What am I doing in KCMO?

I get this question alot, "what are you doing in KC?". This is understandable, because I was born and raised in beautiful Alaska. I also have spent alot of time in Portland, Oregon, and Spokane, Washington. So why would I move from the fresh aired, green, coastal areas that draw so many? Because I have found a small little room, where young and old gather to pray and give their lives to minister to the Lord. It's called the International House of Prayer (IHOP). It's an amazing place, my life has changed dramatically since I came here.

How?
I have encountered the Lord here, and for those that don't know what that means, I will expound. There is a ministry school here (Forerunner School of Ministry). I have attended it for two years. The classes cover a wide range of subjects, such as, Old Testament Survey, New Testament Survey, Studies on the Song of Solomon, Studies in Joel, Studies on the End-Times, and The Excellencies of Christ. In these classes I not only learned about Jesus, but I felt my heart fall in love with who He is. Many times in class the teaching, while talking about Jesus, would stop and weep for a few minutes, clear his eyes and continue with teaching. The power of the subject matter not only touched him, but it was moving on the hearts of all the students. I remember a few times, where the teaching would stop in the middle of class and we would all stand and start praying outloud, and the love of God would pour out over class and students would begin to weep and sing, even a few students were healed during these times.
After these classes we all would head to the Prayer Room (the room I spoke of earlier [IHOP]) and take what we learned in class and move it from our head to our hearts.
What does that mean?
We sit in the Prayer Room, and listen to the worship team sing the scriptures, and sing prayers. All the while we engage with them, we read, and do our homework. Now you may say, "that sounds boring!" but let me tell you, this is far from boring. I always hated homework my whole life, this homework though, was going on in my heart and in my character. The passages that we study in class, we read and sing to the Lord in this room, and it causes them to make since in your heart. I can explain this all day long but, until you experience it yourself you really can't understand. The nice thing is, you can do this where ever you are at!

The other thing that makes such a difference is that the community of people here are different than I've ever seen! They are all being moved on by the Lord, their hearts are being affected by his love aswell, so it just fans the flame of whats going on in your heart as you are eating with friends or just hanging out. I have never had that before! Growing up, it was always one way in the church and another way outside the walls. It really is true that you are affected by those around you.

I just wanted to let you know what it is that I do here, and why I would move from the coastal beauty and live in the dry, awful flat lands of Kansas City.

Till next time-
Ryan