In our update a couple of days ago, Janet mentioned a new thing that we think God has spoken to us about launching called Miracle Halls. So, we thought it might be a good idea to let you know what that is all about and some of the journey God is taking us on with this.

As we have said at various points this year, we’ve always known that when God called us to dream about transforming communities for generations to come through theonehundredyearsproject that it wouldn’t just be hard work that was needed. In fact, God makes it clear through His Word that while we, by that I mean all believers, are to partner with Him and play our part, it is His power that truly brings transformation. For example, we could hand someone a food package that might fill their belly for a day, but when we do that in the faith-filled supernatural power of God, not only will bellies be filled, but hearts, minds, and souls for years and years to come. Or we could help a student with their homework, which hopefully will enable them to get a better mark, but we do that in the faith-filled supernatural power of God, not only will they achieve a better mark, but they will be marked by the transformational power of a God who opens futures and redeems the past. Whatever we are called to do, we must do it in the supernatural power of God if we want to see true transformation.

Hold that thought………

I was on a phone call with a good friend a number of months ago. He had been serving God for many years as a missionary on the other side of the world and has seen incredible numbers of people come to faith over his years and many amazing supernatural answers to prayer in his time there. Due to persecution in the area and the need to keep his family safe, he sadly had to return to his western home. In the months that he had been home, he was becoming a little frustrated with the churches in his area and their lack of desire to be involved in mission and loving the communities they were based in. In his frustration, God led him to Acts 19, and as we began to talk, he felt there was something God wanted him to share with me through the passage. In this section of Scripture, Paul, the original NT missionary, arrives in a city called Ephesus in what would be modern-day Turkey. While there, Paul met some followers of Jesus and went to the local Jewish church, called a synagogue, to preach about the Kingdom of God. We are told that he spent three months with them, preaching his best sermons, but in the end, they refused to believe in what he was saying. Instead, they slammed the Jesus life and became very difficult towards Paul. Paul correctly decided his efforts were going nowhere, so he left the synagogue with some of the disciples he’d met there and went to a place called the Hall of Tyrannus to share his teaching. Even though this was in what we would call modern-day Turkey, Ephesus was very much a Greek-influenced city. These kinds of halls that Paul went to were common in the Greek world. They were often public or privately owned spaces that were used for teaching and discussion by different philosophers, poets, and writers. It seems that this one was owned or once owned by someone called Tyrannus and it would have been a space where Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews) could gather. We are told that Paul would go there daily and have discussions, most likely about the Kingdom of God, with those who were gathered. While he had had little success in the synagogue, we hear that he had a lot of success in the Hall of Tyrannus. This is what we read about his efforts in Acts 19;

This (Paul’s teaching) went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them Acts 19:10-12

Did you catch that?

From Paul’s discussions in this hall, ALL in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord, and EXTRAORDINARY miracles happened. That’s pretty awesome, right? We don’t get much more detail about how all of this came to pass, but it really is incredible to think about. My friend on this call started to ask what it would look like to have spaces like this in our communities where people would hear about Jesus and experience His power like this: spaces where people who know Jesus and those who don’t could go to encounter Him. I loved what he was talking about, and it was one of those conversations that I knew was significant, so I tucked it away in my heart after we had finished talking. What I didn’t know was if God would want me to do anything with this idea.

I think it was a month or two later; my timeline is fuzzy. I was sitting in church listening to one of our leaders teaching about the same missionary, Paul, arriving in Corinth, another Greek-influenced city. This happens about one year before the story I just highlighted from Acts 19. As the leader was teaching, I felt God remind me again of the conversation with my friend, and He led me to re-read Acts 19 again. (At this point, I need to apologize because I stopped listening to the talk that Sunday, but I guess I had no choice, right?) As I read the passage, I felt my heart and mind start to imagine again what it would look like to have spaces like the Hall of Tyrannus in different communities where people would hear about God and see Him move in His power in their lives.

As I was having this thought/vision, God spoke to me in my thoughts and said – “It’s called Miracle Halls.” I immediately began to write it all down so that I didn’t forget what He had said.

Ever since then, we have been on the journey of praying, listening, and dreaming about what these Miracle Halls might look like, and we think we will be launching the first one in the next month or so! We’re still working out the details, but ultimately we want people in every community to know there is a place they can go if they need a miracle in their life. Whether it is sickness, family breakdown, financial struggles, employment difficulties, the casting out of demons, raising the dead, or whatever else comes up, we want everyone to have access to people of faith who believe in a God of miracles!

Watch this space, please pray, and we’ll update you with more when we have more to share!