So, it’s been a while since I’ve been on here!  Just wanted to mention a couple of super exciting bits of news.

Firstly for anyone that hasn’t yet heard Wes Hall and a team from IHOPU will be coming to the UK and particularly Manchester (or at least Salford).   For more info click here or here.  I can honestly tell you I am so excited about this.  What excites me the most is the possibility that this could be  a real catalyst for change in our city and the UK.  I know that that sort of sweeping statement is made all the time and that it is often used as a tool for creating hype but I actually believe that the Lord intends to use this time to bring significant breakthrough but I wonder if it will look different from what people expect.   The kind of change I believe is coming is in the heart’s and spirit’s of those who come.  Whist I expect for the meetings to be full of the glory of God I believe the lasting change will be the lifestyle choices of those who are touched by God, who can’t go back to living according to this world, who refuse to treat the bible like a self-help manual, who will no longer allow themselves to consider Jesus and His kingdom as the secret to an easier life.  I believe that Jesus wants to meet powerfully and intimately with people, setting heart’s free and putting a passion in people that burns so bright that they will seek to see His face and do His work for the rest of their days on this earth.

So in case you thought I was sitting on the fence I want to whole heatedly recommend that you come to the evening events (they are free!) and to even consider taking the Tuesday and Wednesday of work and coming to the conference during the day in Bolton (at the church I grew up in!).  If nothing else Wes Hall is an engaging speaker and Cory Asbury and Laura Hackett are two of the best worship leaders you’ll have the honour to worship with!

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Secondly I wanted to let you know, in case you hadn’t heard, that Becci and I have set up a little website as part of our journey into night and day prayer.  We have quite imaginatively named the venture Manchester House of Prayer, MHOP for short, and if you want to go check it out then head to mhop.org.uk.  We are looking to start holding fortnightly two hour prayer meetings at the Parrswood Hotel in Didsbury, the first one probably on the 24/9/10 (check the website for updated info soon!).  We’re also responsible for running a prayer room during two of the three dates the IHOPU team is here.

I’ve not spoken to a huge amount of people about the upcoming event or even what any of our plans are but a few people have been asking what is coming and so I wanted to be able to take a moment to explain why we are starting so low key, some might say small, and why we’ve waited so long to get something going!  When we first went to Kansas (or Kansas City, MO if Chris Foster asks) we honestly thought we would come back to the UK and immediately launch several prayer meetings and be running night and day if not 24/7 within months but the Lord had very different plans.   In April the Lord released some (not a lot but some) insight on what we were to do to establish this house of prayer in Manchester.  The first things was to not start something when we got home.  So we have taken this time to get reestablished in the UK, to get settled at home, for Becci to have the baby (Anna Sophia, born 3/9/10!) and then to take our time and create the foundations of the house.  We could have pushed hard and started a 24/7 prayer room in Manchester back in May but I can guarantee that 4 months down the line it would be dwindling or have finished a while back.  What the Lord wants to create in Manchester is a house of prayer built on the foundations of people who have lived lives of sacrifice and prayer to create an culture and environment of sustainable, enjoyable and effective prayer in their own homes first.  We believe that if we are faithful to begin small then He will be faithful to grow this.  And we know that our success does not come from number of people coming to meetings, it doesn’t come from whether we are bringing enough money in to survive, it comes from being loved by Jesus and being able to love Him back.

If you are interest in finding out a bit more of our plans for MHOP or if you think you’d like to get involved in some way then please do head over to the site and fill out the contact form, MHOP will just be a funny name without people responding to the call of the Lord to make a radical decision to seek the one thing that Mary pursued, to pour their lives out on the alter of prayer and praise.

Well, I do go on sometimes, apologies for the length of this post, 882 words and counting!  As always, thanks for taking the time to read this if you got this far and I want to pray for you, that as you read this that Lord would grant to you wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, that passion for Jesus would be stirred in your hearts, that you would be filled with desire to find the man behind the words, to find Him out in scriptures, to meet Him in the quite of your soul.  I pray that God would plant in each heart fresh vision and reawaken dreams and desire to step out and follow the King of kings, the judge of all, the coming bridegroom, Amen.
Love you all!

Michael