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Highlights from Fascinate I, a Conference for High School Students

Each summer we host Fascinate conferences for high school students, to encourage them in the love of God and call them to be transformed by God’s grace, that they might walk in His truth and power. Fascinate I began on Thursday, June 24, with over 1,300 attendees. Misty Edwards and Luke Wood led us into the presence of the Lord during worship, and Corey Russell spoke about turning our eyes away from worthless things to behold the beauty of the Lord (Ps. 119:18, 37). Mike Bickle taught about becoming a person after God’s heart, encouraging us that the Lord is preparing an entire generation to walk in an anointing and calling like David’s.

On the second day and into the weekend, we heard from David Sliker about Jesus the Servant, and from Zack Hensley about God’s affections being our motivation for faithfulness. We can miss out on the joy of the glad-hearted God if we don’t understand that He loves to serve us, even in the midst of our immaturity. Laura Hackett, Cory Asbury, Tim Reimherr, and Marcus Meier led worship. Many people received physical healing during our awakening services each evening, as the Holy Spirit touched lives and bodies.

Visit IHOP.org/fascinate to register for Fascinate II, starting July 22, or to watch archives of our Fascinate I conference.

IHOPU faculty’s Shelley Hundley shares her healing testimony

Shelley Hundley is vice-president of curriculum and teaching for International House of Prayer University and director of the Forerunner School of Ministry. Shelley serves in various programs of IHOPU, such as the Apostolic Prayer and Preaching program, as well as providing pastoral care for students and teachers. She also helps give leadership to the International House of Prayer’s prophetic department. Read on, as Shelley shares a powerful testimony about her walk with the Lord and His faithful leadership and willingness to heal.

I came to know the Lord during my sophomore year in college and quickly met Allen and Rachel Hood and joined their discipleship group. We traveled around America to different churches, visiting Pensacola and Toronto, because there were revivals going on, and also spent time in Kansas City.

I later moved to Kansas City to attend Grace Training Center, the Bible school which was part of Mike Bickle’s church in the eighties and nineties. At first I didn’t have a car or a place to live, and I cleaned movie theatre bathrooms to pay my way through classes. Grace Training School was small then, but the teachers were phenomenal. I loved my two years there.

The prayer room began in 1999, followed shortly by the Forerunner School of Prayer, our Bible school. It was around that time that I became sick.

I thought I had the flu, but it went on for days. I went to a hospital and they ran some tests. When I woke up, my close friends and leaders were in the hospital room. They told me I had Crohn’s disease. I didn’t even know what that meant. Crohn’s disease causes internal hemorrhaging all the way from the esophagus to the stomach and intestines. There is a lot of bleeding and inflammation. I almost lost my vision at one point, and had excruciating pain that would make it very hard to walk. I used to crawl from my bed to the bathroom.

As a child, I went through some pretty horrendous physical and sexual abuse, and Crohn’s disease mimicked that abuse. Crohn’s disease hits hard, and then pulls back into remission, much like the cycles of abuse that I received. I was in the hospital every month. I had never been sick like that before in my life.

I would be covered in bruises from the IVs, looking like I had taken a beating. I remember coming home, taking a shower, and seeing the bruises and battle scars. The physical feeling was like being beaten, and I would weep before God.

It was the very same valley that I went through as a kid, but this time I had a family fighting for me. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. I was not one to ask for help, but I had friends that would never leave me in the hospital by myself. There wasn’t a time when I didn’t have intercessors or musicians in my room, interceding and praying. Nurses and medical staff came to the Lord because of them.

I was sick with Crohn’s for three years, and during that time, Mike Bickle and Allen Hood gave me assignments. Mike said, “This will be your seminary training.” Mike came to the hospital once, slammed a three-volume theology set on the hospital tray, and said, “OK, Allen will give you the assignments.” I had to do a church history assignment, an assignment on a book of the Bible, and a theology assignment. Allen and Mike kept me going.

I remember being very sick at one point, and Allen came over to my house and asked, “Do you have your assignment done?” I said, “No! I can’t read, I can hardly talk to tell you this right now, and I’m crawling around my house because I can’t walk. I can’t even go to the house of prayer. No, I did not get my assignment done.” The assignment that I was supposed to have done was a written, paraphrased version of the Song of Songs. I had only done the first chapter. Allen said, “It’s time for you to memorize all eight chapters. I’m going to talk to your roommates. They will record it for you on some tapes, and you will memorize all eight chapters.” He said this stone-faced, and then he walked out. I didn’t know until years later, but he went out to his car and wept, because it was one of the hardest things that he had to do, to push me through those years.

Another aspect of the disease was that it kept me from speaking. I had a very limited amount of time per day that I was able to talk. If I chose to accuse the Lord in my heart and turn from Him, I would be cutting off the one person that I could really fellowship with.

At first I kept asking God why He wouldn’t heal me if He loved me. It was like I wanted Him to prove to me that He loved me. Then I realized that He doesn’t have to prove His goodness and kindness and love towards me. He proved it on the cross. Even if He had never spoken another word to me, He would be righteous and kind in all His ways. I began to have the revelation that He would heal me because it’s in His nature.

Sometimes it was so hard to ask Him to heal me. Sometimes I would go through a whole day without asking Him. I would lie there at night and say, “Ah, I didn’t ask Him to heal me today. I can’t stop asking Him. To stop asking Him is to make a judgment about Him; it is to assume that my Father is not good and doesn’t want to heal.”

Eventually, I began to play out the drama in my mind as I was sitting in my bed, saying, “You didn’t heal me today. It must have been very difficult for You to hold back that part of who You are. I thought You couldn’t handle it one more day, but I know that you are doing something in me every day. What if tomorrow I’m healed, and today is the last day to love You in the darkness?” I felt like the clock was ticking and I would be healed soon.

By the time He healed me, in my heart it was as though I was already healed. It was bizarre, but it felt like He had already kissed my heart with His justice.

I was healed in an everyday, mundane prayer meeting. I raised my hand and stood up for prayer. People came around me to pray. They didn’t say anything profound. There was no prophetic download. They just prayed for me and sang in the Spirit, and within five minutes I knew it was my day. I felt “electricity” throughout my body, and I fell to the ground. No one else in the room seemed to be getting touched. Misty was singing on the worship team, and she looked over at me in surprise at the timing of the Lord.

I got up, and Kirk Bennett walked over to me, grinning. I think he already knew. He asked, “How do you feel?” I had not had a painless day like that one in three years.

I went to see my doctor, who had been an atheist, and she said, “There is a God! He does miracles! You do not have Crohn’s disease.” I told her, “His name is Jesus.” My brother, who was also an agnostic doctor at the time, looked at all the medical charts and later came to the Lord. They removed the diagnosis completely.

My experience with Crohn’s disease fuels my teaching; because, at the end of it all, when I was healed, the Lord had put life messages in me.

When I was healed, the Lord gave me the passage, “Comfort, comfort my people.” I came up with a plan to teach about God as the Judge in order to understand suffering and His heart through it.

A year or so after that, the school became the Forerunner School of Ministry and Allen Hood became president. More recently, the music academy and the media institute were added, and we became IHOPU. Our school exists to train and call forth forerunner messengers. We want to send out ones who will prepare the Church and the earth for His return.

IHOP-KC News Video

IHOP–KC’s June news video features Jono Hall, David Sliker, Misty Edwards, and others. Hear about the first ever Passion for Jesus conference in Korean, as well as the video podcast with Misty and David talking about the emotions of God. Watch highlights from the IHOPU graduation ceremony, and learn more about this summer’s Fascinate high school conferences.

IHOPU’s New Campus

Last summer, a generous donor gave 3.3 million dollars for the purchase of Grandview Plaza, a mostly abandoned strip mall, to become the new home of IHOPU. Another donor gave IHOP–KC a challenge, promising that they would match anything we could raise, up to 1.5 million dollars, for the renovation of the property. We managed to raise the full matching amount, bringing the total renovation funds to 3 million dollars. We have more to raise to finish all three phases of renovation for the 100,000 square foot facility, but we have begun construction and phase one is on schedule.

Imagine seeing hundreds of students discussing the glorious New Jerusalem, the plan of salvation, or evangelistic endeavors as you enter the new IHOPU campus. Imagine a place where the conversation hinges on the name and character of Jesus. This is the future home of the International House of Prayer University, a school designed and built for students of IHOPU. This new home will be a center for training students in ministry, worship, theology, and night-and-day prayer.

Having two 500-seat classrooms, two 250-seat classrooms, and three 100-seat classrooms, along with smaller classrooms and conference rooms, the campus will be the largest working property at the International House of Prayer Missions Base. The parking lot alone will have over 500 available spaces, which is exciting news for those accustomed to the current parking facility at IHOPU.

With a full service coffee bar and café, the on-site coffee shop will be nearly double the size of Higher Grounds Café at the Red Bridge Center. Students, faculty, and visitors will be able to relax and meet informally in the coffee shop. The new campus will also accommodate IHOPU’s library to find commentaries, biographies, or reference materials to aid their studies. At present, the library is in a separate location from the classrooms. Eventually, the plan is to build an outdoor, three-season patio just outside the coffee shop and library.

The entire face of the new IHOPU will be glass, which will allow a stunning amount of natural light to enter the facility. With a bright, open floor plan, the campus will have a welcoming, accommodating feel.

In addition to all of this, a first-rate recording studio, comparable to those of Nashville, Los Angeles, and New York, is under construction. Musicians will enjoy state-of-the-art equipment with plenty of room to feel at home for any CD project or studio training session.

I recently toured IHOPU’s new site and saw firsthand the aggressive construction taking place, to establish a facility of the highest quality for our students. Work began in April and is on schedule to be completed for the fall semester beginning this August, 2010.

A Review of Stephen Venable’s “A Life of Communion with God” Class

Our culture and this generation are constantly inundated with advertisements. They promise fulfillment, pleasure, and satisfaction, and they are growing more prevalent and more intense as Western culture feeds off consumerism and the insatiable human appetite. Few perceive the danger of covetousness dominating the landscape of the soul and stifling the freedom of the heart. Stephen Venable discusses these issues in his class A Life of Communion with God.

Stephen systematically explores the elements of created humanity and our deep desire for love, beauty, and significance. We were made to feel deeply and to experience pleasure, but we find ourselves in a paradox. We live in the tension of being made for contentment, but being mostly discontent. Nothing we do, no matter how much we experience, how far we travel, how many friends we make, or how many possessions we own, will ever satisfy us completely. Until we give ourselves in abandonment to God, we will not find satisfaction. The contemplatives of old were beacons of light, walking in freedom from the things of this world; Stephen traces the development of contemplative prayer and links it to our high calling of encountering the living God.

Stephen delves deeply into the human predicament and into the pleasures of loving God. The purpose of this class is to set our vision on knowing the depths of Jesus. Communion with God is not esoteric or ethereal, but pragmatic and dynamically related to our development as disciples of Jesus. Our vision must not be captured by what we see around us, but focused upon the person of Christ.

Gaining a life of deep communion can be a long, arduous journey with many barriers along the way. Hundreds of things vie for our attention. Only with proper vision will our hearts endure with diligence as we purpose to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. If we begin to understand our calling to be transformed to the image of Christ, then everything along the journey makes sense. If not, we may cast off restraint and become ineffective, lawless, and undisciplined. Deep communion with God is the most important vision one can have, not only for ministry, but also for the sheer pleasure of knowing God.

You can take this full class and others online by visiting the IHOPU eSchool.

From the Forerunner Bookstore: Prayers to Strengthen Your Inner Man (Reviewed)

Many of us believe in the value of prayer. We buy the teachings and the books, we attend the conferences, but do we enjoy prayer? Prayer is not something that we choose to do simply because it is a good discipline. For those who desire to follow hard after God, prayer is a necessity, much like water and food to the body. We cannot do without it. It is the air we breathe and the heartbeat of the Christian faith. Connecting with God at a deep level is the primary calling of every believer.

I believe one of the primary reasons that prayer is not as enjoyable as it could be is because we do not know where to begin. Much like studying the Word, prayer can be overwhelming at first. There are so many issues and prayer needs, so many injustices and wrong things that need to be made right. How do we even begin such a daunting task?

Mike Bickle addresses this question in his new book on prayer, Prayers to Strengthen Your Inner Man. We must start with our inner man when we desire to move forward in our prayer lives. God is zealous for our spiritual growth and desires that we would be strengthened in our inner man as we talk to Him day after day in personal prayer.

Using three simple acronyms, Mike helps us to pray the Bible with perseverance, purpose, and desire. He exhorts: “The Spirit will strengthen our inner man by touching our mind emotions, and speech with the might of His presence. We can draw on the strength of the Spirit as a river of life in us by asking Him to strengthen us.”

Prayers to Strengthen Your Inner Man will help anyone looking for encouragement in his or her prayer life. Whether you are a new believer or an intercessor of many years, practicing the principles Mike shares in this book will bring great spiritual rewards to your personal life. I highly recommend this resource.

One Heart Ministries International Interview with James Adams

Nate: James, you were born and spent your early years in Haiti. Is that right?

James: Yes. I was actually from the streets. When I was four years old I was on my own, fending for myself. I ran in the streets for about nine years, and then went to an orphanage. Long story short, God opened a door, my parents came to Haiti on a ministry trip, and the Lord spoke to them. He said to my parents that I was to be their son and that they were to raise me up as a Samuel in the house of prayer. At that point the house of prayer in Kansas City hadn’t started yet.

Nate: When was this?

James: About twelve years ago. My parents brought me to America, and we lived for around two years in Chicago, then we moved to Kansas City for school. We lived here for about a year and went to Metro Christian Fellowship, where Mike was the pastor. Then we moved back to Chicago, started a house of prayer, and did that for about six years. My parents decided to move to Kansas City, and my wife and I ended up moving to Haiti. We had been in Haiti for two months when the Lord directed us to move to Kansas City. and we’ve been here ever since.

Nate: At what age did you begin walking with the Lord?

James: My salvation story is amazing to me. About a year after I was adopted, I was radically saved. In every taxi in Haiti, they would say, “God is good.” They know how to speak the religious language. I grew up knowing to tell people what they wanted to hear. About a year after I came to America, my dad came to my bedroom one night to confront me about something that had happened. One thing led to another; I repented and my dad led me to the Lord. I began to weep, and I had a picture of fire. I didn’t speak in tongues; I didn’t know about anything like that. As a matter of fact, I was just learning English. I had a vision of fire coming from the front yard to my bedroom, and I started weeping and speaking in tongues the whole night—just weeping and crying before the Lord.

Nate: So your first encounter with the Lord was a vision of the fire of the Holy Spirit hitting you?

James: Yeah, and ever since, by the grace of God, I have desired to walk in His ways.

Nate: I ‘d like to talk to you about Haiti—your biological family is still there, right?

James: Yes. When I was adopted, I was a very bitter young man. I suffered a lot of abuse growing up; I would say 99 percent of young boys and girls are abused in Haiti. So, I was resentful and angry. I remember leaving Haiti and saying, “I will never be in poverty ever again.” Initially, I had no desire to go back. As a matter of fact, I wanted to be a pilot and travel the world. When I got saved, it was clear to me that the Lord was calling me to the nations. For about two years the Lord actually opened the door for me to work on my relationship with my biological mom. She encouraged me to help with a food program in Haiti, and our relationship was restored.

Seven years ago, I had an audible voice encounter with the Lord. He spoke to me and said, “I’m doing something in Haiti that you are going to want to be part of.”

My response to Him was, “I’ll do it if you tell my wife about it.”

Later on I said to my wife, “Hey Tab, did the Lord happen to speak to you last night?”

She said, “Actually, late last night, right before I went to bed, the Lord gave me an invitation.”

I said, “What was the invitation?”

She said, “The Lord said, ‘I’m doing something in Haiti and you are going to want to be part of it.’” I lost it. I just began to weep.

Nate: It couldn’t be any clearer, huh?

James: That was the initial call to Haiti. That week, there was a conference at our church with Rhonda Hughey from IHOP–KC. Sunday morning, my dad, who was the pastor at the time, invited us to share about Haiti. I went up and shared my story and gave a quick update. Rhonda went up and she was weeping. She said that the Lord was calling our church to make a covenant with Haiti. At the time, my parents and I were trying to adopt my younger brother. It was going to cost $10,000 to do it. Rhonda came up and began to prophesy over us.

She looked at me and said, “James, the Lord says to you, ‘Whatever you ask concerning Haiti, I will give it to you.’”

I began to weep. She took an offering, and we raised exactly $10,000 that morning. My parents were able to adopt my brother. About two years later, my wife and I started One Heart Ministry International. We launched it specifically wanting to help the large number of orphans in Haiti.

I felt like the Lord was giving us a strategy to care for the orphan, the needy, and the broken. We began working with orphanages—training their staff and bringing medical teams. We told them that if they gave us a year to train their staff and teach them from the Bible, then we would bring clothes, shoes, and other needed items.

Two years ago, I was privileged to lead the first IHOP–KC team to Haiti, and we saw wonderful things happen. The Spirit of God fell on our team and two of the IHOP–KC worshipers began to prophesy in Creole in front of 300 pastors.

Nate: No previous language training?

James: None. But they were singing and declaring the word of the Lord. A lady started prophesying back to us in English. It was an amazing trip, and we’ve been taking teams for the last six years.

Nate: So you were already at work in Haiti before the disastrous earthquake struck in January.

James: When the earthquake hit, I got a phone call from a friend of mine asking if I had seen the news. The first thing I did was to call my mom, uncles, and aunts. Nobody answered the phone. Our pastors, directors—nobody picked up. I called the head nurse of our organization to tell her that we were going to Haiti. The night before I left, Sean Malone of Crisis Response International (CRI, an IHOP–KC-related ministry) called, saying that they needed someone to help get them into Haiti, which we were able to do. Driving through Port-Au-Prince was like driving through a war zone. There were piles of dead bodies; mass graves were being dug.

Nate: I’m sure you were thinking, “I haven’t heard from my family, I haven’t heard from my pastors, I haven’t heard from anyone.” What was your conversation with the Lord at that point?

James: Everything was happening at such a fast pace that I don’t really know. Going through Port-Au-Prince, I thought for sure that my whole town had been destroyed. I’m talking about miles and miles of destruction. I stayed with CRI to make sure they were stabilized, and about two days after that, I went to my village. The first time I cried was when I was driving to my town and I began to see bodies and collapsed buildings. I said, “God, what is happening?” Two days later, I was invited to an orphanage of about eighty kids. They had been in a two-level house, and it had collapsed. It was tough, but we just did what we were trained to do. Three hospitals in Kansas City had given us keys to their warehouses and told us to take whatever medicines and supplies we needed. So we took care of patients all day long, helping as best as we could.

Right now, we are taking teams to Haiti every four to six weeks. The teams are made up of doctors, medical professionals, pastoral carers, psychologists, and other volunteers. Most of the medical teams that initially responded are now gone, so it’s small organizations that are taking care of the people now.

How to pray: Please be in prayer for James and One Heart Ministries International as they leave for another round of aid and relief for the people of Haiti. If you would like to help, or would like to contact One Heart Ministries, please visit their website at ohmhaiti.org.

IHOP-KC News Video

In this episode of IHOP–KC News, Allen Hood gives a special report with student testimonies of the IHOPU outreach in New England. Wes Hall prepares for our Israel Mandate conference this week by talking about why we pray for Israel. If you’d like to learn more about the Forerunner Media Institute (FMI), join Jono Hall as he shares the vision for FMI.

From the Prayer Room

Sunday, April 25, Stephen Venable spoke about the glory of God and the worth of Christ. The end goal of all things is the recognition and celebration of the glory of God. Repeatedly in the Bible we see God’s jealousy for His name. All things were made to put His name on display, and this is the end towards which God is moving all of creation.

This message has dramatically affected the way our IHOP–KC worship teams lead in the prayer room. There has been a noticeable difference as songs of praise have gone forth from the prayer room with marked fervency and gratitude. The missions base feels the reverberation of the truths that Stephen expounded upon. Because Jesus is supremely glorious, the worship movement can exist as an end in itself. We worship night and day simply because He is worthy. There may be many other reasons for night and day prayer, but in order to stay faithful in the place of prayer and worship, our focus must be on the person of Christ, the One who upholds all things.

I feel the sting of conviction in that I have made the act of worship an event in which the focus is on my need for restoration instead of God’s exaltation and praise. Undoubtedly, I receive from the Lord when I worship Him. My goal should not be receiving; it should be giving extravagant devotion and praise to Him. The truth is that worship is an end in itself because God’s glory is an end in itself. I have been ruminating over this, and it has changed the way I approach God every time I enter the prayer room. It makes me unbelievably grateful to realize that I am invited by the Creator to fulfill the very purpose for which He created me: the recognition of His glory.

Crisis Response International

In 2001, Sean Malone was in New York City, working on a movie set as part of the lighting crew. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, an airliner slammed into one of the twin towers. After viewing footage of firefighters digging through rubble and debris using only flashlights to light their way, Sean and his father gathered their movie-lighting equipment and headed to Ground Zero to help search-and-rescue crews recover victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack.

Just a few short years later, Sean and his family were evacuated from their new home in New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina edged closer and closer. After Katrina hit, the Malones returned to the city to gather whatever belongings were left. Their hearts were stirred with compassion for those in need of food and shelter. For months, they stayed in New Orleans and hosted teams of volunteers for the rebuilding process. Following their time working in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Malone family moved to Kansas City, where Crises Response International began.

In the coming days, natural disasters and political, economic, and social upheavals will be prevalent. Many people will not be prepared for the coming trouble. The Lord is going to shake everything that can be shaken (Hag. 2:7; Heb. 12:26). CRI’s vision is to train and equip mercy missionaries to reach the harvest in times of crisis. Through night-and-day prayer and hands-on relief training, CRI plans to mobilize thousands of forerunners to serve the nations in need. CRI focuses on creating small teams of properly trained volunteers to bring stability and physical, emotional, and spiritual hope to people groups affected by disasters.