Faith L.A.B.S. was birthed out of our prayers and obedience. Grace and I (John) were pastoring a church in London, and we felt we needed a bigger and more permanent place to live as we were having children.

Then the Lord put a map of London (Ontario) downtown location on the same night, to me in a dream and to Grace in a vision. We thought the Lord was showing a house we would buy. Instead, when we went to the location the Lord directed, our hearts were broken by the people that were hurting in street. We began to come to this area every so often to pray, for about a year. Then we became convicted that the Lord wanted us to serve this area.

I resigned at the church we were serving and moved into the area. As we became involved in street ministry and learned the situation in downtown, we became convinced something needed to happen and a drastically different approach needed to be taken.

So many ideas, prayers and thoughts were percolating in our minds and we needed to stream all these into one clear direction. One day, Grace and I laid out large paper boards. We began praying and writing down our thoughts and prayers. Then all of these began to connect and one simple idea emerged on top: let’s create a laboratory space, figuratively.

We realized the people needed a space, but not just any space, but a space where they can safely explore and experiment various life matters. We met people, who were searching for peace, hope and answers in their lives. We met people who were filled with dreams and ambitions but have no channel to fume these and discern in process. We met people who had great ideas and plans but no one to talk to.

So, we decided to start this ministry, we call Faith L.A.B.S. We want our ministry to be a place for people to experiment and explore. There are individuals, who had problems or issues to resolve in their lives, or who had great ideas and dreams but did not know where to start. We want to be their listening ears, praying buddies and friends, so they will see and hear God’s lead. We also want our ministry to be a place for churches, ministries and organizations to come and look for a solution to some issues in our city.

We really believe God wants to start His revival in this city of London, but there are some things that must take place before seeing the hands of God upon this city. We need to raise strong leaders and we need to work together for the poor, the needy and the lost. We do not intend to bring answers to all, but we tend to be a little spiritual laboratory to incubate God’s next leaders and God’s next action plan for the city, working with many others, like you.