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.
