This past week, my sister Elise came to visit me at The Prayer Room for a few days. We had a great time in the prayer room together, going to small group and Encounter service, treasure hunting through Texas Thrift, making the world’s best and simplest marinated chicken, and even visiting the Fort Worth Water Gardens and Sundance Square.
Best of all, Elise got a few very special testimonies! On Wednesday night at a small group, she received a prophetic word that was partly related to her ministry being tied to kids, that they would be drawn to her like to the Pied Piper. The next day, two little girls in a store bathroom struck up a conversation with her through the stall door and created an open door for Elise to minister to their mom. It was such a fun confirmation!
The next day Elise asked Jeremy, the TPR leader who had given her the word the night before, to pray for her back. Her spine had been curved slightly to the left for years, was very sensitive to touch, and had been informally diagnosed with mild scoliosis. Related to that, when she sat with her knees pulled up in front of her, her right knee was noticeably higher. Jeremy and I prayed for healing, and Jeremy actually felt the muscles rippling and moving under his hand even as Elise swore she wasn’t budging. She asked me to press on her back to test it out because previously even the slightest touch would cause pain. I then gave her her first painless back massage in close to ten years! When she sat down to test the alignment of her knees, they were completely level and even! We’re all so amazed at what Jesus has done for her!
Check out the video below or click HERE to watch it on Youtube (click CC to view captions).
We’ve completed the first half of our School of Supernatural Ministry! Our six students (yes, we lost another since my last update) have been really pressing in to hear the voice of God and to minister to each other. We’ve done several activations which involve asking God for His thoughts for each other. I’ve been so proud of their tenderness and boldness!
Earlier this month, John, one of my students who is also a fellow staff member, shared a testimony at Encounter service: “Every time I’ve walked away from the teachings I get convicted; there’s a new holy ache and burden that my voice matters, this is important… And after that, we have a ministry time, and it’s been very fruitful for me and worth it—getting to hear the Lord’s heart over me, strengthening my spirit, giving me confidence. I look forward to every class to get re-amped… it’s empowering me and I feel it throughout the week.”
The first six weeks, our Thursday night sessions were focussed on ministry training. From here on out, we will be doing “real” ministry on Thursday nights! Last week, we started slowly by prophesying over each other. Everyone received several accurate words which built on each other, and everyone was encouraged!
On Saturday, we prayed for a student’s ankle. Her Achilles tendon was in a lot of pain due to a recurring injury that had been going on for almost a year and she had been really struggling in believing that God would heal it. She hadn’t been able to walk that morning. The pain dropped as we prayed, and by the next day, her ankle had no more pain at all! Praise the Lord!
(Full disclosure: I love to recommend resources to help you in your journey, and when I do I use Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase something through my links, I may receive a small commission. But if there’s a resource you want, I encourage you to get it wherever works best for you!)
Ever since Finger of God came out in 2007, I have loved Darren Wilson and Wanderlust Productions’ series of documentaries exploring the supernatural invading the natural. There are so many stories of crazy healings, words of knowledge, casting out demons… and the stuff that’s harder to explain, like gold dust randomly showing up. Every time I watch them, I’m filled with excitement and faith for what God can do, and how He uses ordinary people stepping out in faith to do it.
Discovering the book Filming God by Darren Wilson was a special delight for me. In it, Darren reflects on filming the first two films, Finger of God and Furious Love, including how he was called into this journey as a skeptic–an average Christian who loved Jesus but thought most of the supernatural experiences some Christians talk about was nonsense. After a dramatic encounter with an angel (yes, an actual angel), Darren tentatively began seeking out the supernatural and trying to capture God at work on film.
The timing of reading this book was perfect for me. As I step into leading the School of Supernatural Ministry at The Prayer Room, I’ve had to confront again all my old feelings of inadequacy and lack of faith regarding things like healing. As I read Darren’s story, this guy having these awesome experiences whom I’ve looked up to since I was 16, he was so transparent with his own struggles and I found I could relate to every word.
I find myself falling into the trap of sometimes wanting to protect God from Himself. I realize that I’m dealing with an invisible entity here, and no matter how much I have seen or experienced, it still stretches me to step out and pray for someone to be healed because deep down, I’m wondering if I’m just praying to my own imagination. I’ve prayed for people so often where nothing happened that when I’m faced with a situation of real need and desperation, I get nervous that once again I’m going to pray and nothing will happen, and this need and desperation in front of me is going to turn into bitterness and defeat. I don’t want to subject this person to that, so I will withdraw my own bold faith and fall back on the safer, “comfort this person” prayer.
I think this reasoning is birthed from my own stupid assertion that I really have anything to do with anything supernatural that is or is not happening. What I have begun to learn in my travels, though, is that in the end, it’s not really about me at all. Let me give you two stories to illustrate my point…
The above quote is from chapter 5, which was possibly the most relatable and encouraging chapter of the whole book for me. The entire chapter is offered as an excerpt on wpfilm.com, and I highly suggest you READ IT RIGHT NOW AT THIS LINK RIGHT HERE. Seriously.
The other part of this book I super appreciated was that Darren is NOT gullible or naive, recounting every bit of supernatural hearsay that comes his way. He is only including stories from sources he personally and thoroughly trusts. Many times, he witnessed the stories personally. Chapter 3 explores his decision to include the things like gold dust in the film, concluding that even though some is more than likely hype and overexcitement, at least some of it had to have been from God. The Author’s Note vouches for the humility and credibility of the people sharing these stories:
These are stories I have either witnessed firsthand or have heard from people I have grown to know and love and who are, in my opinion, credible witnesses. They have nothing to gain from telling me these stories; indeed, some have asked me to not include them in my films… Do people lie about the spiritual things that happen to them? Of course they do. Could some of these people be lying to me? I would be naive if I said no. But no one ever told me a story because they thought I might put it in a book. Many times the camera wasn’t even rolling. There is little motivation to lie… In the end, it is up to you to decide whether or not you believe them or me.
Reading this stirred me up to believe again that God is bigger than the box I’ve put Him in, He really does want to move through me, and it’s mostly not about me at all! It also stirred my hunger to ask God to do crazy things like this, to demonstrate His presence and His love by signs and wonders.
I serve as the admin of The Prayer Room’s Forerunner Equipping Center, which in theory includes all of our schools and training programs. So far, my admin role has been confined to our Immerse internship, because that has been the only program we’ve had the strength to offer. It’s been 5 years since The Prayer Room has been able to offer anything more (last year’s weekly School of the Prophetic notwithstanding).
Over the past few weeks, our director Brad has been bursting with ideas for a new School of Supernatural Ministry (SSM). It’s been a desire of ours for years to be able to offer a program that would give in-depth training on topics such as prophecy, healing, and deliverance. We finally feel the permission and anointing of the Lord to make plans for a January 20 of our SSM. At the same time, we plan to put launching another Immerse on hold until summer or fall while we take a close look at revamping that curriculum into a slightly different direction.
SSM will run January 20 through May 12 and emphasise five components:
Theology (biblical teaching)
Equipping (instructions on how)
Activation (practice what you learn)
Ministry (ministering to people)
Prayer (living a lifestyle of prayer)
The schedule will be similar to our current Immerse internship schedule, but will involve some unique components:
Saturday
3pm-4pm — Classroom training
4pm-5pm — Application exercise in the classroom
7pm-9:30pm — Encounter service
Tuesday
6pm-7pm — Ministry time (ministering to people outside the school)
7pm-9pm — Prayer room time together (with prayer/study assignments)
Also, students will usher an additional prayer meeting and choose another additional prayer meeting in which they have no responsibility.
We’re all SO EXCITED and I’ve already had some potential students express interest. This is going to be an amazing way to equip our community in ministering with the Holy Spirit, and will hopefully bring many more into our community!
(Posted a little bit belated on Friday because I had to get Taylor’s permission to publish this first.)
Last week, I made plans to meet up with a friend of mine at Disneyland. This was a very special meeting because Taylor and I had never met in person, but we had been good friends through Facebook for years, and he was going to be in town with his family as a last hoorah before he started college. I only live about 50 minutes away, so we planned to hang out at Downtown Disney for just a couple hours (since I don’t have an annual pass and I already had an evening commitment). We were both super excited.
That morning, he texted me to ask if I believe in praying for healing. Um, YES!! I assumed he was just doing some study or something on it, and texted back two long paragraphs of theology explaining why I believe this can and should be a normal practice for Christians.
Then he texted back– and nope, turns out he wanted to actually go DO it that day!
We agreed to both spend some time asking God who He had in store for us to meet that day, and we both wrote down several “clues” that we sensed that would hopefully lead us to certain people God was highlighting. One of Taylor’s was “white hat,” and one of mine was “little girl in a Minnie Mouse dress”. We also decided that anyone with evidence of injury was fair game too.
We knew our number one goal was simply to create an opportunity for God to touch people with His love. We weren’t there to pressure anyone; we just wanted to pray, bless, love, and invite God to move.
I was so proud of Taylor. He stepped out with so much boldness and gentleness, and we prayed for a lot of people with canes, etc. We didn’t see anyone get dramatically healed, but everyone we prayed for seemed genuinely grateful, and we believe that God is still moving in their lives and bodies!
Sure enough, Taylor found his white hat! It was worn by a woman coming out of a shop with her husband and kids. We asked if we could pray for her, and she was enthusiastically receptive and her husband even laid his hand on her along with us and agreed out loud with our prayer as I gave her a word I was feeling for her out of John 12:24.
We also met a man who was a deacon at his church and was about to have surgery. We both prayed for healing and he was really touched. Seeing his faith and joy really blessed us too!
I spent most of the afternoon looking for my Minnie Mouse dress. I even went in and out of several kids’ stores. I saw several teenage girls with Minnie ears or t-shirts, but I knew I was looking for a very small girl with short dark hair and a full Minnie Mouse dress.
Finally, I saw her, almost exactly as I had pictured her that morning. She was with a woman wearing a long dress and a hijab, walking toward the security checkpoint.
To be honest, the prospect of approaching a Muslim and asking if I could pray for her in the name of Jesus kind of freaked me out. I’ve only ever done something like that once before. I didn’t know if there would be a language barrier or if she would be receptive.
“She’s going in the gate. I don’t have a pass,” I told Taylor, with some mixture of disappointment and relief.
“She’s only going through security right now. You can go there without a pass,” Taylor pointed out.
Crap, he’s right.
I probably wouldn’t have done it if I wasn’t with Taylor, but with his encouragement I followed her and the mini Minnie through the security line, pausing to chat with and pray for the cast member.
Dangit/good, they’re still in range.
By this time, the woman had joined a larger family, all very definitely Muslim.
I started marching after them, muttering something like “Frick, really, Jesus? Of all the…. Taylor, I have no plan, I HAVE NO PLAN okay come on Jesus…”
I knew I could claim their attention for only a brief minute before they entered the gates of the Happiest Place on Earth, so I got the attention of the woman I had first seen and tried to explain that I had been praying that morning and God had shown me her little girl and I’d been looking for her all day. I showed them the list of clues I had written on my phone earlier and asked to pray for them.
“Yes, of course, we pray all the time, you can pray anytime!” the woman responded.
“Yes! May I pray for you right now?” I asked.
“Uh, how will you pray?” she asked. By this time I had the entire family’s attention.
“I’m a Christian, and I will pray in the name of Jesus,” I responded with more strength in my voice than I felt.
They paused a moment, but agreed to let me pray. I asked if they had any specific needs, and they requested prayers for good health for the family.
So I prayed for health, and blessing, and revelation of Jesus, and for the love of God to touch their hearts. They walked away with smiles and gratitude. I walked away feeling glad I had obeyed and done what God had laid before me, but wondering if our prayers had made a difference at all to them.
My mom later told me a story of a Muslim who reported that after years of living in the US, she’d never experienced an American’s hospitality, and conflating America and Christianity, before being saved she had never imagined Jesus reaching out to her. I was encouraged that maybe my short, weak, awkward prayer stirred up a little bit of curiosity about the Jesus who would show an American girl a Minnie Mouse dress and send her to pray blessings over a Muslim family.
Overall, I call this day a success. Taylor and I didn’t see the miracles we imagined, but we did get to bless and pray for many people and plant seeds of grace in their lives. We got to encourage each other and stir up our faith. We got to practice a lifestyle that we both want to walk in more– not just the healing, but of seeing the people around us through God’s eyes, and saying “yes” when He asks us to move.
Earlier this month, I boarded a bus in Kansas City with 100 other IHOPU students (well, we had two buses) and drove 32 hours straight to Los Angeles, CA to participate in The Call: Azusa Now on April 9, and then re-boarded the bus again the next morning to drive 32 hours straight back to Kansas City. Talk about a whirlwind weekend!
Azusa Now is a massive prayer gathering organised by Lou Engle to rally this generation to cry out for revival like the Azusa Street revival of 1906. This was my first experience at one of The Call events, and I was blown away by the power and presence of God.
Racial reconciliation and church unity was a huge theme. Leaders from Native American, Hispanic, African American, Messianic, and Catholic communities were onstage publicly honouring each other and repenting for lack of unity.
Bethel, IHOPKC, Circuit Riders, and many others led worship.
So many leaders in the church and missions were on stage with Lou Engle – Heidi Baker, Bill Johnson, Loren Cunningham, Daniel Kolenda, Todd White, and many more, including my very own home pastor Danny Carroll from Water of Life!!
Gloria Engle and Andy Byrd both gave powerful calls to say “yes” to the call for missions.
People stood up from wheelchairs, hearing loss was restored, brain cancer was healed, and much more!
Shawn Bolz called out accurate prophetic words of knowledge from the stage to specific people in the stadium. Watch the video HERE.
We were all so stirred up on the way home. Tired as we were, we still evangelised at every gas station and held impromptu Bible studies, worship sessions, and prophetic ministry to each other in our vans. We touched God’s desire to sweep this nation with revival, and we actually started to believe it was possible.
Beyond the public move of God that we all experienced that day, the event touched me very personally. Some of these leaders and ministry styles were ones I first connected with years before I came to Kansas City, in my early days of learning to move with the Holy Spirit. I even got to see some of the California friends and leaders in my life who used to run with me in those days. In that stadium, I found myself stirred again to embrace a lifestyle of prayer for revival along with boldness in healing, prophecy, and evangelism. That passion is a precious gift that I cannot afford to let fade.
The first 12 hours of the 15 hour event are available to watch on Youtube if you missed the live stream:
We got special passes down onto the field. (Credit: Luke18)IHOPU students crying out in the rain. (Credit: John DeBeeld)IHOPU students ministering to an attendee. (Credit: John DeBeeld)Todd White releasing faith and fire! (Credit: John DeBeeld)Native American believers prophetically playing traditional drums. (Credit: John DeBeeld)National and global ministry leaders uniting around the cross. (Credit: AzusaNow2016)My home pastor Danny Carroll (white shirt) praying on stage with Jack Hayford and Lou Engle. (Credit: Me!)Testimony from my new friend Rebekah.
Today isn’t Thursday, I know. But this story happened last Thursday, July 30, at Victoria Gardens outdoor mall, at the parking structure just east of the library.
I’d like to tell this story with as much detail as possible because when I used to hear stories like this, it sounded so mysterious. It took me a while to figure out that it’s not about me being awesome, it’s about GOD being awesome, and me just taking simple steps to live out what I know is true.
This is not a perfect model of how to witness. There are a few things I could have done differently, and I was definitely outside my comfort zone, but I just acted like myself and took the opportunity in front of me. The results aren’t up to me.
Last Thursday, I was coming down the stairs of the parking structure on my way to meet someone, when I heard some kind of accident below me, like someone had just sprained an ankle. I peered over to see one teenage boy helping another up off the ground. By the time I made it to the ground, they were limping away together.
“Hey! Are you guys okay?” I called after them.
They turned around. “Yeah, yeah, we’re fine, thanks,” they said.
“Could I ask you guys something really quick?” I asked.
“Sure,” they said, and came back towards me.
“What happened?” I asked.
“My ankle got twisted,” one guy said.
“Oh wow, I’m sorry,” I said. “Hey, um, I’m a Christian, and I believe in Jesus, and I believe that Jesus heals people… so, would you mind if I prayed for it really quickly?”
“Sure, yeah, of course,” he said eagerly. I asked his name – he was Aaron and his friend was Brian – and I knelt down and he gave me permission to touch his ankle lightly.
I don’t remember what exactly I prayed. On the one hand, I wanted to keep it simple and brief, and on the other hand, I wanted to provide a little bit of a theological foundation for what I was doing. I prayed for about thirty seconds, thanked Jesus for His love and praised Him for who He is, and asked Him to touch Aaron’s ankle and bring total healing.
I asked Aaron how the pain was, and he said it was a lot better! I asked if I could pray again, and the second time I got a bit bolder. I declared that I have the Holy Spirit inside of me and God has given me authority, and I commanded the ankle to be healed in Jesus’ name.
This time, Aaron said it felt a LOT better, and he was standing and walking without a problem, grinning ear to ear.
“So, do you believe in Jesus? What’s your background with God?” I asked.
“I’m actually a Mormon,” Aaron said. “I haven’t been active in the church for a while, but yeah, I believe in Jesus.”
“Awesome! I actually have a lot of Mormon friends, and one thing they’ve told me is that they read the Book of Mormon a lot, but sometimes not the Bible as much. Is that true for you?”
“No, we definitely read the Bible as much as the Book of Mormon. It’s another testament of Jesus Christ…” He briefly explained to me a couple of the tenets of Mormon theology, and I nodded along, but I really didn’t want to get into a historical discussion of Joseph Smith, etc. I knew I had only a few minutes with these boys, and I wanted to focus the conversation on the heart of the matter.
“We could have a whole discussion about all kinds of things here, but as I understand it the biggest difference is that Mormons believe that Jesus is the son of God, but not fully God Himself, is that right?” I asked.
Aaron agreed that was correct and elaborated a little bit, but it felt to me like he was lacking conviction a bit. I didn’t want to let the opportunity go without at least briefly letting them hear the gospel.
“Well, without getting into a whole big thing here or getting all preachy at you, I do just want to tell you that the Jesus who just healed your ankle actually is fully God Himself, and He really wants to have a close personal, intimate relationship with you, and that can only happen when you fully believe and trust in who He really is and fully trust in His grace. It’s not about grace plus ‘all you can do;’ it’s by grace through faith, not works, so that no one can boast. That’s Ephesians 2:8-9. And I’d just encourage you to really seek out who Jesus is in the Bible, and see what God’s saying to you.”
Aaron said okay, and we all said “have a good day,” and went on our ways. He wasn’t limping at all anymore.
I don’t know if Aaron’s been thinking about our meeting since then. I don’t know what God’s up to in his life, or Brian’s. I do know that his ankle probably wouldn’t have gotten healed and he probably wouldn’t have heard the Gospel that day if I hadn’t stopped to talk to him, even though my heart was pounding.
I hope this story can be an encouragement that letting God use you to touch strangers with the power and truth of the Gospel doesn’t have to be mysterious or complicated. It’s not about how awesome we are, but how awesome God is.
“And I, when I came to you, brothers,did not come proclaiming to you the testimonyof God with lofty speech or wisdom.For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of menbut in the power of God.”
(I Corinthians 2:1-5)
Two years ago, I went with an evangelism team to the Edge of Hell haunted house held downtown in Kansas City every year. This year, I went again.
Let’s just get one thing straight: I’m not a natural evangelist. While I certainly love talking about truth, I have about a million and one fears related to approaching strangers and talking to them about Jesus. I was surprisingly calm all day, however, and looking forward to seeing what God would do.
Before we set out, the director of IHOPKC’s evangelism department gave us a quick briefing on how to approach people with the gospel. One thing he said was, “If they’re breathing, you can talk to them about Jesus!” He introduced us to a short “spiritual survey” that we could use to talk to people about spiritual matters. He also gave us a cd called “23 Minutes in Hell” about the testimony of a man who went to hell in a vision. (Note: I do not believe that the doctrine of hell should usually be the lead point in a presentation of the gospel, but since this was a Halloween haunted house event and people were looking to be “scared” anyway, it became a thrilling draw for people.)
Once the bus arrived at the location, my partner Grace and I decided to start off by praying. We surrendered the evening to God and asked Him to lead us and prepare the way before us. I specifically asked God to make it easy for us to talk to people, because at that point I was feeling really directionless and nervous.
We saw two girls, probably in their late teens, hovering near the end of the line. I decided that seemed about as easy as it was going to get, so I walked over to them and said, “Hi! Are you guys in line? Is this your first time?” After chatting with them for a minute and introducing ourselves, I launched right in with something like, “We’re just out here talking to people about spiritual things… I mean, ‘Edge of Hell,’ that’s kind of spiritual, right? So, do you believe in hell?”
The older girl, Mia, was really willing to engage with us, and she told us that she expected to go to heaven because she tried to live “godly according to the Bible,” but couldn’t really define what a Christian was, so I took the chance to lay out the gospel for her. I don’t really remember what I said… something about sin and Jesus and grace covering us, and one moment’s decision being the start of a lifelong journey… it definitely could have been far more complete and organised, but Mia was definitely listening.
Eventually she told us that she knew she needed to make a decision for Jesus, but just wasn’t ready yet. Grace and I both encouraged her and I gave her the cd, and we walked on. I’ve thought of Mia every day since then; I know God is pursuing her and bringing her to her day of decision.
The next person we met (after wandering around for a while playing the “I don’t know, what are you feeling?” game) was a woman named Brandi. She was sitting by herself on the steps behind a building. Grace approached her and asked how she was doing. She answered, “Good, I’m just waiting for my kids– but my back is killing me!” Oh hello, we can probably do something about that.
Grace and I both prayed briefly for healing. In less than a minute, Brandi said her back felt much better, but it would probably start hurting if she stood up. Grace encouraged her to try, so Brandi stood, walked back and forth a few steps, and couldn’t stop smiling– her back was COMPLETELY healed!!
We both got prophetic words for her and were able to share God’s heart with her, and she was definitely tearing up by the time we left. She said that she prays every night and sends her kids to church but doesn’t go with them, but is now thinking about doing so. God is definitely drawing Brandi toward Himself!
We talked to several other people who were still polite though much less receptive, and I know that even if they didn’t allow up to fully share the gospel with them, just our reaching out and speaking to them about God could have made a difference. Our job isn’t to know how our actions will affect the other person completely. Our job is merely to be faithful stewards of the message with which we have been entrusted and to walk in love every step of the way.
When our group was finally all back together and ready to debrief, we counted up the encounters we’d had. Our group had shared the gospel with over 150 people, 5 people had given their lives to Christ, and many more had been healed!
While I’m still not a natural evangelist, I do truly love sharing the truth of what God has made available to mankind with people who so desperately need it. I have touched Jesus’ heart, and I know how desperately He wants these people for His own. It’s still plenty uncomfortable, but I want to join Him in His mission of reconciling the world to Himself.
“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am…”
(John 17:24)
“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
(2 Corinthians 5:20)
I know it’s really bad form to start a series called Testimony Thursday on a Sunday, but these stories really did happen on Thursday and I just haven’t been able to get online since then. I did write this up on Friday morning, though, and I expect to usually be able to post regularly on Thursday nights. So there.
As I said in my last blog, we’ve started doing outreaches every Thursday afternoon on our day off. Yesterday about forty of us went to two malls to heal the sick, prophesy, and share the gospel. Within five minutes of getting out of the shuttle, still just standing in the parking lot, we saw the leg of one of our interns grow out and we prophesied over this random curious guy we met. And that was only the beginning.
Once inside the mall, my group almost immediately saw a woman wearing a blue dress with her ankle wrapped in a bandage, and two of the prophetic items on our lists were “blue” and “broken ankle.” We prayed for her and the man she was with, and her ankle got HEALED! As we were praying I got a word that she has a mother’s heart—turns out that although she has no kids of her own, she’s been (as I understood it) a foster mom to many and the theme of mothering has marked her life for years. So I got to bless and encourage her in that. The man she was with had “irreparable” back pain, so we declared that nothing is irreparable with God and we are still believing for his healing.
We also met an Orthodox Jewish girl from Israel, a rapper whose baseball cap was on my list, two Muslim women I prayed for in JESUS’ name (even though I was more nervous than I’ve ever been), and a believer from West Africa with whom we had a great conversation throwing Scripture back and forth. Some of our other groups saw a lot of healings and connected with a girl who is so hungry for God and they’re keeping in touch with her, and the group that our two leaders were in actually got escorted out of the mall!
That story was pretty crazy. As I remember it, they were praying/healing/prophesying over someone working at a kiosk, when one of the leaders recognised a girl walking by. After talking, they realised that he’d prayed for her leg to grow out (it did) the previous week at a different mall. At the leader’s encouragement, the girl told her two friends about it, and he was about to pray for healings for the two of them right there but they were asked to leave the store they were in. So he prayed for both girls outside the store, and one of the girls had her torn ACL healed, and as she was freaking out and jumping around, a security guard came to ask all three of our people who were there to leave the mall.
So as they were being escorted out, they started prophesying over the guard, who turned out to be a Catholic believer and theoretically supported evangelism but not in his mall. He believed he was obeying God by making them honour the authorities, etc. So our people shared some stuff from Acts with him about preaching the gospel anywhere and everywhere no matter how many times they get shut down. They encouraged him to boldly share the gospel even in his own workplace, and his theology was getting pretty blown up. He still made them leave, though, and so they went and healed/prophesied/prayed/preached in Target and Chik-Fil-A instead.
