30 Day of Prayer

Hey I just wanted to update you quickly and let you know that all 4 Olathe High School (as well as a private school and Blue Valley School) have agreed to unite in daily prayer before class for the salvation of the lost during the month of November. The leaders from all of the schools are supporting it and this will be a launchpad for many amazing efforts in the future.

Every day in November, 2010, students will gather daily for prayer at all 4 high schools, participate in weekly fasting, and evangelize to at least one classmate everyday! The prayer meetings will happen on campus and will be student-led for at least 15 minutes daily. Imagine with me daily prayer returned to our schools through student-led gatherings. SOOOO cool.

In 1962, the Supreme Court outlawed school sanctioned prayer from public high schools but the movement lives on in the form of student-led gatherings. This November, we will return prayer to our schools in an intentional effort to reach out with our lives to the lost in our schools. Check out the promo video:

My Trip to Boston!

Recently I had the opportunity to travel to Boston and the New England area to serve on a ministry trip with my school (IHOPU). Many of my classmates have been in New England for several weeks on this trip, and I went to the join them for a portion of the full time. Over all, students have been invited from March 1st through April 9th, and there are about 40 students who took the opportunity to travel for the full time (while taking classes over distance learning). Several of my classmates have been gone for the entire time but I had the chance to join them in the middle of their journey. I left Kansas City on March 29th and returned April 2nd after a very exciting week. This blog will give you an idea of what happened on my trip.

The trip happens in weeks. The focus and emphasis shifts from week to week. When I arrived, the focus had shifted for one week to the prayer room. In the weeks prior, each day had consisted of morning prayer room hours and afternoon evangelism and evening services. The week I arrived, however, was focused mainly on fasting and on preparing in the place of prayer for the large push of the final week of evangelism. I arrived late Monday night in the middle of the evening session. I found my spot on the concrete floor of the church basement where the boys were staying and settled in for the week.

For my first day, I played electric guitar in the morning session. I am the only electric guitar player to be traveling to Boston from IHOPU so my talents as a musician were much needed and much used. That morning, the Lord visited the students in a time of great intercession for the lost of the city. Many times we (as students) enter into a prayer meeting where we don't often feel the heart of God over the issue of prayer, but there are particular prayer meetings where the Lord visits us in the midst of the meeting and our prayers come alive. This was one such meeting. We then had a bit of a break and time for sharing testimonies in the afternoon and a time of worship just to sort of rest from the weekend (which I missed) and then I played guitar again for the evening session. I played an average of 7 hours per day...

Day two, I played electric in the morning again (much fun and very refreshing for a set), and then we visited MIT in the afternoon. We met with Christian student leaders and were encouraged to see their love for God and their efforts to fuel prayer on that campus. We were able to pray over the leaders and get a guided tour (with the prayer points) of the campus. Evening session, more guitar : )

NOTE: Playing guitar 7 hours/day gets you playing very good, so by day three, I was ripping some good solos : )

Day three, morning guitar, and intercession for the afternoon evangelism. PB&J for lunch (as always), and the students were SENT OUT to evangelize around Harvard. We used the public transportation so for my time on the subway I presented the gospel in a very loud way to those on the train with me. "I appeal to you on behalf of a God who desires you!" and from there you get the idea. People didn't usually respond right away to the alter call for salvation, but many would often come forward later with questions and concerns in their own heart where we were then able to see people saved. Once we left the train and I saw Harvard campus, I felt greatly compelled to go pray over the buildings, so I did. From the moment I set foot on that campus, I felt a weight, as if many of the hearts on campus were stone, and my heart also. I began to pray "Awaken love for Jesus" everywhere I walked (where you see the picture above in front of the library). Later that evening, the leaders shared about the heaviness over Harvard and the difficulty that students have there even in the spiritual realm. I felt as though my prayers counted towards a shift to glory on that campus.

Day four, I traveled home to Molly! It was Good Friday and good it was to see my wife again. My classmates continued on to Yale for the weekend to hold services on the campus. Overall I have heard that they have seen more than 30 be saved, several healings, deliverance from depression, and the strengthening of the believers in that area. One of my classmates with bad eye-sight walked into the evening service one night during the worship and his eyes regained much of their sight just by being in the Lord's presence. I remember seeing him from the stage as he took off his glasses and looked around with more clarity than he has ever had. Praise God!

The trip was a blast and I am excited to see what the Lord does in New England in the next few weeks! Please continue to pray for salvation at the universities in New England! View my flickr page for more photos.

The Profound Importance of Prayer

I was reading Daniel 9 and 10 yesterday and I feel as if I have found my favorite passages!

Here you have Daniel, an exile in a wicked land from his childhood who stood his ground for the Lord his entire life in prayer. This dude was so devoted to prayer that they threw him in the Lion's Den in his 80s or 90s!!! He took on the devil for nearly a century was in the heat of his battle in his late years!

Daniel 9 opens up and Daniel has just had a profound revelation from the Lord that has driven him to fasting and prayer: "So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes" (Daniel 9:3), and Daniel lays out this amazing prayer of repentance for his nation asking for God to have mercy.

Now comes the good part: "While I [Daniel] was speaking and praying, confessing my sins and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the LORD my GOd for his holy hill- while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight, about the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, 'Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon as you began to pray, an answer was given, which I have come to tell you, for you are HIGHLY ESTEEMED' " (Daniel 9:20-22).

Oh my goodness! Here is a man who devotes himself to prayer and his prayers are literally moving heaven. Daniel prays and arch angels are moved into action! And Daniel was called "highly esteemed!" wow.

"The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God." - 1 Cor 8:2-3.

Daniel 10 gets even better! Later in life, Daniel gets another prophetic word and it comes true! Because of the nature of the word, Daniel mourned for three weeks. He ate no choice food (sweets), no meats or wine touched his lips. At the end of the 21 days, another angel appears to him and Daniel falls into a deep sleep because of the weight of the presence of the angel!!!! The angel wakes Daniel back up and Daniel is shaking on his hands and knees! Then the angel strengthens Daniel enough to stand while shaking saying, "stand up, for I have now been sent to you." Then the angel says:

"Then he continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come" (Daniel 10:12-14).

WOW! Angels were sent into battle over Daniel's prayers, even the arch angel Michael! But the angel goes on:

"Do not be afraid, O man HIGHLY ESTEEMED," he said... "Do you know why I have come to you? Soon I will return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I go, the prince of Greece will come; but first I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth. (No one supports me against them except Michael, your prince." Daniel 10:19-21).

This is just what I'm sitting on right now, reading it over and over, and it's amazing. The epic importance of prayer and its role in history. Daniel is moving angels who are raising up kings and tearing them down. Daniel is praying over empires that don't even exist yet, and moving all of it through the heavens. Prayer is soooo key! Daniel's story is an amazing testimony to the power of prayer. So cool.