In Their Own Words: Why Radio Hosts Brant & Sherri Care about CURE

Brant Hansen and Sherri Lynn, hosts of the nationally syndicated radio program, The Brant Hansen Show, are passionate CURE advocates. We caught up with them to ask why they care so much about helping children with disabilities. Here’s what they shared.

Q: How did you both get involved with CURE?

Brant: I’d been asked to introduce CURE at a concert years ago. When I learned about the ministry, I thought, now that sounds like Jesus! I try to use pretty much everything I do to feature CURE at some level because the work of CURE helps people understand what the kingdom of God looks like. CURE is a vivid chance to see what God is up to in the world.

Sherri: When I started working with Brant 10 years ago, he introduced me to CURE. I became passionate when I met some of the CURE doctors and ministry leaders. I was so moved by their servant hearts. I felt like, “I want to be a part of that!”

Q: Brant, you’ve visited many CURE hospitals. What would you want to share about the kids CURE serves?

Brant: The kids CURE serves are considered cursed in their own communities. People need to know the spiritual power of what’s happening for these kids. Their identities are being renewed. That’s even bigger than the physical healing. They find out they’re not cursed—they’re blessed. Can you imagine what that does to a kid? Or to their village or neighborhood? I love those stories when the kids come back after surgery and tell us, “People used to laugh at me, throw rocks at me . . . now they ask me, ‘Who did this? How could this happen?’ and I tell them Jesus did it!”

Q: Sherri, you recently visited CURE’s hospital in Niger, which is one of the world’s poorest and most conflict-filled regions. What impacted you most?

Sherri: Niger is very hot. It’s dusty. It’s humid. The hospital is literally built right next to a huge trash heap and protected by armed guards. But once you pass through the gate, it’s unspeakable beauty. It is visually a representation of what I believe the kingdom of God to be: you have all this mess of a fallen world but, because of Christ, you enter beauty. And then I look over and see a little girl coming toward me on crutches, and I just lose it. The reality of the moment hit me that here is this place that I’ve talked about so lovingly for so many years on the air, encouraging people to give and to be a part of this ministry. And now I’m looking at this little girl who is going to walk because of God’s people.

Q: Can you tell us about one of the CUREkids you met in Niger?

Sherri: I met a mom named Aissa. She had traveled very far to bring her son, Ousmane, to the hospital. He’d been bitten by a snake. Local village healers put some oil on his hand to remove the venom, but it fused his hand to his arm, so he couldn’t move it. Fast forward two days to the hospital’s anniversary celebration. I looked over at the kids gathered and saw a little boy with his arm in a cast. It was Ousmane. Again, I lost it. It’s a miracle that somebody in America listening to the radio picked up the phone and said, “Sure, I’ll give CURE $40 a month.” And it’s like that gift just travels over to this little boy who can now celebrate. Two days ago, I was praying with his family as his arm was fused together. Now, it’s not.

Q: What gets you excited about the impact of healing on kids?

Brant: I refer to healing as an “advance trailer” of heaven. We get to see the kingdom of God breaking through. And gosh, do I love seeing the absolute joy. For moms, dads, kids, doctors, staff, donors, everybody—it’s joy for everybody.

Sherri: What always blows my mind is the generational impact. Healing is permanent, right? So forever, that child has that story of how they were healed because of Jesus. And then they become adults with that story, and then they tell their kids, and then those kids tell their kids, and it just keeps going. The whole trajectory of a generation is changed with one child’s life-changing surgery. That’s just crazy to me, and I’m so honored to have a small part in it.

Q: What’s your message to people who haven’t been to a CURE hospital?

Brant: There are thousands of kids’ stories in each CURE hospital—all profound, almost beyond words. What happens in that operating room is the most beautiful, poetic worship service I’ve ever been in. It’s a holy place. It’s literally “set apart” for the work of God, and that’s exactly what we witness there.

Sherri: Miracles happen at CURE every day. I remember walking through the CURE hospital in Niger during a weekend and seeing an empty waiting room full of benches. The staff told me, “Come Monday, those benches will be full.” Sure enough, I go there Monday, and it’s just what I would envision it looked like when people were waiting for Jesus. You’re just there hoping against hope—praying to God that someone can help your baby. It felt very biblical to me.

 

The Brant Hansen Show is nationally syndicated on 200 Christian radio stations around the United States. Visit branthansen.com to tune in.