I write about these events with a sense of awe, just trying to wrap my brain around what the Lord has been doing in my life over the last two years.
In 2021, on the tail end of Covid, a group of Novo ministry partners in the Dallas area—all empty nesters—began engaging young people while wandering through local grocery stores. The conversations followed this common cadence: “I just moved to Dallas in the last year for work and was locked down immediately. I don’t know many people here, and I’m looking for community.” So, they started monthly dinner parties to foster fellowship and introduced the idea of starting a Spiritual Authority Cohort.
That October, a bunch of 20-somethings participated in the Cohort, and they were radically transformed and on mission to introduce everyone they knew to the abundant prayer life promised by Jesus.
Seven of them became leaders and recruited a massive group of their peers to the 2022 Spiritual Authority Cohort with 60 to 70 young adults gathering every month!
Some amazing things happened during those six months:
Older coworkers of these young people would show up because they saw the fruit in their lives. One lady in her 50s received a word from one of the young people that landed squarely, and she received prayer and deliverance.
Random people would be recruited en route to the Cohort and felt compelled to come.
People who had endured past spiritual abuse found healing from the posture of humility.
And there were numerous healings and deliverances!
Two of my coworkers at Novo who are deeply invested in gospel movements around the world, Bill and Jill Randall, visited our Cohort and noticed something unique about the passion there. Jill said, “We have had many decades of ministry to and with young adults, and I have to say, this thing that God is doing is something special. It’s a powerful move of God where Jesus is calling them to follow him, and they are doing it! They are on fire and will do whatever it takes to follow Jesus’s lead. They are praying with power. They are obeying. They are sacrificing. They are loving. They are risking. They are leading. And much more. All to bring the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven!”
So what do you do with these super-charged young people? They need ownership. They need vision. They need to be challenged to dream big with the Lord! Fast forward to an impactful couple of weeks in the United Kingdom.
The UK has held a special place in my spiritual journey over this last year. Much like visiting the country of your genetic heritage for the first time, walking the paths of my spiritual forefathers like St. Patrick, St. Cuthbert, and St. Aidan has tapped into something I didn’t know existed, and it has propelled my walk forward. I knew it would have the same effect on these young people, so we organized a trip to the UK for 10 of these young leaders to experience 10 days of spiritual formation and team bonding.
God showed up!
Through rest, solitude, worship and contemplation at Ffald-y-Brenin, a prayer retreat center in Wales, followed by a few days shoulder to shoulder with almost 3,000 others at the Wildfires Festival in England, this group became a team ready to contend for the next great awakening for the sake of their city, Dallas, TX. Seeing them worship with reckless abandon, pray for and bless each other and strangers, as well as pull people from the margins into the game, I sat back in wonder repeating to myself, “This is what God can do.”
Let me share what one of them had to say about this time together:
“The UK trip was the most important and impactful thing in my life and walk with Jesus that I have ever done. I went on this trip one way and left completely changed. What we received and experienced was nothing short of heaven on earth. I think we will see more people in Dallas experience God’s presence and be transformed by the simple but life changing power of blessing prayer and living a lifestyle of blessing [as a result].”
So what’s happening now? Well, we’ve been able to take over a chapel space in a retired church (the oldest church in Dallas) and we’re creating a space for mission strategy, worship, prayer, and equipping more people in prayer and mission. The young adults have continued to press into strategic prayer. Some are using all their free time to minister to others. Some are spreading what they’ve learned to other people in their home churches and college campuses. Some are pursuing full-time missionary roles with Novo. Others are relocating with vision to equip more young adults to live as passionately for Jesus as they are themselves.
I can’t help but get excited about what’s in store for Dallas with these activated, mobilized, energized young people!
And what’s even more exciting is my crew from Dallas are just one of the stories of young adults becoming activated to participate in building God’s Kingdom. You may have heard about what God did at Asbury, where a student revival broke out in Kentucky. Across Novo, we’re seeing similar passion rising up in groups of young people and I am here for it!
Would you join me in praying for more?
Pray for the young people you know to be fired up about the good news! God is doing something special in this generation, and I can’t wait to see what happens as more of them discover and exercise the power of prayer in their lives!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Taylor Smith serves on Novo’s Partner Development Team. He and his wife Amanda live in a Dallas, TX suburb with their three kids.