Who We Are

IHOP-LS is a community of believers who have dedicated themselves to Jesus for a unique season of thier lives. Made up of old and young, we have committed ourselves to labor together to establish a night and day prayer room in the spirit of the Tabernacle of David. We have committed ourselves to prayer, fasting and the great commission through intercession, preaching and mercy deeds.

A significant and unique focus of the house of prayer is to live as forerunners, preparing ourselves and others for the unique dynamics of the end times.

The vision before us is vast. We are looking for those who love Jesus to join us to see a night and day Prayer Room established. Although the International House of Prayer will be established on the labors of full-time intercessors, we have a place for anyone who so desires to co-labor with us as we set our hearts on this life-long journey. If you have more questions, come see us, we'd love to talk with you!

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The Prayer Room

Foundational to the work of the International House of Prayer - Lake Superior is the Prayer Room. From this small room that we can shake nations, transform society, release an unprecedented power of the Holy Spirit, and transition history to the age to come. Intercession truly is partnership with God at an unimaginable level. It's where we encounter God and our hearts become transformed into His likeness at the deepest levels. Prayer is the place of encounter, transformation and action. The call to intercession is a radical call to action. We take this call seriously.

What is the Prayer Room?

The Prayer Room at the International House of Prayer is the heartbeat of all that goes on at the IHOP Base. IHOP is a ministry serving the entire Twin Ports area, open for any person or group desiring to come at any time to worship and pray individually and/or corporately. The Prayer Room is structured in two-hour prayer meetings (check for current schedule) led by worship teams (musicians, singers, and intercessors) lifting their voices in praise and supplication, asking God to fulfill His promise to give the nations of the earth to Jesus as His inheritance. Each prayer meeting functions with live worship teams in one of four prayer formats: devotional worship, prophetic worship, worship with the Word, or intercessory worship for corporate breakthrough, city transformation, and revelation of Jesus Christ in the earth.

What is the Purpose of the Prayer Room?

1. To answer the call of the Lord to the perpetual solemn assembly. The call of Joel 2:11 in this hour gives us the mandate that we gather now before the coming global crisis to turn to Him in repentance and the rending of our hearts. With fasting weeping and mourning we are to contend for the mercy of the Lord as He responds by "turning" back to us. We are honoring the God-ordained method to respond to crisis contending for blessing through revival.

2. To provide a context for 24/7 prayer in a city for the establishment of justice through breakthrough revival. 24/7 worship and prayer changes the spiritual atmosphere of the city, thus opening the heavens for more anointed evangelism and unity in the Church. This also allows for encountering God in a personal way that transforms us by intimacy with Jesus. We believe that the Holy Spirit is orchestrating a global prayer strategy far eclipsing any other prayer movement in history resulting in an unprecedented harvest of souls in the nations.

The International House of Prayer in Superior is only one expression of the prayer movement across the earth today. Ministries are arising all over the earth that literally offer supplication night and day before the Lord and function as catalysts for the entire Church becoming a House of Prayer (Isa. 56:7), causing the work of the harvest to go forth with power and effectiveness. In cities throughout the earth, we believe it will become common to hear of worship and prayer ministries that continue non-stop 24 hours a day in the spirit of the Tabernacle of David.

3. To equip and nurture prophetic singers, intercessors and messengers. It is absolutely vital for these three groups that the Lord is cultivating in this house to lay hold of a lifestyle that reflects the message of God's heart for this hour of history. The level to which the message is lived out by the messenger is the level to which it will be taken seriously by the hearer. The Lord has zeal for His messengers to embody the very message that they preach to the nations.

4. To provide a place for all who wish to be renewed by the presence of the Lord. The Prayer Room and the ministries that are being developed out of it are for any to freely enjoy – we are glad for any to come and be renewed in the atmosphere of worship and prayer.

Prayer Room Formats

We structure all of our prayer meetings around Revelation 4-5, where the 24 elders and worshipping Jesus with harps (musical instrument) and bowls (the prayers of the saints). Inside this 'Harp & Bowl Model', we use 4 different expressions we call 'prayer formats.'

Intercession - This prayer format is designed to use the prayers of the New Testament apostles to engage in unified intercession for citywide revival. This is an "open mic" corporate time of prayer. Though most intercession will focus on the Church in the Twin Ports, anyone can pray for the Church in any city on earth unless the meeting is specifically designated (Ex. Israel, etc).

Worship With the Word - This prayer format is designed to function as a discipleship program that provides mentoring and training in the Word of God or "singing seminary." The focus is on singing large portions of Scripture (Ex. Ps. 145) through spontaneous prophetic singing and speaking.

Devotional Worship - This prayer format focuses on creating an anointed atmosphere in the prayer room for individuals to commune with God in meditation and Bible Study.

Prophetic Worship - This is a corporate time of sustained worship with some spontaneous prophetic singing. This is designed to corporately bring us to the throne of God together along with discerning specific ministry God is highlighting (healing, deliverance, impartation, etc.)

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A Brief History of Night and Day Prayer

1000 BC: The Tabernacle of David

King David was a man of "one thing" (Psalm 27:4). Around 1000 BC, as an outflow of his heart, he commanded that the Ark of the Covenant be brought up on the shoulders of the Levites amidst the sound of songs and musical instruments to his new capital, Jerusalem. There he had it placed in a tent and appointed two hundred and eighty-eight prophetic singers and four thousand musicians to minister before the Lord, "to make petition, to give thanks and to praise the Lord" day and night (1 Chronicles 15:1–17:27). This was unlike anything that had been done in Israel's history, but it was God's plan for Israel.

The Davidic Order of Worship

Although the tabernacle was replaced by a temple, the Davidic order of worship was embraced and reinstituted by seven leaders in the history of Israel and Judah. Each time this order of worship was reintroduced, spiritual breakthrough, deliverance and military victory followed.

• Solomon instructed that worship in the temple should be in accordance with the Davidic order (2 Chronicles 8:14–15).
• Jehoshaphat defeated Moab and Ammon by setting singers up in accordance with the Davidic order: singers at the front of the army singing the Great Hallel. Jehoshaphat reinstituted Davidic worship in the temple (2 Chronicles 20:20–22, 28).
• Joash (2 Chronicles 23:1–24:27).
• Hezekiah cleansed and reconsecrated the temple, and reinstituted the Davidic order of worship (2 Chronicles 29:1–36, 30:21).
• Josiah reinstituted Davidic worship (2 Chronicles 35:1–27).
• Ezra and Nehemiah, returning from Babylon, reinstituted Davidic worship (Ezra 3:10, Nehemiah 12:28–47).

Also, historians have also speculated that around the time of Jesus, in their search to find communion with God, the Essenes of the Judean wilderness reinstituted Davidic worship as part of their life of prayer and fasting.

400 AD: Alexander Akimetes & the Sleepless Ones

Born in Asia Minor and educated in Constantinople, Alexander became an officer in the Roman army. Challenged by Jesus' words to the rich young ruler from Matthew 19:21, Akimetes sold his possessions and retreated from court life to the desert. Tradition states that he set fire to a pagan temple after seven years of solitude. Upon arrest and imprisonment Alexander converted the prison governor and his household, and promptly returned to his abode in the desert. Shortly thereafter he had the misfortune to fall in with a group of robbers. His evangelistic zeal, however, could not be contained and he converted these outcasts into devoted followers of Jesus. This group became the core of his band of monks.

Around 400 AD, he returned to Constantinople with 300–400 monks, where he established laus perennis, perpetual praise, to fulfill Paul's exhortation to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Driven from Constantinople, the monks established the monastery at Gormon, at the mouth of the Black Sea. This became the founding monastery of the order of the Acoemetae (literally, the sleepless ones). Alexander died here in 430 AD, but the influence of the Acoemetae continued. The houses were divided into six choirs rotating throughout the day, each new choir relieving the one before, to create uninterrupted prayer and worship twenty-four hours a day.

523 AD: Agaunum

Around 522 AD, Abbot Ambrosius brought attention to a small monastery founded in Switzerland. Legend has it that around 286 AD, a Theban Legion under the command of Maurice de Valois was sent to suppress a rebellion by Gauls in the north of the empire. On their way to Gaul, the Coptic Christians were encamped at Agaunum (present day Switzerland) where they were ordered to sacrifice to Roman gods and to the Emperor in petition for victory. Maurice and his Theban Legion refused. The Roman Emperor, Maximian, ordered a "decimation" of the legion of seven thousand: one in every ten men was killed. When Maurice and his men continued their refusal, a second decimation was ordered, followed by another and another. The entire seven thousand Egyptian Christians were eventually martyred.

Although the veracity of the story has been called into question, the legend of the martyrs at Agaunum spread far and wide. Between 515–521 AD, Sigismund, King of Burgundy, lavishly endowed the monastery established at the site of the martyrdom to ensure its success. In 522 AD, the abbot at St. Maurice's instituted laus perennis after the tradition of the Acoemetae. Choirs of monks would sing in rotation, with one choir relieving the previous choir, continuing day and night. This practice went on until around 900 AD, impacting monasteries all over France and Switzerland.

558 AD: Comgall & Bangor, Ireland

In 433 AD, just as the Roman Empire was starting to crumble, St. Patrick returned to Ireland (having been enslaved on the island previously) with a view to preaching the Christian message to the Irish. According to the 12th century Anglo-Norman Monk Jocelin, Patrick came to rest in a valley on the shores of the Belfast Lough on one of his many journeys. Here, he and his comrades beheld a vision of heaven. Jocelin states, "they held the valley filled with heavenly light, and with a multitude of heaven, they heard, as chanted forth from the voice of angels, the psalmody of the celestial choir." The place became known as the Vallis Angelorum or the Vale of Angels. The famed Bangor Monastery would begin its life here approximately one hundred years later; from this spot, heaven's song would reach into Europe.

Bangor's founder, Comgall, was born in Antrim in 517 AD. Originally a soldier, he soon took monastic vows and was educated for his new life. He is next seen in the Irish annals as a hermit on Lough Erne. However, his rule was so severe that seven of his fellow monks died and he was persuaded to leave and establish a house at Bangor in the famed Vale of the Angels.

At Bangor, Comgall instituted a rigid monastic rule of incessant prayer and fasting. Far from turning people away, this ascetic rule attracted thousands. When Comgall died in 602, the annals report that three thousand monks looked to him for guidance. Bangor Mor, named "the great Bangor" became the greatest monastic school in Ulster.

1727 AD: Count Zinzendorf & the Moravians

In 1722, Zinzendorf bought estate from his grandmother and installed a Pietist preacher in the local Lutheran church. That same year Zinzendorf came into contact with a Moravian preacher, Christian David, who persuaded the young count of the sufferings of the persecuted Protestants in Moravia. These Moravians known as the Unitas Fratrum were the remains of John Huss' followers in Bohemia. Since the 1600s, these saints had suffered under the hands of successive repressive Catholic monarchs. Zinzendorf offered them asylum on his lands. Christian David returned to Bohemia and brought many to settle on Zinzendorf's estate, forming the community of Herrnhut, The Watch of the Lord. The community quickly grew to around three hundred, yet, due to divisions and tension in the infant community, Zinzendorf gave up his court position and became the leader of the brethren, instituting a new constitution for the community.

A new spirituality now characterized the community, with men and women being committed to bands or choruses to encourage one another in the life of God. August of 1727 is seen as the Moravian Pentecost. Zinzendorf said August 13th was "a day of the outpourings of the Holy Spirit upon the congregation; it was its Pentecost." Within two weeks of the outpouring, twenty-four men and twenty-four women covenanted to pray "hourly intercessions," thus praying every hour around the clock. They were committed to see that, "The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out" (Leviticus 6:13). The numbers committed to this endeavor soon increased to around seventy from the community. This prayer meeting would go non-stop for the next one hundred years and is seen by many as the spiritual power behind the impact the Moravians had on the world.

From the prayer room at Herrnhut came a missionary zeal which has hardly been surpassed in church history. The spark initially came from Zinzendorf's encounter in Denmark with Eskimos who had been converted by Lutherans. The count returned to Herrnhut and conveyed his passion to see the gospel go to the nations. As a result, many of the community went out into the world to preach the gospel, some even selling themselves into slavery in order to fulfill the great commission. This commitment is shown by a simple statistic. Typically, when it comes to world missions the Protestant laity to missionary ratio has been 5000:1. The Moravians, however, saw a much increased ratio of 60:1. By 1776, some 226 missionaries had been sent out from the community at Herrnhut. It is clear through the teaching of the so-called father of modern missions, William Carey, that the Moravians had a profound impact on him in regard to their zeal for missionary activity. It is also through the missions-minded Moravians that John Wesley came to faith. The impact of this little community in Saxony, which committed to seek the face of the Lord day and night, has truly been immeasurable.

24/7 Prayer in the Twentieth Century

In 1973, David Yonggi Cho, Pastor of the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, South Korea, established Prayer Mountain with night-and-day prayer. Prayer Mountain was soon attracting over a million visitors per year, as people would spend retreats in the prayer cells provided on the mountain. Cho had a commitment to continuous prayer, to faith and to establishing small discipleship cells in his church. Perhaps as a result, Cho's church rapidly expanded to become the largest church congregation on the globe, with membership now over 780,000.

On September 19, 1999, the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Missouri, started a worship-based prayer meeting that has continued for twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week ever since. With a similar vision to Zinzendorf, that the fire on the altar should never go out, there has never been a time when worship and prayer has not ascended to heaven since that date.

At the same time, in many other places around the world, God placed desires and plans for 24/7 prayer in the fabric of diverse ministries and in the hearts of leaders. This has resulted in 24/7 houses of prayer and prayer mountains being established in every continent of the earth.

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Statement of Faith

WE BELIEVE that the sixty-six books of the Bible are inspired, and therefore inerrant Word of God. We do not believe in the inerrancy of any other books. The Bible is the authority for all we believe and how we are to live. (Matt. 5:18; Jn. 10:35; 17:17; 2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Pet. 1:20-21)

WE BELIEVE that Jesus Christ is God incarnate. We believe that He is fully God and fully man. We believe that He lived a sinless life, perfect in the sight of God, and then offered Himself as the substitution for our sins through His bloodshed at the cross. We believe that He obtained eternal redemption for all who will put their faith in Him. We believe that God raised Him from the dead and He is now seated at the right hand of God the Father, forever making intercession for the redeemed. (Matt. 1:18-25; Jn. 1:1-18; Rom. 8:34; 1 Cor. 15:1-28; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:10-14; Eph. 1:7; Phil. 2:6-11; Col. 1:15-23; Heb. 7:25; 9:13-15; 10:19; 1 Pet. 2:21-25; 1 Jn. 2:1-2)

WE BELIEVE that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone. No other ritual, work, or performance by man is necessary or possible to obtain salvation. We believe that the grace of God is not a license to sin, but rather empowers us to walk holy, through the power of the Holy Spirit, by which we are progressively formed to the image of Christ. (Jn. 1:12-13; 6:37-44; 10:25-30; Acts 16:30-31; Rom. 3-4; 8:1-17, 31-39; 10:8-10; Eph. 2:8-10; Phil. 2:12-13; Titus 3:3-7; 1 Jn. 1:7, 9)

WE BELIEVE that Jesus Christ baptizes believers in the Holy Spirit who transforms and eternally dwells within us. We believe the Holy Spirit desires to fill, empower, and anoints us for the work of ministry. We believe that signs and wonders and the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are seen in the New Testament are operative today to testify of the presence and coming of the Kingdom of God, and to empower and build up the Church to fulfill its calling. (Matt. 3:11; Jn. 1:12-13; 3:1-15; Acts 4:29-30; Rom. 8:9; 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12:12-13; 2 Cor. 1:21-22; Gal. 3:1-5; Eph. 1:13-14, 5:18)

WE BELIEVE that one true God eternally exists in three persons – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We believe that they are equal in deity, power and authority. We believe that God created, upholds, and directs all things and that He will bring all things to their proper consummation in Jesus Christ. (Ps. 104; 139; Matt. 10:29-31; 28:19; Acts 17:24-28; 2 Cor. 13:14; Eph. 1:9-12; 4:4-6; Col. 1:16-17; Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 1:4-6)

WE BELIEVE that when Christians die they go immediately to the presence of Christ Jesus where they enjoy His presence and are kept until the day He returns. We believe that on that day, all believers still alive on earth and believers who are in heaven will receive a resurrected body and will forever dwell with God. We believe that when unbelievers die they go immediately to hell where they are reserved for the day of judgment and then forever sentenced to the lake of fire where they will be eternally tormented away from the presence of God. (Matt. 25:46; Lk. 16:19-31; Jn. 5:25-29; 1 Cor. 15:35-58; 2 Cor. 5:1-10; Phil. 1:19-26; 3:20-21; 2 Thes. 1:5-10; Rev. 20:11-15; 21:1 – 22:15)

WE BELIEVE that water baptism and the Lord's supper are the two ordinances of the Church. They are not a means of salvation, but a channel of God's grace and blessing. (Matt. 26:26-29; 28:19; Rom. 6:3-11; 1 Cor. 11:23-24; 1 Pet. 3:21)

WE BELIEVE in the literal Second Coming of Jesus at the end of the age when He returns personally and visibly to every person on earth. It is at this time that He will drive wickedness off the earth and set up His worldwide Kingdom. We believe that the Church will go through the Great Tribulation, in great power and victory, and be raptured after the Great Tribulation. We believe that the Church will experience an unprecedented amount of unity, purity, and power in the Holy Spirit before the Second Coming of Jesus. We believe in and are praying for a great end time harvest of souls brought into the Kingdom. (Ps. 2:7-9; Matt. 24:30-31; Jn. 14:12; 17:20-26; Rom. 11:25-32; 1 Cor. 15:20-28, 50-58; Eph. 4:11-16; 5:26-32; Phil. 3:20-21; 1 Thes. 4:13 – 5:11; 2 Thes. 1:3-12; 2:3; Rev. 1:7; 7:9-14; 11:15-19)

WE BELIEVE that Adam was originally created in the image of God, pure and without sin. We believe that through his disobedience all of his descendants are subject to imputed and inherent sin. We believe that we are all children of wrath by nature and by choice apart from the grace of God, completely condemned in His sight and unable to save ourselves. (Gen. 1-3; Ps. 51:5; Rom. 3:9-18; 5:12-21; Eph. 2:1-3)

WE BELIEVE that the Church is God's primary instrument to fulfill His redemptive purposes in the earth. We believe that God gave the Church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to equip us for the work of ministry. We affirm the importance of every Christian being connected with and actively involved in a local community of believers. We believe women, no less than men, are called and gifted to proclaim the Gospel and display the works of the Kingdom. We believe that we are to preach the Gospel to all nations and to remember the poor, widow, and orphan, which is an expression of the heart of Jesus. (Isa. 61:1; Matt. 5-7; 16:17-19; 28:18-20; Luke 4:18; Acts 2:17-18; Eph. 3:14-21; 4:11-16; 1 Tim. 2:8-15; Heb. 10:23-25; 1 Pet. 2:4-5)

WE BELIEVE that Satan, originally the angel Lucifer, rebelled against God and took 1/3 of the angels with him in his rebellion. We believe he was cast out of God's presence and now works to establish his kingdom of darkness and wickedness on the earth. We believe Jesus defeated Satan at the cross and his final judgment is sentenced to eternal torment in the lake of fire forever, which has been prepared for him and his angels. (Isa. 14:10-17; Ezek. 28:11-19; Matt. 12:25-26; 25:41; Jn. 12:31; 16:11; Eph. 6:10-20; Col. 2:15; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude. 6; Rev. 12:7-9; 20:10)

WE BELIEVE that Israel has not been cut off from God's plan, but still plays an essential and lead role in establishing His Kingdom on the earth. We believe that the Church has not replaced Israel, but has been "grafted in" to their inheritance. We believe that, as a Gentile Church, we are called to pray for Israel and for the release of God's power on them unto salvation and to protect them in a time of trouble. We believe that a Gentile Church will provoke Israel to jealousy which will result in their salvation. (Duet. 28; Zech. 12:10; Rom. 9-11)

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