Tag Archives: icons

Bless the Lord

non denominational ministry, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dear Friends and Family:

“O taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in Him. ”           Psalm 34:8

_MG_5713Summer in Columbia County, NY, is full of wild flowers and one of my road side favorites is Chicory. In the morning it creates lines of strong blues along the side of the road and through the day the color lightens to almost white- finally closing up at night.

Chicory was introduced to America from Europe and its’ roots were used as a coffee substitute.

photo

One of the significant aspects of my personal belief in God and my faith when I am praying for healing with someone, is that I do not doubt the power of God. I do not doubt that God is all powerful and more than able to physically heal what ever illness may be present. Also I believe from His ministry through Jesus Christ that it is His will to heal people. Having seen prayers in Jesus name physically heal many people I know that He is all powerful and the visual memory of ‘seeing it happen with my own eyes’, leads me forward to pray.

photo
“The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry.” PS. 34:15

However, one of my concerns as a Christian today, when Christianity is being marginalized, is that my beliefs do not fade, like chicory from a strong blue to white and then finally close up. That is why it is so important to be around people of strong faith, to be renewed in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Because if you are not seeing much healing when you pray one could easily question if God is still powerful.

photo

This month I have been blessed to reconnect to some old friends who are still very powerfully walking with the Lord. One is a monk who is recovering from a stroke which paralysed the left side of his body and the other was a gangster from Australia turned powerful evangelist for the Lord. Both men come from very different backgrounds, are now in very different life situations, but they call on the Lord like freight trains of the Holy Spirit. When you are in the presence of someone calling out to the Lord with deep fervor there can be no doubt we have a powerful God.

This nation needs to have powerful people calling out to God for it now. The present situation reminds me of what I think Germany must have been like when extreme rhetoric by Hitler, started to delude the moral compass of that nation. Small steps towards fear and greed are just as dangerous in this nation as anywhere. The devil is happy to do his work in small steps until it is too late to return.

My father was a scout troop youth leader and in that capacity visited Germany before the war and witnessed the ‘Brown Shirts’ start to congregate and stir up hatred. As a child, he told me, how he saw their development grow more radical and violent over the three summers he visited.

_MG_5660
“Innisfree”   photo by Mick Hales

“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.”  Ps. 34:1

Jesus came that we could love our neighbors as ourselves. It is not an easy road but it is a high road. It is not glamorous, straight forward and often not quantifiable. But it is the road we are called to.

FullSizeRender
New Painting by Christine Hales

So I am thankful for powerful intercessors who pray for healing, who pray for justice, who pray for wisdom, who pray for revival in the villages, towns and cities of this country.

Our evangelist friend, that I mentioned above, is still holding revival meetings in tents pitched in fields and changing lives in rural America.

Our monk friend, is starting to move his left arm and leg and I fully believe the left side of his body will be totally restored as we continue to call out for his healing.

We are aware that God is doing something more extraordinary than we can imagine and we are called to ask him in faith, with no doubting, that each one of us can do our part with the gifts that God has given us. With faith we will see the fruit of our prayers.

photo

God is still with us and all powerful; Thank God.

We send you our love and prayers, and look forward to hearing form you!

Michael and Christine

www.americanassociationoficonographers.com     www.mickhales.com     www.halesart.com    www.christinehales.com    www.newchristianicons.com

 

 

non denominational ministry, Uncategorized, , , , ,

Green trees and blue skies herald in the month of June. There is always something magical about the summer arriving. IMG_3297The trees and gardens are changing so quickly. A shadow of a young fern growing is left on a window curtain, a short moment caught by the camera. Images like this remind me that there are extraordinary things happening all the time but quite often we just are unaware of them. I often think it is similar to how God works; He is doing extraordinary things all the time but we are often unaware of themIMG_3195

 

We have been able to pray for healing for several people this month, outside of a ‘church context’, and it is always wonderful to see how God uses those opportunities. Usually people feel the presence of the Holy Spirit with a peacefulness or sensation of heat on their bodies. We do not always see a healing but we are sure that God is at work.

 

This month I went to Hamilton, Canada, with our great friends and alumni of Kingdom School, Tyler and Audrey Slade for a visit to a revival starting led by Todd Bentley. There were very powerful times of worship and ministry. People had come from all over to gather in the presence of God, including a man driving all the way from Texas.IMG_3272

 

We believe God can change things suddenly if He wants and we are calling out for a change in the Albany area with prayer gatherings in homes.

unnamed-1

This month the Artists Dinner was well attended and we ate out side of the church building. The gathering has reached a point where people are sharing fully what it means to be an artist in our present culture, how they deal with rejection and the reality of difficult financial situations. Christine received an award from the New York State Assembly for organizing the gatherings which have been going for 18 months now.

_MG_8553

Christine also organized a showing of her Icons along with the icon writing students she has been teaching at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Albany. There was an evening of organ music and Icons on display by the Guild she has formed, St Luke’s Guild of Iconographers, which was very well attended by people and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Christine’s ministry through the icon writing, is touching many different people and bringing them into a new understanding of the depth of this prayerful practice.

So, we ask again for your prayers, for all things come from God, and your prayers are the covering that keeps us in His grace. Thank You!!

We pray for you, too, and send our love,

Michael and Christine              www.newchristianicons.com     www.mickhales.com    www.americanassociationoficonographers.com       www.halesart.com

October in the Hudson Valley

Uncategorized, , , , , , ,

Hello Friends and family:

We hope you are well and feel the prayers we send for you daily. We very much appreciate and are blessed by your prayers, too – please keep  praying!photo

This past month, we held an Introduction to Icon writing retreat at St. James Episcopal Church in NYC. It was filled to maximum  with a lively, dedicated and enthusiastic group. We could feel the vibrancy and health of the St. James church community active all weekend around us. I hope many of them will return next year to make another Icon!_MG_3460

Due to the timing, we could not be present at the Artists Community Potluck Dinner that our ministry runs in Hudson, but a local ceramics artist was able to run the dinner and present her Mala meal project – an art piece that combines prayer, eating, and art as well as solidarity with the world’s poor. Thank you, Mary Anne Davis!

The weekly Icon writing class has had many absences over the fall, with only 5 or 6 people each week as opposed to the usual 10-12. It’s a busy time and also the beginning of winter colds. Our new Icon class home at Westminster Presbyterian Church is beginning to feel more comfortable and we are now able to store material there which helps a lot.

I will be having an exhibition of my Icons this coming January in Sarasota at a church and will use some of the time there to re-write my self published book on the “New Revival in Christian Art” that includes my Icons and prophetic painting.

Michael has been busy working to get some book projects off the ground and in his “spare time” he’s been painting our barn. We had a new roof put on it this summer and it is looking the best I’ve ever seen it! The beautiful, warm weather of this fall has contributed to Michael’s joy in painting back there!  photo

cshI Planted 70 bulbs – faith and hope that spring will come!

Here’s Michael:

At the moment I am developing three different books, one is now underway and the other two are still in the proposal stage. A couple of weeks ago I was photographing on the High Line Park in NYC for one of the proposals. The High Line is a park created out of an abandoned elevated railway track which runs through 15 blocks of New York City. It is an incredible achievement not only horticulturally but also to pull a project of that scale together in NYC. However not only has the railway line now got a new purpose but it is drawing so many people to it that the whole area is getting an economic regeneration._MG_4082

IMG_0468

After photographing the park I stopped for a slice of pizza and had an extraordinary encounter with a construction worker in the pizza parlor. He was all dressed up with construction hat, heavy boots and protective gear. He heard me say, “Praise God”, as I often do and challenged me to say it again. That started a long conversation where he eventually told me how his mother had died and how he blamed God for that. It was one of those moments when you realize, this could get very scary quickly and I started asking God in my mind what he wanted me to do. Suddenly I started telling this hulk of a man how much God loved him and that Jesus had died for him on the cross. Before I knew it he was crying like a baby.

It led me to think about how circumstances can be turned around when we receive a vision of something different, a different paradigm for the old tracks we have been on. Quite often as a Christian in our society we can see how necessary it is to show people a new vision of who Christ is and what a personal relationship with him means. It is the same old tracks but totally renewed and redeemed.  “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”  Acts 16:9

photo  Please, please keep us in your prayers, as you are in ours.

Sending  you love and prayers,

Christine and Michael

www.mickhales.com

www.christinehales.com

www.newchristianicons.com

www.halesart.com 

www.americanassociationoficonographers.com

Videos in February

Uncategorized, , , ,

Hello Friends and Family:station1

Where we live is reminiscent of Siberia now – snow lasting for days, a brief respite then starting up again. Snowfall is now measured in feet and icicles are measured the same.  Single digit temperatures.  All of you in South Africa or Southern states, bask in your warmth and pray for us!

But we hardy ones in the North are working indoors on computer based activities :). Michael has completed two neat videos.  The first one is called “The Armour of God”, made with our friend Tyler Slade. Here’s the link: 

Michael feels like he is getting called back to working with video for the Lord. Particularly using the visual image with scripture in a contemporary style. There are many people who have not read the bible and really have little chance of coming across God’s word in their lives. Somehow, we need to make it available to them in a way which is dynamic and memorable, but not diluted. The visual image is  powerful, so combining it with the word of God can cut through the tendency to reject the Bible as irrelevant in todays world. For ‘the Armour of God’ video he feels like it is for intercessors, prayer warriors as well as those who have never heard of the passage from Ephesians before. It reminds us that we are in a battle all the time and we need to use the protection God has given us toSerenity declare who He is- Lord of this nation.

We ‘ve also just returned from an Immanuel Retreat in the Washington DC area, hosted by our friends the Stalcups from ANGA and the Acanforas at Church of the Apostles. It was called  The Immanuel Approach. It was great and our friends George and Jane Conger prayed us back home through a snow storm!  We are excited about what God is doing in the Baltimore and DC area and hope to go down there again soon.

My exhibition in Lancaster PA was fun -God is always showing me what comes next! I’m looking forward to the Icon Retreat in NYC later this month and the Hillsdale Icon class is going well- the Albany class hasn’t met for over a month due to snow cancellations!

The second Video Michael has made is for my Icon writing classes. Here’s the link for that one:

 

We so much appreciate your prayers.  We particularly need prayers for finances, good sales and commissions for me and for Michael, and a church we can be planted in.  Our ministry has three community outreaches this spring and summer and we are praying about offering a weekly course as well.  Our monthly prayer group is a good prayer furnace and we lift all of you up in prayer, that God blesses you with more of His love and kindness and safety in travel.

Until next month,

with love and prayers,

Christine and Michael

 

 

 

September News!

Uncategorized, , , , , ,

Dear Friends and Family:

Such a beautiful summer and so much to be thankful for.  We hope that you are all looking forward to fall and the new season.  Michael preached yesterday at West Hoosick Baptist Church and we were blessed to minister to the people there.  Here are two links to sermon excerpts:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL65r75seBE&feature=em-upload_owner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKJXcImspl0&feature=em-upload_owner

I had some trouble with the sound, sorry.  I need to improve my video skills :).

photo

Kingdom Arts Ministry’s School, “Fired Up” has extended its Fall deadline to Wed, September 10.  Email Michael Hales for an application form: mhales@halesart.com

Fired Up is a high energy, hands on training school that supports people and local churches by training adults, aged 18 and older who are passionate about pursuing their God given destiny. Students will attend three away conferences to facilitate their ability to step out, have hands on training,  take risks and experience ministries that promote a culture of love, faith and honor.

Many Christians ask, ‘Is there More?’  Well we know there is always more when you pursue Jesus with a hunger. He responds with more revelation of who He is and where He wants to go with you. The Fired Up course is an experience of pursuing Jesus and the gift that He has given us, The Holy Spirit. Many Christians are unable to say what the Holy Spirit is let alone give you a personal account of being touched by it. This course is designed to give people an awakening into the nature of the Holy Spirit. If you are hungry for that in your life then this is for you no matter what denomination or church you go to. You will have a life changing experience and start on the road to your God given destiny.

If you have questions call Michael Hales on 518 672 0014 or send an e mail.photo copy 8

For information on Christine’s Healing Icon Retreat in Saratoga Springs, October 25 &26,   email Catherine Lanci at: nurselanci@hotmail.com

If you’d like to donate to our scholarship fund for students who want to take the school but can’t afford it, send checks to: Kingdom Arts Ministry, PO Box 927, Philmont, NY  12565

Kingdom Arts Ministry is a registered 501-c3 non profit.

 

Blessings and love,

Michael and Christine Hales

http://www.newchristianicons.com

http://www.mickhales.com

 

 

The Storm

Uncategorized, , ,

Hello Friends and Family:

By now you have all heard the reports of the “great storm” passing through the eastern seaboard.  We experienced high winds and rain, with very heavy cloud cover, but, praise God, no damage.  Thanks to you all who have been praying for us.  Last night as we went to bed, we realized that there is absolutely nothing we could do but pray.

And we have been doing a lot of that!  This past month we went with fifteen students from our Kingdom School to a four day conference in Lancaster Pa.  It was Voice of the Apostles with Randy Clark, Bill Johnson, Georgian Banov, and Che Ahn, plus Heidi and Rolland Baker. It was an amazing conference – we learned a lot and experienced a lot of what God does when His Holy Spirit is allowed freedom to do what He wants to do!    

The Kingdom School, a satellite school of Global School of Supernatural Ministry, is going well.  Each week there are new teachings and some of our students have taken over leading worship, and it is very anointed. We are all blessed.  This school is something we had wanted to do for a long time.  It is the vehicle which allows us to share with others in our area who are hungry for more of God.

As part of our outreach component this month, the school visited with Charlie Muller of Victory Church in Albany. He spoke to the students and showed us his “Dream Space” in Albany.  It is a large warehouse building where they prepare food to feed the children in albany who don’t get food unless they are in school. He has so many good programs for the poor of Albany and we are starting to partner with him in volunteering .

We also visited the Capital City Rescue Mission which provides shelter and food for the homeless of Albany. That was inspiring, too, how much they do and what a difference they make in the lives of people who really need help.  We will be partnering with their ministry too.

I, Christine, have been working to finish up some of my commissions and starting others. I have two paintings in an exhibition in Woodstock and one in Hudson right now.  Several of my icons will be on display in New Jersey in the spring.  Most importantly, I am coming into a sense of what God is calling me into  in art.  More on that another time:).

I think our prayer requests at this time are for protection, and multiplication!  In starting this school we have taken a risk to do something different and so we need favor, grace and love to follow us in order to complete what God has started here.  We are very grateful for all your prayers and know that our success is your success too.  I think God is very happy when we all are happy.  And making others happy is a great gift.  So, thank you for your help with our ministry – we couldn’t do it without you!

I have also been working on some new websites like: www.newchristianicons.com, and www.iconwriting classes.com.  I’ve started a new look for our www.halesart.com website, too.  All this is to prepare you for the fact that Kingdom arts Ministry is going to have a new look coming soon, too!  This reorganization will simplify our web presence and also increase our web traffic.  It takes a lot of time, but will provide a good infrastructure for our ministry for the future.

And speaking of the future!  I’ve just completed a year long process to file for our non profit status.  The final papers have been sent in, so more prayers are in order!  We are very excited about that and will let you know when it is complete.

So, you see, we came back from England to re-group and it has been very rewarding.  We will be doing short term missions in the future, and praying about where God wants us to take the school next.

Looking forward we feel that we are again being drawn to focus on our own neighbourhood with a place that we can offer art classes, iconography classes, have

Kingdom school and a healing prayer center. God’s call to ‘build an ark in Philmont’ is still very much alive and although in the natural there does not seem to be a way forward for it in the supernatural it feels like the next step. Which means God has it already figured out! So please keep us in your prayers with it all.  Especially for a building or the use of a space that would work well.  We look forward to hearing from you ! Most of you are on our prayer list already, but feel free to email any special prayer requests. God is good!

God has blessed Mick with having some beautiful articles published in Connecticut Cottages and Gardens magazine this fall.

PS:  For my birthday, Michael took me to hear the American Symphony at the Fisher Center at Bard College. Amazing experience!

Thanksgiving!

Uncategorized, , , , , , ,

Dear Friends and Family:

As November draws to a close, we have so much to be grateful for.  

Having Thanksgiving in Boston with our son, daughter-in-law and new grand daughter was delightful!  Being able to visit my mother who is recovering well from a broken hip and seeing her smiling, settling in back at our house, seeing old friends and making new friends.

But I wonder if you are experiencing the battles and seemingly unending difficulties that we are?  It’s almost becoming funny, that the moment we solve one huge problem and feel we can relax-BOOM!- another one hits.

And they all seek to distract us from the things that really ARE important.  Like prayer, worship, fellowship with God.  

This is our back garden – can you see the little deer?  There’s a family of them that live back there by the cross.  In a way, our succeeding in all the recent battles secures the safety of their home.   I think that is the way of intercessory prayer, too.  People willingly taking up the battle in prayer wins
peace for many others who are unaware of what it costs.      We are praying with a couple of icons these days -like this detail of Saint Anthony, the father of monasticism.

He was a great intercessor for his time and withstood many temptations and assaults from the demons. In 2 Chronicles 5:13 when Solomon completed the House of the Lord, and brought the Ark of the covenant in, it was the duty of of the trumpeters and singers to praise the Lord saying “For He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever.”  I think this is the task – no matter how awful the onslaught is, to sing praise that God is good, He is always good, and His steadfast love endures forever.  When the people praised God with those words, the Glory of the Lord came down and filled the temple.

We are the Temple and what could be  better than being filled with the Presence of the Lord?  This photo is from the blessing of the icons and the iconographers’ hands at Saint Nicholas’ Church where I teach, in Cohoes last month. It was a joy and honor to be there.

We are planning for  a January start for a house Church in our home in Philmont, a small discipleship group, and Michael will be doing some Bible teaching.  We plan to be praying and asking to see if God is calling us to start a Global Awakening satellite school of ministry in this area in September.

Back in Bristol, we are so encouraged by all the prayer efforts that are happening there. It seems that people are uniting across the denominations to pray together – outside and inside churches. Dec 1 there is a UK wide prayer on the streets which some of our friends in Bristol are participating in, and John Mulinde’s World Trumpet Mission is having a strong prayer presence too.  There are many more prayer events and we are really thrilled to hear about each one, and we pray together with each one.   

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We are also seeing a very powerful presence of the Lord in some of the prayer meetings at St. Michael’s Church in Colonie and experienced being held on the floor by His Presence. We have both started prayer walking on the streets and find it a way to hear God’s heartbeat for the village. There was recently a death in this community which has shaken the village as it happened so quickly and it has opened up opportunities for us to pray for people. It has also revealed a strong masonic presence in the village. The words keep coming to my mind as we discern what God is doing here from a prayer session in June, “Build an Ark, in Philmont. A place of my powerful presence.” So we ask for your prayers for this that we would build God’s ark here, it so desperately needs it.

I prayed for a lady in the drug store in Boston the other day for her broken wrist, she literally said before I started to pray for her, ‘I wish someone would come along and bless me and get rid of all these demons attacking me.’ God had it all planned for me to be there. We always need to remember God has so much more for us than we can possibly imagine and when it seems to be so dark we need to hold on to God with all our heart, for He is really all there is and His love endures forever.

We hope you have a Happy Christmas with the true blessings of the good news of the birth of Jesus Christ our savior, born so humbly yet full of so much power in each of our lives today.

PS  We REALLY want and need your prayers!!! It makes a huge difference!!  And we will continue to pray for you too!           Love,            Christine and Michael.