Seth Hedman

(Note: this post was written several months ago after the release of the Rolling Stone article "Love and Death in the House of Prayer." I hesitated to publish it then but am publishing it now that time is passed and I feel good about it. Understand it is coming from a place of love for both IHOP and the Church, desiring "to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God's Son.") I have spent a lot of time at the House of Prayer lately.  Not the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City, which has been doing 24/7 prayer and worship since 1999, but the local off shoot here in Des Moines.  IHOP Iowa (IHOPIA, which is almost just as long as far as abbreviations go) is open 4 hours a day during the week and features live musicians occasionally, but mostly plays a live feed of the IHOPKC worship room.  Lately, I have been spending 1-2 hours there a day and playing guitar once a week.  There a lot of thing...

[ update] I am encouraged by pictures and reports coming out of Ferguson tonight.  From the reports I read, the Governor called off local police and instead sent in state highway patrol troopers who, in civility and without riot gear, joined their fellow citizens to peacefully march and protest.  This is a victory for freedom and an answer to prayer.  Now let's pray that other officers and prosecutors will do their job well and gather the evidence for seeing that justice is done. [ original story ] When the small St. Louis community of Ferguson witnessed the death of an young black man at the hands of the police, it is appropriate to respond like this to such a tragedy:

Our parents spent 18 years preparing us for the world. Now that we're on our own, we do what we want, often to our doom. Our early years in our parent's house were spent learning a lot of do's and don't, a lot of life lessons, and a lot of cliches we rolled our eyes at.  Usually our teenage years we feel like we are under the heavy boot of Big Brother and can't wait to get out the house. College, for many, is the first time we are on our own away from home and our parent's edicts, so we respond by basically complete rebellion against everything they've ever taught us.  Here's compelling proof that during College we do the exact opposite of what our parents told us to. 1)  "Don't make faces like that or it will get stuck" In an effort to rebel against our parent's ban on making faces, these girls have resorted to looking like aquatic birds for aesthetic reasons. The plus side is they're really good at eating spaghetti.  M...

“To pray is to descend with the mind into the heart, and [there ascend] to stand before the face of the Lord, ever present, all seeing, within you [and on the throne].” - Theophan the Recluse Growing up, most of us were told to pray before bed and before meals and we saw our preacher do it on Sundays, but we never put much thought into what it actually was.  At times we think of it as a check list and duty. Last Wednesday at InterVarsity, Ann gave a great definition of prayer to shake loose these misconceptions, that "prayer is conversation between two people in love, you and Jesus."  Like any conversation, if you don't know the person very well, it can be awkward.  But as you talk more and get comfortable, great friendships can form.  Many of us never get past small talk with God, having only brief awkward interactions followed by days or weeks of silence.  But if we want to get to know God, our Creator, our Abba Father, we must talk to Him. Without commun...