The Community of the Cross is a ministry of PRMI and the location of the PRMI office.
It is located on 24 acres of land in the mountains of Western North Carolina and it provides the spiritual support base for our involvement in the worldwide advancement of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Programs are offered at the Community of the Cross throughout the year and led by members of the Dunamis Fellowship.
The Name “Community of the Cross”
In 1975, when I (Brad Long) first received the call from Jesus Christ to build this place of prayer, equipping and sending, I was at Jesus Abbey in Korea, in the chapel pictured below.
I had a vision. The concept I saw in that vision was of a place like Jesus Abbey for prayer and equipping, located in North Carolina, near the town of Montreat.
I just called it “Jesus Abbey II in North Carolina.”
I had no other name and also was very dependent on the model of Jesus Abbey to understand what it was that Jesus wanted.
After going through the wilderness, however, I died to that name and actually to the vision.
The Holy Spirit spoke a new name to my wife, Laura in 1979; it was “The Community of the Cross.”
This was what we were told to pray into reality and when I was hired as Executive Director of PRMI in 1990, this vision was adopted by PRMI, and the ministry moved from Oklahoma to Black Mountain North Carolina.
In 1999, I was once again at Jesus Abbey on a 10 day prayer retreat where we received a little more guidance on the name of this place that had not yet come into reality.
- “I am giving you a place where the Holy Spirit may be free to intercede through His people – a place of Spirit-led prayer.”
- “I will make this a place where my people may hear my voice, be transformed by my presence, empowered by my Holy Spirit and sent into the world as my witnesses.”
- “I am calling you (PRMI) to go further out than you can now imagine for the advancement of the gospel.”
- “At the same time, you are called to go deep into the place I am giving you so that future generations may be nurtured into discipleship for the glory of Jesus Christ.”
Out of that guidance, we added “A place of Encounter with Jesus Christ” when Lord clearly said that it was to be a “Place of Encounter with Jesus Christ for Prayer, Equipping, and Sending in the Power of the Holy Spirit.”
As we have prayed about this and actually started to experience the fulfillment of this vision we have grown in appreciation of the name that the Holy Spirit gave.
Don’t go looking for the land
The Confirming Vision of the Community of the Cross
In 2003, when Brad Long was in Uganda, Africa, Brad tells of another vision:
“…Suddenly I landed, not in Africa, but on the land, the future site of the Community of the Cross in North Carolina. There standing in the midst of it was Jesus Christ. He stood like the director of a symphony of creation. He beckoned; in came people from all nations through the stone gates. Jesus reached out His arms and in love welcomed them, nurtured them. Then I saw Him, touching each person with the fire of the Holy Spirit and then waving them out to be His witnesses to the far corners of the earth. He pointed; Up spring buildings. Jesus Christ was building the Community of the Cross!
Then I heard Jesus announcing that the Community of the Cross would be a link between the work of the Holy Spirit in Africa, and His work in North America, UK and around the world.
Then the vision became more complicated as this linking work was extended to include China and to South America. I was seeing the Community of the Cross being the nexus of the fire of the Gospel reaching all these far flung places.”
God Provides the Land
In 2003, we received miraculous provision of a 24 acre parcel in Black Mountain NC, with the front gates, just as I had seen in the original vision at Jesus Abbey.
God gave the land and an initial building, a log house, for the Community of the Cross. It is next to 1000 thousands of acres of wilderness, with high ridges, moss covered prayer trails, majestic hemlock trees, massive boulders, a river, bubbling springs, ferns, abundance of wild flowers and always green mountain laurel and rhododendron.
Historically, (starting in 1825 with the founding of the Union Baptist Church), our river was the place where hundreds of people were baptized.
The Community of the Cross has become is the nonresidential, spiritual home base of the Dunamis Fellowship International which is the apostolic network of people who have been touched by the Holy Spirit through the Dunamis Teaching.
A Place of Prayer
The work of prayer is taking place on the land:
- in present buildings,
- on the trails,
- at the Prayer Porch by the river,
- the Place of the Cross, and
- Ascension Point.
As this intercessory prayer work grows to the next level of engagement, it will be facilitated by a set-apart place with accommodations for intercessors, a large indoor prayer chapel, a small more intimate prayer chapel, as well as a place for hospitality and debriefing
This Prayer House has been envisioned to be set further in our our property.
A Place of Equipping
We have been providing equipping programs at the Community of the Cross since 2003.
We are using every inch of space for teaching and prayer ministry and are bursting at the seams.
The log house and the back porch will continue to be used for small groups, but is very limited in bad weather or when it is cold.
A Place of Sending
The Community of the Cross is a place to to equip people that they may be sent out as Holy Spirit empowered witnesses to Jesus Christ who can provide leadership for the worldwide movement of the Holy Spirit.
It is also a place of intentional equipping of missionaries and mission teams who are taking the Gospel to the ends of the Earth.
