Encounter

The Alpha Course

A number of weeks ago, the Mt. Zion House of Prayer had the opportunity to host a group of Asian students, all of whom are studying in colleges and universities in the Greater Boston Area.  This small group of students were part of what is known as 'The Alpha Course' which was being led by YWAM Boston and we were able to provide a retreat setting for these young men and women to complete the Alpha Course Program.  We had the privilege of opening up our homes for food and lodging and the group meetings were held at the Prayer House.

Alpha is a para-church evangelistic outreach ministry which provides a platform for unbelievers to investigate questions about the existence of God, the purpose of life, the afterlife, the claims of Jesus and more.  The course is about three months with weekly meetings led by Alpha leadership teams. Some people attend because they desire to get beyond the externals of religion and find a personal relationship with God that really changes their life. Others come for the close, long-lasting friendships that are built during the Alpha course.  Many Alpha attendees have never been to church, while others may have attended church occasionally, but feel they have never really understood the basics of the Christian faith.

The Alpha Retreat was a big success and was a very special time to reach out to Christian and not-yet-Christian young people who are from South Korea and China.  Some of these students had the opportunity to share at a local church about their experience.  One particular student had committed his life to Christ as part of an Alpha Course he took in 2012-13 and felt led to return to assist others in their faith journey. Another student publicly shared that he was not yet ready to become an official believer in Jesus but he was deeply impacted by the concept that God loves him personally as a Father.  He was also positively impacted by the love, care, and understanding he received about what true Christianity is all about.  Let's pray that each and every member of the group would have life changing encounters with the Lord this year!

Encounter

Some of the staff members of Mt. ZHOP (Mt. Zion House of Prayer), recently had the opportunity to meet with the leadership of a local church called Mercy House. It was a time of sharing hearts and vision for what God wants to do in our region and how churches and believers might partner together for the glory of God. An inspired idea was birthed, of hosting twelve hour prayer and worship gatherings on the 4th Friday of every month, 7PM-7AM. We have committed to doing this for four months and will assess the fruit of it before committing to longer term involvement.

Encounter is a safe place where believers in Jesus can come to spend extended times before the Lord in worship, dance, prayer, and artistic collaboration.  Mt. ZHOP was instrumental in providing some of the worship leaders for this event, vision casting as well as some of the administration.  Our two oldest boys, Joshua and Judah, were both serving on various worship teams throughout the evening.  Instead of a program for the purpose of building up one local church, Encounter is designed to serve the regional body of Christ.  The evening is broken up into six, two hour worship and prayer sets.  There is a place reserved for artists to paint out of the impressions they are receiving from God in the context of all night worship and prayer.  The first evening (March 28th) went really well and we are looking forward to seeing more of what God wants to do through His people.

Mt. Zion House of Prayer's NEW Website

We recently announced our Facebook page with a request to "like our page" to help put us on the map.  We thank everyone who has taken a second to like our page.  This has enabled us to reach out to more and more people with the message of what God is doing in the National Prayer Movement and beyond.  In addition to our newer facebook page, David has also designed the new website for Mt. ZHOP. This blog based website details our vision and mission, has a page for announcements and up coming events, as well as a staff directory.  We have a desire to include a "testimonials" sub-page to showcase specific answers to prayer and testimonies from those who are connected with this ministry, in the near future.

February has represented an intense season of stretching for most of us and it has given birth in March to a recent surprising release of joy and laughter (Job 8:21) that is being released in the House of Prayer.  We do not take this visitation for granted but are very thankful that God would see fit to encourage His servants by pouring out the wine of His Spirit and to demonstrate how much He delights in His people.  We are currently networking with regional church leaders to see that this wine of His Spirit is able to be shared with more people, in and outside of Mt. ZHOP.

Immediate Housing Needs

We had previously shared that we had been offered three months worth of rent free housing which enabled us to move within a 10 minute drive from the ministry we are serving at.  Our housing is quickly coming to an end.  We are in need of another miracle of housing and need to be signing papers within the next two weeks. We understand God moves in many mysterious ways and that His provision oftentimes does not materialize until the need fully materializes.  Please join us in prayer that our faith would remain strong and that the doors for this important life need would be met with abundance on all sides.  

What's New in the New Year

With the advent of the New Year, we finally have an official name for the House of Prayer ministry we moved here from Missouri to help pioneer.  It is a name that reflects both Jerusalem on earth and the Jerusalem above in heaven.  It is also the name of the small mountain that the D.L. Moody Campus in Northfield, MA was built on in the 1880's to help train the student volunteer missions movement.  Finally it is reflective of the prophetic naming of our 6th child who just turned 3 years old the other day.  The name God gave us for her back in 2011 was Destiny Zion.

Along with the new name, we have just created a new Facebook organization page for the Mt. Zion House of Prayer.  This webpage will publicize relevant information pertaining to this ministry and the prayer movement in general.  If you have not already done so, please take a few seconds to "like" our page which will help put us on the cyberspace map and give us access to ultimately touching more people.  We have also reset the hours of operation to 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM Mon~Wed~Fri.  All of these sessions are open to the public.  It is our desire (especially for those of you who live locally and are connected to local churches in the Pioneer Valley), that you would help spread the word that we are consistently meeting.  We would like for the House of Prayer to become a valuable resource to Christians and churches located in the Pioneer Valley and beyond.  But we need a lot of help in accomplishing this goal.

The Mt. Zion House of Prayer was established in September of 2013. It is a manifestation of God's desire for the honor of His Name to be restored to the earth. This will be done as pure incense and offerings are continually offered up to God from every nation and region of the earth. (Mal. 1:11) We consider ourselves to be part of the global prayer movement which is rising in the earth.

We are a non-denominational Christian ministry of worship, prayer and outreach. This house of prayer has been modeled in part, after the harp and bowl style of: prayer accompanied with unceasing worship on musical instruments and has been inspired by the Tabernacle of David described in the Bible in 1 Chron. 9:33, 22-24; Amos 9:11-12 where hundreds of full time singers and musicians ministered to the God of Israel around the clock. We are currently meeting in the rear of the Mapleridge Church and Community Center in the children's equipping area.  The Mt. Zion House of Prayer in not a ministry of any particular church or denomination but has been given gracious permission by the leadership of Mapleridge Church to hold its meetings in their building as a ministry to the regional body of Christ in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts.

The Cloud Has Moved

Last June (2013), our family moved from Kansas City, MO after serving as Intercessory Missionaries at the International House of Prayer since 2009.  We have believed in our hearts that it was part of God’s plan to first train us and then release us to use some of the things that we learned during our sojourning at I.H.O.P.-K.C.  We took a leap of faith and placed our home on the market last April.  At the time there were at least eight other homes on our street and the street adjacent to ours, that had been for sale for many months with no activity.  We actually met our buyer (another missionary family that had just returned from a two year stint in Israel), the day before our home officially came onto the regional MLS listing.  They absolutely fell in love with our home and it sold after being on the market for only one day and at the price we really needed to see.  We departed from the Midwest with a tremendous sense of peace and destiny.

We are just one of a number of missions workers that have recently relocated for the purpose of pioneering a house of prayer in the region of Massachusetts known as the Pioneer Valley.  We are serving under the oversight of a ministry called Wisdom Way which helps channel resources to support various prayer initiatives in the U.S. The Pioneer Valley, though currently very liberal and intellectually oriented, has a long and rich history of vibrant spirituality.  Jonathan Edward's ministry and the beginnings of the Great Awakening have their genesis in this area.  Evangelist D.L. Moody also had his headquarters in this region in the late 1800’s and many of the buildings which he used to train workers for the Student Volunteer Missions Movement are still standing.  We desire to help re-dig some of these old spiritual wells of revival and missions work.  To better understand the biblical basis for the modern day re-emergence of houses of prayer and their importance as it relates to global harvest, you can download this article on The Spirit of the Tabernacle of David.

The house of prayer now has a name as of a few days ago . . . Mt. Zion House of Prayer.  We have a regular place to gather with set times.  These gatherings are offered as a service first to God and then to the regional Christian churches.  It is a place to come to worship, wait on God, intercede in prayer for various needs etc.  It is designed to foster church unity.  A local pastor who has a big heart for prayer, worship and church unity has given us rent free space to use part of their facility as we work on further developing the Mt. Zion House of Prayer.  We are currently meeting at Maple Ridge Church in Sunderland, MA, just over the town line from Amherst.  There are numerous large colleges and universities within 15 minutes drive and we have a growing team of eager workers who have been reaching out by preaching the gospel, healing the sick and offering various kinds of spiritual directed encouragement to the lost.  We are seeing some results and this is fostering a growing hunger for more believers to get involved with the outreaches.

The Lord has provided a huge answer to prayer by opening up local housing for our family rent free for the next three months (Jan. thru Mar).  We have since September been traveling 75 min. each way to serve at the Mt. Zion House of Prayer with all of our children, three days a week.  This move will put us within 10 minutes driving distance of where we are serving.  

In this season, our family is believing the Lord for His provision, as we have obeyed His leading to relocate and partner with His heart in the raising up of a House of Prayer.  Anyone desiring to financially partner with our family, can take a few seconds to set up a donor profile (click right here).  Gifts are tax deductible through Wisdom Way and can be sent to us by simply selecting "David & Sharon Sparkowich" from the drop down menu.  Those sending checks can make them out to Wisdom Way and mail them to P.O. Box 9659, North Amherst, MA 01059.

Prayer Support Points 

• Consistent financial support to enable us to serve at the House of Prayer.
• Suitable housing to be made available to us by March.
• A smooth transition as we move on or around January 5.
• That the Lord would send more staff intercessors, singers and musicians to join us in serving at Mt. Zion House of Prayer.

Instructions For Donors

In this season, our family is believing the Lord for His provision, as we have obeyed His leading to relocate 1500 miles and partner with His heart in the raising up of a House of Prayer in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts.  Anyone desiring to financially partner with our family, can make tax deductible contributions via snail mail or via automated online giving by following these simple instructions.

Mailing a Personal Check

1. Checks can be made out to 'Wisdom Way' and should be mailed to: P.O. Box 9659, North Amherst, MA 01059.  

2. Please include a sticky note mentioning the gift is for 'David and Sharon'.

Easy Automated Online Giving

1. Goto www.wisdomway.org

2.  Click on the Donate tab as shown below.

3. First time donors will need to take a minute to fill out the New Registration section.

4. Next, fill out the online profile to set up your donor account as you see below.

5. Then select who your gift is designated for by click once on the drop down menu icon.  Next, fill out the amount of the donation, credit/debit card info and click the Submit button on bottom right.

You will receive an automated email thank you for your contribution and Wisdom Way sends out annual statements itemizing gifts given for the year, for your income tax records.  There is also an option to initiate Scheduled Giving, which means it will draft automatically according to a time sequence that you would pre-select.

***If you have any problems whatsoever with the online giving portal, please email me.

Thank you for partnering with us financially!  

Your gifts are sincerely appreciated.