Michal Ann Goll, co-founder of Encounters Network with her husband, James, died Monday morning at her home in Franklin, Tenn., after a long battle with cancer. She was 52.
“Michal Ann fought harder than anyone could have believed, including the doctors,” James Goll wrote in a statement Monday announcing his wife’s death. “I was always impressed with her fight to live until the last!”
Serving first as a pastor and then as an itinerant minister, Goll worked with her husband to teach Christians about intercession and prophetic ministry. The couple also sought to foster church unity by facilitating citywide prayer meetings and conferences.
“Michal Ann [was] not only an amazing God-partner with her husband, James, but a gifted leader in her own right,” said Don Finto, pastor emeritus of Belmont Church in Nashville, Tenn., and a longtime friend of the Golls. “She led a world-impacting ministry, was a woman of impeccable godly character and esteemed by all of us who have walked with her.”
During ministry events, Goll often testified about how she and James were healed of infertility and became the parents of four “miracle children”—Justin, GraceAnn, Tyler and Rachel. Goll also hosted annual Women on the Frontlines conferences and co-wrote several books with her husband, including Angelic Encounters: Engaging Help From Heaven, God Encounters: The Prophetic Power of the Supernatural to Change Your Life, Compassion: A Call to Take Action and Call to the Secret Place.
“Michal Ann Goll shaped history as a woman leader,” said prayer leader Cindy Jacobs, co-founder with her husband Mike of Generals International. “The trail she blazed by her life will be followed by a new generation of young women on the front lines across the face of the earth.”
In addition to her teaching ministry, which she continued even as she battled cancer, Goll championed an arm of Encounters Network called Compassion Acts. Through the outreach she assisted the needy both in the U.S. and abroad.
Rolland and Heidi Baker of Iris Ministries in Mozambique said Goll was a dear personal friend of theirs and a friend of the poor. “She impacted our lives and our many children’s lives with her tireless joy, her life of faith and intercession,” said Heidi Baker, whose ministry assists children in need and has planted hundreds of churches in Mozambique. “She taught us more about praying and the tenacity of love than almost anyone on earth.”
Goll was diagnosed with colon cancer in December 2004, two years after her husband was diagnosed with cancer. Her colon was removed, but in 2007 cancer resurfaced in her liver, lung and brain. James Goll continues to battle two small cancerous tumors behind his stomach.
Goll enjoyed spending time outdoors with her horses at the family’s home in Franklin. Her pastor, Jeff Dollar of Grace Center in Franklin, said Goll’s passion for Jesus was infectious. She was “a Proverbs 31 woman in every respect of the passage,” he said, “a devoted wife who only [brought] good to her husband, a mother whose children [rose] up and call her blessed, a defender of the poor.”
Family friends Mickey and Barbara Robinson prayed with Goll the day before she died. “Through highs, lows, tenderness or the most horrific adversity she walked consistent and steadfast; she walked in grace, with uncanny wisdom,” Mickey Robinson told Charisma.
James Goll said his wife of 32 years will be remembered for her compassion. “Her legacy of Compassion Acts is going to live on in the hearts of many—and the lives that it is changing will help change the world to move in the compassion of Jesus!”
Goll is survived by her husband and four children. A memorial service will be held Thursday at Belmont Church in Nashville and will be followed by another memorial this weekend in Missouri, where Goll will be buried.
Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to P.O. Box 1653, Franklin, TN 37065 or at encountersnetwork.com.
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