Posts in the month of: Mar, 2010
IHOP-KC News Video
The year 2010 has been a busy one for us at IHOP–KC so far, and we feel that it is a time of renewal, not only for us but also for the entire nation. At the turn of the year we hosted the largest onething conference to date with 20,000 in attendance. The IHOPU student awakening is continuing, and we have received a $3M matching fund for the development of our new Grandview Plaza property into a much-needed, much larger campus for IHOPU, our university (IHOP.org/buildihopu). IHOP–KC staff volunteers are still helping with relief efforts in Haiti through our Crisis Response International team IHOP–KC.
Join Brent Steeno as he takes us on a visual journey of what’s been taking place. Hear interviews from Allen Hood and Wes Hall concerning the awakening meetings and the future plans of IHOPU. Watch an interview with Misty Edwards and team about Fling Wide, Misty’s latest CD release, as they talk about the heart of the album and the history of its development.
IHOPU New England Update 3/6 – 3/8
Saturday 3/6/2010
Saturday’s evening awakening meeting at Amherst College was the first one we have had on a college campus instead of in a church. The meeting was held in one of the rooms of the student activity center, which holds approximately 300 people. Most of the students who attended were believers, but had had very little experience of the working of the Holy Spirit. Throughout the evening, other students wandered into the meeting and were amazed by the activity of the Lord, and some walked out swearing. A leader began the meeting by sharing brief portions of her testimony of earning two Ivy League degrees and being met by the Lord. She gave an exhortation to the Amherst students, saying that God wanted to meet them there that night, even in the midst of their midterms and busy lives.
Before the meeting began, the Lord had emphasized two main prayer targets for that evening’s meeting to the IHOPU students: to provide a clear understanding of the Holy Spirit, and to deal with issues of self-hatred, performance, and the burden of expectations. There were a number of long ministry times for deliverance, especially for the female students, from self-hatred, shame and guilt, and expectations from self, family, and professors. A sudden release of joy filled the room halfway through the night, and there was a shift in student behavior from sitting with a lecture mentality to experiencing freedom and joy with dancing and singing—which is very out of character for many of the Korean students who attended.
The meeting came to a close with an impartation of the vision to strengthen the prayer movement and to spread what God was doing. He didn’t want to fill them with joy and freedom for one night only; He wanted to fill them to overflowing, so that His blessing would pour out on the rest of the campus. The IHOPU students prayed for those who already led prayer meetings on campus.
Here are just a few of the testimonies from Amherst students:
I have always felt unworthy of God’s love, and this semester I did not really feel the presence of God in my life. I’ve been battling with some issues, and I couldn’t seem to overcome them. I’ve been trying to solve all of my problems on my own so that I can be worthy before God. Now I know that I am worthy. I never fully understood freedom in Christ until now. I have been free all the while, but have been binding myself with ultra-perfectionism.
I received prayer from a student tonight who told me that God was saying, “It was not your fault,” and that I am pure and clean before God. I have been unable to understand that for so long. God loves me! Oh, what better joy is there? I am His daughter!”
God has touched my heart and delivered me from self-hatred and from striving for His love. He has freed me from feeling unworthy in His presence. His love has made me feel renewed and ready to testify on His behalf. Thank the Lord!
I was sexually abused as a child and never felt beautiful because of it. God healed me tonight and filled me with His love and joy!
Tonight, the Lord renewed me and refreshed me with His love. I felt like I was carrying a heavy burden, but now I feel at peace and have happiness resting inside of me! I know that I don’t have to worry anymore. God loves me, and I am so happy about what He is doing here in Amherst in my brothers and sisters. Bless the Lord!
Sunday and Monday, March 7–8, the IHOPU students rested and traveled back to the Boston area.
IHOPU New England Meeting Schedule
IHOPU New England Meeting Schedule
IHOPU NEW ENGLAND MEETING SCHEDULE
Missing meeting times to be added later.
Friday April 2, 7:00pm, Rhode Island
Renaissance Church
77 Reservoir Avenue
Providence, RI 02903-4433
Saturday April 3, Connecticut
Yale Divinity School
409 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT
Monday April 4–Thursday April 8, 7:00pm, Massachusetts
Lion of Judah Church
68 Northampton Street
Boston, MA 02118-1823
Friday April 9, 7:00pm, Massachusetts
Tremont Temple
88 Tremont Street
Boston, MA 02108
About Exodus Cry
On February 5, 2007, Benji Nolot, an IHOP–KC staff member, introduced a prayer topic at an 8:00pm intercession set in the prayer room. With 500 people present, Benji began praying against modern-day slavery, a topic which few had even heard of, yet which was soon to become a primary focus for intercession at the International House of Prayer of Kansas City. The Lord hears the cry of the oppressed (Ps. 10:17), including those caught in human trafficking and the sex industry. Many in the room found out that night just how zealous the Lord is for justice as His tangible presence was released in power and authority.
The following day, a human trafficking bust occurred involving the arrests of almost 2,400 child pornographers in 77 countries. Authorities later said that a bust of this magnitude was not only “unprecedented” but also like “finding a needle in a haystack.”1 It became clear that God is intently focused on the injustice of sex slavery, and that He is looking for intercessors to stand in the gap on behalf of the poor and oppressed. God highlighted this issue to us and demonstrated His power by fulfilling, in a small but powerful way, the promise of granting “speedy justice” in the context of night–and-day prayer (Lk. 18: 7–8).
Thus, the ministry of Exodus Cry was born. With a focus of ending human trafficking and modern-day slavery, Exodus Cry’s primary values are threefold: the rescue, rehabilitation, and integration of victims into society. Benji has been traveling worldwide, working on a documentary called Nefarious: Merchant of Souls, that gives an inside look at the sinister world of human exploitation for the global sex trade, bringing awareness and a better understanding of the plight of trafficked victims.
Nefarious: Merchant of Souls has a greater and broader purpose. We pray that by the grace of God it would effect change on an international level and help spark a counter-cultural revolution concerning the issue of justice, especially as it pertains to the worldwide prayer and missions movement. Please be in prayer that the Lord would use Exodus Cry and this documentary in the days to come. Stand with us as we labor to see justice released to the nations, on earth as it is in heaven!
1. Bergstein, Brian. “Experts Say Child Porn Ring Difficult to Track.” MSNBC.
7 February 2007. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17032790/
IHOP-KC Staff Interview – Audra Hartke
Nate: How long have you been at IHOP–KC, what drew you here, and how did you get involved with the prayer room?
Audra: I came here seven years ago in January of 2003. So, I think that makes exactly seven years. I moved here originally with my family; I was eighteen and my brother was fifteen. The Lord had actually spoken to me a year before I even found out about IHOP–KC and said that I was going to move to Kansas. He said Kansas, and I was mad at first because I liked my home in Seattle, Washington. Then my mom and I came for a conference, and we felt that we were to move.
Nate: So you moved here with your entire family?
Audra: Yeah, we came as an entire family.
Nate: So how did you get involved initially? How did you even hear about IHOP–KC?
Audra: Well, it was at a harp and bowl conference. That was the first time I had heard anything. I was going to come and do the One Thing Internship, but when my parents decided to move I just decided to do Intro to IHOP–KC with them and jump on staff.
Nate: So you moved here as a family and then you all did an internship together!
Audra: Yeah, we all did Intro together, then joined staff right away. My parents joined the NightWatch staff, and I was in the mornings for about two months. Then I started doing the NightWatch.
Nate: How long did you do the NightWatch?
Audra: For four years.
Nate: Tell me a little about that. It is such a huge part of the house of prayer that not a whole lot of people know anything about. Just give me a couple points of what you learned in your four years doing the NightWatch and what you loved about it.
Audra: First off, I learned the absolute necessity of community in the NightWatch setting. You’ve got to have community with people, even more so than in any other part of the house of prayer; otherwise you fall to pieces. You lose touch with reality because it is so challenging. I mean it’s really good. Spiritually though, it’s a sifting.
Nate: Because it’s contrary to everything you’ve ever known?
Audra: Yeah. For me though, I was always naturally a night person. So the actual night schedule was always easy for me. Most people struggle with the physical demands of staying up all night on a consistent basis. I was fine.
Nate: So, did you feel like there was a special grace from the Lord to do the NightWatch for that long?
Audra: Yes, because I knew that’s where the Lord had me. There were many times I wanted to leave because it was hard, but I knew the Lord had me there and I stayed with it until He released me. For some people it’s not that clear, but I absolutely had a lot of grace!
Nate: Did you start worship leading on the NightWatch?
Audra: I did. I was on Clay Edwards’ team. I was on his team the whole four years and started leading about three years after being on his team.
Nate: So, you started as a singer, right?
Audra: Yes, I started as a singer and then eventually became his associate worship leader.
Nate: Did you just stumble into worship leading, or was this something that you always wanted to do?
Audra: I’ve actually been leading worship since I was sixteen. I’ve been singing at churches since I was little. My mom was a worship leader.
Nate: Did you learn a lot from her?
Audra: If there was anything my parents were mostly concerned about, it was that we would understand spiritual gifts. My mother didn’t necessarily teach me musically, but she gave me some basic pointers on my guitar, and when I had questions she would show me. But, I learned my instrument a lot by myself. With singing, she pointed me in the right direction. She was great at giving us direction and helping us while also letting us learn for ourselves. I liked that.
Nate: So she kind of gave you vision and values?
Audra: Yes, and she really imparted confidence to me from the beginning. She was always really good about encouraging me with my voice, even when I was only three and couldn’t even really sing yet. She would always say, “You have such a pretty voice!” It gave me such confidence that I was a good singer and that I was called to be a singer. She was really good at making sure I understood what goes with that, the prophetic and spiritual gifts. It was really encouraging.
Nate: When you started worship leading—taking a trip down memory lane here—when you were first learning to lead, what were some of the biggest challenges that you came up against? How did you overcome those challenges?
Audra: First of all, I didn’t feel like I was skilled enough on my instrument. I wasn’t very confident, but that just takes diligence and practice. I wasn’t confident in knowing what I was doing. So just becoming skilled on my instrument and being confident in what I was doing was a challenge. Also, it was challenging to not be timid when I was feeling the Holy Spirit’s direction. It was hard to actually learn to trust that whisper. That has taken years, and I’m still learning this one.
Nate: What are you studying right now in the Word, and what are you feeding your spirit on?
Audra: Right now I’m primarily meditating and studying Psalm 30. It’s been food for my soul because at the beginning of it there’s a threefold deliverance that David talks about. He discusses how the Lord heals his soul, then his body, and then delivers his spirit, which is similar to what we are seeing here at the awakening. It’s just happening over and over again. I’m also doing this passage as my worship with the Word outline. So, we do that first part then it goes into “We praise you, oh Lord, because you have delivered us.” Then the next part talks about the Lord’s faithfulness with, “I trust you Lord, I know that you have delivered me.” David says, “You’ve made my mountain stand strong!” Then he says, “You’ve hid your face from me and I despaired.” Right in the same verse he says two different things. I think, “Where are you going with this, David?” But the other day I totally understood where he was coming from because one minute I feel so elated by the Spirit and then the next minute I feel so far from God. Then, the next part is, “You’ve taken my mourning and turned it into dancing; you’ve taken away my spirit of heaviness.” The end is my very favorite. David says, “Lord, I will sing your praise and will not be silent!” The whole point of the whole thing is that every ounce of glory that He has given me in this life is to reflect God and His praise because I’m so elated by what He’s done in my life!
Nate: Do you think part of what David is saying in the reality of the ebb and flow is that he is holding his confession even in the midst of trials?
Audra: Yes, because we were made to exalt God, and this is our confession despite how we feel.
Nate: That’s really good. Last question, your next CD! When? Where? Why? How? Give me all the good stuff.
Audra: I don’t know when yet.
Nate: Are you currently working on stuff?
Audra: I am looking into it. I’m in communication with some people, but we are still brainstorming.
Nate: What about the style? Is it going to be similar to what you’ve done before, or are you going to be shifting gears?
Audra: My style is definitely more “straight up rock” and I love doing it, but with the combination of musicians that I’ve had in the past it tends to come out sounding really eclectic with a little gospel in there (laughing).
Nate: I love the gospel stuff, by the way.
Audra: Yeah, and that’s more where I want to go for the next one. Way more folk, way more acoustic. Not as much electric. I want a lot more strings, cello, hammer dulcimer. I just want to bring it more to a “grass roots” style.
Nate: Thank you so much for your time and insights.
Spend Your Summer at IHOP-KC
Summer is on its way, and that means it’s youth camp and conference time at IHOP–KC! We are gearing up for another summer of teaching and activities aimed at children and teens during our Signs and Wonders Camps, Awakening Teen Camps, and Fascinate youth conferences. There’s something for parents too at our Fascinate conferences and Weekends@IHOP–KC. We have scheduled multiple sessions for each event so mark your calendar today and plan to join us in Kansas City this summer!
Fascinate High School Conferences
Fascinate I: June 24–26
Fascinate II: July 22–24
The time has come for a generation to turn their eyes to the beauty of the King. The call is going out to teenagers in this nation to consecrate their hearts in radical pursuit of Jesus. At a time in history when the eyes of this generation are being captured by the emptiness of the world, this conference will cast vision and give biblical tools to encourage teens to live lives of wholehearted abandonment to Jesus.
Awakening Teen Camp
Session I: June 12–27
Includes Fascinate I: June 24–26
Worship and Prayer Academy: June 28–July 7
Session II: July 10–25
Includes Fascinate II: July 22–24
Justice Intensive: July 26–August 2
Awakening Teen Camp (ATC) is a summer ministry for believers in their teenage years. Every year young people from the ages of 12–18 come to Kansas City to give part of their summer to experiencing God in a focused and often life-changing way. Our desire is to give the youth of this generation courage to use the skills and abilities God has given them to be faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ.
Children’s Equipping Center Signs and Wonders Camps, Kansas City
Camp I: June 14–18 (ages 8–12)
Camp II: July 7–10 (ages 6–12; day camp option for ages 6–7)
Our summer camps for children are a combination of Bible teaching, worship, prayer, camp fires, swimming, hiking, and lots of fun. We aim to train children as young forerunners who live in wholehearted devotion to God; to encourage them to develop a love for the Word of God; to operate in the power of the Holy Spirit; to love, respect, obey, and honor their parents; and to prepare them for leadership in the kingdom of God.
Luke18 Project Summer Leadership Program
Track I: June 7–July 3
Track II: July 5–July 31
We are convinced that now is the time for students to take full advantage of their college years to be equipped by the Spirit of God to partner with Him in bringing transformation to their campuses. Students will spend time hearing what God is doing among the colleges of our nation as well as participating in round table discussions to pray and strategize for the effective establishment of the kingdom of God through prayer, fasting, and works of justice on their respective campuses.
Weekends@IHOP–KC
Check website for dates
The Weekends@IHOP–KC program offers you an introduction to the vision and message of IHOP–KC through seminars, Q&A sessions with representatives from our leadership team, and time in the prayer room. Families with young children are encouraged to attend our Family Weekends that include Children’s Equipping Tracks for ages 1–12. We also provide translation into Chinese (Mandarin), Korean, Spanish, and Arabic on certain weekends. See website for dates.
Official Video of the IHOPU Student Awakening: The Story
IHOPU Awakening Story Full Version
Title
IHOPU Student Awakening Story Full Version
Description
The Lord began an awakening amongst our students on November 11, 2009. Since that time, we have been holding extended meetings as the Lord continues to pour out His presence. Before November 11, the Holy Spirit began moving in the hearts of the students to prepare them for this move of God. The students passed through a season of confessing sins, repenting, and engaging in several twenty-one-day, student-led fasts. This video is the official story of how God prepared and met a group of first-year IHOPU students in an encounter that eventually spread to include our entire missions base. Join Jono Hall as he interviews Allen Hood and Wes Hall for the full story of the IHOPU student awakening.
Watch the services live through our free webstream every Wednesday–Saturday night from 6:00pm–12:00am (CST), or read and submit testimonies on our website of what God has been doing!
The Humility of God
Today as I sit in the prayer room and listen to the singers sing the Word of God, I am mindful of the humility of God. Jesus, the most humble man to ever live, beckons us to put on humility like He does. Humility is the true fragrance of God, and it gives an effective witness for the kingdom. Our words, our attitudes, and our facial expressions must always be soaked in humility as we go out and when we’re at home. He is exalted and glorified when we choose to put on humility.
Jesus walked among the ones He created, so high above them in power, in wisdom, in influence, and in insight, and yet He lived as a humble man from Nazareth. We see the true humility of God in the face of Christ. As we respond to the cry of heaven to put on Christ, the Holy Spirit will give us power and strength to be like Him.
He gives grace to the humble; He makes happy the poor in spirit. We go low, and He lifts us up.
God, give me power and grace as I choose to put on humility in all that I do and say.
Thank You, Jesus!
IHOPU New England Update 3/6
The IHOPU students spent the day with a tour guide, visiting places rich with history from the revivals of old. The tour guide highlighted three places that were significant to David Brainerd, Jonathan Edwards, and Dwight L. Moody – one little valley – within 15 min.
At the site of Jonathan Edwards’s church, where only one stone remained, they asked God that they would not just be people praying for revival but that their lives would be marked with the character of Jesus, and that He would raise up anointed revivalists and deliverers for this generation. The tour guide narrated the history of Jonathan Edwards and how the Lord used him to bring revival to the area. The students spent time praying that the town would again turn to the Lord, focusing on Smith College for women.
At the second site, David Brainerd’s grave, the students took time to contemplate how Brainerd had lived his life and given himself to see revival amongst the Susquehanna Indians. According to the tour guide, who has been living there for five years praying for revival, the gravestones of Brainerd and Jerusha Edwards (Jonathan Edwards’s daughter) fell over last month, and no one did anything about it. These are heroes of the faith, but no one comes to take care of their memorial except a group of Koreans, who understand the history and Brainerd’s anointing.
The final stop on this inspiring tour was to Northfield Campus, founded by Dwight L. Moody as schools for young girls in 1879 and boys in 1881. In 1880 the Northfield Bible conferences began here, which gave rise to the second wave of the Student Volunteer Movement.1 Moody called for a gathering of students at Northfield Campus to study the Bible and hear addresses from evangelists and missionaries. In July 1886, 251 students from 89 colleges met for almost a month.2 Over the years, many students were inspired to give their lives as missionaries in the least evangelized areas of the world. Many packed their belongings in coffins, knowing that 80 percent of missionaries would die in the first two years due to the conditions and climate in the countries where they were serving.3 By 1959, over 20,000 college students had gone to serve the Lord overseas. The IHOPU students had a time of prayer at Moody’s grave, as well as on the campus, which having been empty for a few years has recently been bought to be developed again as a center of Christian education under the C. S. Lewis Foundation.4
Before the evening meeting at University of Massachusetts-Amherst, a very liberal college in Amherst, just east of Northampton, the IHOPU students prayed for God to pour out his Holy Spirit on everyone who came, asking that unbelievers would be convicted of sin, bringing repentance and salvation.
1. “In 1806, five students from William College, Williamstown, MA, gathered in a field to discuss the spiritual welfare of the people of Asia . . . Their meeting was interrupted by a thunderstorm and the students . . . took shelter under a haystack until the sky cleared . . . Within four years of that gathering, some of its members established the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. In 1812 it sent forth its first missionaries to India.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haystack_Prayer_Meeting
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student_Volunteer_Movement
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_(Christian)
4. http://blog.christianhistory.net/2009/12/campus_of_moodys_school_for_po.html
IHOPU New England Update 3/5
The IHOPU students and some of the JHOP team spent the day traveling to Northampton, Massachusetts, about 80 miles from Boston, for their first weekend campus outreach outside the Boston area. A significant word came from a prophetic leader earlier on in the week, that there would be a noted increase of the activity of the Holy Spirit on college campuses starting on Saturday.
The students arrived for their evening meeting at Resurrection Life Ministries in Northampton, the town where Jonathan Edwards had lived and served as minister of a church. The students thought it would be a small gathering where they would come together to gain focus for the weekend. To their surprise the small church where they were meeting was packed out with locals from the New England area who had been following the awakening at IHOP–KC via the webstream for the last three months. They ended up having an awakening service.
Shelley Hundley of IHOPU began the service by sharing an encounter she had had early on when the IHOPU student awakening started; she connected it with the historical and prophetic destiny of those attending, saying that the IHOPU team wanted to be part of their prophetic story. Then one of the students was called on to give an exhortation about the importance of understanding Christ’s love as we contend for holiness and revival.
Significant testimonies resulted from a time of ministry. One older lady was filled with the joy of the Lord, and an hour later she was free of chronic shoulder pain that she had had for years. Another lady received freedom from rejection, and she noticed that the hip pain she had had was suddenly gone. A third lady was healed of large calcium deposits on the outside of her right foot. The condition was so bad that when her doctor explained the procedure that would need to be done to remove the deposit, she shrunk away at the thought and decided not to have it done. Instead she received prayer at the awakening service; the calcium deposit shrunk, and her pain level went from a four to a zero.
The testimonies of many who received physical healing came as a surprise to them. They had not been expecting physical healing at the service. Most came to feel more of God. But God is stirring up faith again in the church of New England by healing their bodies and healing their hearts by confirming their identity in Him, before sending them out to take His presence to the lost. The awakening is not just staying in one place; God is pouring out His Spirit!
