|
This ministry was officially re-launched in May 2004 with a new
President, Board and focus. It was formed in November 1995,
became inactive in 1999, and was then given to Michael
Spence to help start a new ministry.
When a Communist government came
to power in Mozambique, Michael began at boarding school in
South Africa. During this time he witnessed a thriving economy become one of the world’s poorest
and saw some of the devastating effects of a
'Christian' nation’s Apartheid policies.
He learnt early on that a nation built on a faulty philosophy or ideology
can cause untold injury, pain and loss. Martin Luther
King was right when he said, "Jesus is eternally right.
History is replete with the bleached bones of nations that
refused to listen to Him.”
At 19 Michael became a Christian and realized that God loved
all nations, that He wanted to positively heal and transform
them. William Wilberforce, Lord Shaftsbury, George Muller,
DL Moody, Reese Howell, Isobel Kuhn, John Wesley, Hudson
Taylor, Brother Andrew and other men/women inspired him.
Their brazen faith, their willingness to trust God in the
face of overwhelming obstacles, stills positively effects
the lives of millions of people
around the world.
Michael worked for several years for a multinational
corporation in Europe and South Africa where he learnt the
critical importance of good governance, cross-cultural
communication, value based servant leadership, valuing the
dignity and expertise of all employees, and well-designed
research when working on projects seeking to improve
productivity and benefit all
employee levels.
In April 1994 Michael left the corporate world to study at
Fuller
Seminary in Pasadena, California. He wanted to
learn how the Body of Christ could become powerful
agents of positive change in the lives of individuals, communities
and nations. Immediately prior
to leaving South Africa he participated in a large prayer
gathering organized by African Enterprise
(AE) and local churches. This rally, the Jesus Prayer
Rally, was the culmination of a series of Christian
initiated activities that moved God to directly intervene
in South African political affairs. So much so, that
Time magazine declared "History has thrown up an authentic
miracle!"
In late 1998 Michael joined African Enterprise in their USA office
and a year later the opportunity arose
for him to launch the AE Transformation project. The
timely launching of the first
Transformation
video by George Otis, Jr. gave a clear visual representation
for the goals of the project: to bring lasting Godly
transformation to any city by exercising biblical
principles. Principles, methodology and theology from
other ministries and parts of the world were to
cross-pollinate with AE's existing citywide missions to help
achieve this.
All senior AE
leaders were sent a copy of this video and as well as other
pertinent books on the subject. Most of AE's leadership
then received training
from a ministry called Harvest Evangelism (HE) in Argentina,
the USA and Africa. For many years HE pioneered a
successful reproducible model, called Prayer-Evangelism,
which helps mobilize city churches so that the 'spiritual
atmosphere' within a city becomes positively changed and many
receive Jesus.
At least two AE teams
went a long way toward incorporating HE's strategy into their city outreaches.
One was AE's Team in
Port Elizabeth, South Africa and the
other was in
Rwanda.
Despite positive outcomes in both of these locations, the
terror attack on the Twin Towers in New York led to a drop
in funding for AE USA and by November 2002 Michael was told that
the AE transformation project had to come to an end.
The Lord then very clearly told
Michael to continue the vision and
goals of the AE Transformation project by forming a separate ministry.
And to validate His leading The King's Court Foundation
was given to him by a Christian brother within 48hrs of AE's
decision. In July 2005 the IRS finally accepted the
ministries new bylaws and activities and during Nov 2004 the Lord
had told Michael to
focus the ministry's efforts on Pasadena. David Thompson from HE
was invited to teach on
prayer evangelism to a Pasadena prayer group early 2005.
Kingdom research
continued through December 2007, including field
research in Uganda. Several of the persons speaking in the
Transformations II video where interviewed.
In May 2008 Michael coordinated
the First Pasadena Global Day of Prayer (PGDOP) in Memorial
Park with the support of different denominations and ethnic groups from
'the church of Pasadena.' Many pastors, several Pastors
groups, including the Clergy Community Coalition,
Interdenominational Ministry Alliance of Greater Pasadena,
Pastors Praying for Pasadena, and Hispanic and Armenian
congregations participated. Different congregations
took evenings of prayer between the National Day of Prayer
at the Rose Bowl and the PGDOP. It was a wonderful
grass-roots expression of Kingdom unity.
In December 2009 Michael became
a facilitator for Kingdom led transformation in Pasadena,
sharing insights with Pastors and Christians leaders that
were learned from the research. During April 2009
Pastor Tim Taylor from Watchman ministries was invited to
come and teach on 24/7 prayer mobilization over cities.
Twenty-three congregations and ministries signed up to each
pray 24hrs on a different date between May 8 and the second
Pasadena Global Day of Prayer of May 31, 2009.
Michael jointly coordinated the second PGDOP with Pastor
Mike Wilson,
which was held in the Court of Champions at the Rose Bowl
Stadium. Once again this was a grass roots event, just
larger, with
many from different congregations participating.
Congregations continued to
take 24hr prayer watches throughout the year.
Continual 365 days of 24hr prayer did not materialize but
this nevertheless huge swell of prayer, together with all
the other prayers in the city, made a significant
difference. The
Pasadena Police Chief openly acknowledged the role of prayer in keeping crime and homicide rates down in
Pasadena.
Kingdom Research continued during the summer of 2009
and continues today, some for the
Center for
Faith and Enterprise. Over the next couple of years
Kingdom research will be a primary focus of this
ministry and so Pastor Mike Wilson and
others have taken the reigns for the coordination of the
third Pasadena Global Day of prayer on May 23, 2010 and also for
the 24hr prayer watch.
Through the
different
foci of the King's Court ministry it is our prayer and desire that
many of the Body of Christ, particularly the next
generation, in Pasadena and beyond be encouraged and equipped.
We passionately desire that the Kingdom of God come 'on earth as it
is in heaven."
|
|