National School of Intercession – Quebec

We are delighted to be working together with Cityscape Prayer Ministries in leading a week-long training effort in Quebec City.  Like others, we are sensing that this is a crucial year for Francophone Canadians.  That is certainly reflected in the huge celebrations in honour of their 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City.  But that seems to be a signal that there is a new openness in spiritual terms for this province and for all Francophones in Canada.  We urge you to pray for a mighty move of the Holy Spirit this year in Quebec.

Things I’ve Been Praying

As a prayer missionary here at NHOP there are a lot of areas to cover.  Not only do we pray for all our government leaders, we also pray about the passing of good legislation that represents a Godly standard.  Two laws that I personally have been praying about and I know are of concern to others here, are Bill C-2, the proposed Tackling of Violent Crime Act and Bill C-484 the proposed Unborn Victims of Crime Act. 

The first is the government’s omnibus bill presented right after the throne speech in the fall which proposes changes to the Criminal Code that would reflect amendments to our gun laws, bail provisions, tougher sentencing for sexual and violent offenders and the raising of the age of sexual consent to 16.  This bill is currently stuck in the Senate and Conversative MPs are calling for it to get out of the bog and mire soon so it can be finally passed.  Bill C-484, which will make it an offence if a child is killed or injured in the womb through some type of assault was proposed in November as a private members bill.   Some are saying that if this legislation goes through it could open up a debate on abortion within the House of Commons and because of this they would not support the passing of the bill.  As one who supports the right to life of an unborn child, I believe it would be God honouring and right for this bill to pass. Thus the prayer.

Other areas of prayer are, obviously, our support of pro-life issues,  and perhaps less obvioulsy to some, that committee meetings would run fairly and cooperatively as they mete out their specialized tasks and that not only would the media report the truth (without the spin) but that their influence over the government’s agenda would end. (Case in point go to www.blackrod.blogspot.com for some interesting reading on January 28th, 2008, about the CBC and their interference in a recent highly publicized parliamentry committee meeting.)  Thus the prayer.

Although there’s more, Richard told me to keep my blogs short.  Therefore, let me end by saying that there are a plethora of things to pray about. As has been evidenced in Question Period right from the outset of this parliamentry session that began on January 28th, we’re anticipating a very high-strung winter session as this present government wards off an election threat that has been lingering since even before they broke the Canadian 18th month record for a minority government to hold office. Some would say they’ve been there too long. Some would say not.  Thus the prayer.  END

 Wendy Turpin

Newcomers to NHOP Part 2

Thanks to Dianne Van der Putten, from CHRI we have this potrait of the folks who came out yesterday to our “Newcomers” event.  (She’s in the lower right corner).  Room doesn’t permit us to name everyone in the picture, but take note of Ian Pagit in the top left hand corner, who is here on a one month placement from his seminary in Scotland, and you will see a couple of our Prayer Missionaries, Kirsten Hartey and Wendy Turpin, as well as Terry and Richard Long and also Fran Parker in the crowd.

NHOP for Newcomers

With the encouragement of the local Christian radio station – CHRI we advertized that we would run a special one day program for people who had never prayed at NHOP or in Parliament.

Despite the freezing rain, twenty local folks showed up for a morning training session/prayer time, followed by a hearty lunch and then a trip to Question Period.  They were an enthusiastic group of varying ages and they seemed to really enjoy the experience.

So … they convinced us that we should try it again in the near future.

We have been greatly blessed by the way that CHRI (http://www.chri.ca)  made us their “ministry of the month”  This was just one of the many initiatives they took to increase the profile of our ministry here in Ottawa.

(BTW the pic was taken by a former intern – Jenn Bodner from inside the arch at the entrance of the East Block.)

Flying Around

Rob Parker and Michèle Cloutier are flying today to Quebec City from Vancouver.  They are joining Sara Maynard and some of her team from Cityscape Prayer Ministries to lead a National School of Intercession in Quebec’s provincial capital.  It will be our first bi-lingual training effort. 

Richard Long (that’s me) flies back to Ottawa today and then hops a plane with Fran Parker in the middle of the week to head over to Quebec City to do some teaching as well.

The one advantage of spending time in airports over against a normal schedule is the chance to do some reading.  I’m reading 3 books that I’ve brought with me.  Henri Nouwen’s The Return of the Prodigal Son, Margaret Summerville’s Massey Lectures called The Ethical Imagination, and an interesting theology book by a post-modern writer, Peter Rollins, called How (not) to speak of God.

Each book, because it takes on a different aspect of spirituality, informs my prayer life and my relationship with God.  I’m looking forward to a flying day.  – R.L.

Having a booth at Missionsfest is an amazing opportunity to meet and talk to hundreds of believers in the same place.  This is the largest Christian event on the Lower Mainland with literally tens of thousands of Christians gathering over 3 days.

Rob Parker did a seminar yesterday on “Praying for Government” that 65 people attended, asking questions at the end.  It’s been encouraging to meet so many praying believers who have heard about us on TV, radio or through someone who has already visited us in Ottawa.

We’re back from Kansas City

Just to keep you further updated, Kirsten Harty (prayer missionary), Terry Long (co-director of NHOP) and myself, Wendy Turpin (prayer missionary) are back from our trip to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City.  We left on January 18th and returned January 22nd, 2008. 

For those of you who don’t know, the International House of Prayer was birthed by God through Mike Bickle on September 19th, 1999 on which date a “prayer meeting began which continues to this day, from dawn to dusk and through the watches of the night, prayer and worship continues twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. The prayer room is the heartbeat — the essence and the origin — of all that goes on at the International House of Prayer.“*

What an experience!  We were so blessed to take in first-hand the awesome prayer machine called I-HOP where each of us was touched mightily by the Holy Spirit who is moving in definite power there.   Personally, I was struck by the experience of watching over 700 interns and community members share their  devotion to the Lord through their prayers and worship in the prayer room, service in their cafe and shuttle rides for us out of towners. 

We have a different, more governmental mandate here at the National House of Prayer, where God is moving mightily for this wonderful Canada of ours and its federal government, but we are fully supportive of what is going on at I-HOP!  In fact, houses of prayer with all sorts of mandates seem to be springing up all over the globe.  God is doing something new with this generation and it’s beginning with a massive global prayer movement.   I am so blessed to be able to say I am a part of this new generation that I believe will pray in revival! 

Thank you I-HOP for your wonderful service to the Lord and His people.  Our prayers are with you, as I know yours are with us!

Wendy Turpin (Prayer Missionary)

*taken from I-HOP website www.ihop.org

Local Pastors’ Breakfast

Once a month we have the opportunity at NHOP to host “Mission Ottawa”.  These are the leaders of congregations and ministries here in the nation’s capital who are committed to walking together and praying for one another.  We give them a full breakfast, and then they transition to our Prayer Room where they are led in worship by Alan Gilman.  Then the chair of Mission O, Barry Boucher leads them into a time of prayer for one another. 

Once again today we filled every table with hungry pastors.  What is most encouraging, is their hunger for the Lord and for His kingdom.  – R.L.

Romanian Visitor

 This week we welcomed Erika Klemm, who will be staying with us for several weeks to observe and participate in all that we do.  She is developing a House of Prayer in Sibiu, Romania.  This is a picture of the prayer tower that the Lord has given her in St. John’s church.  Erika has visited us before and Rob Parker has visited her centre in Romania.  Pray with us that she will learn everything that the Lord has planned for her during her stay in Ottawa.  – R.L.

Quick Trip to Toronto

Our team is going to be doing a lot of travelling over the next week or so.  We will try to keep blogging from various locations.

Today Richard Long (along with Barry Boucher, the chair of Mission Ottawa) flew to Toronto for a reunion of the Ontario Renewal Network.  We celebrated with about 70 others the grace of God now 14 years later from the outpouring of the Spirit on Jan. 20th, 1994.  The ORN met weekly in Toronto for 5 years, and eventually stirred up pastoral meetings in another dozen cities and regions in Ontario at the end of the 1990’s.

Over a couple of hours many leaders took time to thank God for what that Renewal of the Spirit had done in transforming their personal lives and ministry.  It was very encouraging to see where the Spirit has led each individual.

The themes in our coporate prayer time at the end of the meeting were the same fundamental longings that are so often expressed at the National House of Prayer.  We long for another “new” outpouring.  We want to see transformation come to all levels and all spheres our society.  We pray for a great move of God in Quebec and among all the Francophones of our nation. 

We look forward with hope as to how the Lord will answer these cries for intervention and revival.  – R.L.