First it was cancer. Then diabetes. Next, a debilitating stroke.

But no matter what's thrown at him, New Venture Christian Fellowship founder and San Diego Chargers Chaplain Shawn Mitchell survives, heals and moves on.

Some would call it luck. Mitchell knows better.

"I am here today as one of millions of living testimonies of the power of prayer," he said.

Mitchell, 55, is still senior pastor at New Venture, which has grown from a handful of people meeting in his living room 20 years ago to a megachurch in Oceanside serving about 3,000 families.

While preaching in front of his congregation in March 2008, Mitchell began to feel extremely weak and dizzy. He didn't know it at the time, but he was suffering a brain aneurysm. Later in the day, he keeled over and was rushed to the emergency room.

"I had popped a blood vessel in my brain," Mitchell said. "The doctors informed me that they were considering drilling into my skull to relieve the pressure; my brain was expanding because of the bleeding, but they felt there was not enough time."

The prognosis was grim.

"The hemorrhage was deep," he said. "The doctors told me that if it did not stop on its own, I would not live to see the next day."

He didn't know it at the time, but as he and his family were grappling with the news, a prayer chain request had been e-mailed out to his congregation, and it had spread across the globe. The result?

"Dr. Jesus stopped that bleeding," Mitchell said. "God is but a prayer away."

It wasn't the first time God has stepped in to save his life, in more ways than medically, he said.

Mitchell became a born-again Christian in high school. Since then, he has placed a priority on telling others about God's love, and his life has been the better for it, he said.

"I began to talk to God in prayer, and said, 'I'm not the most talented guy, but if there is any way you can use me in your work in some way, I would be very honored,'" Mitchell recalled. "I believe he heard that prayer."

After that prayer as a young man, Mitchell went on to earn a bachelor's degree in theology and philosophy from Point Loma Nazarene College, and undertook graduate studies at Azusa Pacific University, Bethel Seminary and at the Institute of the Holy Land in Jerusalem.

After ministering in San Diego for a few years, including as a chaplain for the San Diego Padres, he was invited to be team chaplain for the San Diego Chargers, a position he has held for nearly 30 years.

He is the team's spiritual leader, conducting chapel services, Bible studies and inspirational meetings for coaches, players and their families.

He has also served as an instructor with the Billy Graham Association, and continues to be a popular guest speaker -- with appearances in nearly two dozen countries over a 20-year span, including a recent appearance in Murrieta for the National Day of Prayer earlier this month.

But his busy schedule was abruptly interrupted in 1998 when he received the first of what was to become a series of bad medical news.

His youngest brother called. He had renal kidney cancer. After he died in 1998, Mitchell and his surviving three brothers decided to get checked out, too.

That's when it was discovered that Mitchell had the exact same cancer as his brother -- in the same spot -- a 1 1/2-inch tumor on his right kidney.

"It's considered inoperable," Mitchell said. "The prognosis is dire."

But something happened. A few months after the diagnosis, before doctors were going to attempt surgery, Mitchell was giving a sermon and a parishioner raised his hand out of the blue.

"He said, 'Pastor, you spend so much time praying for us, can we pray for you?' " Mitchell said. "Several hundred people gathered around me and began to beseech the Lord for my life."

Two days later, an X-ray of Mitchell's kidney showed the tumor was gone, he said.

"We said, 'What do you attribute it to?'" Mitchell recalled. "The doctors said, 'I don't know, it must have been our machines.' We know it was the hand of God, due to the prayer of others."

His wife, Laurie, said she recently looked at the before and after X-rays of her husband's kidney, and the emotions of Mitchell's brush with death came rushing back.

"It was like, 'My gosh, that was real, that really happened,'" she said. "For whatever reason, the Lord has used severe sickness to be a part of his life. He has chosen to use that in his life for his glory."

But the tribulations were not over yet. Another of Mitchell's brothers died of the same cancer within a year after Mitchell's miraculous healing.

"I am not sure why he left me," the pastor said.

His congregation does.

"With all his life-threatening health challenges, he's been faithful to the call God has on his life, and it's apparent God hasn't finished with him yet," said Barb Roessler, who attends New Venture and has worked with Mitchell at the church for nearly two decades. "Pastor Shawn has been an inspiration and example to me of keeping focused on what really matters in life, and to never underestimate what God can do."

Mitchell said God showed that healing power again several years after his two brothers died, when he developed a severe case of diabetes in 2004. His blood-sugar test results showed that he was dangerously close to going into a coma, and his doctor started him on insulin immediately.

"I ended up taking shots to the gut," he said. "They told me I would be on insulin the rest of my life."

That's when Mitchell and his family began to pray. The pastor started to show improvement. His need for insulin dropped by 20 percent. A month later, he was off it.

While he is still a diabetic, he keeps the disease in check with a variety of supplements and a healthy diet.

"At home I have three dozen unused syringes, which is for me a reminder, a trophy, of how God heals," he said. "My doctor calls me Lazarus."

But the road to recovery hasn't always been smooth sailing.

After his stroke, his body was often overcome with pain, and his memory and vision were impaired. He underwent nearly six months of therapy and doctor visits. He is whole again -- he said his doctors have told him his fitness, conditioning and health are near 100 percent.

Laurie Mitchell said the experience has challenged the whole family. But ultimately, she said, it's a story with a happy ending.

She said her husband's faith has been strengthened through his trials, and his prayer life has become more intimate.

"It sounds unreal that one person would go through this much and still be standing," she said. "I can see how the Lord has used adversity in Shawn's life to draw him closer to him. (We are aware) that this is something that the Lord really wants to use in his life, to be one of the things that defines him and his ministry."