, that you're gonna do that, Father, in the name of Jesus.
Derek Draughon:And God, there are some barriers that are unfair, that the enemy does not even have a right to set in place because of the blood of Jesus. But God, because of the right we give him by giving ground in our lives, he's told us he can set those barriers. We demolish those with divine weapons right now, God. We pray, move them out of the way, Father, so that your bride, your congregation, your church can move forward in the things of God in this day we live in, Father. I believe a better day is right around the corner. We're trusting you. We're gonna see it, in Jesus' name. Amen.
Philip:Amen. Amen. Listen, personal minute — the website of Derek and Courtney's is www.derekandcourtney.com. You need to get in contact with this man. He's on Fuel Cast — fuelcast.tv. Get in contact with them because I believe that as you do that, he's got stuff. Every time I talk to Derek he speaks into my spirit and you need that voice in your life. If you are anywhere in the Mobile area, you need to go and be a part of this church because God is moving there. And the revelation that comes from him — I watch it on Fuel Cast, it looks so good, it's so sharp. It's a great program. And if you love your husband, you're gonna come over to fuelcast.tv. And if you love your pastor, you're gonna tell me — watch fuelcast.tv.
Philip:Also, we've knocked the back end of the program off because I just wanted to spend more time with you. Tell us what's going on in the church. Anything coming up for you?
Derek Draughon:We're just praying for a move of God right now. We're in 21 days of prayer. I read a book once by Mark Batterson, Circle Maker, and it prompted us — we've got that old concrete floor in the building, you know, we did it so that anybody can make a mess and we can clean it up. Carpet gets expensive with little kids running around the church. So we take sidewalk chalk and we write — we let people write their circle and we pray over it. Every Sunday we go stand in our circles and we pray over those needs. And I just told people Sunday, I said, I feel like I'm getting a little snippy with people because it's got that feeling that God's about to pull in the parking lot and we've got to be ready. And we're praying over that.
Derek Draughon:Philip, I've been watching this ministry and I'm just telling you, man, it's fired me up.
Philip:Well, we love you guys. We are so much a part of your church. I'm coming to see you pretty soon, I can promise you. Thank you for being with us today. Thank you for watching Daily Faith. We'll love you. Be a part of this miracle in Ukraine. Help us buy this house. God bless you in Jesus' name. Amen.
Topics
draughonspiritual warfarecrisis faithstrongholdsdaniel 10response-abilitydivine weapons