2008 will be a year of mobilization and training.
Joining together with several city-wide and nation-wide initiatives, LivingStonespdx and the Portland House of Prayer will seek to encourage, envision and equip a generation of young people in the areas of prayer, worship, justice and the arts. Here are some of the activities to be involved with this year:
Saturday Night Prayer
meet us at the Koinonia House
633 SW Montgomery
(corner of SW Broadway, on the PSU Campus)
8-10pm
beginning Jan 26th
the focus will be on praying for the Greater Portland Metro area,
seeking God's heart for the city and agreeing with Him to see transformation!
If you would be interested in helping out with worship,
Campus America
Over the last 8 years we, as the Portland International House of Prayer, have made friends with several different groups across the nations. One such group, close to our heart, is 24-7 prayer. Birthed in England in 1999, this movement of young people focuses on a similar calling to ours: prayer, justice and mission. Since 2000, the vision has quickly spread, quite literally, across the globe; encouraging, training and resourcing young people to pray and to live out their faith. The following is an excerpt from the USA base of 24-7’s latest website for an initiative known as Campus America:
The vision we’re calling “Campus America” is to
create an opportunity for every student in America to experience the very real
presence of Jesus through seasons of night-and-day prayer on every U.S. college
and university. As we encourage rhythms of prayer among bands of friends on
campuses across the nation, we are moving toward one year, the 2009-10 school
year, of unbroken prayer on every four-year college and university, with each
taking up a season of 24-7 prayer on their campus.
Our mission is to mobilize
prayer for a reason: to grow in our love for God, for each other, and for the
world (Mk. 12:30-31; Is. 61). At the heart of 24-7 prayer is a real encounter
with the real Jesus, and from that place we will focus our prayer outward on
behalf of the world (the campus, the city, the USA and the nations). We believe
that these 24-7 prayer rooms will be a launch-pad for this generation of
university students to dedicate their lives to make a positive difference in the
world. (see http://www.campusamerica.org/ for more info)
Prayer that increases our knowledge of God and leads to action. That is what we believe LivingStonespdx is to be about in this season. Through the spring we will be joining together with campus ministers across our city and encouraging 40 days of continuous prayer on the campuses in the Portland region. Already we have seen the fruit of this type of prayer on several campuses in our area and I am excited to see what happens in the lives of many, many college students. Our hope is to then join with Campus America in the 2009-2010 school year to see their vision of a year of unbroken prayer take place.
Paradise ‘08
On May 25th, 2008 thousands of young people will gather together in the center of our country (Kansas) to engage their hearts and spirits with the Creator. What is unique about this event is that it will be a nameless event. No speakers, no “famous” people to draw an audience, no particular agenda except to worship God for who He is. The organizers have come together for over a year now planning to make this as pure as possible in terms of all the attention being on Jesus alone. A group from the Portland area will make the pilgrimage together, seeking to honor God as one nation before Him. check out http://www.paradise08.com/ for more infoSeason of Service and PortlandFest ‘08
Many of you in the Portland area are already aware of Luis Palau’s intentions to do another PortlandFest at the waterfront this year. In 1999 and 2000, I had the privilege of coordinating prayer for the previous two festivals. It was a joy to participate in praying for the city with so many intercessors during that time. This year I am pleased to represent the House of Prayer on a prayer committee that will facilitate the prayer leading up to and during the Festival.
What I am particularly encouraged about for this summer is the desire of the Palau team to make a more permanent mark on our city by mobilizing people not just to come to a one day Festival, but to learn how to really serve those around them. Throughout June and July, as well as the early part of August, churches and groups throughout the Greater Portland region, will be taking part in a variety of service activities. This may be anything from feeding the homeless to painting houses in a low-income neighborhood to washing cars for free. There is no limit to what people will decide to do. The hope is that this type of service will continue long after the Palau team has left Portland, as the seed of loving our neighbors in practical ways takes root in our hearts over the summer.
Pdx Internship
In the fall LivingStonespdx will begin our first ever internship program. Sheena Littlehale, who has been a part of the house of prayer since 2000, will be leading this program. The internship's focus will be “living out your faith in the world”. Staying together in the same house for a year, interns will be trained in the areas of prayer, justice and the arts through small groups, special guest speakers, and of course, plenty of hands on experience!
Come join us in prayer for the Portland Area. We would love to meet you. For more information, contact Renee at boucher.renee@gmail.com
