After four years in Kansas City, I’m finally in the home stretch of my journey here. I will be graduating in May from the House of Prayer Leadership program within the Forerunner School of Ministry at IHOPU. I’ve had so many incredible opportunities and experiences here, and I’m so looking forward to finishing strong and making the most of these last few months!
My classes this semester are (first quarter) Apologetics, Desert Spirituality, and (second quarter) Kingdom of God, Communication and Contextualization. While these classes could be taught in a very academic, intellectual way, all of my teachers have been very clear that they intend to teach in a very practical and experiential way. This isn’t about learning all the theories, though that can be helpful; this is about encountering God, being transformed, and then being used by God to transform the world around us. I’ll also be on a student worship team twice a week in our little student prayer room, and I’ll be in a small group as well.
I’ve also moved into a new house with one of my best friends, Abigail, plus an IHOPU freshman girl and another girl who is part of the IHOPKC community. The four of us love our cozy home! The family who owns this house is out of town for six months, so we all get to rent it in their absence.
The most exciting thing I’m doing this semester is co-leading a ministry trip to Houston, Texas! I will be helping lead a team of potentially 70 students to Houston to partner with local churches and houses of prayer to serve them and do outreach with them, and at the end of our ministry week we’ll put on a Onething Regional conference with speakers and worship leaders from IHOPKC. (This will be similar to what I did last year with an IHOPU team in Pasadena.)
I’m very excited for this trip. This will be the largest leadership role I’ve ever undertaken, so I guarantee I’ll feel overwhelmed at times, but I’ll have a rock-solid team and have the chance to grow in leadership and servanthood as we join God in making Houston look a little bit more like heaven.
The word I feel God giving me for this final semester is “SEEK.” I’ve been really impacted by Lauren Daigle’s song “First,” (lyric video below) which repeats the theme “I want to seek You first…” as Jesus exhorts in Matthew 6:33. I want to spend this time seeking God with all that I am without any distractions.
To that end, I will not be returning to the job I’ve had in Kansas City for the past two years. Rather, I feel God leading me to give myself fully to prayer, training, and ministry during these precious last few months in Kansas City. I do have several people partnering with me financially on a monthly basis, and I’m asking God to raise up a few more! (Hint: There is a Partner with Me tab up above if you want to hear more about how to do that…)
Even as I’m already seeing endings approaching and starting to make plans for after graduation… it’s not over yet! This semester has the potential to be the most epic season yet, and I am so excited for the ride.
So excited for you! I love seeing what classes you are taking, too. I really want to know what Desert Spirituality is all about. 🙂 I’m so hungry these days for more, and seeing that course name brought to mind the desert fathers of our faith and contemplative prayer. 🙂 Grateful to have such a hungry, longing heart for the Lord! Pray for our little HOP to have more help, so we can have prayer and worship more. Right now we are taking a break as we try to decide on one two-hour slot a week that will allow more folks to be apart other than on Sundays and other things (like Sozo Training which is currently underway for a second semester once a week!) Blessings! 🙂
Amanda, that’s exactly what Desert Spirituality is about! We’re reading the writings of the early desert fathers and doing a lot of discussing, meditating, and journalling. Bless you! Praying that God would raise up the watchmen to strengthen your HOP!
Sounds awesome! 🙂 I love journalling in conjunction with what God is teaching me. Such a good way to help things go deeper. 🙂
A question for you: Do you have any resources related to raising support and how to do the taxes and stuff too? I have not raised any support yet (donate button on web site hasn’t done anything and since I am still working part time, I haven’t felt led to send out letters of support yet), but I know that having these questions answered will help if and when anyone starts to contribute to me as an intercessory missionary. 🙂 You can message me if you want via my email, too (should show up when you receive comments I think).