HCI History, Part 5: Incorporation

The years between 2007 and 2013 ushered in a thrilling season of growth for the Healing Center. One after another the Lord brought new healing modalities—the Life Model, the Immanuel Approach and HeartSync—to our attention. We were gulping it in, attending training events, trying to implement the new methods, and loving the journey of discovery the Lord was leading us on.

The Life Model is an idealized model that describes what each of us needs in every stage of life: Infant to Elder. It came out of a counseling center in Pasadena, California where teams of therapists wrestled with the question, why do gifted, theologically sound leaders fail? The answer was this: We all have maturity deficits. It was so life giving to uncover our deficits and begin to recover what was missing. We also learned about living in rhythms of joy and shalom. For high-performers like me it was an epiphany. I was not meant to go go go, do do do. I was meant to rest and receive. We also learned that some healing only comes in community. We had been focused on teaching new skills, understanding new concepts. But learning to quiet our bodies and receive from God and each other was foundational to growth and maturity.

There was only one problem. The Life Model classes we were offering championed the Immanuel Approach, a new form of prayer ministry based on Theophostic Prayer Ministry (TPM) but distinct in key areas. As a team, we were deeply invested in TPM. The primary difference between the two methods was that TPM was narrowly focused on uncovering lies—lies at the root of painful emotions. Immanuel was focused on developing a love relationship with God based in joy. At first we were so comfortable with TPM that we simply substituted times of Theophostic prayer for the time in the Life Model curriculum allocated to Immanuel prayer.

But I was curious, and so was Cheryl, so in 2010 we traveled to Morton, Illinois for a Share Immanuel conference. There we met many of the Life Model leaders and learned how to lead an Immanuel session. We experienced tarrying with Jesus in joyful memories, strengthening our relationship with him. Healing was a happy side-effect—not the focus.

I knew the team had invested years training and honing their skills in TPM. But I had also noticed that some of our Theophostic team were not growing in Christ-likeness. If I were honest, I had to admit that for a handful of them their new skills were making them proud, even arrogant. As leader, I had to decide which method we would use. It seemed to me that the Immanuel Approach, with its focus on building a love relationship with Jesus, was more comprehensive and had a higher goal. Not just freedom from pain.

I broached the topic with our TPM ministry team and got a mixed response. The men’s TPM group was particularly vocal about not wanting to switch. We talked and talked some more.

After months of conversations, I hired a conflict resolution specialist to meet with us. We listened to each other but in the end, I as the leader had to decide, and my discernment was that developing a relationship with the Trinity had to be our focus. It was the best path towards becoming whole, becoming like Christ. Not just healing. It was a difficult, heartbreaking decision.

The men’s TPM group left the Healing Center at Apostles and began meeting at McLean Bible Church—and last I heard, they were still meeting there. We still loved them but sensed God calling us in a new direction.

In April 2012, I was invited by the Rev. Kathleen Christopher of the Falls Church Anglican to teach the Immanuel Approach at a luncheon for healing prayer leaders. The lunch was hosted at Truro Anglican Church. Our bishop John Guernsey was in attendance. I felt a little intimidated, but I had taught high school and I plunged ahead.

It was gratifying to learn that shortly after my talk, three workshops at the Falls Church Women’s Retreat used the Immanuel Approach to draw those in attendance to Jesus.

From that tiny beginning I later learned that people in Northern Virginia were describing me as the person who brought the Immanuel Approach to the DC area! One never knows how God will use our small offerings. It was gratifying to play a part in sharing a life-giving ministry.

In June of 2010 my youngest child graduated high school and within weeks flew to Sydney, Australia to attend Hillsong Leadership College. What was supposed to be a gap year became two years.

Sam and I undertook the arduous journey to visit her in December of 2011. It was in Sarah’s apartment in January of 2012 that I learned our church, Church of the Apostles, had lost a lawsuit with the National Episcopal Church. They had sued us back in 2005 and although there were many twists and turns, this was the final word for our church. All of our assets, everything belonging to Apostles, now belonged to the Episcopal Church. I felt my heart break. How could God have let this happen? 

There was some hope that the Episcopal Church would leave the undeveloped land we owned, 42 acres along Braddock Road in Fairfax, to us as it was widely believed that the amount owned on the loan was more than the value of the land.

According to the Washington Post, the split “began in late 2006, when traditional Virginia congregations, from tiny ones in Leesburg and the Northern Neck to the large Falls Church Anglican in Falls Church and Truro in Fairfax voted to split from the Episcopal Church.” We were one of those churches who were sued by the Episcopal Church. We won the initial lawsuit. Judge Randy Bellows based his decision on Civil War era laws that gave individual congregations on opposite sides in the war the freedom to decide on which side, north or south, they would align. But Judge Bellows was overturned and told to redo the trial. In the Episcopal Church’s view, they owned the land and the buildings. If our congregation left the diocese, we would have to vacate the property as well as hand over our bank accounts. 

This never made sense to me. Our congregation had purchased the undeveloped land from the diocese in 1970 with money given to the fledgling church by Truro Anglican Church. Apostles had raised money to construct the buildings. Money had not flowed from the diocese to us, indeed each year money flowed from us to them. How could they own the property? It was a heavy time that drug on for four years. We prayed. We could not believe that we would lose, but we did.

When we got back from Australia, Sam and I drove down Fairfax County Parkway and parked on the shoulder of Braddock Road. We walked and prayed around the perimeter. It was bitter cold. The ground was frozen. Our feet broke through the icy crust into cold puddles. Sam decided to return to the car. I carried on convinced that if I prayed over the property it would return to us. The sun set and it became even colder. At last even I returned to the car.

A few months later, the Episcopal Church had the undeveloped land reassessed and decided to keep it. I was devastated. I wondered if we could raise the funds to buy it back but the national church let us know that they would not sell it back to us. They then sold it to another church.

It seemed the end of the world at the time but now I am so grateful that we do not own a retreat center that we would have to manage! Only God knew that we would minister in far-flung locations through Zoom without having manage property or bring people from afar!

Around the same time, my rector began talking to me about taking the Healing Center out of the church. At first I was hurt, but over time I sensed the Lord was in this. People calling for prayer ministry appointments with our team were overwhelming the church secretaries. We were become larger than the church.

Mark Robbins, the senior warden at Apostles, and a fellow teacher at Trinity Christian School came alongside me in finding the way forward. We visited a lawyer he knew, who had a ministry in the local jails, to get his advice. Mark was a lawyer but not a lawyer specializing in non-profit law. I had no experience in this realm. Mark bought books on non-profit law and began reading.

On Feb. 8, 2012 Mark died of a massive heart attack. He had not been feeling well but had been checked out by a cardiologist who did not find anything of concern.

Along with his family and all who loved him, I was crushed. I was immobilized by this loss, like a sailboat in irons.

Then a family at Apostles offered to give the Healing Center $500 a week. I could hardly believe it. When they told me what they planned to do I said, “You mean $500 a month, right?”

No, they responded. “$500 a week.” They continued to give that amount for more than seven years, until the husband retired. They sustained us in those early years.

They also gave me money to hire a non-profit lawyer who wrote our articles of incorporation and helped us file for incorporation and non-profit status. The Rev. Harry Zeiders came alongside me, too, during this time. He helped me in so many ways, setting up the ministry and choosing a board of directors, many of whom still serve us today.

On May 6, 2013, we were incorporated as Healing Center International in the State of Virginia. I was now the executive director of a non-profit, a role I had not previously imagined or sought, but God knew what he was doing!