Avondale Prayer Room

Being blessed with the opportunity to go home to Australia and create a prayer room at Avondale School has been one of the highlights of my year. The special place we created with chaplains Mel Lemke and Leighton Heise was one of the most spiritually impacting prayer rooms I have seen so far. I pray that you are blessed and inspired as you read their story. Upcoming trips to Mexico and Kenya. Enjoy.

Avondale School Prayer Room. I still call Australia home... so it was delightful to see my family again, smell the eucalyptus trees and feed the kangaroos. The adventure started in Sydney visiting cousins while building a prayer room at Avondale School. The chaplains of the school, Mel Lemke and Leighton Heise are seriously championing the love of Jesus Christ to these incredible kids. and they were preparing for a history making week of prayer. It was so much fun to build the room with so many eager volunteers from the school and community. They already knew what an interactive prayer room was so they were more excited than I was - if that is even possible! Miracles happened and we ended up with two classrooms to use. Now we started dreaming big and decided to put a tunnel between the classrooms so the students would feel like they were walking through space... Now to build this seems like a rediculously difficult task but Leighton was up to it - with an electric drill, lots of chicken wire, fairy lights, black material and fluorescent painted balls. The tunnel was designed to illustrate to the kids that the power that created the entire universe was now living in them, through the power of the Holy Spirit and when He works through them they can do more than they could ever hope to dare, dream or imagine. Eph 3.20 The rooms started to come together in a beautiful way and we sensed the presence of the Holy Spirit even before we started. Each time I do a prayer room a new issue moves my heart and this time I strongly sensed a need to offer a place to heal from sexual abuse. I knew I needed a cocoon to deal with a station on 'Fear' and didn't have time to make one. Now I wanted a very specific cocoon. One I could imagine in my mind - one big enough and cute enough for a small person to sit in. Now these are not just lying around in anyone's closet - in fact I had never even seen one before. But I asked one lady if she knew where I could possibly find a cocoon - and she knew exactly where one was and it was delivered that afternoon to the school - exactly the same as what I had imagined. When you don't have much time God can lead you to just the right person! Healing Sexual Abuse, Fear, Letting Go of Past Trauma, were all stations that were new so we created a beautiful 'cocoon' room where kids could enter in and privately pray. This was such a lovely space. We also encouraged kids to go to the school counselor if they had any further questions. I know without a shadow of a doubt that there was inner healing taking place in that room. God yearns to transform us and give us a new hope, a new identity and a new nature, releasing us from our past. For many I know the first steps took place in that prayer room. Just about all the Bible Classes came through the room giving them a taste of the prayer room. Once they have experienced it and knew how sweet it was they would want to come back. Lunch times started to get busier and busier with most of the 45 prayer stations occupied. An Olympic medalist came to speak during the Week of Prayer, outlining his addiction to sport and other things and sharing how nothing could satisfy him until he found Jesus. He brought in his outfits and medals and left them at the addiction wall. This was very powerful for the kids to see - that success and fame does not necessarily lead to the happiness they desired. The kids also wrote hundreds of letters to persecuted imprisoned Christians around the world and were personally delivered to Voice of the Martyrs representatives that were visiting Avondale College the following week. The room provided a wonderful opportunity for the community and school to experience Jesus in a completely new way. I was honored that my relatives and church friends came to support and experience the room for themselves. My favorite memory was when a senior boy came up to me and declared, "This is incredible - I want to come and work with you next summer!" I know that reaching teenage boys with the intimate love and power of Jesus needs a bit of creativity! This is who I aim to reach so its nice to know it works. It was also nice to see the younger kids come through - even a class from kindergarten experienced the room! The school counselor revealed some healing times and break-throughs with a few kids she had been trying to work with for a long time. Many kids heard God speak to them and just about all of them felt His presence in the room. The kids and teachers loved the experience. Here are some comments: The Prayer Room is awesome. As soon as you walk in you feel that God is there. Thankyou. I Think the Prayer Room is great, like I feel God through me. The prayer room is so amazing I've never felt so close to God. Thank you so much for this prayer room. I really encountered Jesus and felt loved in there with Him. Lord bless you and may His love be with your heart always. Why was this the most spiritual prayer room yet? Maybe they just keep getting bigger and more extravagant? Maybe the spiritual leadership of the chaplains made it that way? Maybe it was because many kids at the school were not Christian so they had a more inquisitive mind and no predetermined opinions about whether God would speak to them or not? Maybe these kids were just more open to receive God's touch? Maybe it is because God showed up! For me it was an honor to be part of this glorious experience! If you would like to see more pictures from this Prayer Room: Click here. If you would like to see more pictures of Children's Prayer Rooms: Click here. The Rest of the Trip After Sydney I made my way up to Brisbane to have a small operation and while recovering spent time with my close family. Praise God I have not been sick a day since the operation and can now breathe normally for the first time. I then went up to Townsville to visit Brad, Naomi and my 3 nephews. While I was there I put together a Children's Prayer Workshop for a local church. My favorite memory was my eldest nephew Ethan saying "I don't want to go to church" but then when the workshop was finished he stated,"can we go back again every week? I love church!" I believe we can make prayer and experiencing God fun for all ages not just kids! I also had the opportunity to speak at a Worship Conference talking of how experiential and sensory teaching is so powerful in symbolizing the deep aspects of God and allowing Him to become real (more life changing than just analyzing or talking about Him). If you would like Nicki to come to your academy to create a unique Week of Prayer experience or teach a Childrens Prayer Workshop at your church please email: BlissfulMinistries@yahoo.com

Making History. My immediate financial needs are for a mission trip to the Tarahumarra People in the Copper Canyon in Mexico documented in a 2008 National Geographic. Three of us including the artist Bill Baker are going to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and pray with and see what God has us do for these beautiful people. Bill has visited over 50 different countries to some of the most remote places of the earth to share the gospel. Please pray for us - for physical and spiritual protection as we make this trip from the 6 - 13 August through one of the most dangerous cities in the world. Then in October I will be traveling to Kenya to put on a prayer room for a Women's Retreat, Mission and Safari in Kenya - if you would like to come too please contact myself or Joy Butler at joymariebutler@gmail.com. After this I have been invited to Malawi for a three week evangelistic mission. Both these trips will need to be sponsored so I am looking for people who would like to partner with me, people who would like to become a monthly sponsor or an intercessor - praying for the needs of this ministry so I can continue to teach and inspire people to pray (and have an intimate and powerful relationship with Jesus Christ) by creating prayer rooms. If you would like to support this ministry financially (either with a one-time gift or monthly support) please contact me (all donations are tax deductible in the USA). Checks can be made out to FLASH Ministries (the non-profit 501c3 that is sponsoring my ministry). Please include 'Prayer Ministries' on the subject line and send it PO Box 495 Ooltewah, TN, 37363 USA. Donations by credit card are also accepted. Those in Australia or overseas can email BlissfulMinistries@yahoo.com for further details. Thank you for blessing this ministry and helping to change the culture of prayer in our churches and communities by making prayer fun and enjoyable and enabling people to spend time in the healing love and transforming presence of Jesus. I hope to encourage and inspire you to find or create your own special sacred spaces in your life, home, church or community and would love for you to share your stories with me. I am on facebook under Nicki Carleton. If you would like me to come out to your church, school or retreat or if you would like more information about prayer rooms please contact me or www.24-7prayer.com. This is now the worlds largest prayer movement in history, so I invite you to be a part of this incredible story. Blessings, Nicki Carleton I believe! Blissful Ministries