Back to the Big Big House
The Transformation Center had been housed in the duplex next to The Lewis House for several years. In the beginning of 2022, God spoke to our team and directed us to move from the duplex next to The Lewis House, back into that Big Big House! For 10 years, while pastoring, George and I had lived elsewhere. The Lewis House had been stewarded by different kingdom-minded people but the connection with the community had not been the primary emphasis during those years.
Now God was handing the baton back to us for the season to come. We moved our personal prayer sessions back into The Lewis House but the greater capacity also allowed us to gather in a new way with people throughout the city.
Worship and Prayer That Would Birth His Heart
In June of 2022 we had a series of meetings in the attic with a group of people from different churches, who were all hungry to see God move. Our goal for the week was to grow in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We explored this to a degree, but God kept pulling on us for extended pure-hearted worship. By the end of the week He had given us an invitation. I had a vision of the army of God, which was actually an army of priests. God gave an invitation for whoever would commit that He was looking for a group to be like priests, who would minister to Him, bless in His name and worship and pray that He would birth something that was in His heart.
We did not know what He wanted to birth but we were excited to have the opportunity to partner with Him to see the desire of his heart come to pass. We began to meet minimally weekly, with worship and prayer and He seared this anthem upon our heart: “Holy Spirit gets to do whatever He wants to do and God, you get to have your way in this place!” Every meeting, we would ask Him to show us what was in His heart and how He wanted us to pray.
By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit we began to bless Toledo, joining the many prayers throughout the ages for this to be Holy Toledo and a city belonging to the Lord. One day, in a vision, I saw the Maumee River when the fishermen are all in the water during the walleye run. God said to me, this is my city when souls are being harvested.
As we sought to pray according to His will, God would have us zoom out to the city and then He would zoom back in to the immediate neighborhood. We began to feel His burden for the Five Points Neighborhood again. Our intercession began to increase for the people in our area.
The Fragrant Offering
One day in the summer of 2023 He said to me, “I want you to begin weekly dinners again. This would be a fragrant offering to me.” This was a reference to ministry from our early days, which you can read about in my recent posts this week. (Previous post links in comments below.) I could feel the longing of His heart for people to have a place to encounter His love again. This was weighty for me as the director of the Transformation Center. We had a high volume of people we were serving for personal ministry sessions at that time and I knew that starting weekly dinners would be shifting the whole ministry to a new vision. This had not been on our team’s radar at all. But it was on His heart. We had been praying intently for a year for God to birth what was in His heart. As we continued to pray into this, there was an outpouring of confirming prophetic release from our team. It was as if God cut open His chest and conveyed the longing of His heart. He deeply wanted this.
Though feeding bellies would be a blessing, there was a deeper reason for this ministry directive. He poured out the passion of His heart to us as we sought Him; He loves people so much. He wants every person to be saved and to know His goodness. He wants lies that cause people to keep God at a distance destroyed. His heart aches for all to know Him. Our prayer meetings increased as we received this assignment (we knew what He wanted to do would require ongoing intercession.) I was undone by the way He continued to impress His vision upon our hearts. It was such a holy thing. This invitation was not a project. It would not be a production or a philanthropic passtime. It would be the manifestation of the desire of God’s heart. We began the weekly dinners that summer and now have a collection of testimony of what God has done since the ministry shift.
I am consumed with desire for God to have His way. He has been so faithful to show us specifically how to execute His will.
May Jesus Get His Reward
I feel the call to invite people to join us on this mission and release the good reports so that it can be multiplied in other areas. I hope this series has helped convey my heart and our story. When I post in the days to come, I pray that you will know that what we are doing and the testimonies that accompany are shared with the fear of the Lord. I pray that you will find your place in the army of God. Let’s encourage one another. May Jesus get His reward in this city, Holy Toledo, and beyond!
