I think there is something inside of me that lives for challenges. I don’t always want to toe the line. I don’t want to do something the way it has always been done. I want to study harder, dream bigger, pray longer, sing louder, love truer, and serve lower than what is expected. Tell me something is impossible, and my heart starts beating faster. Have you felt that before? Something deep inside speaks into you in that moment, and you just know that “impossible” is a lie. You can’t explain it, you just know. When I hear something is impossible, I believe that quickening of my heart is from God. “For nothing will be impossible with God.” Luke 1:37. The word impossible is a warning sign that we put in front of the chasm that cannot possibly be crossed, the person that cannot possibly be changed, the addiction that cannot possibly be broken, or the city that cannot possibly rise.

In 2004, God laid on my heart to challenge the middle school and high school student ministry that I led in Minnesota to pray 24 hours a day, seven days a week for 40 days. We were going to have a prayer room, and the chain could not be broken. Even if some of us had to pray for 5 hours a day, we were going to make it work. As I laid out this vision to a gathering of parents and students, it was met with nods and smiles. What I was told later was that the parents thought I was out of my mind, but they didn’t want to be discouraging. So we moved forward. The rest of the church wanted to be involved, so it was now a multi-generational effort. On the very first day that the prayer room was going, I finally got around to reading one of the practical books written on the subject. One of the very first paragraphs spoke of preparing your people with a short season of prayer, maybe a day or two, and warned of starting with too long a season, for fear of failing and discouraging the people. Oops. I remember laughing as I read that, thinking, that God had allowed me to read that only after we had started a 40 day journey to show me that this was HIS idea, and He would make it successful.

By God’s grace and provision, we have walked through two 40 day seasons of 24/7 prayer, with the most recent being in 2008 with Lighthouse, the Young Adult Ministry of Woodside Bible Church. Both seasons were characterized by a radical commitment to prayer, desperately reading the Word, selflessly serving the community, and intentionally living on mission for Jesus. It is almost as if 40 needs to happen every four years, in a different place with a different group of people.

It is now 2012.

Is God calling us to another season of unbroken prayer?

In a city?
All day and night?
With no church building?

Impossible.

Detroit is changing. Jobs are returning. People are returning. The city is getting younger. Faster. More diverse. More entrepreneurial. Way more creative. Hipsters are calling it home. Families are calling it home. Artists are calling it home. Engineers are calling it home. Activists and accountants too. Big name grocery stores are setting up shop. Big name entertainers are buying houses in the city. Detroit is changing.

I’ve been told by people that have lived in this area all of their lives that this talk is nothing new. That every few years, talk of a resurgence moves from whispers in small city offices to the mailbox conversations in the suburbs. Cynics point to false starts and failed leadership, to corruption and scandal. They would say that a wave of hope and goodwill does not equal a genuine movement from disparity to prosperity.

What I’ve come to see now is that what is happening in plain view, the movement of businesses, people, and hope to the city, is happening on a much deeper level than any of us realize. For every Live Midtown incentive program that gives financial incentive to those who move into the city, there is a subterranean and supernatural movement that has been spreading like wildfire.

Jesus is calling people to this city. From every corner of the earth, from Hawaii to Portland, from Romania to Rochester Hills, from California to Colorado, disciples of Jesus Christ are quitting jobs, selling homes, and dropping everything to race to Detroit. The assignments are different, but the calling is the same. Raise the name of Jesus high over the city of Detroit. The only name that can save this city is the name of Jesus. The name that restores. The name that heals. The name that moves. The name that forgives. The name of Jesus. The power of His name brings life out of the ashes, and vision out of the darkness.

We have seen several in our Woodside Detroit Core move to the city already. We have seen several join our Core that had already been led to move here. We have many in our Core wrestling with what this calling looks like.

On Easter Sunday, as the sun rises to remind us that Jesus arose from the grave, the curtain rises on our calling to be a weekly worship service in the city. Detroit is changing. May the gospel of Jesus Christ be the unstoppable force that sparks true change and a real movement.

We now live in Detroit. We moved into a beautiful apartment in midtown, with lots of windows overlooking this gorgeous city. Our move went smoothly, with lots of friends and family pitching in. Our moving day was long and strenuous and glorious, and it was accompanied by a confused Lily as she said “Go Home. Go Home Daddy. Go Home.” At around 1am, still surrounded by boxes, bags, and stuff, we decided to make the bed and try to get some sleep.

Those are the moments that the truth emerges. We laid in bed, staring at our new ceiling as the sounds of the streets soundtracked our conversation. “So baby, how do you feel?” I asked hesitantly, not sure how Angela was honestly doing.

“I feel incredible peace.” She said calmly while nodding. My response was delayed by the siren of an ambulance heading towards the Detroit Medical Center.

“Peace, really? You aren’t worried about our house selling? What about actually living here now?” I asked incredulously.

“I just know this is exactly where we are supposed to be right now. I feel peace knowing that. God is going to take care of the rest of that stuff. He always has.”

I went to sleep with those words ringing in my ears. He always has. God is faithful. There really is a peace that has swept into the middle of this storm of uncertainty. The peace that passes understanding. How beautiful is it to embrace the mystery of that statement.

Our house went on the market officially for showings last Friday. Exactly one week ago. 28 showings are on the books. I’m told that’s a lot for a week. Please pray that we can sell it quickly. Lily and London have grown to love their new address. Within two days, Lily stopped asking to “Go Home Daddy” and she has started calling it “New Home. New Home, Daddy.”

It took almost three years, but the Johnsons are here. I’m sorry it took me so long, Jesus. Thank you for providing a place for us to live. We are kneeling at your feet, humbly asking you to send others to join us. Others with a heart to serve. With a heart to dig in and love their new neighbors. With a heart to raise the name of Jesus high over this city.

Our next chapter has begun. I pray that the author and finisher of our faith continues to pen an adventurous journey for us to walk in. I pray that the next chapter glorifies Jesus in a way that leaves us speechless. I pray that He gives us the faith to step into the unknown with boldness. I pray that as the future unfolds, the only way to sum it up would be to say that with God all things are possible. May my life proclaim this message: Without Jesus, I am literally nothing. With Jesus, I can do anything.