Breaking Christian News

God's Healing Breaking out in Australia - a Report on the Australian National Healing Rooms Conference

Ross Wakeley / Aimee Herd : May 31, 2005
National Healing Rooms Australia

Ross Wakeley, Development Manager for Healing Rooms Australia, reports on "Impact '05," the very first Australian National Healing Rooms Conference which was attended by over 320 people and took place in Sydney earlier this month (May). Guest speakers were Cal and Michelle Pierce who are founders of the Healing Rooms in Spokane, Washington, USA.

Ministry According to Wakeley, a highlight of the conference was "for 240 of the delegates to be taken by bus from Dural to the city centre to Richard Johnson square. This man was the first pastor and preached the first gospel message in the nation on February 3, 1788. The service on May 21st, 2005, included a welcome by an aboriginal Christian, a symbolic passing of the ministry of Healing Rooms for the nation from Cal Pierce to Franklyn Elliott; a prophetic prayer for the nation by Sue Walker and prayer groups of the delegates praying for Australia."(Pictured: Richard Johnson Square)

Ministry The 330 people in attendance came from 66 churches around the nation including, Alliance, Anglican, Baptist, Charismatic, Christian City Church, Churches of Christ, independent churches such as DaySpring & Vision Christian Fellowship, Hillsong, Lutheran, Pentecostal, SDA and Uniting churches were all represented. (Pictured: Cal Pierce and Franklyn Elliott)

God was also doing a work of healing during the conference according to Wakeley: "A woman was brought along in a wheel chair on Saturday morning. She was scheduled to commence kidney dialysis on Monday, May 23rd. Following prayer, she told her husband, 'I've been healed.' On the Monday she went to the hospital, the medical professor did some tests. He told her, ‘You no longer need dialysis.'"

There is now a hope for accelerated growth of healing rooms all over Australia as a direct result of the Impact '05 conference. To find out more about the National Association of Healing Rooms in Australia, log onto: www.healingrooms.com.au

IMPACT ‘05

FIRST AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL HEALING ROOMS CONFERENCE

Overview

 Over 320 people came to Sydney from Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, ACT, regional NSW and New Zealand.

 Guest speakers were Cal & Michelle Pierce, the founders of Healing Rooms, in Spokane, Washington, USA. Their teaching, calibre of walk with Jesus and character, plus the impartation they released, left every person who attended the conference deeply moved.

 Franklyn & Deanne Elliott were released by Cal Pierce to be the Australian directors and lead the ministry of Healing Rooms Australia.

 A highlight of Impact '05, was for 240 of the delegates to be taken by bus from Dural to the city centre to Richard Johnson square. This man was the first pastor and preached the first gospel message in the nation on February 3, 1788. The service on 21st May, 2005 included a welcome by an aboriginal Christian, a symbolic passing of the ministry of Healing Rooms for the nation from Cal Pierce to Franklyn Elliott; a prophetic prayer for the nation by Sue Walker and prayer groups of the delegates praying for Australia.

 Michelle Pierce spontaneously commented, This is the best conference we've ever been to … that is not a throw-away line. This is the best conference we've been to. We feel like we are home.

 Intercession for the six months prior to the conference was a key to the outstanding success of the conference and, by expectant faith, the wave of healings, salvations and revitalization of faith and involvement from Christians across the nation, that will flow from Impact '05.

 We are expecting an acceleration in the growth of Healing Rooms in Australia. Among many other places, keen interest has been shown by conference delegates, who live in Bundaberg & Loganholme in Queensland; Randwick, Emu Plains, Gorokan, Albury, Hurstville and Lindfield in NSW plus Elizabeth and Ridgehaven in South Australia.

Story of Healing Rooms Australia: 2000 to 2005

The journey towards Healing Rooms, began at one level, with a church called Metro North Christian Centre. The church currently meets in Dural (on the NW side of Sydney, about 50 minutes drive from the city centre). For the past 18 years, Franklyn & Deanne Elliott have been the senior pastors. In November, 1992, Jim Goll prophesied in Kansas City: Through your church community God is going to do a work in the whole city, a work of unity. A church community that will be beyond the limitations of traditions of men, that will leap over walls of denominational names and structures ... a church community in a region walking together as a healing family of praisers … The emphasis will be on lavishly loving and declaring God's goodness ... on healing taking place ... on teams of people new in the Holy Spirit who are zealous to be used, volunteering to be involved in healing and compassion.

During the period from the late 1980's, God used the Elliott's to transition Metro North from being a traditional evangelical congregation to one that has been renewed and changed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Today, the church is typical of churches now being described as being part of the New Apostolic Reformation [Churchquake by Dr. Peter Wagner] that are modeled on the principles of the 1st Century Church. We are part of a world wide body of Christian believers interacting with, relating and networking with many churches in various denominations locally, nationally and internationally.

Some keys to the church are:

 Knowing Jesus intimately

 Following Him obediently

 Loving one another harmoniously

 Introducing people to Jesus with urgency

Given the spiritual journey God was taking the church on, in mid 2000, the church decided unanimously to leave NSW Churches of Christ and become an independent church with extensive links to a range of churches-both in Sydney and beyond-that are in the ‘renewal stream' for mutual accountability and support.

People like Graham Cooke spoke into the church, teaching concepts such as this truth: "God is moving us to a place where we know we can trust God for everything [walk by faith, not by sight and fight off the enemy]. God bringing us to a place where He knows we can be trusted."

During 2000, Bob Brasset (a healing evangelist from Canada), was invited to run a healing conference. God worked through Bob to heal dozens of people. In subsequent visits by Bob, he talked with the leadership of Metro North Christian Centre about Healing Rooms [they currently operate in twenty five nations]. Bob noted they are an effective mission outpost in any community. People gladly come to receive prayer when they are in emotional, physical or spiritual pain. Bob noted that when a person who is a non-Christian comes to a Healing Room, after Jesus heals them, they ask, "Who is this Jesus you are praying to?" It's easy to share with them the good news of Jesus and many make a commitment to Him, having already experienced His healing power.

Then, in May 2002, Franklyn Elliott went to Canada for a conference. Within days of being there, phone calls came back from a super-excited senior pastor, with gentle warnings the church was about to take a radical shift. A changed man arrived home and the church watched the video's from that conference. God impacted the church: Rest in Me. Sit in My presence. The impact of Canada on Metro was profound an enduring. Sermons and planned worship sets gave way to God directing. Prophetic words came from a variety of people in every service. Some who had been sitting on words given to them by the Lord years ago were released to share them. The consistent testimony among church members was the degree of spiritual growth.

Alongside this journey, the church discovered more about Healing Rooms. They are places where the Kingdom of God is demonstrated in word, sign and deed: just like the ministry of Jesus. Excitement grew. We wanted to be involved in ministry that would effectively reach into the community and result in Kingdom expansion. Franklyn & Deanne Elliott traveled to the Healing Rooms in Santa Maria (California, USA) to ‘check out' Healing Rooms. Their visit was one of those life-changing experiences. They witnessed Christians from various churches in that city ministering together in unity. They saw God heal a number of people. They heard stories of many coming into the Kingdom. The ministry model was Jesus focused, gentle, authentic, team based and prayer driven. They returned to Australia bubbling over with joy. They had no doubt this was for us to get into!

In Easter 2003, Steve Stewart [director of Healing Rooms Canada] and Bob Brasset spent a few weeks in Sydney. Steve trained the initial Dural Healing Rooms team and prayed an impartation of God's healing power into each team member. The ministry got rolling in April 2003 and within twenty five months, over 1000 people have come to Dural for prayer. Hundreds of people have been healed, either physically, emotionally or spiritually. We have over one hundred documented cases of Jesus healing people: many on pubic display for folk to read and have their faith built up.

Healing Rooms are a place where anyone can come for prayer, and receive prayer by a small team. Most Healing Rooms open a few times a week and operate on a "no appointment, no charge basis." The first one to open in Australia is located in Brisbane and (to date) there are ten Healing Rooms operating in Australia, with a number of new Healing Rooms planning to commence during 2005.

During February/March 2005, Metro North launched into its greatest step of faith. The church invited Bob Brasset back for a six city outreach in Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Newcastle, Central Coast and Canberra, using the Healing Rooms in each location as the intercession, ministry & logistics teams. The results were amazing. The stage was set through relationships with the teams in each of the Healing Rooms for Impact '05 and the visit of the International Directors, Cal & Michelle Pierce. Intercession for the six months prior to this conference was a key to the outstanding success of the event and, by expectant faith, the wave of healings, salvations and revitalization of faith and involvement from Christians across the nation, that will flow from Impact '05.

Over 320 people came to Sydney from Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, ACT, regional NSW and New Zealand. One of the groups from Brisbane arrived early on the Thursday morning, part of the 15 people billeted by Ken & Sandra Gregory. They didn't come to waste time. By 8am, they were into praise and intercession. The whole group fasted. Their intercession kept rolling the whole time. This spilled over into the conference. Preceeding each session was an hour of intercession led by Sue Walker, who reported that the room was so filled with prayer warriors that the ‘full-up' sign had to go up! Unprecedented!

Thursday evening, 19th May was the start of Impact ‘05 and from the start of worship led by David Elliott, the place erupted in praise to God. Cal & Michelle Pierce, the founders of Healing Rooms, in Spokane, Washington, USA were joined by Mark & Pam Walker. Cal's teaching and the calibre of walk with Jesus and character of the Spokane team, plus the impartation they released, left every person who attended the conference deeply moved. People expected Cal's teaching would focus on Healing Rooms. In reality, conference director, Ross Wakeley comments: "Cal's teaching is of equal spiritual depth, practical application and breadth to that of Bill Johnson and Graham Cooke."

On Friday 20th May, Cal & Michelle plus Mark & Pam, met with the directors of the eleven Healing Rooms around Australia, along with the team from Healing Rooms Australia. This was a time of building family, hearing Cal's heart and for the "official" release of Franklyn & Deanne as National Directors of Healing Rooms. Mark & Pam shared valuable insights into the support that the International Association of Healing Rooms will continue to provide to Healing Rooms in Australia. The impartation time by the Spokane team for those gathered was pretty joyous and releasing.

The Friday evening session was memorable. Following Cal's teaching, he invited people forward for a "father's blessing." Many dozens of people responded and God ministered emotional and spiritual healing deeply into people's lives. We also rejoiced as God did great physical healings. For example, a woman was brought along in a wheel chair on Saturday morning. She was scheduled to commence kidney dialysis on Monday 23rd May. Following prayer, she told her husband, "I've been healed." On the Monday, she went to the hospital, where the medical professor did some tests. He told her, "You no longer need dialysis." Wow!

On Saturday afternoon, 240 of the delegates were taken by bus from Dural to the city centre to Richard Johnson square. This man was the first pastor and preached the first gospel message in Australia on February 3, 1788.

The service on Saturday 21st May, 2005 led by Franklyn Elliott, included a welcome by Tim Crofts, an aboriginal Christian, a symbolic passing of the ministry of Healing Rooms for the nation from Cal Pierce to Franklyn Elliott; a prophetic prayer for the nation by Healing Rooms Australia prayer co-ordinator Sue Walker, the singing of Geoff Bullock's Great South Land led by David Elliott and prayer groups of the delegates passionately praying for Australia.

Saturday night involved all of the delegates standing on a huge map of Australia: a symbolic ‘taking Australia for God.' Following worship and teaching from Cal, all those present received a personal impartation from Cal as he released God's healing ministry to each one. It was a brilliant finale. The team who organized the conference were thrilled with the way God built family among those present over the three days. They were humbled by Michelle Pierce, who spontaneously commented, "This is the best conference we've ever been to … that is not a throw-away line. This is the best conference we've been to. We feel like we are home."

It's exciting to note that of the 330 people who attended, that they came from sixty six (66) churches around the nation: Alliance, Anglican, Baptist, Charismatic, Christian City Church, Churches of Christ, independent churches such as DaySpring & Vision Christian Fellowship, Hillsong, Lutheran, Pentecostal, SDA and Uniting churches were all represented. With a clear focus on Jesus, there was a wonderful sense of unity and a building of a relational network that will be used by God to expand His kingdom in Australia.

We are expecting an acceleration in the growth of Healing Rooms in Australia. Among many other locations, keen interest has been shown by conference delegates, who live, for example, in Bundaberg & Loganholme in Queensland; Randwick, Emu Plains, Gorokan, Albury, Hurstville and Lindfield in NSW plus Elizabeth and Ridgehaven in South Australia to start new Healing Rooms.

Great days are ahead. Thank you Jesus.