The lot of 3111. E. Marshall Ave. will feature a new resident, My Father’s House, which will be an international house of prayer that will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
According to the My Father’s House website, Scott McConnell, project manager, purchased the Bayley House, an 1889 three-bedrooms and six-bathroom Victorian Style home. McConnell, who has worked with houses of prayer in the past, purchased the house from the Avista Corporation, for $1, on the condition that the home be moved to another location.
Jim Leuschen, the director of My Father’s House came across the project, after serving as director of the house of prayer that was operated in the Healing Rooms Ministries.
Leuschen first noticed a movement in the 1980s, where houses of prayer were being established around the world. He also noticed the International House of Prayer that opened in Kansas City, Mo. in the late ‘90s.
“Around the year 2000, someone else made it clear to me they also had a strong conviction that I would be involved in a house of prayer and my wife as well,” Leuchen said. “We began to earnestly pray about the idea.”
Leuschen and his wife visited the house in Kansas City to learn what it would mean to have a house of prayer of their own.
“Back in Kansas City, they had a lot of experience with prayer and over the years the founder of their house of prayer, founder came upon a different model of prayer than he had known,” Leuschen said. “This was prayer made enjoyable because it wasn’t just praying. This was praying and also engaging and singing.”
Several years and prayers had passed before the director of the Healing Rooms Ministries contacted Leuchen to be the director of a house of prayer in Spokane.
“For five years we had a house of prayer in the Healing Rooms’ conference center,” Leuchen said. “At the end of the five years, our lease expired and the house of prayer was no more.”
In addition to McConnell and Leuschen, several people from the community have donated their time, money and skills to help the project.
Although the city is enthused about the project, McConnell must get the right permits from the city because the lot at Marshall is close to the river.
“We’re hoping that will happen in about two months,” McConnell said.
With the permitting issues, McConnell hopes the house will be open in the fall. As they wait for the permits, McConnell and several volunteers are cleaning the lot. As for the Bayley House itself, McConnell hopes to restore it.
“We’re currently trying to get it on the local historic registry,” McConnell said. “We feel it’s significantly historic.”
For Leuschen he hopes the house will unite all Christians in the region together, to experience God’s presence.
“It’s going to unite God’s people in synergy of harmony, cooperation and love,” Leuschen said.
If you would like to volunteer, make a donation or learn more, visit My Father’s House website.
