My involvement with House of Prayer Edmonton has been an amazing journey. I started working full time with HoPE in the summer of 2009, but I’ve been involved since HoPE began in the fall of 2003. At that time I was pastoring a church called The Canopy Christian Community and it was out of the Canopy that House of Prayer Edmonton was birthed. In those early years HoPE met once a month for 24 hours of prayer and worship. In 2008 the prayer room moved from a monthly format to a weekly format and began to meet every Friday night; in the fall of 2009 HoPE began a daily time of prayer and worship.
I now work as an ‘intercessory missionary’ with HoPE and I also serve as the ‘director’ of HoPE, which I have done since it began. So what exactly does that mean? First and foremost, I spend a significant amount of time each week participating in the HoPE prayer room. Back in 2009 I led almost all the prayer blocks that we had, however now there are other prayer leaders with whom I share that responsibility. Regardless of whether I’m leading or not I am in the prayer room almost any time it is open. I also am responsible to establish and maintain the vision and purpose of HoPE, through one on one leadership development, group seminars, as well as teaching weekly on Tuesday nights.
The primary reason why I have been so involved with House of Prayer Edmonton is that for the past 15 years I have been consumed with the vision of seeing unceasing, 24/7 prayer and worship established in Edmonton! I have lived in Edmonton my entire life; I love this city and long to see an expression of worship and intercession in the midst of corporate gatherings of believers from across all the different streams and tribes of the Body of Christ.
Not only do I love prayer, I love being with other believers in prayer and worship. While I am firmly committed to the necessity of individual private prayer, there is a spiritual reality of unity and blessing that can only be found in a corporate expression of prayer and worship. I believe that one of the most powerful expressions of the unity of believers that so many of us long to see is found in a corporate prayer room!
Another reason why I love my involvement with HoPE is that it is by far the best means of discipleship I have ever encountered. There is nothing like sitting in a prayer room with people who have their Bibles and personal journals open as they learn how to pray from the Scriptures. I watch and listen as people enter into dialogue with God from the Bible and they begin to internalize the Scriptures in a totally new way. They grow in their knowledge of the Bible and more importantly they enter into dialogue with God about what they are reading and the living Word, Jesus Christ takes root within their lives. I literally watch people grow more and more in their passion and love for Jesus Christ!
One of the most significant realities of the House of Prayer, whether here in Edmonton or around the world, is that we are seeing an expression of Jesus’ desire for heaven on earth. In heaven, God the Father and Jesus the Son are being worshipped unceasingly by the myriads of angels and Jesus declared that the central identity of the Church on the earth was as a house of prayer. God desires to be worshipped and adored on earth as he is in heaven! When Jesus told his disciples to pray ‘…on earth as it is in heaven’, the unceasing worship and prayer of heaven was central to what Jesus was saying. In the House of Prayer we are entering into a portion of that reality and touching something that is at the core of the heart of God.
I also love the way House of Prayer helps believers to encounter the reality that Jesus Christ is so magnificent, glorious and desirable that he is actually worthy of unceasing worship and prayer. I have watched what happens when that truth moves from a persons head to their heart: suddenly they begin to see Jesus in totally new ways and they begin to relate to him in totally fresh ways! Spending long periods of time with God in prayer and worship becomes enjoyable, something they actually look forward to and long for!
I LOVE what I get to do each day! I come to the prayer room and encounter God and partner with him in seeing his will be done in Edmonton and on the earth! What a way to live!
