stuff i think

partner with us....



This post is going to be a bit odd - perhaps more odd for me than for you, but odd nonetheless - because I'm going to step into an area here that I have only addressed one other time in this blog. Bear with me if the writing seems stilted or awkward. It's only because I am stilted and awkward. :) I'm addressing it here because I'm realizing that there are people lurking electronically who would want to be a part of this if they knew they were invited.



For just over a year, Kelsey and I have served as Intercessory Missionaries with the International House of Prayer Missions Base in Kansas City, a 24 hour prayer and worship center that is a base of operations for 400+ missionaries. We serve on the senior leadership team, teaching and training young people and helping to guide the base as a whole. It has been an amazing time of growth and trust in our lives.



IHOP Missions Base operates like most other missions organizations in that staffers like ourselves must raise our our own funds. Friends who believe in the mission and have a connection with what we're about have teamed with us financially to allow us to remain obedient to this call full time.

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"What on earth are you doing?"
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A prayer ministry is not understood very well in our culture. Instant gratification has done more to undermine the prayer movement than anything in recent years. In a world where you can swipe a card and get a Happy Meal, the economics of prayer just don't make sense. The unspoken refrain is "what good are you really doing?"

We see the main benefits of what we are doing as this:

We are fulfilling the words of Christ. Jesus said amazingly few words about His Bride, the church - but He did describe her destiny as a house of prayer. We know that a house of prayer can have many expressions, but in our hearts, it looks extravagant, like 24x7x365. We are here because we believe it is where Jesus wants us and He is pleased.

We are making headway in the spirit realm. Simply put, we are convinced prayer makes a difference...not in the mushy, bumper-sticker sense, but in the sense that when we pray, angels and demons move. It is this real to us - if it were not, we would move one and do something else.

We are training the next generation. Most of the IHOP-KC missionaries are 18-24. They pray themselves full in the prayer room and scatter themselves around the globe through organizations like YWAM, better prepared to do the work of the ministry because they have spent time on their faces before God. We believe this to be a good return on the investment of our lives.

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"We are positioning ourselves daily before the Father, with the full understanding that He hears our prayers and answers from Heaven."
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When we left Cincinnati to join the staff, many people gave us one-time financial support while others made a one year committment to give monthly. Just over a year later, some of that support has dropped off, and we need your help.

I have no idea who reads this blog, beyond the small handful of people who comment on occassion. Perhaps this is not something that you're interested in or are in a position to help with - I literally have no way of knowing - but I just wanted to lay out a challenge:

Please consider supporting the prayer movement with a one time gift or monthly pledge. You can use the PayPal button in the left sidebar, or contact me via email at rbohlender@fotb.com if you'd like to know how to run your contribution through IHOP and receive a giving receipt.

One last note - I decided to mention this on my blog because of two things...first, we're really in a position of needing your help! Secondly, yesterday someone who I have great respect for but would have never asked to help us made a very timely contribution, an I realized there very well may be others in the same boat. If you've not participated because you've not been invited...without belaboring the point, consider the invitation extended.

Blessings -

Randy