Coming to Little Rock in July!

Molly and I are going to be traveling to Little Rock, AR, for the month of July in preparation for Samuel's birth! Since we are actually delivering the baby in Little Rock, we are going to move Molly down at the beginning of July for frequent check-ups with the doctor. I will be able to work from Little Rock for that month and I will have to travel back a few times for the Fascinate Conference.

We are very excited to get the chance to spend time with family members we don't get to see as often while we are in Kansas City! We're hoping to get to meet with as many family members as possible to share personally about what the Lord has led us to do in Kansas City and clearly share what is happening in our lives and our ministry. So if you're in Little Rock, we'd love to meet with you and share about what we are doing in Kansas City and use this time to catch up!

Summer Internship

So it's official, the Elijah Revolution Internship is coming up soon and we're signing up local student leaders to participate in some of the best hands-on training in the nation! Running along side our Awakening Teen Camp, we're hosting small internship for local student ministries that we're planning on launching on a national scale in 2 years! So far, we're keeping the internship small as we iron out the curriculum, so there's no web site for me to show you at this point, but we're excited to get this off the ground on June 18th! Be praying for us that God gives us wisdom in how to train student leaders to plant churches in their schools!

From "Student" to "Staff"

For the last 4 years I have been a full-time student at the International House of Prayer University, IHOP's full-time Bible school. Now that I am graduating, I along with all of my classmates are faced with countless opportunities for ministry all over the world. Our culture is that students study to graduate and then join the work force wherever they can. One of the cool things about graduating from IHOPU into the global prayer movement is that there is no shortage of positions in this industry. Rather, there is great need for leaders in this industry, so the only problem our graduates have is choosing what region they feel called to by the Lord.

What is interesting about my personal transition from school to full-time ministry is that I have already been in ministry for 4+ years. Unlike most students, I actually knew what I wanted to do when I started school and I have not altered my focus at all, and now I have over 4 years of history in what I am called to do. Now that I am graduating, all I have to do is seek the Lord about where I feel best fit to pursue this mission that the Lord has set me on for the youth of America. What I did not know about IHOP at the time of my entering school (and what IHOP didn't know) was that their student ministry was going to become entirely focused on church-planting in the schools of the city and of the nation. So actually, IHOP became my best fit as a place of ministry as their vision and values for youth ministry match what I feel called to do from the Lord. Obviously, this is no coincidence. Looking back, I can see how the Lord sovereignly set this up and made the perfect way for me to make the most impact and grow in the greatest ways. Yet, as I said, this was not what IHOP was doing when I joined. I have actually been working in the school in Kansas City much longer than IHOP has, yet now IHOP is exactly where the Lord has set me into ministry for this season.

So what does this look like? What is my role? Now that I am graduating, what am I doing? What am I raising financial support to do?

Now that I am graduated from IHOPU, I am joining full-time staff as a missionary at IHOP to work in the Student Ministries department. Not solely because I studied at IHOPU and have been here for years, but moreso because this youth ministry is one of few that actually share the same vision with me and have the means to really pursue it. It has been rare, in my searches, to find a youth ministry that targets the schools. Not at the fault of the youth pastors but at the fault of the typical church system. Most local youth ministries are modalities, suffering from much inward pressure that actually restrict their reach into the community. Few youth ministries are actually free to grow without pressure and with the means to branch out into the community. Yet the youth pastors I speak to love the vision of reaching the schools but in many cases they don't have the freedom from their church to do so. IHOP's Student Ministry, on the other hand, is completely free to reach out and almost entirely focused on the local schools. IHOP's Student Ministry is a missions base to the schools. If you've been following my ministry, you know this sounds like me.

So what will I do? I am, at this time, a local regional director of the High School Missions department. What in the world is that? There are many departments in Student Ministries, from the sumemr camps to the weekend services to discipleship and small groups to worship teams to the schools. High School Missions is a fancy title for the department that is mobilizing/equipping students and training them as missionaries and raising up prayer meetings on school campuses in a 100 mile radius of Kansas City. Basically, you could say I am a youth pastor who's primary focus is to train leaders and reach a certain geographic area. There are several regional directors who focus on reaching schools in different geographic areas, whom I am helping to train, as I have been doing this the longest. I am a part of a growing leadership team in the High School Missions department, and a part of a much larger leadership team in Student Ministries as a whole. I help lead at the weekend services, although there is another leader in charge of facilitating those, and I teach at the summer camp, although there is another leadership team in charge of the camp. My team is focused on reaching the schools, which is actually becoming the largest department in Student Ministries. Still at the center, is the prayer room. Every leader is still committed to the requirements of being in the prayer room and having a life in prayer. This culture of prayer creates an amazing workplace environment and amazing team.

Does it pay? Sometimes. There are some things that I may be paid to do, but everyone in Student Ministries raises their own support as missionaries like the rest of IHOP staff. Other IHOP departments may work with adoptions, build worship team, work with crisis relief, run events, teach in the school, etc., but everyone, no matter their department of service, is committed to the prayer room and everyone is required to raise their support. That's why they call IHOP a missions base. We're all missionaries. Raising support actually allows us the freedom to do what we're called to do (like reach the schools) and allows us to reach more people and provide resources for free! It is this same model that keeps the school's tuition at record lows to make it accessible to the students.

Lastly, what will this become? I am joining this leadership team much in its infancy. Strategies and curriculums are still being written, we're launching some of our first internships and working with our first class of students and first round of schools. In short, we are developing a model to be replicated all over the nation. Our goal is to effectively reach every school in a 100 mile radius and partner with churches to see prayer sustained in those schools (like little student-led church-plants), and our goal is to trumpet this message across the nation using Elijah Revolution conferences (our first one will be this month in L.A., CA). We want to see America turn back to God and we all know it starts with prayer and in the church, and I believe we can see a destructive youth culture transformed by praying in our schools. We're actually preparing for a massive move of God in our nation by establishing the prayer base. From there we're also developing a way to evangelize, receive and disciple large amounts of new converts, believing that the Lord really is going to answer our prayers and save the lost.

This is a very exciting time in history to be in youth ministry, where you have to minister with the return of Jesus on the horizon and a massive move of God imminent on your nation either in revival, judgement or both! It has always been my goal to be used by God to impact the next generation, and IHOP is where I can do that best! I am very thankful for all of our supporters who's prayer and gifts make this ministry possible! Thank you!

I hope this provides a little bit of clarity into what I'm doing : )

Amen.

The Prayer Room Gets A New Stage!

Christmas comes early for the musicians and singers in the Prayer Room at the International House of Prayer this year! The Prayer Room just updated the stage and sound tech with a complete upgrade! This comes shortly after realizing that the old stage was actually a fire-hazard due to failing cables and old systems. So now, if you look at the prayer room web stream, you'll see a completely new layout on stage! And when I say "new stage," this is much less of a facelift and much more of a completely new bone structure (sound system).

What is the process of upgrading the stage in a 24/7 prayer room? Well, the announcement came that the old system had to go, so this became an opportunity to try out some new technology and try for an upgrade in our system. Of course, this is a HUGE deal. There are dozens of channels, the in-ear monitor setup through the Aviom system, the drum cage, the repositioning of all of the musicians and singers, and structural changes to the stage itself. The prayer room is for sure one of the most advanced sound systems on the earth, making it a big deal to alter.

But it had to be done, so what we had to do was close the location. One day, at the end of the 4 PM set in the "Global Prayer Room" (GPR, where the usual prayer room resides), an announcement was made that we were moving locations. The "Global Prayer Room" location closed as the music and prayer continued seamlessly at another location, the church building. So for one week the prayer room was held 24/7 in the church building to "keep the fire burning," while at the GPR, massive changes were underway. This means that when I went to play guitar, I had to show up at the church building all week and play on the church stage while the sound guys worked in the normal prayer room.

The sound team was able to install the new system in on week! Worship teams were invited in to take a look at the new setup and get used to the new gear the day before launch. The Aviom monitor system was gone, and we had upgraded to Roland RSS-M48 personal mixing units, which I like very much! New microphones, new cables, new everything. Not only that but the sound engineers got a new sound board that they affectionately call the "Death Star" because of all the lights and screens. This was a complete upgrade that hopefully has less chance of combusting under our feet (surely).

Other changes included new positions for all of the different members of the worship teams on stage. My electric guitar position has changed, the drums have changed, the singers changed, and all of these changes are on a trial basis to be sure that it is the most effective setup. One thing that is sure to change is the new temporary drum cage. Previously, the drummer had his own isolation room where the sound was very much contained. Right now the drummer is in a temporary sound cage that bleeds a lot of sound onto the stage, causing lots of the drummer's sound to end up in the microphones. So the sound isolation room is probably going to be reinstated, but still in the new position on stage.

All in all, this was a huge upgrade to an extent I don't even fully understand. I am very thankful to all of the sound engineers who have been working all week to put this thing together. I like the refresh. It got us out of the routine : ) Praise God!

Final Day of Class

Here it is! Four years later and it's my final day of class at IHOPU! What a great day! All of my assignments are in and graduation is just over a week away!

Today I've done my placement interview as I prepare to join full-time staff in Student Ministries, and I'm about to do my exit interview with my professors! What a day. Assignments done, classes done, all I have to do now is love Jesus and show up to graduate.

PRAISE GOD!