The ARC Life Together Days this past Fall were all filled with unhurried times of worship, powerful prayer and prophetic ministry, and life-giving rather than life-draining relationships. Thanks to Mary Ann Herzan, Paul Sorensen, and Joe Johnson—spiritual father and mothers of our faith family who shared with us and ministered to us.

Our plan is to host three Winter Life Together Days for ARC leaders. The Arizona Life Together Day will be on Thursday, January 15th at Wonderful Mercy Church in Gilbert, AZ. Pastor Tom Brashears will be with us to share on the topic, “Having the Difficult Conversation.” This is something we all run into and Tom’s sharing will help equip us to be more effective in those conversations.

The SoCal Life Together Day is tentatively scheduled for February 24th and will be held at Penasquitos Lutheran Church in San Diego, CA. We hope to have Pastor John Niewald with us from Redeemer Lutheran in Fridley, MN. John has a powerful testimony and teaching to share regarding connecting others with God’s love in times of loss. Again, this a very relevant, practical, and powerful teaching that can help equip us all to be more effective in those relationships and ministry situations that involve loss.

The Minnesota Life Together Day is scheduled for Thursday, February 5th. We have yet to confirm the location or who may be speaking at this event, but rest assured the worship, and prayer and prophetic ministry will be off the charts. It certainly was at our Fall Minnesota Life Together Day.

Put these dates on your calendars now and plan on joining us for the Winter ARC Life Together Days.

Wonderful Mercy is an ARC church in Gilbert, AZ (the Phoenix area) led by Pastor Graeme Sellers, and for the sake of full disclosure Debi’s and my home congregation. We love being part of a church that seeks to embody the mission and core values of the ARC. The atmosphere Wonderful Mercy seeks to create and sustain certainly is a safe place for the dangerous kind.

The mission God has given us here is to “Raise up ordinary people to be extraordinary followers of Jesus by loving them, training them in the Word of God, and equipping them to do the ministry of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.” In order to carry out this mission we have identified a set of core values that guide and influence all that we do. One of our core values is being a House of Prayer. Our core value statement puts it this way: “We are committed to prayer saturating every part of the individual and corporate life in our church, consumed with passion for intimacy with Christ and a habitation for His glory.”

This core value has taken on physical form in the building of a prayer garden at Wonderful Mercy that is open to the public. The project was envisioned years ago, was bathed in prayer, withstood numerous obstacles, and now, has become a reality. Wonderful Mercy members, leaders from other churches, and civic and state leaders gathered for the dedication in October. I asked Graeme Sellers to share with us about the prayer garden and the dedication. He writes:

“We at Wonderful Mercy Church are rejoicing! After years of faithful, sacrificial giving by members of our faith community, we have completed construction of our Prayer Garden. This project includes the Prayer Garden itself, landscaping the remainder of our property, additional parking on the west wide, and creating a new west side entrance to our building.

Some may ask, ‘Why a Prayer Garden?’ In Isaiah, when God announces the new thing He is doing, He describes it this way: ‘I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.’ The Lord’s declaration is unmistakable: I’m taking what’s barren and making it fruitful. I’m bringing rivers of My life to dry, dusty places.

We believe the Prayer Garden aligns precisely with this expression of God’s heart. Specifically, we believe that what is at stake is the spiritual irrigation of Gilbert, and beyond. Through the prayer and worship that rises up like a fragrant offering from the Prayer Garden, God will release rivers of His life—into our community and into the world. Moreover, the Prayer Garden goes to the heart of our identity as a church. We know God has called us to be a house of prayer, a people who are experiencing God deeply and personally as we seek His heart, cry out to Him, and see transformation as we unite in fervent intercession. Once we know our identity we must walk in it; the Prayer Garden is one way that we will consistently and faithfully walk in the identity God has given us.”

You can catch a glimpse of the Prayer Garden in the accompanying photos. Pictured in one of the photos is Arizona Congressman Matt Salmon from the U.S. House of Representatives, District 5 who was one of the speakers for the Prayer Garden dedication, along with the mayor of Gilbert, and Cheryl and Hal Sacks, directors for Bridge Builders International.

The ministry of Jesus continues in the world today through the churches and ministries in Alliance of Renewal Churches (ARC), all of us empowered by the same Holy Spirit who empowered Jesus. As a result, the gospel is being proclaimed, healing is taking place, people are being impacted with God’s love and power, and captives are being set free. It is with the latter in mind that we want to introduce you to the work of New Dawn Ministries, lead by ARC member, Kurt Koestler. We asked Kurt to tell us about New Dawn and he writes the following:

“The mission of New Dawn is to set captives free in Christ’s name; to represent a safe place for the vulnerable, wounded and oppressed; to serve and minister in a spirit of unity, humility, love & compassion (1 Peter 3:8). New Dawn (NDM) is a healing ministry called to serve the body of Christ through safe, gentle, deliverance prayer. We deal with issues of victimization, trauma, generational iniquity and personal sin that may open doors to spiritual wounding. We also address the deeper areas of oppression that occur based on the scriptural truths and results of curse and breaking of God’s laws. NDM ministers primarily through individual prayer, teaching, discipleship, and equipping Christian leaders in these areas of ministry. We never cease to be amazed at the love, power and lengths our Lord will go to bring freedom to his people. The greatest blessing and measure of healing, however, comes through life-changing encounter with Jesus. He truly is mighty to save in every way!” 

To learn more about New Dawn Ministries and meet Kurt Koestler, check out their website www.newdawnministries.net, email them at info@newdawnministries.net, or call 651-330-1913.