Seven Years and Going Strong

Today marked the 7 year anniversary of the house of prayer. September 19th marks the start of them going 24 hours. However, 7 years ago, on May 7th, at 6pm, this whole thing began. The story of how this all came to be is laid out in impressive fashion here (the 12 messages under Encountering Jesus.

Tonight the service was a brief worship set and then testimonyfrom people that have been with IHOP from the very first hour. These are people like Allen Hood, Misty Edwards, Stuart Greaves and Matt and Dana Candler to name a few. What they shared was moving and there were not many dry eyes in the house. If there were any, it was soon to change.

After the celebratory testimonies, they held a baptismal session. This wasnt just any 'ole baptism that you may have encountered. While the first part of the service was going on, the 60+, (yes I said 60+) people were getting prayed over by folks in the congregation. this continued through the whole service. It wasnt distracting, it wasnt loud, it was sweet. After the main service ended they transitioned into the baptisms.

The ages of the people getting baptised went from I would guess 6 to 60. It started with a handful of kids. The neat part at least to Rachel and I, was that they had set up a line of people to pray over the folks after they were baptised. They were to pray over them and speak words of encouragement to them. What a sweet way to finish up the whole experience.

Over this next week we are going to be moving into our new house. I will undoubtedly be busy, but I do have a plan to post "the Rest of the Story" that I started long ago. Go read it and catch up. You will be glad you did.

One other note. My Dad and Step Mom are coming to town tomorrow!!! That will be fun.