Dr. Jim and Rev. Pat Pickens

Founding Apostles of House of Faith

It all started in a Safeway Store…

Pat and I had just moved from northern California to the Dallas/Fort Worth area. We needed to go to the store, so we visited the local Safeway. I remember it being a wintery day and misty outside. I was not in the best of moods because I was missing northern California, a place that I really liked, and now was in a place that you could not even have a thunderstorm without the threat of a tornado.

As we drove into the parking lot of the Safeway and found our place to park, I saw a man dressed in clerical “garb”. I looked at Pat and commented, “I don’t want to have anything to do with him”. I was very serious when I spoke this to Pat.

So this man made his way into the Safeway, through one door. Pat and I made our way into the Safeway, a safe distance behind him, through another door.

I observed this man go to one side of the store and Pat and I went to the total opposite side. Again, I did not want anything to do with this man. We did what shopping that needed to be done and made our way to the check-out counter. There he was at check-out counter, but I made sure that Pat and I went to the opposite end.

We got into our check-out line, there is one other person in front of us. The lady completed the purchase for the person in front of us and then looked at me and said, “I am sorry sir, this line is now closed. You will need to go to that line over there”, as she pointed to the line where the gentleman was waiting to be checked out. You can only imagine the feelings that were building up inside of me at that point. I did not want to have any encounter with this man.

So, Pat and I made our way over to the other line where this man was. In my mind I decided that I would not speak a word to him. We got behind him and we head the check-out clerk say, “Sir, I see that you are a minister” and he replied, “Yes, I have just come back from Calcutta, India”. I heard this and my mouth flew open and I then blurted out to him, “Do you know a friend of mine that is in Calcutta?” I gave him the name and he said, “Oh yes, I know Mark and I have just come back from being with him”.

He then looked directly and Pat and me, remember my state of mind, and said, “I have a word from God for you! Would you mind stepping out to the lobby of the store so that I can give it to you?”. At this point I was wide-eyed and what else could I say to this man? My attitude changed by what he had just said to me.

Pat and I stepped out into the lobby of that Safeway, back in1983, and he prophesied over us. He spoke over us that “God will use you to begin a great church. A church that will touch the nations of the world”, after he said these words, he left and got into his car and drove off.

We never got his name and he never got our names. He was simply a messenger that God had sent to that Safeway that day. The same day that we went.

19 years went by before House of Faith was started.

The fire that burned in Pat and me for those 19 years, has been the same fire that has burned in us all these years at House of Faith…and the fire continues.

We invite you to be a part of God’s plan for House of Faith in reaching our community and reaching our world.

All are invited and we hope to see you on a Sunday. We would love the opportunity to meet you and your family.

Jim and Pat Pickens, Apostles and Pastors

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