Gayle was invited to teach on prayer and minister at Hope Community Church in Newtown, Mid-Wales during the weekend of 6th and 7th June 2009.

It was clear to see that Hope Community Church is a church that is very much involved in their community, through the many community initiatives, from providing childcare through to offering practical helps and caring for the elderly.

One of their many dreams is "to be a church where Christ is loved, honoured and worshiped in Spirit and in truth, where the only bystanders in times of worship are those who do not yet know the Lord" and this was a dream that became a reality as the Saturday prayer sessions opened with a wonderful time of praise and worship where we all just basked in the presence of the Lord.

Gayle opened the sessions by encouraging us all to make prayer our lifestyle even if it is not our first passion and she taught on the four pillars of prayer:

1We should be determined to pray even if it is not our first passion. We have to have a discipline that says I will pray even when I do not feel like it.

2We should pray with direction about the things we are striving for.

3We should be specific about what we want God to do for us, and

4We should have faith to believe we are going to receive that which we have prayed for.

She also spoke about Personal Leadership and the fact that we all have the potential through God to do great things but that we sometimes saw leadership as a position or role when in fact we were all called into leadership and we were challenged to evaluate the way we lead and rule over the position God has given us in our own personal lives, such as the way we lead our families. The importance of aligning ourselves with what God is praying was also emphasised.

We were taken through an examination of our value system with the main message being whatever we value will affect our approach and were asked a heart-searching question – "how do we value Jesus?"

The room was silent as we all listened attentively and soaked up what God had put in Gayle's heart to share with us.

It was not only a day of teaching but where Gayle shared some of her own personal experiences with honesty and humour but with encouragement and biblical facts.

The day ended with many rededicating their prayer lives to be in alignment with God and there were mutterings of anticipation of what God had in store for us the following day.

It was a day where we were all well fed both physically and spiritually but was to prove only to be the appetiser for what God had in store for us the next day.

The Sunday morning service again saw Gayle challenge us with searching questions. Were we prepared to sacrifice ourselves for the answer – could God trust us with the city – were we prepared to answer the call of God for the city?

She drew to our attention the fact that we may pray for revival but when revival comes, are we prepared for the people that God is going to send our way? They may not all be people from the upper or middle-classes but drug addicts and the downtrodden. Were we prepared to disciple the people that came into our churches? These were questions that we had to search our hearts and answer honestly. It was the same question for whatever church we may belong to in whatever city it may be.

At the end of the morning service there was an alter call for only those people who were prepared to recommit their lives to being a disciple to the lost and we saw approximately 95% of the church come forward.

The evening then saw Gayle minister on the three stages of faith:

1Little faith (struggling faith) that says “God I know that You can but I just don’t know how.”

2Great faith that says “God I know that You can and I know that You will – because I know who you are.”

3Perfect faith that simply says “I know it is done” – Wow what faith!

Gayle read from Genesis 22 where she illustrated Abraham’s perfect faith when he said to his servant in verse 5 “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you” and again in verse 7 when Isaac said the Abraham “The fire and wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” and Abraham answered “God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering my son.”

Abraham’s faith could have wavered when he thought about the promise God had made him in Genesis 17:19 that He would give Sarah a son, Isaac and that he would establish his covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. Abraham knew the God he served and was confident that God was in control of the situation.

The evening ended with an air of excitement about what the people had heard from the Lord over the weekend and there was a keenness to put into action the vision that they had for their community and their church.

I came away feeling blessed and gave God all the glory for what He had accomplished over the weekend.