Winter 2023

Dear Partners and Friends,

After a long season of quietness and prayer that marked our lives in 2021 and 2022, we began to receive instruction from the Lord last fall regarding additional steps and new direction. During a time of waiting on the Lord, the Holy Spirit spoke to our hearts reassuring us that “2023 is the year of our ministry.” We’ve held on expectantly to that word and are already beginning to see an increase in God’s favor, anointing, and grace upon our lives as we prepare for His Open Door.

Back in 2019, the Lord gave us an outline of our first phase of ministry – things He wanted to accomplish before we even moved to the greater NYC Metro to begin the work there. While we were a little off in our timing before the pandemic, we’ve been able to fine-tune our alignment so that we are in complete harmony with God’s perfect timing and execution of His plans. (We shared more about where we’ve been and where we’re going in a recent video posted on Facebook in January.)

Based on the outline the Holy Spirit gave us in 2019, we are moving forward this year with three specific areas in ministry:

Developing prayer school and orchestrating prayer trips
Strengthening the brethren through discipleship and itinerant ministry
Amplifying the voice of the ministry through media.

We’re excited to share more with you as we continue to walk out the Plan!

Prayer Groups Born from a Lifestyle of Prayer

As some of you know, prayer has always been something near and dear to both of our hearts. We’ve always been a part of corporate prayer through various small prayer groups and meetings. Prior to stepping out into our own ministry with New Life, both Mica and I were active in leading and assisting in various prayer ministries in the local church. We both served as Altar Care leaders for several years praying with those who came forward for ministry during services as well as with those who were part of the altar care team. While I was in Bible school, I often ministered in morning prayer with the assistant dean of the school. The Lord even opened a unique opportunity for me to serve as head usher during my Bible school’s exaltation services, which allowed me to receive impartations of the spirit of prayer from those who were leading.

But more important than the prayer ministries we’ve served in during our ministry training season is the value we place on prayer in our personal lives. Before Mica and I even met, both of us had developed a strong prayer life in our own walk with the Lord. In fact, our marriage was birthed from a season of prayer Mica especially walked through during her single years. Once we were married, we prioritized regular times of praying together, which allowed us to learn to flow together in the spirit. We’ve learned how to respond obediently to various prayer assignments the Holy Spirit gives us and to pray effectively in the Spirit and on the Word until we see the answer manifest. Our home is one where prayer is a priority and close fellowship with the Lord is cherished daily.

During the pandemic, the Lord led us to begin leading prayer in our home. This prayer group known as Defenders of the Faith met weekly for almost a year and was broadcast in a private Facebook group with over 100 members from more than 30 churches. More than half a dozen nations were represented in this group as members joined us from across the United States and the world online. Prayer members came from all walks of life – mothers, fathers, teens, grandparents, professionals, pastors, and missionaries. Together, we came into agreement on the Word of God that was taught and then prayed in unity for personal needs, families, the Church, the United States, governments, and the nations. It was a blessed time of prayer and fellowship with the Body of Christ both far and wide!

Kingdom Advancers new prayer group — ***Request to join our Kingdom Advancers Prayer Group or Kingdom Advancers NYC Metro Prayer Group on Facebook!***

After 9 months of leading Defenders of the Faith, our prayer assignment began to shift as the core members of our group changed their positions in prayer from defenders to advancers. As a result of this spiritual shift, the Lord elevated our prayer assignment and gave us a new name for the group. It was in 2021 that our current prayer ministry and group was born, now known as Kingdom Advancers. We continue to meet in our home regularly and are expanding derivatives of this group as the Lord leads.

Prayer Groups and Prayer Trips — Plans for Prayer School & Prayer Trips

As we continued with our Kingdom Advancers group, the Lord began to give us specific instruction regarding developing a mobile prayer school template with an extended component of group prayer trips to New York City and other global cities. While we may not be able to physically relocate to the New York City area just yet, the Lord has given us a strategy to begin ministry there while conducting prayer school in the Bible Belt region. We are excited to press forward with this venture as we see all the pieces for this assignment coming together.

For the moment, we are focusing on developing the prayer school curriculum with the goal of presenting this concept to local churches, pastors, and Bible schools later this year. Over the past few years, we’ve been burdened in our hearts by the lack of Word-based prayer especially in the house of God. Jesus Himself commanded that His House would be a house of prayer for all nations. It’s grievous to us and to the Holy Ghost that our local churches in America have lost their primary responsibility, priority, and purpose in prayer.

As a result of this spiritual epidemic, the Lord has quickened our hearts with a solution to teach and impart the spirit of prayer into the church once again. We’re developing the prayer school template to be customizable and mobile so that it can meet the specific needs of any local gathering. With an emphasis on discipleship, our prayer school integrates three key elements of teaching, interaction, and execution while covering the topics of marriage, family, provision, government, the Body of Christ, missions, and the local church.

***Listen to our recent Facebook video to hear the vision for group prayer trips to New York City!***

As an add-on option, we’re working to develop an extended component of prayer school that will enhance the core teaching through interactive tour and prayer trips to New York City and other global cities. With my connections in the travel industry, we can facilitate unique itineraries that highlight global cities, their spiritual heritage and condition, the history of immigration, and cross-cultural missions in today’s global environment. Following the same concept as prayer school, these hands-on prayer trips will include daily teaching, afternoon tours, and corporate prayer services. We believe this new concept of prayer trips can be extremely effective by depositing a fresh vision for prayer into people’s hearts specifically for our nation, cities, ethnic groups, and missions.

Over the next several months, we will be traveling back and forth to NYC to finalize group trip itineraries, on-the-ground connections, and the trip curriculum. We’ll send out more updates as prayer school and prayer trips develop.

Following Paul’s example of ministry, we endeavor to “strengthen the brethren” everywhere we go. This keeps us occupied in the work of the ministry through one-on-one discipleship and itinerant teaching. While the lockdowns hindered our mobility, we are now regaining ground in our traveling ministry. In December, we had the honor of preaching in a Russian-speaking house church and leadership meeting in Spartanburg, South Carolina pastored by our friends and prayer group members, Benjamin and Rimma Vavilin. We were surprised to meet so many immigrants from the former Soviet Union including people from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, and Belarus. What a joy to see what God is doing among the Russian-speaking culture here in the United States!

In February, we ministered in the Victory Fellowship regional house church gathering in Nashville, Tennessee. It was especially a joy to minister that Sunday as our mentors, Pastor Bill and Linda McRay, were present! We’ve been part of their ministry fellowship for six years now and have been blessed by their wisdom and example of marriage and pastoral ministry.

Where We've Been and where We're Going — ***Invite us to speak at your church or Bible school!***

This month, we are excited to be returning to Europe after a 3-year hiatus! We will be teaching in a Bible school in Split, Croatia and are already anticipating hungry hearts ready to receive the Word. If you’d like to keep updated on our ministry time in Croatia, be sure to follow us on social media. We’ll be posting highlights and an on-the-ground ministry video report during our trip.

Amplifying the Voice of the Ministry through Media

In 2019 the Lord spoke to our hearts and instructed us that one of the key rooms He wanted to build in our ministry was media. This is not surprising since there has always been a particular grace on Mica’s life in this area (she is a professional editor with a degree in Mass Media Communications from ORU). After a season of prayer and silence on social media, we now feel a release to continue to build the voice of the ministry on our online platforms as the Lord leads.

Surprisingly, our Facebook ministry page exceeded 5K followers while we were predominately offline! Our new website also has continued to gain traffic. Last year alone, we had nearly 7000 site visitors from over 50 nations, including some closed or persecuted countries. We’ve already been reaching people all over the world with the message of new life—and that was in our quiet season! We’re learning that when God is the one leading the ministry, He will build the platform, develop the voice, provide the audience, bring the connections, and finance what belongs to Him anyway. To God be the glory for being the author and finisher of our ministry!

New Life Metro Ministries International Follow us on Facebook — ***Follow New Life on Facebook!***

As we move forward with our media projects this year, we are elevating our content on social media, preparing to write more articles for the website, and will be broadcasting more teaching videos on YouTube and Facebook. We will also be working on a print format of the prayer school curriculum as well as book manuscripts. Mica has already been doing a lot of work in the background getting us ready for a solid online presentation.

We continue to see the Lord work in the most amazing ways in our home, ministry, and businesses. This quarter especially we have watched the Lord bring in supernatural supply and confirmation for our upcoming ministry trip to Croatia! We recognize that we are being sent out by the Holy Ghost to accomplish Kingdom purposes. Here are a just a few testimonies of provision that God has performed in our lives since January:

God supernaturally blessed us with complementary business class international airfare!
We were prepared to purchase economy tickets, but the Holy Spirit prompted me to wait on our purchase. A week later through the avenue of my business, I was awarded two business class tickets from the president of my company! This is a testimony of God’s favor on His children in the marketplace! I have carefully lived my life with godly character and conviction in front of my unsaved clients and colleagues. The favor with these tickets came as a result of having a good reputation with those who do not know the Lord according to 1 Timothy 3. We also believe this blessing came into our lives as a result of our personal obedience to sow into the life of another missionary a few months ago.
God granted us favor with our accommodations for Croatia.
Thanks to my connections in the industry, we received 50% off our lodging in Split.
God brought our first monthly ministry partner in January!
We were amazed when a dear friend whom we have been discipling in prayer over the past few years informed us that the Lord had laid it on her heart to begin partnering with our ministry on a monthly basis. Little did she know we had begun to believe God for an increase in partnership in December. It is amazing to see how God orchestrated His supply line without us ever having to say one word to anyone!
God funded the expense portion of the trip through a recent ministry engagement we had in February.
We are learning that harvest comes when we first labor in the Gospel. As a result of planting the Word in others, God always supplies whatever is needed for His plan. He is teaching us His pattern for partnership in the Gospel!
God brought in another surprise donation specifically earmarked for our ministry trip to Croatia!
Again, we never asked. The Lord just moved on the hearts of people to give towards this trip, which continues to confirm God’s purpose for this assignment.
The Lord confirmed our purpose for this ministry assignment in Croatia by demonstration of the Gifts of the Spirit.
We received a specific word of confirmation through tongues and interpretation at a recent ministry leadership meeting. This encouraged us to expect supernatural success in our ministry assignment as we minister the new life to others.

As we have endeavored to walk through God’s Open Door of ministry, direction, and provision, we’ve discovered that anything God does first begins in the realm of the spirit through the vehicle of prayer. No effective ministry can be done without Word-Based and Spirit-led prayer, which is proper communion with the Lord. Prayer is an eternal binding force between heaven and earth. It is because of what we’ve received in prayer that we look forward to 2023—the year God launches our ministry!