I’m about a week and a half late posting, and that’s something I never wanted to do on this blog… but this month has been a whirlwind of activity at The Prayer Room! On May 4, our part-time music school wrapped up for the semester. 19 students graduated and I’m so proud of them! Most of the students have chosen to stick around the community and stay committed to prayer meetings, as well as keep serving on prayer room worship teams. So far, one has even joined staff!

This school was made possible by two guys from IHOPU (one who graduated last year and one who graduated this semester) who spent the spring with us and took lead on teaching music. Soon afterward, both of them left and went home for the summer – to raise partnership to move back in the fall as full-time intercessory missionaries!! We miss them, but are EXCITED OUT OF OUR FLIPPING MINDS that we get them back FOREVER in a few short months. It’s been so much fun to watch God knit their hearts to this community and call them to serve in His house long-term.

In the weeks since the music school ended, I’ve enjoyed the chance to catch my breath and focus my energy on this summer. On Sunday, May 26, we launch our summer Immerse internship for young adults. I’ve got a few signed up and a handful more considering. These internships are never big, but those who do it are always impacted, some in dramatically life-changing ways.

This summer, we also have FOUR new externs from IHOPU coming to serve with us for a few months! We can’t wait to have them get plugged into this community. They are going to bring such wisdom and giftings and be such a strength to this base–but mostly, our favorite thing is when they become our new best friends!

As you might know, my role on staff is to oversee all of these schools and externships. Immerse has a few new components this summer, so I’ve been trying to clean up some old curriculum and create some new curriculum. On top of that I’m recruiting interns (including trying to find one of the interns a place to live so he came move here for the summer), scheduling teachers, updating and printing documents… basically, I’m trying not to waste an hour and I’m living by my to-do list! (I’ve begun to see this season before every program a bit like finals week in college… just suck it up, power through, pull a couple of all-nighters, you’ll survive.)

One of the curriculum documents I drafted was an in-depth session on usher training for our prayer room. In order to cast vision for the weightiness and value of serving as an usher in the house of prayer, I took myself on a little Bible study journey through passages that describe the “gatekeepers” in the tabernacle of David.

1 Chronicles 9 describes the gatekeepers’ duties in detail.  They were charged with guarding all of the entrance doors to the tabernacle, to strictly guard the priests, the worshipers, and the holy items used in worship.  They also were in charge of keeping inventory of all the holy items used in worship, including preparing the food items used in offering.  They didn’t serve as singers or musicians, but their responsibilities were vital; it was described as an “office of trust” (1 Ch. 9:22) and “ministering in the house of the Lord” (1Ch. 26:12).

“The gatekeepers… were in charge of the work of the service, keepers of the thresholds of the tent, as their fathers had been in charge of the camp of the LORD, keepers of the entrance. …David and Samuel the seer established them in their office of trust. So they and their sons were in charge of the gates of the house of the LORD, that is, the house of the tent, as guards… the four chief gatekeepers, who were Levites, were entrusted to be over the chambers and the treasures of the house of God. …on them lay the duty of watching, and they had charge of opening it every morning. Some of them had charge of the utensils of service, for they were required to count them when they were brought in and taken out. Others of them were appointed over the furniture and over all the holy utensils, also over the fine flour, the wine, the oil, the incense, and the spices.”
(1 Chronicles 9:17-30)

The responsibility of the gatekeepers was to keep the house of prayer protected and taken care of so that the worship could continue unhindered.  They served as security and also the behind-the-scenes staff taking responsibility to ensure that all the practical logistics of running the house of prayer were in place.  By standing guard at the doors as well as by doing boring tasks like taking inventory, they were serving and guarding the very resting place of God.

The gatekeepers were the ushers, the admins, the facilities staff, the rule enforcers, etc. At our house of prayer, many of our staff  serve as worshippers and intercessors on a microphone, but we also serve as gatekeepers– ushering, section leading, sending emails, making spreadsheets, budgeting, vacuuming, updating a billion documents, replacing power cables, fixing holes in the ceiling, planning events, running slides, taking inventory, placing Amazon orders, troubleshooting malfunctioning loop pedals.

ALL of it is important. ALL of it is serving the Lord and building His house.

So, I apologize that this post is late. Fragrance Arise is important to me, and hopefully the next time my “finals week” hits, I’ll be a little more prepared and maybe even have some posts scheduled ahead of time. But for at least the rest of this week, I’m going to admin my heart out to make this internship the best it can be. Jesus is worthy of all the spreadsheets, Google docs, and curriculum updates in the world.