All of the above was written in February of 2004. Since that time the ministry of The Better Place has been growing – and growing – and growing. Details can be found on the many pages of our web site at www.TheBetterPlace.org. Thanks to email and the internet, the ministry of The Better Place has become literally worldwide. Resourcing has been solicited from people in Africa as well as all over North America, and The Better Place has delivered. For more face-to-face ministry, we have been utilizing the facilities of churches, conference centers and public buildings. I call it a "hermit crab" ministry because we use other houses as we lack a house of our own. As of February 2011, the vision of a campus with buildings and all the amenities of spiritual renewal ministry still awaits, but all of that is soon to change.
In the fall of 2010, the Spirit gave to me and our Board of Directors a word from Proverbs 24:27 which says, Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after that, build your house. All that has been done during the first seven years of The Better Place ministry has been the "outdoor work." It was a preparing of the fields. Now it is time to build the house, and that means it is time to move quickly to purchase and develop property so that the full vision of The Better Place ministry can be put in place.
Consider Abraham who was given the vision of all the nations of the earth being blessed by his seed; or Joseph who was given the vision of rising to a position of great authority; or Paul who was given the vision of being an apostle to the gentiles. In each case the vision from God was accurate and in each case the vision eventually came to pass. But in each case there was a long wait between the initial revelation and the final fulfillment. At one point, Abraham – in his impatience – forgot he was a steward of God´s vision and he acted like the vision was his own. He acted according to the flesh instead of obeying according to the spirit and Ishmael was conceived and born. To this day the descendants of Abraham through Ishmael are a thorn in the side of the descendants of Abraham through the son of promise, Isaac.
The seed of the vision for The Better Place was planted in my heart on that summer day in 1998 when I drove past the property on Oak Hill Road outside of Jamestown. God clearly said, "I want you to build a prayer campus there." Since that time, well meaning Sarais in my life have offered up Hagars which would only lead to Ishmaels. I have been offered on three different occasions three different plots of land – each one being over 100 acres in size - in Chautauqua County; and for free! Tempting? Yes. From God? No.
Others have asked, "Why not use an existing Christian camp for this purpose?" The answer is twofold. On the one hand, the already existing ministries would detract from the unique focus of The Better Place, plus no existing ministry in this area has the facilities that will best serve The Better Place. And, on the other hand, to go in such a direction as a permanent "solution" to not having property of our own would be to turn our backs on the clear word from God. It would be living by the flesh and not by the spirit. It would be taking God´s vision and twisting it as we clutch it to ourselves instead of holding the vision with an open hand as we should and stewarding it by faith in God who will bring it to pass just as he spoke it.
A vision from God is like a baby. Once conceived, there is a gestation period before the baby is actually born. And the bigger the baby, the longer the gestation period. Before birth, the baby is alive, growing and kicking; and so it has been with The Better Place, but now it is about to be born. For this pending birth, we need lots of midwives. You can help to midwife with your prayers and your financial gifts that will be used to purchase property, develop that property and endow staff for the ministry at the campus. Now is the time to act. – Thank you for saying yes to God´s vision as God has made it known!
For Christ and His Kingdom,
Roy L. Miller - February 2011
Phone, 716-488-9918
E-mail,
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