Tag: Dallas

Ministry Update: Launching NIGHT WATCH!

On By CaitlynIn Ministry Life

Hey, friends! It has been too long since I’ve written… tbh, I was swamped for a while with our summer programs and I didn’t fight like I should have to make Fragrance Arise a priority. But in all our discussions and prayers about building the house of prayer and strengthening the prayer movement, I’ve been freshly aware of the potential of this blog, and I’ve been convicted that I can’t afford to let it sit on the back burner.

So I am coming back after my unnofficial hiatus with the best news ever: Today, September 1, The Prayer Room Missions Base is extending our hours into the night! For 6 years, we’ve been 18/7 with live prayer and worship 5am-11pm every single day. We’re expanding that that to 1am every night, making us officially 20/7 and one step closer to our goal of being 24/7! We call this addition the “Night Watch”, and eventually, the whole overnight portion of our schedule will be the Night Watch.

This is incredible. We are so thrilled and grateful to the Lord that He has given us the strength to be able to give Him this offering. Tonight at 11pm, instead of praying a closing prayer and turning off the lights, a fresh worship leader (me!) will come on stage and we’ll keep going another two hours until 1am. And then we’ll do it again the next night, and the next, until we’re able to go longer and never turn off the lights at all.

Since our early days of starting as a one hour 5am daily prayer meeting in our director’s living room in 2005, we’ve known that The Prayer Room was called to a 24/7 house of prayer for our region. Over the years, we’ve added slowly, very careful that if we added a set to our schedule, it would be on every day of the week, and we would be able to sustain it. We don’t experiment with adding hours for a season; if something gets added to our schedule, it’s there till Jesus comes back.

We’ve been faithful to that model since day 1, but that means that every step is very slow and strategic. We’ve been 18/7 for 6 years, knowing that whenever we took our next step forward into the night, it would be a big deal.

The plan has always been to add one set at a time into the night: first 11pm-1am, then 1-3am, and finally 3-5am to make us 24/7. Our strategy to shore up these new sets would be to launch an internship at the same time, and fill that prayer room with young adults with passion for worship in the night. After the internship, some would stay on the night watch, and we could start another internship and go get more.

This is what we’re doing this semester. Today, in conjuction with launching our new Night Watch hours, we’re also launching our first-ever Fire in the Night internship! This is a part-time 14 week program for young adults centered around those night hours. Here’s the schedule:

  • Class 8-9pm Tues/Wed/Thurs
  • Class 3-7pm Sat (including an hour for dinner, food provided)
  • Encounter service 7-9pm Sat
  • Prayer room 9pm-1am Thurs/Fri/Sat (we chose weekend hours because these are mostly people with jobs!)

While they’re in the prayer room, they’ll be serving on three sets each, which will be a mix of worship leading, ushering, and prayer leading. For more info, including class content, see our website at tprdfw.com.

As of today, we’re launching with 5 interns! (I’m a little leery of putting that number out there, because it ALWAYS fluctuates the first few weeks–ask me at the end of the semester how many we ended with!) I’m so excited to see these hungry ones encounter Jesus in the night.

To get this internship off on the right foot, I put together a short playlist of songs from that specifically talk about the night watch. They’re all from the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, where they’ve been doing 24/7 live prayer and worship since 1999 – so they know a thing or two about worship in the night! The songs from the “Simple Devotion” album were actually all written and recorded by the night watch worship teams.

If you don’t see it below, here’s the direct Spotify link.

There is one other song that is deeply precious to the night watch in Kansas City (written by Chris Tofilon) but it was never released on an album so it’s not on Spotify. I pulled a live recording from youtube and edited it down to six minutes from an hour-long set. This one is called “Psalm 134 (Bless the Lord)” and the Psalm it’s based on is literally ALL about the night watch – the priests who stand and bless the Lord in the house of prayer through the night.

“Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD,
who stand by night in the house of the LORD!
Lift up your hands to the holy place
and bless the LORD!
May the LORD bless you from Zion,
he who made heaven and earth!”
(Psalm 134:1-3)

Attached below is the live recording of Psalm 134 (6 min) and also the longer worship time it came from (23 minutes). If you have time, listen to the longer one. It goes into a powerful spontaneous time of what I call throne room worship, centered on the holiness of God. You can also right click to download.

Tweet
Share
Pin
Share
0 Shares

Ministry Update: Forerunner Music Academy and TPR 2.0

On By CaitlynIn Ministry Life

Once a month, I send newsletters to my ministry partners (learn how to partner with me here!) about my life as a full-time intercessory missionary at The Prayer Room Missions Base, and I’ll be posting a few highlights from these letters on Fragrance Arise.

February feels like the month 2019 really got into full swing. We launched our part-time Forerunner Music Academy (FMA) and at the same time launched a massive ministry reset dubbed TPR 2.0!

Forerunner Music Academy at TPR

The Prayer Room has the distinction of being the first IHOPU FMA partner school in the United States! We are using IHOPU curriculum and have been trained in the teaching methods of IHOPU. To spearhead this school, we currently have two IHOPU externs, Tyler and Daniel! Tyler is a current senior in IHOPU’s full-time FMA in Kansas City, and Daniel is an IHOPU FMA 2018 graduate. Both of them are incredible and have stepped so beautifully into serving and doing life with this community. They have been leading, administrating, and teaching like pros and we are so grateful for them.

The school runs on Saturdays for 14 weeks and includes training in piano, guitar, voice, harp and bowl, and theology, as well as Encounter service and 6 hours in the prayer room. We have 22 students, and all of them are so hungry and excited to encounter God and strengthen their skills. Most of them have little to no previous music experience, but they’re going to be able to play worship songs by the end of this semester!

Two of our students in particular came to us in the craziest ways. Brie was in Orlando when she met Brad at a conference. He mentioned our FMA, God gripped her heart, and within a WEEK, she uprooted her entire life and moved here. Sebastian is a freshman at Texas A&M in College Station — about 3 hours south of Dallas. He drives up every weekend to attend our church and take this school. I’m so excited for how both of them, as well as our other students, are saying yes to the call of God on their hearts!

TPR 2.0

The Prayer Room is also launching a fresh re-emphasis on our core mandates with several new components to our weekly activities. We’re calling it “TPR 2.0.” Interestingly, this coincided with similar shifts throughout the prayer movement. IHOPKC’s “Reset” for many of the same reasons is the most well-known, but as we’ve heard from house of prayer leaders throughout the nation we’ve found that God is doing the same thing everywhere. He’s refocussing us on keeping the “first things first” and stirring up a deeper sense of family. In most places, this shift started independently, without talking to other ministries.

At The Prayer Room, we have launched:

  • PRAYER FOR REVIVAL – We believe that God wants to do more in our region than He is currently doing, and in part that’s because He’s waiting for the intercessors to cry out to Him for revival. Accordingly, we’ve added a cycle of intercession for revival to around 30 devotional (worship only) prayer meetings from 9am-5pm every day. That’s a LOT more intercession happening on a weekly basis!* I blogged on Wednesday about praying for leaders to be aligned with God for revival during this intercession time.
  • REVELATION TEACHING – When The Prayer Room began, God gave us a clear word about focussing on Jesus’ return, and we want our community to get firmly grounded in the study of the end times all over again. We’re taking 2 years to go through the book of Revelation in our weekly services, with discussion groups immediately after each teaching, and we’re being very intentional about engaging and following up with visitors in the groups. You can follow along with us on our Facebook page or on our recent messages page.
  • CONNECT NIGHTS – To break up the intensity of the Revelation study and to help our community thrive, we’re going to have a community “connect night” every two months in place of our Saturday night service. Next week, we’re watching The LEGO Movie with “extreme popcorn”!

To hear our director Brad Stroup cast vision for TPR 2.0, check out the Facebook video of Encounter service that night.

I am so excited about all three of these components. I love the added energy of the revival intercession times, and I love the format of the Revelation teaching. It’s so much fun to see eschatological newbies become encouraged that Revelation isn’t meant to be scary and they really can study it and discover the beauty of Jesus in the climax of history. Breakthroughs of fresh clarity are already occurring; this is going to strengthen our community so much these next two years!

*I bet some of you harp and bowl junkies are really curious as to how we’re doing cycles of revival prayer during devotionals in a simple and sustainable way! Here’s what it looks like in our prayer room:

  • At the midpoint of the set, the usher chooses a prayer topic related to revival. We have about 20 options preset on slides that the usher can choose from. They announce the topic on the mic and invite anyone who wants to sit in the open mic seats to pray for this topic. (Staff are required to pray.)
  • The usher prays for the topic. They can pray a short rapid fire prayer, a longer apostolic prayer, or anything in between. The worship leader sings a chorus based on their prayer.
  • Anyone else may pray on the mic next. Again, they may pray long or short, with or without a verse. This sets the bar low and makes it easy for anyone to engage.
  • After ALL the people have prayed, the worship leader sings a chorus, usually the same chorus again.
  • That’s it! Usually it takes 5-10 minutes. It requires very little training, and it can be done even if there are only a worship leader and an usher in the room. This is how we are following the Spirit’s nudge to be more intentional about daily praying for revival in our region.
Tweet
Share
Pin
Share
0 Shares

Testimony: My Sister Got HEALED of Scoliosis!

On By CaitlynIn Ministry Life6 Comments

This past week, my sister Elise came to visit me at The Prayer Room for a few days. We had a great time in the prayer room together, going to small group and Encounter service, treasure hunting through Texas Thrift, making the world’s best and simplest marinated chicken, and even visiting the Fort Worth Water Gardens and Sundance Square.

Best of all, Elise got a few very special testimonies! On Wednesday night at a small group, she received a prophetic word that was partly related to her ministry being tied to kids, that they would be drawn to her like to the Pied Piper. The next day, two little girls in a store bathroom struck up a conversation with her through the stall door and created an open door for Elise to minister to their mom. It was such a fun confirmation!

The next day Elise asked Jeremy, the TPR leader who had given her the word the night before, to pray for her back. Her spine had been curved slightly to the left for years, was very sensitive to touch, and had been informally diagnosed with mild scoliosis. Related to that, when she sat with her knees pulled up in front of her, her right knee was noticeably higher. Jeremy and I prayed for healing, and Jeremy actually felt the muscles rippling and moving under his hand even as Elise swore she wasn’t budging. She asked me to press on her back to test it out because previously even the slightest touch would cause pain. I then gave her her first painless back massage in close to ten years! When she sat down to test the alignment of her knees, they were completely level and even! We’re all so amazed at what Jesus has done for her!

Check out the video below or click HERE to watch it on Youtube (click CC to view captions).

Tweet
Share
Pin
Share
0 Shares

Meet My “Chickens” – Interns and Externs!

On By CaitlynIn Ministry Life1 Comment

It’s been too long since I posted an update here. A lot of things happened all at once, but I’ve finally caught my breath and can share some pics and news!

In my role as head of the Forerunner Equipping Center at The Prayer Room, I serve as “mother hen” over our Immerse Internship, School of Supernatural Ministry, and any other student programs we may be running at the time. Right now, I have a total of nine “chickens” in my programs!

On May 27, we launched another summer Immerse internship! (Check it out on our website HERE.) This one is special because we completely revamped the curriculum to make it even more dynamic and strengthening. We have seven interns, most of whom are very new to our community and the message of the house of prayer. They are already encountering God and getting their minds blown by what He’s doing in the earth! Immerse includes 8 hours a week in the prayer room, weekly Encounter service, monthly three-day Global Bridegroom Fast, and five hours of classroom time a week. Classroom sessions include theology on intimacy with Christ, the biblical foundation of the house of prayer, LOTS of end times, practical how-tos for developing and sustaining a life of prayer, Bible discussion night, and community night.

We do Immerse both to help anchor young adults in the message of intimacy with Jesus and the importance of night and day prayer, and also as an onramp for those who may feel called to join missionary staff with us. Two of these girls (the two immediately to my left) are already on volunteer staff with us after doing previous programs. We’re praying that God would capture the hearts of one or two more to radically uproot the lives they had planned and choose to give themselves full-time to the vision of night and day prayer unto Jesus’ return and a great end-time revival!

Over the years The Prayer Room has hosted a number of IHOPU students who come as externs to experience a few months of missionary life at a smaller house of prayer, and several of the externs have decided to join us long-term. We did not expect to have any externs this summer, but at the last minute a different externship location fell through, and we ended up receiving not one but TWO amazing young women who are serving with us for eight weeks this summer! In the wake of one of our leadership team recently transitioning off, I’ve inherited leadership of our externship program and it’s great! Their first day was officially June 4.

Jarah and Christi are incredible and have already been such a strength to our team. Both have a passion to devote themselves to lifestyles of prayer to serve what God is doing in our generation and to see Jesus have His inheritance in the adoration of the nations. They are helping sustain prayer and worship in the prayer room and are also serving as assistants to division heads in two of our busiest divisions.

Other recent happenings:

  • The Prayer Room hosted an IHOPU ministry trip of 20-some students for a week in April! I hosted three girls in my house, and they all served in the prayer room and around the city, leading worship, praying, prophesying, and ministering in the love of God. We love IHOPU!
  • Immediately after the IHOPU trip, I travelled home to California for a week to watch my sister graduate college and get engaged!! It was a very special and exciting week to spend with family and my spiritual community back home.
  • I joined a summer dance program at a local Christian dance studio! Every Monday evening (my ONLY day off), I’ve been dancing for four and a half hours in a rotating variety of styles with super kind and gifted teachers and students. Tap, ballet, lyrical, and jazz have been my favourites so far. I haven’t had a real dance class since high school, and it’s been such a gift to my heart to push my body to create in this way again.

Current resource recommendation:

A few weeks ago, Brad preached on “Awakening Our Hearts for Revival” and it was POWERFUL. We talked about some of the high points of revival history and cast a vision again for what it is exactly we’re praying for. It stirred something up in our community that we’re still figuring out how to ride the wave of… it really seems like God is calling us deeper in this area! Stream or download the session HERE.

Tweet
Share
Pin
Share
0 Shares

Prophetic Testimonies from TPR

On By CaitlynIn Ministry Life

It’s been a fun month for prophetic testimonies!! I’ve personally had four or five separate occasions the past few weeks of people giving me prophetic words out of the blue when I was least expecting it, and that’s not normal for me. (Yes, they were very encouraging and several of them were about the same thing!)

We’ve reached the point in our School of Supernatural Ministry semester that our students are ministering not only to each other but to staff and visitors as well. Two weeks ago, four students served 15 visitors through prophetic ministry. Some of these visitors had never even been to The Prayer Room before. They were deeply blessed to encounter the heart of God through the words of our students.

A couple came in with their son, who had a developmental disability. One student felt led to ask him, “What’s your favourite fish?” and said he saw Jesus grilling up some fish for him. It turns out, he was on a special diet and could only eat fish! The family was touched to be so known by God.

Another couple came in with a specific question on their hearts regarding a property decision. A student gave them a word about a property that was exactly what they needed to hear and brought so much peace and clarity about the situation!

Two students who were partnered together for the ministry time experienced a great flow of team ministry. Over and over, God gave one girl a picture and the other girl the interpretation. So many people were blessed by God using them both together!

My favourite recent SSM testimony was the student who came up to me outside of class and told me that she had encountered a woman who needed help with her car. She was nervous, but she obeyed the nudge of the Holy Spirit and asked the woman if she could help her, and then if she could pray for her! This is what it’s all about. We want students to encounter God in a way that it breaks the hold of fear and affects the way they live as powerful witnesses of Christ everywhere they go!

Prophetic Equipping Workshop – 65 attended!

On March 31, we did a Prophetic Equipping Workshop in place of our normal Encounter service. We had around 20 visitors on top of our usual crowd, and some of them were completely new to TPR. Andy and Jeremy taught on how to hear the voice of God and share it with others, and then everyone in the room gathered into groups of three or four and practiced prophesying over each other. My favorite stories were the people who came in skeptical, and were blown away that God would actually speak clearly to and through them!

One of our staff members brought her parents. She had been telling them for months about things that God was doing and how she was hearing His voice, but they didn’t really know how to take it seriously. When they came to our training night and started seeing accurate prophetic ministry in action, they were amazed. An SSM student gave the mom a prophetic word about yellow roses, and come to find out, she had actually been planting yellow roses just that morning!

Another young man who was not a believer came with a friend, and he actually heard the voice of God for himself for the first time! I don’t know what his history with God is, but he now knows experientially that God is real and wants a relationship with him.

The teaching from that night is available to stream or download on TPR’s Recent Messages page.

Tweet
Share
Pin
Share
0 Shares

Update: I’ve Joined Senior Staff at The Prayer Room!

On By CaitlynIn Ministry Life2 Comments

Here’s kind of a cool life update for you. A few weeks ago, I accepted an invitation to join senior staff at The Prayer Room!

Senior staff is the leadership team of The Prayer Room, made up of three men and three women (including me). We meet every Tuesday and address all the issues of building the house of prayer. It’s a close-knit team that shares the weight of leadership in many ways. When big decisions must be made, it’s the senior staff who pray and discuss until we come to a consensus.

Each of the senior staff is over a different division within the ministry. I will be keeping my existing role as head of the Forerunner Equipping Center, which is all of our internships and training programs. It makes SO much sense for the head of FEC to be part of senior staff, since FEC is such a big part of our vision.

Starfleet vessels have a senior staff… sometimes, commanding officers even dress up as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle characters.

When I was invited to a senior staff meeting a few weeks ago and given this invitation, it was a big shock to me. The team was very encouraging and called out many leadership-worthy qualities in me, even as they warned me of the weight and difficulty of being on senior staff, spiritually even more than administratively. They each could tell stories of the spiritual attack that has been connected to their role on senior staff.

I took a week to pray about it, and God was faithful and gracious to give me a confirming peace about the decision. For me, it was a decision based on faith and obedience. I realised that every reason to say no was fear-based – fear of the pressure, fear of attack, fear of my own inadequacy. Eventually, I agreed with the team that this was something God was calling me into, and I signed Him a blank check to my life a long time ago.

One of the things that helped encourage me in this process was the song Looking for One by Jake Hamilton (click for youtube). This has been one of my favourites of his for a number of years, but the chorus came back to me while I was leading worship, and I was able to find chords on my phone and play it right then and there.

You’re looking for one
Who can hear Your heart beat
Who can feel when You lead
And the time and the season
You’re looking for one
Who will stand in the gap
Who will never look back
Finds Your heart in their freedom
You’re looking for one

You choose the broken
You choose the weak
You favor the humble
You raise up the meek
Blessed are those
Who are found poor in spirit
For there is the kingdom
It’s so hard to hear it
You don’t shy away
From the foolish and fumbling
You’re able to raise up
The tired and stumbling
And just when we think
That our work is all done
I hear Your heart
You’re looking for one

–“Looking for One” by Jake Hamilton

He’s not asking me to be superbly awesome. He’s just asking me to say yes when He leads and not look back. He chooses the weak, He favours the humble, and He isn’t afraid to use me even when I’m foolish and fumbling.

On Saturday, December 2, I was formally commissioned into senior staff at The Prayer Room. Brad Stroup, our director, said some encouraging things, solemnly charged me with 1 Timothy 3:1-7 (the biblical qualifications for eldership), and prayed for me.

The video is below, and I made sure it has accurate captions which you can turn on if you want/need them.

Tweet
Share
Pin
Share
0 Shares

Summer Fun and a Testimony!!

On By CaitlynIn Ministry Life


July has been a fun month for me. I spent Independence Day at a pool party/BBQ with several families with young kids. One Saturday several of us went on our annual TPR Community Trip. We took a day trip down to the Austin area to go tubing on the San Marcos River, swim in a natural water hole called Blue Hole, and get pizza and coffee in the city. The river was GORGEOUS with perfect 90 degree weather!

The next day I spent my 27th birthday section leading (managing/overseeing) the prayer room from 5am-11am, then finished the day with church and teacher equipping group. Three Sundays out of the month, all of the teaching staff at The Prayer Room get together at Brad’s house to study and discuss certain topics so that we can get more clarity and grounding for future teachings. So even though my birthday itself wasn’t extravagantly commemorated, I loved spending it with close friends at the prayer room and at church, and felt very much loved and celebrated.

TESTIMONY TIME!!


Last week, Joshua, one of our interns/worship leaders/staff members, shared this incredible testimony (he’s from Yorkshire, so enjoy the British-isms!).

During my worship set tonight God gave me prophecy about a lad who came in. God began to break things off of him… He had once said a prayer, then lived a life contrary to his words… He felt a need to come to a house of prayer…

Afterwards we spoke and… he said he could feel presence of God. I had several words of knowledge about his life and God gave me the number of his birthday.
He repented and renounced several things and right there he gave his life to Jesus! Confessed about having cigarettes, which Holy Spirit had already showed me he had…

Went to his vehicle to get them and threw them in skip outside TPR. Asked him about following his commitment with baptism to which he adamantly wanted to do. Went to Lincoln Square fountain that we have used before for baptisms. He went under, joined with Jesus’ death and raised to new life speaking in new tongues! Praise You and thank You, Jesus!

New Rapid Fire Prayer Topic

At the end of every set, everyone in the room lines up at the mic to pray short “rapid fire” prayers on a certain topic, usually related to something happening within the ministry. The past few weeks, as I shared before, our topic was for finances for a new A/C for our upstairs preschool room. That process has progressed, and WE GOT THE MONEY WE NEEDED, PRAISE GOD! Now, our topic is:

Praying for the workers we are hiring to fix the upstairs A/C units to be able to make the needed repairs for a reasonable amount and to get them up and running quickly.

We need inexpensive, clever solutions and discounts on units that won’t fall apart. Please pray with us for wisdom and favor as we get these units installed!

God, thank you for Your provision! Please finish what You started, have Your hand on the workers, and give us favor in the repair/installation process!

Tweet
Share
Pin
Share
0 Shares

Special Blog from Brad Stroup: The Path to Revival

On By CaitlynIn Ministry Life

Brad does not often post blogs, though as the director of The Prayer Room he does have a blog page on our website where you can find some old blog posts. But in the aftermath of Revive Texas, there were a few things on his heart he felt strongly enough about to post and ask urgently to be read and considered by the Church. I’ve felt similarly looking around at what’s happened in DFW the past few months, and I asked Brad’s permission to share his blog post here with you.

The Path to Revival

Brad Stroup

For those who are unaware of all of the details regarding to the recent 50 day initiative of reviveTX, this post is a thought-through assessment of what transpired, what could have been, and what I believe needs to happen now.  To begin with, there were some 350 congregations in the DFW area that committed to be part of reviveTX (representing well over 100,000 believers).  Outreaches then commenced 6 days a week for 50 days from locations all over the Metroplex.  Nearly 6000 teams went out to share the gospel (though the total number of individuals represented probably only included 1,000-2,000 locals).  I would estimate that over $2,000,000 was sown into our region for all the collective efforts and needs of reviveTX to see the work go forth.  I would estimate that the net result was that some figure over 3000 people gave their lives to Jesus for the first time.  The tireless efforts of the Time to Revive team (mostly from out of town) and a few hundred locals that really poured their heart and soul into pulling this off was inspiring.  I’m grateful for every miracle, every salvation, and every blessing that came forth during the wonderful days of reviveTX and I am thankful to call all of these fine people my friends and co-laborers now.

All of that sounds encouraging, but now that reviveTX has come and gone I think it’s time for some real talk and some self-assessment, and for us as Church to take a long look at what really happened and what needs to.  Why did only about 1% get involved and what would have happened if even 25% of the churches that said they were on board would have actually participated?  What if just 10% of the Church in DFW would have been engaged in what God was doing, in this gift He was giving our region?

If we learned anything from the 50 days of reviveTX, it’s that DFW isn’t ready to see a revival yet.  While we say that we want revival in our city, I think that these are yet vain words that do not reflect the true state of the Church in our region.  We are all entitled to our opinion, and mine, as an intercessor who’s been praying for revival in DFW for the past 10+ years, is that we were just given the single greatest opportunity for partnership in a genuine move of God that this city has ever seen, in which God was showing us unprecedented favor and salvations were happening everywhere the gospel went, and we allowed it to pass us by.  We showed a complete lack of discernment; it seems that we were disinterested in what God wanted to do, we were unresponsive to the invitation, and the window of opportunity came and went and barely anyone noticed.

To me this says a lot about where the Church of DFW is really at spiritually right now; while it may not necessarily be indicative of extreme immaturity, it really did make our priorities clear and I believe reflects a real lack of understanding of how the Kingdom of God operates.  It showed that the Church in our region is made up of individuals that as a whole right now have not died to self yet.  Overall we are unperceptive about what God wants to do in our city through His Church and we are not able to discern even revival when it is right in front of us.  We lack significantly in the area of spiritual hunger and we are totally unwilling to pay any price to see things change because there is a complacent satisfaction with the way that things are.

These statements are tough, but they are not meant as a condemnation on us; rather I want to give an accurate assessment of where things are in the hopes that we might evolve.  I have great pain in my heart about these things; I feel that I am part of the problem and I am willing to take responsibility for my lethargy (severe lack of spiritual hunger) and prayerlessness (severe lack of corporate prayer gatherings) that I believe to be the real root of our problem.  I’m not angry with the Church in our region, just the opposite– I am jealous to see us shine in the fullness of what God has for us.  I am perhaps saddened by our current reality, but even more I am invigorated to find solutions so that things are no longer permitted to remain this way.

I think it is unrealistic to think that a Church that doesn’t hunger would respond to an invitation for more.  I think that the reason that DFW didn’t respond to the incredible invitation of reviveTX is that we really aren’t hungry for God.  Taking some additional ownership here, I think that the default spiritual climate is always going to be lethargy in Western Culture because of our affluence and abundance and that rarely would any Western city have a real driving spiritual hunger unless war had been declared on that lethargy from the place of corporate unified prayer.  We aren’t hungry because we aren’t praying.  It all actually makes a lot of sense to me; I don’t like where we are but I feel that I understand it and that there is a clear prescription for how to change things.

I see a clear lack of hunger, and, while that would not be universally true of every believer in DFW, I believe that it is a reflection of the vast majority; we are simply too comfortable and self-focused to care about moving the Kingdom of God forward at the moment.  I think that it all starts back at prayer which holds an irreplaceable part in this equation and which I believe to be the first element that must be firmly in place in order to see things change.  If the Church will not pray, then the Church will not take the following steps in partnership with revival either.

I am proposing that we press in for renewal and awakening as at no time in the past, but to get there we will certainly have to respond differently than we have in the past.  I want to see revival in Dallas Fort Worth and it will not come unless the Church begins to pray in a way that we have never done before.
Here is my charge: I want to charge every person in DFW who has a relationship with Jesus to join or to start your own weekly prayer meeting crying out for revival in DFW.  And once you have started attending that weekly corporate prayer meeting, I want to ask you to not stop until we see revival come to our region no matter what else may come up in your personal life.

“Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.”
(Hosea 10:12)

Until He Comes,
Brad Stroup
Director of The Prayer Room Missions Base

Reposted with permission from theprayerroomdfw.com

Tweet
Share
Pin
Share
0 Shares

Revive Texas Soft Launch & Other Updates

On By CaitlynIn Ministry Life

I’m a little late with getting this post out, but things have been super busy and exciting around here the past few weeks!

As I’ve shared before, Revive Texas is an unprecedented movement of unity within the Church in DFW to put on 50 days of evangelism, with daily gatherings for prayer, worship, testimonies, fellowship, etc. The Prayer Room is serving as a central 24/7 prayer hub for these 50 days, and our director Brad Stroup has been working closely with Time to Revive‘s director Kyle Martin. This means that The Prayer Room is getting a HUGE spike in exposure as Brad has had numerous opportunities, in partnership with Time to Revive, to speak to congregations and leaders about our involvement with Revive Texas and what we do as a house of prayer. (Years ago, God gave TPR a clear prophetic word that we would one day be “launched to the region” and our influence would suddenly increase dramatically, and we’re starting to see how Revive Texas might be a big part of that word’s fulfillment!)

Since we’ve been praying for more church involvement, over 300 local churches are now on board with Revive Texas, including ALL of the host locations we needed! Praise the Lord!

Last Saturday, Time to Revive did a soft launch of what the 50 days of outreaches will look like. All ten of our regional host churches opened their doors early in the morning for a time of worship, encouragement, prayer, and training before 500+ believers hit the streets to share the gospel. This is the biggest movement of unity in the church of DFW for the sake of the gospel that has EVER happened. Words like “historic” and “unprecedented” are not an exaggeration. And this was only the trial run! Once the 50 days starts, 500 is going to seem like a very small number. We’ll soon be gathering and going out by the thousands.

The Prayer Room had a very unique part to play on Saturday. Time to Revive asked Brad to lead the time of worship, encouragement, and prayer from our prayer room via live internet video streaming to all ten churches. This is a HUGE honour and responsibility. A few weeks ago, they donated thousands of dollars worth of cameras, lights, computers, and software to make streaming possible in our little prayer room. On Saturday’s live stream at 8am, a few worship leaders led a few familiar songs, Brad preached with 150% of his usual energy for about 15 minutes to the camera in an empty room, and then he talked the viewers through a few prayer topics and gave them time to gather in small groups to pray. The entire live stream took 45 minutes, and then at all ten of the locations people received a bit of further training and gathered in groups of 4 to hit the streets to share the gospel. This is going to be happening several days a week for the entire 50 days of Revive Texas.

You can watch the entire video at the link below. The first 30 minutes are set-up, so start around the 31 minute mark after the countdown.

Saturday morning devo/prayer for Revive Texas



Later that morning, while all 141 outreach teams were sharing the gospel all over DFW, some of the TPR staff gathered in the prayer room to pray through LIVE updates from the outreach as we received them. We were praying by name for people on the streets who were receiving prayer and hearing the gospel. Several of us felt that it was the most powerful and exciting prayer meeting we had ever been in! I had the privilege of leading worship for some of it while Luke and Lisa took turns praying through the live updates.
The stories we started hearing were incredible. One couple a team met in a parking lot said they were believers but got so excited hearing the gospel shared so clearly, and they were spontaneously convicted by the Holy Spirit of immorality and decided on the spot to get married. That’s revival. Teams shared the gospel with a father and son fishing, an entire Buddhist sports team, single moms out grocery shopping, and hundreds more. The night before the outreach, the Spanish translator at a church for the pre-launch rally got saved while translating!!

Here are some of the numbers Revive Texas reported in their recent email:

  • 549 people went out on Saturday morning throughout the 10 regions.
  • 141 teams went out to share the love of Jesus.
  • 37 people requested discipleship.
  • 12 people said YES to JESUS! 

Revive Texas made a video of the outreach that day. The video is 8 minutes long, but it’s SO worth it. Watching Kyle share the gospel in such a simple, biblical, relational way and watching people say YES to Jesus for the first time… that’s my favourite kind of thrill. Click HERE or on the picture below to see it on Revive Texas’ website.

We’re only at the beginning of hearing these testimonies. God is doing something huge in DFW, and I encourage you to pray with us for people to get involved and lives to be transformed.

One more thing: On Sunday night, Brad had the opportunity to be on an hour-long radio program for The Word 100.7 FM along with Kyle Martin talking about Revive Texas. I recorded the whole thing and you can click HERE to download and listen.

Tweet
Share
Pin
Share
0 Shares

My First Week on Staff

On By CaitlynIn Ministry Life5 Comments

It’s been eight days since I arrived in Arlington, TX, to join staff at The Prayer Room Missions Base. Since then, I’ve done a lot of moving in (I bought a desk, dresser, bookcase, and nightstand for $200 using the Offer Up app!) and have been getting settled into my new role at The Prayer Room.

I’m the Internship Coordinator for our Immerse internship, and that role will expand to cover our other internships and schools as the Forerunner Equipping Center (the school branch of The Prayer Room) grows. Immerse is a part-time 14-week internship for young adults (we have interns age 17 through mid-30s) designed to help them grow in a life of prayer, go deep in study of the Word, and get connected in like-minded community. I serve by keeping track of attendance, assignments, tuition, teaching schedules, etc, and I’m the point person for any questions or situations that arise. I’m also teaching several class sessions – TPR Base Distinctives, Night & Day Prayer as a Vocation, Cultivating a Life of Prayer, and Intro to the Book of Revelation.
immerse-banner

Immerse day 1!
Immerse day one on January 9!

My weeks are pretty full, mostly with the prayer room. I have 30 hours a week in the prayer room divided into 2-hour sets; 5 of those sets (10 hours) are spent leading devotional worship sets on keys. Many of those sets are also spent ushering and/or section leading – welcoming visitors and making sure all the worship transitions happen smoothly, etc. I’m at The Prayer Room six days a week; I have Mondays off.

I also have 15 hours a week devoted to my admin responsibilities and serving around the base in various ways. Those hours are pretty flexible. This week, my service hours have consisted of serving the internship both in classes and in admin, leading extra worship sets, ushering extra sets, and meetings.

I’m also attending Forerunner Fellowship, a local church where many people from The Prayer Room attend and serve. Last week our Sunday service became a 50-minute prayer meeting for God to pour out His Spirit on our congregation. It’s an honour to be running with such hungry compatriots!

It’s so wonderful to be back with friends that I’ve grown to love so much over the past year and a half! Last night my house hosted a cereal themed game night in honour of my moving in; everyone brought their favourite cereal to share, then I killed everyone at Pit (which NEVER happens!) and my fellow new full-time missionary Chris killed the rest of us at Farkle, by approximately a bajillion points (except for Josh, who was right on his tail). The night before I took the interns out for milkshakes, then met up with a whole crew of TPR ladies at Cheesecake Factory to celebrate the one and only Mykah’s birthday.

I know most of you don’t know any of these people, but I want you to know that I know them, and love them dearly, and we have a lot of fun together.

So many exciting things are happening and about to happen at The Prayer Room. It finally feels like a season of mostly good news, which is quite a change around here! Good stories are coming; stay tuned!

Tweet
Share
Pin
Share
0 Shares