Orphans to Missionaries and Leaders to Freedom: A Life-Changing Kingdom Blueprint
About this episode
Matt and Sarah Keller, lead pastors of Next Level Church in Fort Myers, Florida, join Philip Cameron to share the story behind their groundbreaking freedom curriculum — and it begins in a hospital room. After years of striving to build their church through sheer performance, Matt suffered a serious back injury that led to surgery, a spinal fluid leak, and 12 days of darkness in a hospital bed. It was there that Sarah began to ask the questions that would eventually change thousands of lives: "I think I'm not okay." That honest confession launched a years-long journey of Holy Spirit-led healing — confronting childhood wounds, fear, forgiveness, and the lies of the enemy — that became the foundation for Next Level Freedom, a 12-week small group discipleship curriculum now used in over 100 churches across multiple nations. The curriculum guides participants through identity, hurt, fear, and strongholds before culminating in a live "freedom experience" in weeks nine and ten, rooted in Luke 4 and Jesus' promise to "set the captives free." Weeks eleven and twelve then equip believers to walk out their freedom in everyday life. Whether you lead a church, serve on staff, or are simply walking with Jesus, this episode delivers a practical, Spirit-filled roadmap for lasting transformation. Visit nextlevelfreedom.com or nextlevelchurch.com to explore the Leaders Guide, Participants Guide, and the Next Level Relational Network of nearly 200 churches.
Part of our Freedom collection of conversations.
Quotes worth sharing
“We take kids in there that have been abused and forgotten and neglected, and we put them back in school and tell them, if you are born, God has a plan. And these kids turn from orphans to sons and daughters to missionaries, and they spend their time going out to broken people in broken villages and share the gospel.”
“I just looked at him and I said, I think I'm not okay. And it led me on a journey of soul searching. I'd known Jesus since I was five, and I knew Him as Savior and as Lord. But there were a lot of places that I needed healing and I needed deliverance.”
“If you are listening today and there is an area in your life right now where you feel oppressed, depressed, I want you to know there is hope in Jesus. And it may feel hopeless today, but He has a plan and a purpose. In Luke 4, it says that Jesus came to set the captives free. And that's not just for salvation. That is ongoing healing. That is deliverance. And it's okay to not be okay.”
What's Discussed
Matt and Sarah Keller, founders of Next Level Church in Fort Myers, Florida, recount how a near-breakdown during a church building campaign — culminating in Matt's spinal surgery and a 12-day hospital stay — forced a reckoning with unaddressed wounds, fear, and performance-driven ministry. Out of that crucible they developed Next Level Freedom, a 12-week video-based small group curriculum addressing identity, hurt, lies, and fear before leading participants into a live Holy Spirit freedom experience in week ten, grounded in Luke 4. The curriculum, available in Leader and Participant versions at nextlevelfreedom.com, is now active in over 100 churches across multiple nations, with a companion network of nearly 200 churches called the Next Level Relational Network.
- Calling to Fort Myers and Church Origins
- Performance Burnout and Spiritual Crisis
- Hospital Room Turning Point
- Birth of the Freedom Curriculum
- Curriculum Structure: Leaders and Participants Guides
- Holy Spirit Self-Awareness Explained
- 12-Week Journey to the Freedom Experience
- How to Access Next Level Freedom Resources
Scripture in this episode
Episode Transcript
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Intro
Philip:Hello, my friends. Welcome to Daily Faith. My name is Philip Cameron, and I am delighted to have you with us today. We've got a very, very good show — an important program. And I believe God's gonna give you information. People perish because of lack of knowledge, and sometimes a word or rhema put in your spirit can accelerate your destiny, can accelerate how you can get to where God's called you to do. And we've got some new friends with us tonight — today — Matt and Sarah Keller. And they've put together these manuals.
Philip:I can't — I'm gonna find out the right word for them, because every time I try to explain it, I do an inadequate job. But this is a leadership ministry program syllabus, and we're gonna be talking about this today. And if you want to grow your team, if you want to reach into people's lives and make them expand in their thinking process — one thing the Lord's shown me so often: unless you can grasp it with your mind, your spirit can't get there. And so many times we, especially in the charismatic or Pentecostal world, we think God will get us there somehow. No, we've gotta prepare ourselves to get there.
Philip:And we are just so excited. My wife Chrissy and my daughter Melody led a team from North Carolina and Florida and here in Tennessee to Moldova. We just came home and had the most amazing time. And our kids at Vatra Village had a wonderful time there. In fact, two pastors went with Chrissy — Wesley Prichard and his wife — and they went over and they give the new kids that come to Vatra Village their Christmas gifts every year, the most amazing Christmas gifts you've ever seen. And they also did an outreach every day they were there. And here's a brand new video.
Philip:I'm seeing it along with you for the first time. This is our team in Moldova, going into the highways and byways. Watch this.
Philip:Absolutely amazing. Our kids — those are all orphans going out on outreach. The whole point of our ministry. We've got the most amazing place, it's called Vatra Village. It's a village of homes on the largest lake in Moldova. And we take kids in there that have been abused and forgotten and neglected, and we put them back in school and tell them, if you are born, God has a plan. And these kids turn from orphans to sons and daughters to missionaries, and they spend their time going out to broken people in broken villages and share the gospel. Each one of the girls you're watching right now — in the hands of the traffickers — are worth $300,000 a year. And God allows us to take them in. And we are seeing the most amazing things take place.
Philip:In fact, the house parents in the homes in Vatra Village were once orphans that we rescued 15, 17 years ago. And now they are carrying the burden forward. And the results are absolutely amazing. And the team went over this time — some for the very first time, some on a repeat — and they said they've never seen any ministry that brings the orphan not just to give them food and clothes, but to lift them up into a leadership realm, to go into the highways and byways. And we are just absolutely amazed at what God's doing right now.
Philip:We're in the process of opening two new homes at the moment. That village that you just saw is for kids 16 and up. But a terrible thing happened to us last year. A young girl was sent to us by a family in a small village, and asked us to take her in, but she's only 14. And when the local people found out, they made us put her back. And within 10 days, she'd been gang raped, and she literally lost her mind. And we now are working on two new homes in a place called Ungheni that will hold 50 kids between the age of four years of age and 16. So we'll be reaching kids from four all the way until they graduate from high school.
Philip:And two of our kids that are there right now in Vatra are gonna be doctors, one's gonna be a lawyer. And these are the new homes that we're finishing and rebuilding. This one is finished, the other one isn't. So pray with us. If you — we're looking for people to sponsor these homes. For us to open a home takes 300 people giving $1 a day. You can change a life for a dollar a day. That's the most amazing thing. And so God is really doing some tremendous things through these kids. And we are delighted to just be part of the miracle.
Philip:I'm asking you, if you'd like to help us, you can give a gift to help in the capital change that we're doing right now as far as getting these houses ready to be opened. All the furniture is bought in the States and sent to Moldova from here. But the biggest need we have is 300 people giving $1 a day, and you can be a part with us and make this miracle happen. Let me give you the address. It's real simple. The Orphan's Hands, PO Box 25, Clinton, Tennessee 37716. And if the Lord is talking to you, obey His voice.
Philip:We are looking for some real miracles in the next few weeks to finish these buildings and get them opened and in service for the Kingdom of God. You can also go to our website — it's Daily Faith TV, real simple, DailyFaith.tv. And you can call our phone number, 833-Daily-Faith, and be a part of the answer. Don't curse the darkness, light the candle of hope in people's lives.
Philip:I'm delighted to have with me Matt and Sarah Keller. They're pastors of Next Level Church in one of my favorite towns in America. We were living in Alabama for many, many years, and I wanted to move south to Fort Myers and all my kids made me move north to Tennessee. And I spend my winters freezing to death, mad at my kids, thinking I should be sitting in Fort Myers. And that's where Matt and Sarah are. They've got a tremendous church. Tremendous church. And I'm delighted to have them with me on Daily Faith. Matt and Sarah, God bless you. Thank you for being with us today.
Matt Keller:Oh, thank you. What an honor it is to be here. And it's just amazing to hear everything that you're doing in Moldova. Man, our hearts are with you. We love what you're doing for the widows and orphans. It's beautiful.
Calling to Fort Myers and Church Origins
Philip:We love it. If you're called by God to do something, the first thing is you gotta love it. Because if you don't love it, you're not gonna last. And tell us — I'm fascinated by this, whenever this is — I'm fascinated by it. Tell us how God brought you to this point to make such an amazing publication.
Sarah Keller:Well, first, I'm glad you love Fort Myers. We do too. We were not born here. We were actually from Indiana, and we were high school sweethearts when we came here on a spring break vacation with Matt's parents. I was 15, he was 17. I kid you not, Philip, the plane landed, and we had never been here before, but he looked at me and he said, we should start a church here someday. And I said, okay, let's do it. And then of course I just wanted to know where the pool was and all of the things.
Sarah Keller:But it really was a seed that God planted in our heart. And nine years later we moved here. So many people from Indiana were like, you must feel called to Fort Myers. We're like, we really are. We really are.
Performance Burnout and Spiritual Crisis
Philip:I think I'm called as well, but not as noble a calling as you have.
Sarah Keller:Exactly. So it was in those early days of being, you know, in our twenties and clueless and trying to figure it out that we just felt so alone. And God was so faithful. And in those early days we just said, you know, if God lets us live through this, we're gonna try and spend the rest of our life making sure that no pastors feel the way we feel — much less people. And so God let us live and we're just so thankful for all that we get to do and give our life to, to help people become more free in Jesus.
Matt Keller:And so a lot of you asked how did this come about? At the start of this, really, it was in 2011. We had been a portable church for nine-plus years, met in a movie theater, then a high school. And God allowed us to move into our first permanent building. And I was a huge part of the leadership of that. And literally almost killed myself trying to perform our way into moving into that building as quickly as we could.
Hospital Room Turning Point
Matt Keller:And was, you know, up late, up early, honestly just stopped reading my Bible, stopped relying on the Lord. Like, I just gotta make this happen. And that led to an issue with my back, that led to months of therapy, that then actually led to a surgery. And I got out of surgery and thought I was all better. And I wasn't. About 19 days later I ended up in the hospital with a spinal fluid leak, and they could not solve it in a way that they usually solve it. And so that led to 12 days of darkness, honestly, in a hospital room for me.
Sarah Keller:And it was in that hospital room that not only was my body in need of healing, but I started to realize that my soul wasn't okay. When your whole world that has been moving and going — from being a mom to being in ministry and trying to produce and perform — just comes to a halt, you really do start to hear things that maybe you couldn't have heard that were there before. And that's what happened to me. I was in that hospital and I really just started to —
Philip:Don't we tend to want to do it all ourselves? I mean, it's all about me. I'm the same thing. I'm driven, I'm so driven that I tend — unless I do it, it isn't properly done. And what you do is you end up doing everything half-hearted or half done because you're trying to do everything at one time.
Sarah Keller:But there's a system, and I didn't even know that's what I was doing until it all stopped. I started to wonder, who am I if I can't be a mom? Who am I if I can't be a pastor? Who am I if I'm not producing? And yet I couldn't even talk about it because I was in so much pain. And it wasn't until God healed my physical body and I got home that I started to realize a lot of the thoughts and a lot of the things that had been going through my mind in that hospital room. And I got up the courage to look at my husband.
Sarah Keller:And I believe that these few words that came out of my mouth were the beginning of the confession of faith that started to bring healing and freedom that I so desperately needed. I just looked at him and I said, I think I'm not okay. And it led me on a journey of soul searching. I'd known Jesus since I was five, and I knew Him as Savior and as Lord. But there were a lot of places that I needed healing and I needed deliverance. And so we really just took that journey together for a few years.
Matt Keller:And it was from those dark days for both of us, really — you, and then me as well, my own journey — that our freedom curriculum was born. And so thank you for the kind words that you're saying. Really, this comes from a lot of pain and a lot of experience. And so this really is a collection of lessons and principles that are straight from the Bible, the Word of God, that have the power to transform us from the inside out. And it started with us, but it's gone to a whole lot of other people now as well.
Birth of the Freedom Curriculum
Philip:What impressed me when I began to look through it was how meticulous you guys have thought of everything. I mean, it drew me into itself. And as I opened it and went from page to page, I kept thinking, oh my goodness, oh my goodness. I wouldn't have thought of that. I would've missed that. And explain — there's two of these. One is for leadership and one is for the team. Is that the best way to describe it?
Matt Keller:Yeah, so this is a small group curriculum that we've created, and there are two different versions. This is the leader version, and then there's the participant version. And so it's created so that it can be a discipleship tool where a leader can take a small group of people through it, whether it's in a home setting or a church setting. It's a video curriculum that we've created, based off of a 12-week curriculum where the participants can learn but the leaders can also lead through it.
Curriculum Structure: Leaders and Participants Guides
Matt Keller:And so if you have the leader version, there's a dashboard — you've got a login — and there's a dashboard that will give you leader resources, worship videos that you can play, trainings from us to help them to be able to lead others through this freedom journey.
Philip:I was blown away. I'm a broad painter. I can see a vision, but I need people in my life that are detailed people. Thank God my kids have fulfilled that role. But this is a syllabus that someone can sit down and open this book having not known anything — and to the music, to the setting of the chairs, everything has been dealt with. And I would encourage you, if you're looking for a ministry outreach in your church, if you're a young man looking to start a church, there's so many applications I saw in this thing that I was thinking, whoa, every young person needs to have this book that wants to start a church. Every leadership ministry needs this. And then the second part for the team is just amazing.
Philip:I can't even find the words to commend you guys enough for what you've done.
Sarah Keller:Well, we're so honored. And again, so much of our testimony is what led to what you're describing — all of the details in the book. It was realizing, piece by piece, layer by layer, the things that the enemy had tried to hold us captive in different ways. And oftentimes we maybe have revelation of one thing, but then we realize, oh, there's another thing. So there was the forgiveness piece and the aspect of built-up hurt and pain and wounds that had been on both of our hearts and in our lives from childhood that had never been addressed, never been slowed down with, to just allow the Holy Spirit to come in, comfort, and heal those places.
Sarah Keller:But there was also a lot of fear — a spirit of fear — that was trying specifically for me to hold me back. I was afraid of people. I was afraid to talk. So much of what I'm doing today I would've never imagined, because of the fear and the lies that were holding me captive. And so to start to realize that the enemy's scheme was so particular for me, for him, but then to start to talk to other people in our church — because it didn't start as a curriculum, it just started with my freedom, my healing. And I kind of wanted everyone to know about it. And so then as we started to share some of this, I realized — and I know you realized too — that so many others had schemes of the enemy too. So we started to collect all of those and realize the various ways that the enemy's been trying to hold people captive, so that we could enjoy the freedom that Jesus came to give us.
Matt Keller:Absolutely. Amen. It really is a toolbox — it's a journey of Holy Spirit self-awareness. Because in our world, Philip, you know this is true: there's always what's happening around us, there's what's happening to us, but then there's what's happening in us. So whether you're the pastor of a church, whether you're on staff at a church, whether you are a church attender, whether you're walking with Jesus all by yourself in some remote place like Moldova or otherwise, right around the world — there's what's happening, but then there's what's happening in me. And so I think our freedom curriculum is really designed to help people grow in what we call Holy Spirit self-awareness.
Matt Keller:To go, yes, what's happening with my family? What's happening in my marriage? What's happening with my children or grandchildren? What's happening in my work? But then, Holy Spirit, show me, illuminate to me, what's going on in me? What are the lies? What are the fears? What are the strongholds that are happening in me? Where's the hurt and the wounds that are affecting how you and I interact with the world around us?
Philip:Well, I know the Holy Spirit self-awareness — in the Pentecostal division of the church, we've been trained — when I was trained growing up, you know, come down front to the altar, spend three minutes there, the preacher's gonna come past, put his hand on your head, and you're gonna go home and you're all better. And most of the time you're not all better. And sometimes you've just had another coat of varnish painted over the heart. And unless you get that out, unless you expose that to the healing rays of heaven, you can say, Lord, fix this in me. You can't fix until you're fixed. And so that's exactly what you've gone through to create such an amazing thing.
Holy Spirit Self-Awareness Explained
Matt Keller:Absolutely. So as Sarah said, the curriculum is designed over 12 weeks. And so much of those first few weeks deal with identity and hurt and wounds and pain we've experienced in the past, and really asking the Holy Spirit to connect those dots — and lies and fears. But it really culminates, Philip, into weeks nine and ten, which is a Holy Spirit experience. And so again, small groups, whole churches — we have over a hundred churches now that use our curriculum in their church and have multiple small groups using it across multiple nations now. And so it culminates into week ten where there really is what we call the freedom experience, where it's a whole bunch of learning, understanding, growing in the revelation of God, but then it leads to freedom. And let's be set free and delivered in Jesus' name.
12-Week Journey to the Freedom Experience
Matt Keller:And then weeks eleven and twelve, we talk about how we walk out our freedom. What do we do now? Where do we go from the altar? How do we move forward and live this stuff in our everyday life? And it's got tools along the way — almost every week is a tool. And when participants go through it, they can even download a version of it in PDF form, so they can have this with them at any moment.
Sarah Keller:Yes. Because that's why we titled this the ongoing journey of becoming like Jesus. So there are transformational one-time moments, but then there are layers of freedom, there are layers of healing, and then there are new things that happen to us. And so this is also a toolbox for people to be able to go, I am afraid right now — what is going on? I'm gonna go to week eight where they talk about fears, and there are prayers in there to pray. And so it's a toolbox for this ongoing journey so that we can continue to walk in freedom.
Philip:Well, I just — let me say this. If you're watching just now and you are in a leadership position, whether it's a church or wherever, this thing applies across the board. I urge you to get in contact with Matt and Sarah and say, listen, how do I sign up with this thing? Because it will transform — I promise you, it will transform your life. If you're a young pastor looking to build a team around you to make this thing that God's called you to do work, you don't have to spend 25 years going around in circles. If someone else has found answers, for crying out loud — my mom used to tell me when I was growing up, emulate someone that's successful, find someone that's successful, and there's a template for you for your life.
Philip:And I'm just astonished. How do folks get in contact with you all to get this curriculum?
Matt Keller:Yes. Well, you can see on the screen it says nextlevelchurch.com. You can go there, it'll take you there. The website for the book and the curriculum is nextlevelfreedom.com. But again, nextlevelchurch.com will get you there. But nextlevelfreedom.com is our website where you can order books — you can order them for you, for your church, for a small group, for you individually — both the Leader's Guide and the Participant's Guide. And then once they get that book in their hand, there's gonna be a code, they can create their own login, and then they'll have all of the material that the dashboard offers as well, to be able to lead someone through the group.
Philip:It is mind-blowing. I looked at the pages and I thought, oh my, how many times has this been gone over and mulled over and prayed over? That's the feeling I got — that it was a well-worn path that had been prayed over every step of the way. And I urge you, if you are looking to grow, if you want to move from where you are to the next level, don't fight the battle by yourself. Get a hold of this curriculum, implement it into your ministry, into your business, whatever. And by doing so, you can accelerate the purpose of God in your life. Time is the one thing you can't recreate. Time is what fights you most. And wow, this is just amazing.
How to Access Next Level Freedom Resources
Philip:Finally, there's a young guy watching right now — like you were a young guy when you went to Fort Myers. We've got one minute, 46 seconds. Tell him what to do, how to get started, where to go.
Matt Keller:Well, I think what we would say is don't do life in ministry alone. And so same website again — if you go to nextlevelchurch.com or nextlevelfreedom.com, it'll link you to a network of churches that we lead. We have close to 200 churches now in our network. It's called the Next Level Relational Network. And so you can go to that website too — nextlevelrelationalnetwork.com. But they all link together so you can find us there. So I would say to that pastor, you got this. God's called you to it. If He can use a 26 and 24-year-old from a small town in Indiana to bring transformation not only to Southwest Florida but to the nations of the world, He can use you. And we want to help you do that. So don't do it alone. That's what I would say.
Sarah Keller:And can I just add, Philip — if you are listening today and there is an area in your life right now where you feel oppressed, depressed, I want you to know there is hope in Jesus. And it may feel hopeless today, but He has a plan and a purpose. In Luke 4, it says that Jesus came to set the captives free. And that's not just for salvation. That is ongoing healing. That is deliverance. And it's okay to not be okay.
Philip:That's right. But it is not okay to stay there. He has got so much more for you. Get in contact with Matt and Sarah, Next Level Church in Fort Myers. You will love that church, you'll love the town. Thank you for being with us today. And we're out of time. I'm so blessed by meeting you guys. Let's do this again. Let's get deeper into the weeds if we can in the future. We love you guys. Thank you so much.
Matt Keller:Thank you.
Philip:Thank you for watching Daily Faith. We'll see you again next time. Bye-bye.
For over 25 years, the Cameron family has been changing the lives of orphans in Romania and Moldova — from providing running water, flushing toilets, and clean wells, to coal for heat, new windows, as well as food and clothing. They champion the physical needs of the orphans in these broken and desolate countries. Many of Moldova's orphans are saved from the horrors of trafficking through homes founded by the Camerons. And in the process, orphans become daughters and sons. They come to know their heavenly Father and are forever changed by the love of Jesus.
God helped the Camerons lift these amazing young men and women out of darkness — now no longer orphans. They want to return and invade that very same darkness with the light of Jesus Christ. The Orphan's Hands equips these daughters and sons to become missionaries. Your monthly gift of $31 will allow us to rescue and take in more girls and boys, saving them from the hell of human trafficking. Your monthly partnership will allow us to care for those in the Orphan's Hands homes in Moldova and Ukraine.
If you want to join Philip and Chrissy in taking care of these precious young people, please contact us today by calling 833-Daily-Faith. You can also give by going online to www.dailyfaith.tv, or by writing to Post Office Box 25, Clinton, Tennessee 37716. So many lives depend on what we do. Thank you for loving the lost.
Common questions
How did Matt and Sarah Keller come up with their freedom curriculum?
The curriculum grew out of a painful personal season — Matt pushed himself so hard during the construction of their first permanent church building that he ended up needing back surgery, followed by 12 days in the hospital with a spinal fluid leak. During that time, Sarah also realized her own soul wasn't okay. Those dark days of self-examination led them to develop Bible-based lessons on identity, wounds, fear, and freedom that they eventually turned into a structured curriculum.
What exactly is the Next Level Freedom curriculum and how does it work?
It's a 12-week small-group video curriculum that comes in two versions — a Leader's Guide and a Participant's Guide. Leaders get access to a dashboard with worship videos and training resources, while participants work through weekly lessons on identity, hurt, lies, and fear, culminating in a 'freedom experience' in weeks nine and ten. The final two weeks focus on how to walk out that freedom in everyday life, and participants can download a PDF version of the material to keep as an ongoing toolbox.
What does 'Holy Spirit self-awareness' mean to Matt and Sarah?
Matt describes it as learning to look inward — not just at what's happening around you or to you, but at what's happening inside you. It means asking the Holy Spirit to illuminate the lies, fears, strongholds, and unhealed wounds that shape how you interact with the world, so those things can be brought into the light and dealt with rather than left to quietly hold you back.
How many churches are using the Next Level Freedom curriculum, and how can a church get involved?
Matt says over 100 churches across multiple nations are already using the curriculum in small-group settings. Churches and individuals can order the Leader's Guide and Participant's Guide at nextlevelfreedom.com; once they have the book, a code inside gives them login access to the full digital dashboard. Pastors looking for broader community can also join the Next Level Relational Network, which has close to 200 churches, at nextlevelrelationalnetwork.com.
What was the personal turning point that started Sarah Keller's healing journey?
Sarah says it was a single honest sentence she finally said to her husband after getting home from the hospital: 'I think I'm not okay.' She had known Jesus since age five but realized there were deep areas — childhood wounds, built-up hurt, and a spirit of fear — that had never been addressed. That confession, she says, was the beginning of the faith journey that brought her the healing and freedom she needed.
Topics
matt kellersarah kellernext level freedomsmall group curriculumstrongholdsnext level churchpastoral health