Prayer Ministry

Luke 18 Fight Conference

So I thought I would update you all with what I have been up to for the last while. I just got back from a trip to Los Angeles where I attended the Fight Conference put on by the Luke 18 Project, YWAM, IHOP (International House of Prayer), and Every Home for Christ. This was a 3 day conference in LA dedicated to the commissioning of young people to go out into the world and finish the task of sharing the gospel. I have mixed feelings on the conference, but as a whole, it was indeed worth going to as God used it to confirm some things I had been praying about.




Firstly one of the best parts of the conference was easily getting to listen to Jackie Pullinger. Some of you may know this name, others may not. But she wrote a book called Chasing the Dragon about her work in prayer ministry towards opium and heroin addicts. She was without a doubt one of the best speakers at the entire event. She backed everything she had to say with the scriptures, had an absolute passion and love for the calling God placed in her life, was strong and inspiring. She shared many stories about people who had been prayed out of their addictions and found release from that slavery in Christ. She spoke of the importance of relational ministry, loving people on a one to one level and praying with them to show the love of Christ and how we can model that for people. She was a very direct and straight to business woman who knew her conviction and didn't put things into shades of grey. Jackie understood the sensationalism that can often come from these kinds of conferences and urged a crowd of young people to not get swept up in movements and take cheaply the calling of God in their lives; but instead to take very seriously that call, because God does, and so should we. If I am being honest with you, I could probably post her entire talks on here and be happy with that, but I won't. Instead, I will let you ask me about them! I can type them up and send them to you if you so wish.

Another great part of this conference was receiving incredible amounts of affirmation in my own desire to start a prayer ministry on campus. Most of it stemming from Elijah on Mt. Carmel, which was the initial inspiration that started my investigation into prayer ministry. The word Shekinah Glory is a phrase that seems to get misused sometimes, and had no doubt come up a lot with talk of "prayer furnaces" and Elijah on Mt. Carmel and the fire from heaven. What I have come to understand of that phrase is this: The Shekinah Glory seems to be when God shows His people who He is, who their protector is, who their God is. In Exodus it is a pillar of fire protecting Israel from the Egyptians, and in Daniel, it is a pillar of fire used to turn the heart of an entire nation back to God. If you have your thoughts on the matter, e-mail me and we can talk about it, but this is what I have come to understand of it. Now, the Luke 18 Project is something that was started by a man named Brian Kim to get 24/7 houses of prayer into campuses all over the US. Which to me is a great idea, and is something I have been looking at through the 24/7 prayer movement started by UK Evangelist (and formerly a co-laborer with Jackie Pullinger, I just discovered) Peter Greig. Brian seeks to create a marriage between ministry and prayer, a marriage that should have always been the case. And I must say, I agree with him. In my own goal for a prayer ministry I want to show that we can pray the Kingdom of God onto our campuses. And as a part of my prayer ministry goal for the Elijah Project; I now also want to create a space on campus for continual prayer, 24/7, non stop. I would love to see so many students get involved in prayer on campus that they can take an hour every two weeks in their schedules to dedicate entirely to this house of prayer.




The Elijah Project



The Elijah Project is finding life and being formed! The above image isn't a logo or anything like that. It was something I used for a newsletter to kinda try and explain some of the images running through my head. The Elijah Project is prayer ministry, prayer and ministry married together, not separated; a weird sounding statement I am sure. But let me explain. I want this to be more than a prayer time, I want this to be pro-active, I want this to have elements of "Go". The idea behind this project is that students will go out onto the campus and map it out in prayer. I want them to be praying for different sections of campus, different faculties, students, the whole deal. As a part of this, I want them to also keep a prayer journal, so they can see where God is moving on the campus as a result of faithful praying. I am proposing to them that God answers all prayers in the name of Jesus. That is not to say there is a magic word involved in prayer; it is to say that when we pray in Jesus, in the fullness of His character, God hears us. One of the many things I pulled from the conference is that we worship and serve the God who hears and who answers! And since this weekend, my desire for this ministry has grown. I would love to see a room, a permanent residence on campus dedicated to this prayer ministry. With maps of the campus, prayer needs and praise reports, maps of the world and etc. splayed all over the walls so that we are never without something to pray for; and so we can pray beyond our own needs. I want to see this room become a 24/7 house of prayer, where at every hour, of every day, there is prayer taking place. In fact, I will pray for this. In this I am hoping that when students engage other students to discover prayer needs, they will also find opportunity to minister into the lives of the students on campus.

Anyway, that is about all I want to say without rambling. I hope that you are all doing well, God bless you and keep you all! And as always, click on the images for larger versions of them!