News & Updates.

The following report is from Rev. Fred Hartley, III after his recent trip to Senegal. Images are altered to protect identities. 

​Last week I had the privilege of serving alongside Pastor Gabriel S., our Regional Director for West & North Africa. I was part of a small team that included Bill Hyer and Suno Justus, and we were there to serve North African believers. We helped Pastor Gabriel facilitate a two day College of Prayer Module at his Regional Campus, teaching our Year 2 curriculum “Lord, as Families, Teach us to Pray.” Immediately following that, we helped Pastor Gabriel facilitate 2 days of establishing his Hub Campus (which mentors College of Prayer Campus leaders). God came at both gatherings. Allow me to share a few short stories.

1. One man who had come to Christ from another religious background a year ago, had been rejected by his wife and son. The man continued to love his wife and son, remain loyal to them, and send the majority of his limited income to help with their support. After much prayer, his wife responded to the love of Christ as demonstrated through her husband. After the first night of our meeting, she repented, asked his forgiveness, and professed faith in Jesus. Praise the Lord!

2. The foundational teaching of our Year 2 curriculum challenged the cultural standards and led the group in repentance. Husbands repented of treating their wives as less-than-human, and women seemed to blossom like flowers before our eyes. It was transformational and historic.

3. Perhaps the highlight of the entire trip were reports that were shared from virtually every country represented. Over the past 2 years, we have trained most of these same leaders to go home and establish upper rooms of prayer where they would receive the manifest presence of Christ and minister to His presence. Virtually every leader gave dramatic reports that since they began their upper room, God has radically changed the spiritual atmosphere in their region. Now, there are people coming to faith in Christ from the dominant religion in virtually every country and every region within the country where upper rooms have been built. 

4. Many shared painful experiences of being persecuted for their faith. At the same time, they shared dramatic miracles of God’s intervention.

• - One boy who came to Christ was threatened to be killed by his father. His dad went out to recruit his friends from the dominant religion to come and kill him. While he waited, locked in his room, he found himself instantly and miraculously transported to another location. Everyone knew immediately, including his own father, that God had worked a miracle to protect him.
• - One man was praying with his wife and family in their upper room when people from the dominant religion broke in and beat him mercilessly. They cracked open his skull. Blood was everywhere. He responded by praising the Lord and forgiving those who beat him. Within days, the atmosphere changed. Since then, many people from the dominant religion have come to faith in Jesus Christ. He has since had the privilege of baptizing many of them.

Thank you for praying for our trip. God is on the move in dramatic ways. It is obvious that missionaries on the ground in Senegal who have played a strategic part in bringing the College of Prayer to this region are the real heroes in this story. We are thankful to be able to serve them as they have given a lifetime of service to make this moment possible. 

Jon Mitchell recently returned from a trip to Sri Lanka and Nepal. He spent time at our Hub Campuses in these nations. He writes the following report:

Thanks to so many of you who interceded for me on my recent trip back to Nepal and Sri Lanka to continue mentoring and training College of Prayer leaders in these nations. It was a great encouragement for me to see how God is using us to strengthen, grow, and unify the Church in South Asia, and it’s always a blessing to minister alongside our leaders “on the ground” there who work so hard to coordinate, lead, and minister day-in and day-out. Here are a few testimonies:

“Before attending this College of Prayer I was empty. Now after the 3 days I'm completely filled.” - Nepalese Church Leader

“Last year [March 2018] I attended the College of Prayer and the teachings and experience I had were different than any other meetings I have ever had. I went and held the College of Prayer in my church and there are many changes that have happened in the church and we could see the growth in ministry afterwards.” - Sri Lankan Church Leader

“Thirty-two years now I have been ministering but I have never heard of the secret of the Lord's Prayer Pattern, especially the 7 rooms of prayer. It was a new revelation to me. I am thinking, ‘How could I waste 32 years of ministry without knowing this?’ The time we had of destroying the strongholds of satan I felt some strongholds in my mind that were hindering me. God healed me and gave me freedom from all those strongholds. Also, I felt the importance of ministering to the presence of God. Many times we minister for the Lord and we are proud of that, but ministering to the presence of God is very important.” - Sri Lankan Pastor

After several years of ministry in Brazil, we have officially launched our first Hub Campus in São Paulo. Approximately 35 key church leaders were mentored and trained for 3 full days and were empowered to go out and launch College of Prayer Regional Campuses throughout the country. The evening sessions were open to the public. Over the next few months 9 new Campuses will be launching from São Paulo to the southern part of the country. ​Key leaders part of this Hub Campus include Pastor Zé Frietas, our National Coordinator in Brazil, his wife Glaucia Frietas, and Beatrice Koopmann.

The annual gathering of the College of Prayer International, iGNITE, was held February 7-9 in Atlanta, GA. The theme this year was "Proclaim His Name!" It was the largest annual gathering we have ever had with church leaders from 15 nations were represented. The three days were filled with God-encountering worship, Spirit-led prayer times, powerful teaching, and life-giving fellowship. Here are a few of the testimonies we received:

"I have been healed. I felt the love and embrace of my beloved Father. Now I feel empowered to reach the nations (my workplace) and come in the name of the Lord."
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"As I go back, I will, lead with His name and proclaim His name. There is nothing the name of the Lord can't cover!"

"God gave a name [to me] in the 1st session. It confirmed my past ministry and present service. It has given encouragement and confirmation for my next steps of obedience."

"He restored my soul. He brought me back to center. Life drags us off the trail and leaves us parched, but worship fills us and renews us."

"He demonstrated just how much He loves me. He showed me that He directs my every step. He showed me that He will place/position me exactly where I need to be for Him to equip me for His will/plan/destiny for my life. He will equip/prepare me for Himself."

"Ignite helped me to see love and equality among all races."

"I definitely grew closer to [God] during this time. Every problem I had was mentioned through people who don't know me. God gave me the clarification I needed."

"This opened my heart more to call out His name in the beginning of my prayer and at the end of my prayer and to declare His Lordship of everything He has given me. The best thing He gave me was Him. That is why He will always be the Lord of my life."

"I came to iGNITE for the first time this year. I have to learn to pray, to trust and believe in Jesus. I came on Thursday in pain [in my arm]. That did not stop me from worshiping and so many brothers and sisters were praying for my healing. By the time service was almost over Friday, I was without pain. Today, I have no pain. Although the bone is not healed, I have no pain. I truly believe that God made a miracle."

Thank you for your prayers for the recent College of Prayer at our Tranqueras, Uruguay Campus that was held January 4-5! Here’s some highlights of what we saw God do:

• Pastoral couples and ministry leaders were so receptive to the teaching and very tender during times of response.
• It was a weekend of seeing God activate prayer among families as they were led in actually praying together. There is no way to estimate the kingdom impact that comes from agreement in prayer among families!
• College of Prayer leaders Jimbo and Timbrel Hull both taught. Jimbo taught on Death to Self, Alive to Love and Timbrel taught on Healing Wounds. We saw Jesus redeem many painful memories. It was a heavy morning on Saturday, but God ministered deeply to people. It hurts so much to relive those tragic moments, but God removed many stings of death that had landed so deeply in peoples hearts. The message on Death to Self paved the way to complete openness to God’s healing hand. 
• We continue to be amazed at how the host church for this College of Prayer Campus has been impacted as they ingest and apply what they have learned from College of Prayer to their already existing model of ministry/discipleship. Worship leaders knelt as they sang and shared testimonies about surrendering in worship first and enjoying God’s presence. Ministry leaders shared stories with Luis about how God has begun to speak through them, giving even shy leaders capacity to minister specifically to others with the prayers that God gave them 

We praise God for all He is doing through the College of Prayer both in Tranqueras and throughout Uruguay. 

The following report is from Rev. Luis Calderon, Regional Director for Latin America.

From the October 29-31 I was able to return to Guadalajara and teach the second module of the first year of our curriculum, "Lord, Teach Us to Pray!" Once again the Lord exchanged our ashes for His glory, our mourning for His oil of joy, and our anguished spirits for His mantle of joy. One of the sisters there gave her testimony of having been delivered of her mourning that had lasted for more than 30 years when her baby died. Another brother told us about the spiritual stronghold of fear that the enemy had placed in his mind. His grandfather and father had both died young, and this young man lived with fear that he also would die young. It was also glorious to see once again how the Lord renewed strength and healed wounds while ministering to pastors, their spouses, and other church leaders.

We were also able to establish a new Regional Campus in Mexico City, November 2-3, with participation from local pastors, church leaders, and missionaries from 3 denominations, representing at least 9 congregations. The most beautiful thing for me was to see 7 College of Prayer  facilitators, who had been trained in our Advanced Leadership Training back in May, teach and minister in 4 of the 6 lessons during the two day Module. Praise God for the way He reproduces spiritual fruit!

The following report is from Rev. Luis Calderon, Regional Director for Latin America.

From September 4-10 I had the enormous blessing of ministering to those of my nation, Honduras. Once again the Lord manifested His beautiful presence before a group of 120 pastors and church leaders who represented 20 congregations. Twelve of these churches have already launched College of Prayer campuses, and 8 of them expressed their desire to begin them in the coming months. I thank the Lord for giving me the privilege of completing the 3 years of our College of Prayer training there. It has been a great blessing to have visited my country for three years and to see how God has built and strengthened His church through the College of Prayer. 

The following report is from Pastor Ricardo Renteria who helped launch a College of Prayer Campus in Mexico City, MX, July 13-14.

What a blessing to have been part of the first College of Prayer Campus to launch in the Mexico City metropolitan area. This took place in Gethsemane Church of the Nazarene in Cuautitlan Izcalli. Over 80 pastors and church leaders attended the Module.

God’s manifest presence was there and the Holy Spirit worked in a very powerful way! Several people testified during the Sunday morning service of how God touched their lives and how blessed they were with everything that took place during the two-day Module. People were also challenged to seek God and His manifest presence and be filled with the Holy Spirit and hear His voice. 

I praise God that I was able to be part of the launch by leading worship and teaching in the church where I began my ministry many years ago. Praise God for the work He began here, and we pray that God will continue to work and touch the lives of churches in this region.

The following report is from Rev. Jimbo Hull, a missionary in Montevideo, Uruguay who participated on the team leading this launch.

Pastors and church leaders from 9 churches around Uruguay gathered in Tranqueras in the northern part of the country to launch the College of Prayer in its 60th country. This launch was an answer to 5 years of specific prayers for Uruguay to open. God’s timing, as usual, is always right. We praise God that Rev Luis Calderon (Regional Director for Latin America) was able to be here and God used him tremendously. During the weekend we saw hurting people enter into the Presence of God, and God’s love leading healing their pain.

There was major breakthrough for every pastor and church leader that attended. The mentoring, training, and equipping of pastors and church leaders to reach a lost world through a revived church is coming to fruition in Uruguay! The day following the College of Prayer Module, we attended a weekly church service and saw a pastor who had attended. He had encountered the manifest presence of Christ in high worship, deep repentance, forgiveness of sins, deliverance of strongholds, filling of the Holy Spirit, and was empowered to serve. There was a marked difference in the way he ministered to his church. We’ve been there in these churches many times before and that day was different. God’s manifest presence was there. The people attending the church service, most of whom were not a part of the College of Prayer Module, were lead to a fresh encounter with Christ and it was beautiful. Almost every one of the nearly 400 people in the church service were at the altar weeping before the Lord, receiving His love, for about a third of the service time. There was a marked difference because that pastor had attended the College of Prayer and his life was transformed in the presence of Christ, and now he was leading his people into the presence of Christ. Glory to God!

The following report is from Pastor Ricardo Rinteria, who participated on the team leading this launch.

On May 15-17 a new College of Prayer Campus was launched in Guadalajara. For 3 days we gathered at Iglesia Alianza Cristiana Príncipe de Paz, which is on the top floor of a building. It is literally an “Upper Room" and God showed up in that Upper Room! Our team, led by Rev. Luis Calderon (Regional Director for Latin America), along with a group of more than 7 churches represented, experienced a fresh encounter with God. Here are some highlights:

• During the mornings we held a College of Prayer Advanced Leadership Training (ALT) with a group of about 20 church leaders. We had great times of worship and teaching from Luis and Pastor Joshua Bencomo from El Paso, TX. All the people at the ALT experienced God in powerful ways. We felt God’s manifest presence and His Holy Spirit working in our hearts as we were there. Each of those attending were empowered to launch new College of Prayer Campuses. There were 8 commitments made to start College of Prayer Campuses around Guadalajara and Mexico City, some as early as July! Praise the Lord!
  
• In the evenings we had the Campus launch with Module 1, Lord, Teach us to Pray! More than 100 people gathered to worship and learn about prayer. 
  
• God manifested Himself in powerful ways: people repented, there were reconciliations in families, healings, a time of hearing God’s voice, worship,  and intercession. God’s Spirit was moving and touching the lives of everyone there!
  
• The last night concluded with teens being prayed over, and then they prayed for healing for the adults! Pastor Luis said, “These teens aren’t the future of the church, they are the PRESENT!” God used these teens to lift up others in prayer. There was also a time to pray for pastors, missionaries, and other church leaders. Attendees came beside them and lifted their arms like Aaron and Hur did for Moses. This was very meaningful for both pastors and the church. 

On a personal note, I felt privileged to lead worship during these times. I thank and praise God for giving me this wonderful opportunity. Praise God for what He started here in Guadalajara! It’s exciting to know that He will continue the work here and soon in Mexico City! Mexico belongs to Jesus Christ! Hallelujah!