7 Thunders Newsletter
 

7 Thunders Newsletter
June, 2006

Zadok House of Prayer

     ZHOP is growing quickly here in South Carolina. We have more people moving here all the time and at least 2 new visitors to every Encounter God Service that we have on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We recently switched the prayer room schedule around, instead of having mostly weekdays with scheduled sets; we focus around the weekends, which is when we have the most visitors. This change was a little hard at first to adjust to, but now everything is going great.

This summer we are preparing to host a lot of interns. The night watch internship which is called “the Awakened internship,” starts this month and is accepting applications through July 4^th. The youth internship called “Camp David” starts on July 1^st. We are praying that we have 100 youth come to encounter God for 3 and ½ weeks here at ZHOP. Our next Zadok Internship starts July 28^th and will run for 5 months. This internship is geared towards those who are 18-25 years old. For more information on these internships see the Events section below.

On May 6^th ZHOP joined with Dr. Michael Brown and the Fire School for “Not Ashamed Charlotte” a Christian gathering in a park in uptown Charlotte. For the past 5 years the park had hosted a gay pride event on the first weekend of May, this year because of scheduling problems they were not able to use the park. Instead many churches gathered together to worship and pray in the park. A team from ZHOP led an hour of worship, the presence of God filled the park and we were able to have a time of intercession for the city. We believe that God is going to do something awesome in Charlotte!

On May 20^th we partnered with the Cause USA (www.causefortmill.com) to host a prayer rumble. Many different ministries and churches joined us for the event. The small prayer room was packed with people! John Mark McMillan, a worship leader from Morningstar, led worship and Shawn Bolz (White Dove Ministries) spoke. It was an awesome night! Shawn spoke some really encouraging words to both ZHOP and the Cause confirming many things that we had been praying about.

Please continue to pray for ZHOP as we grow. We are in need of many more musicians, singers, artists, dancers, and intercessors. We believe that God wants to establish day and night prayer in Charlotte. Please partner in prayer with us for this to happen.

Internships

On Thursday June 15^th, our first group of Zadok interns will graduate! For the past 6 months this group of 7 interns have set themselves before the Lord in prayer for 4-8 hours a day in the prayer room, consecrating this season of their life to the Lord. Gayathri Sundaresan writes on how the internship changed her:

My desire has always been to know God intimately. The Zadok Internship has provided me with a great platform to minister to the heart of God through worship, prayer, and meditation of the Word. This internship has also set me in a lifestyle of prayer and fasting, empowering me to live a consecrated life unto the Lord.

As an intern, I was trained in prophetic intercession, which was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Also, the internship classes taught by our intern leaders offered valuable teaching on “the intimacy message” and eschatology. The small group times were especially great in terms of knowing one another and building life-long relationships.

The next Zadok Internship starts on July 28^th for more information go to www.zhop.org/internships, or email zadokinternship@zhop.org.

As the first Zadok Internship ends, the first night watch internship “The Awakened” begins. Led by Jacob and Lacy Ferrell, The Awakened internship is a call to young adults (18-25 years old) to set themselves before the Lord at night (10pm-6am) for 3-6 months. Our heart is to awaken a day and night priesthood culture of life that burns with intimacy and that is equipped with the urgency of the times.
Right now there are about 5 interns in this internship, but they are still accepting applications through July 4th. For more information about The Awakened Internship go to www.zhop.org/internships or email theawakenedinternship@zhop.org.

  Meditation

We believe that meditation is key for understanding and going deeper in the word. What we do is we have one verse that we will meditate on for about 3-4 weeks at a time. We have meetings each week to share what we have received from the Lord. Right now we are meditating on Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”

. Here is some insight from one of our team members Alan Anderson:

 When I call to Him, He always hears, not this alone, but God answers my pleas. He promises: Call to me and I will answer you. I so often think he responds to me if I pray it enough, or say it the right way. I may not realize that I think that way, but I live it through my actions. In all honesty, in my approaching Him I really don’t believe He hears me.

It’s true that we must be like the persistent widow. We must contend day and night to see justice. In teaching the disciples to pray, Jesus says: “ pray like this…” short and to the point, believing that He hears and will answer.

In addition to this, God has been talking to me about the “Great and marvelous things” In Hebrew this literally means “inaccessible things”. I am realizing the importance of my pursuit of the mysteries of God. Let us never be satisfied with our “knowledge”. Let us continue to press into experience. When we experience God, He will blow our theology apart. He’s totally other than! When this happens me must return again to the word, in eternal pursuit of knowing Him.

 Trips

May 8-21, a team from 7 Thunders went New Zealand. Here is a report from Luke Ahrenholtz, one of the team members who went on the trip:

New Zealand was great, but like I’ve been telling everyone else, “It’s good to be home in South Carolina!” On May 8^th Kirk, his wife Dee, his daughter Abby, his father Dick and I all embarked on an amazing trip to the other side of the world. After a two-day trip consisting   of 18 hours in the air, 11 hours of layovers and 5 hours of driving, we finally made it to Taupo where we were rejoined with our good friends Andy and Bek Hickman. Their little baby girl Abigail is about 4 months old and it was so exciting for us to see each other again!

While in New Zealand we did a lot of gatherings in living room settings where Kirk caught up with old friends and the rest of us made new ones! We also got a chance to speak at a small Christian school in Wellington and a Christian college north of Auckland. The Christian school is being led by some friends of ours who are very familiar with the IHOP in Kansas City, so they have the kids meditating on scripture, writing songs, and even drawing prophetic pictures. They asked us to lead their chapel service that ended up lasting over three and a half hours! I led worship, Kirk spoke and then we prophesied over them and prayed for them. These kids were hungry for the Lord and it was so refreshing to see that!

At Lifeway College we were given the opportunity to   lead a meeting for the whole student body, about 200   all together. I was invited to play with their worship   band and lead a few songs. During the worship time I just started singing some simple choruses and the room just exploded in worship and praise! I was amazed at   the depth of hunger and response. I realized that my time in the secret place and put a measure of authority on my worship. That’s not to boast but to testify of the power of meditation and the secret place.

Upcoming Trips:

Salem, OR August 31-September 2

South Africa September

Fort Wayne, IN October 20-24

Council Bluffs, IA November 3-4

Events

CAMP DAVID YOUTH INTERNSHIP

Who: Those ages 14-17.

When: July 1-27.

Where: Located right on the ZHOP Base.

What: An intensive training time for those who are called to something higher than just a normal lifestyle. The radicals who are meant to be priests before God. These 3 ½ weeks will be centered on a priesthood culture of life. We will be training them in the prophetic and how to minister to the heart of God. We believe that there is a generation arising who is called to a lifestyle of prayer and we want to train the young ones to live that lifestyle.

Contact: campdavid@zhop.org

THE AWAKENED INTERNSHIP

Who: Those ages 18-25

When: Term 1 June 16 – August 31 (accepting applications through July 4^th)

Term 2 September 8- December 1

Where: Located right on the ZHOP Base.

What: The Awakened Internship is a call to young adults to set themselves before the Lord at night (10pm-6am) for 3-6 months. Our heart is to awaken a day and night priesthood culture of life that burns with intimacy and that is equipped with the urgency of the times.

Contact: theawakenedinternship@zhop.org

 

ZADOK INTERNSHIP

Who: Those ages 18-25.

When: July 28-December 9.

Where: Located right on the ZHOP Base.  

What: For ages 18-25; the next session will run 4 ½ months starting July 28th and ending December 9th. The Zadok Internship is a charge to young adults who will voluntarily set themselves before the Lord to encounter Him and minister to Him unto establishing a day and night priesthood culture of life that is gripped with urgency for the hour we live in.

Contact: zadokinternship@zhop.org

Prayer Requests

* The 7 Thunders staff  _ Luke Ahrenholtz, Katie Bennett, Andy and Bek Hickman, Rebekah Myers, Jonathan and Heidi Mills, Isaac and Morgan Bennett and the Zadok House of Prayer team. That the Spirit of grace and supplication would continue in them to pray and prophesy; especially as they are setting themselves in Fort Mill, SC. 

       * Kirk - Pray that he has understanding and revelation on leadership and fathering the next generation

       * Dee- for increased revelation as she leads the young ones.

       * Isaac and Morgan - that God gives them grace and strength each day as they lead the internship

       * Katie - for grace and strength to lead, as she is one of the main worship leaders at ZHOP.

       * Abby - Increased joy and zeal for God as she moves to a new environment.

Something of real power is continuing to happen with our children, and we’re asking for the Spirit to guard and disciple them in it.

      * The I.H.O.P.s - There are houses of prayer springing up all over the world. We have had the extreme privilege to be friends with an amazing number of them. Pray for ways to keep those friendships available and strategic.

*     The Night watch- for strength to keep pressing in. The night watch is key to a House of Prayer. We believe that the night belongs to the Lord and we are going to take it back. The main leaders of the night watch are Jake and Lacy Ferrell

* The Bennett’s - Pray for the health and well being of our family, our

 * Pray the 22 word Prayer 7 times daily _ Jesus, I plead your blood over my sins and the sins of my nation, God end abortion and send revival to America!

 Trips - guidance and direction concerning this year.