Wednesday, March 4

Saints Rumbling in Prayer for California

There is something beautiful about saints gathered to pray. Saints humble and at peace, ready to intercede because they know they will be heard.

Tonight there is an army of saints in the prayer room, as every Wednesday night we focus on praying for California. Many are young here but eager to race forth with the promises and truth of God’s word written to be current day prayers we beckon again and again before the Lord with Hope, Faith and Love.

California, you are not alone. Christians in California, you are not lost in the blur of your State’s wickedness. But indeed He sees you; He loves you, so much that He would gather hundreds of faceless young and old saints to stand on your behalf.

They’re praying for rain. They’re praying for glory to fall. They’re praying for salvation to sweep through the streets just as refreshing waves hit your shores all day long. Things are shifting, things are breaking, things are happening in the Spirit in California. Our prayers are with your own.

California—God sees you, loves you and is calling you forth to be a glorious Golden State of His Righteousness.

Wednesday, January 21

16,000 young adults, 20 guests, 2 conferences, 1 house for Christmas!

What a holiday it's been!

It was our first Christmas as a married couple – and we had family, old friends & some very new friends fly in from across the country to spend the holiday with us (and of course attend the onething08 young adult conference :). I think we had nearly 20 people (including parents & in-laws) packed into our new, not-so-large, 3-bedroom home for 2 weeks! It was the beginning of the Lam-ily Bed & Breakfast! But we were SO grateful for the opportunity to be a blessing with our new house that the Lord has so miraculously provided for us!

Most of our guests were student leaders on their college campus who had planned to come out to attend the onething08 conference as well as our Luke18 Leadership Summit. The onething08 conference had over 16,000 young adults from across the globe in attendance being challenged by the messages of intimacy with Jesus, the lifestyle of prayer & fasting, and the message of the forerunner – and people left stirred and provoked to go deeper in the Word and to grow in the knowledge of God. And about 500 key leaders of prayer furnaces on their college campuses and of their cities stayed for our Luke18 Leadership Summit – it was a powerful time of exhortation, encouragement, and equipping by Lou Engle, Bob Sorge, Mike Bickle and others for leaders who are laboring to pioneer a context of sustained prayer in their region. People left with awakened zeal, a new burden, and renewed vision to see a "house of prayer for all nations" (Isaiah 56:7) that would contend in prayer "day and night for God's speedy justice" (Luke 18:1,7-8) on their college campuses and in their cities. It was so powerful!

And so it was — our first Christmas married, breaking in our new house, hosting a myriad of family & friends, serving a conference & coordinating a summit, and remembering our beloved King Jesus who gave His life to give us life. Thank You.

-thai-

16,000 young adults in ardent worship & prayer...

Mike Bickle & Lou Engle leading onething08

encountering Jesus...

A generation of young people going hard after God.

Tuesday, December 9

Thanksgiving Thanks! (A bit belated!)

November was quite a big month for us Lams... :o)

It all began with an incredible trip to San Diego, California. It was so surreal to be back in our homeland. A little south of our hometowns in the San Francisco Bay, but California nevertheless! About 33,000 gathered for the Call San Diego, to pray for the State, coming elections, and prop 8.

Every time I took a break from my meeting with students and parents at the Luke18 Project booth, my heart was gripped by the beauty of God’s presence in the stadium as people prayed. Even now, reflecting on it a month later, I am still touched to tears by the memory of it. I am so glad God invites us to pray and participate in the expression of His love and longing for a people, especially California.

After coming home, resting and acclimating to the prayer room from the trip, so much of Kansas City just felt right. My heart knew this was the place we are supposed to be as intercessory missionaries giving our days and nights to prayer and serving Luke18 Campus Prayer Movement. It was fitting that everything came together, quickly for the purchasing of our first home!


Excited and full of gratefulness, we moved into our new house over Thanksgiving week! WOW! The house is about 7 minutes from IHOP and about 5 minutes from our old apartment—which made the move gracefully smooth!

By Wednesday night of Thanksgiving week, we already had guests over for Thanksgiving dinner! It was a joyful night, with so much diversity! We had southern pecan pie, a lemon-lime turkey, Amish style cranberry sauce, the best green bean casserole I’ve ever tasted, and Thai’s infamous yams. It was awesome—hectic with so many cooks in a new kitchen—but so much fun.

Another eventful day in November came on the 22nd--my 30th birthday! Thai orchestrated a day full of adventure, from Cheetah sightings at the Kansas City Zoo, to athletic challenges like ice skating. He coordinated (quite skillfully) a surprise dinner, and then a surprise after party! It was a really wonderful day!

As November was a month of events and activity, our hearts were so grateful for all that God has done in the past year. So many of you, our readers, intercessors & supporters, make it possible for us to labor as intercessory missionaries helping to lead the Luke18 Project at the International House of Prayer. We are so grateful for you, and each of you are truly a gift of God to us as you partner with us in our ministry and our prayers are with you!

We pray your Thanksgiving was one of deep joy and gratitude, and hope for new blessings and revelations of Christ as we draw near to Christmas!

-angela-

Wednesday, November 5

"A Great and Terrible Day..."

I may not have been the only one overwhelmed by emotion as the Tuesday polls announced our new President Elect to be Barack Obama — what a shocking and stunning moment.

That day, I maneuvered as much of my schedule to be in the prayer room for every time of intercession for the elections. And I wasn't alone: the 800-capacity room was utterly full the entire day. During our prayer meeting before the polls closed, no seat was empty, no mouth was closed, no heart was lingering... we were all fully engaged like a desperate company waging supernatural war for life and righteousness as we prayed for leaders and legislation that stood for the protection of the unborn and for the preservation of marriage being between one man and one woman.

Exhausted and worn, we trickled home continuing to pray as we waited to see the results. And as the electoral count surfaced and the picture became clear, who was elected was not who we'd hoped for...

The morning after the elections, as we all returned to the prayer room, Mike Bickle & Allen Hood, leaders at the International House of Prayer, commentated on what a "great and terrible day" it was for America — as America momentously elected the first African-American to the highest office of our nation (who not too long ago segregated "black" & "white") but at the same time overwhelmingly voting for "change" further away from the protection of the unborn and marriage.

We want to invite you to take 20 minutes to listen to a clip of this exhortation... we were both stirred to pray and intercede for our new President Elect, the young people of America, and for our nation as we are in the midst of moral decay. May we not be bystanders paralyzed by apathy and preoccupation...

Jesus, would You fill Barrack Obama with the knowledge of Your will in all spiritual wisdom & understanding and that he might walk in a manner worthy of You, pleasing You in every respects.
(Colossians 1:9-10)

Sunday, November 2

The Call California: Standing in the Gap

33,000 people gathered at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, CA for 12 hours of prayer & fasting for the 2008 elections, the protection of the unborn, the preservation of marriage, the state of California, and the future of America: "Jesus, we plead your blood over our sins and the sins of our nation. God, end abortion and send revival to America."

Lou Engle calling the nation to prayer...

"Return to Me with all your hearts..." (Joel 2:12)

Mike Bickle & James Dobson standing in prayer together for our nation.

"God have mercy on us..."

Jaeson Ma challenging the youth of America to live recklessly abandoned...

"Rend your hearts & not your garments..." (Joel 2:13)

Sean Feucht leading us into extravagant worship of our King...

"Consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, gather the peoples" (Joel 2)

Friday, October 17

A New Fall Approaches...

This morning I woke up to orange light shimmering through the blinds. Having never seen that before, and hearing a rustling through the window, I curiously got out of bed early. As I peaked out, I found a beautiful misty morning reflecting the early light off the orange and yellow trees outside. What a wonderful way to be greeted by Fall.

Another beauty of Fall is the beginning of semesters and students heading back into their schools with a clean slate ahead of them. What was unusual for Thai and I was that this fall also held a blank slate for us as we entered into a new season with the Luke18 Project.

I was excited as the season started off strong at KU and UMKC, so many things we've written in past blogs were gifts confirming God's loving intention to awaken His campuses to prayer and the adventure of seeking Him first and solely.

As Directors of Luke18's Campus Prayer Movement, we joined our field staff, Joma Okwambua and Katie VanDerwerf, this month in Minnesota. Graciously, God has given us a huge burden for prayer on university campuses, and yet we are still wrapping our minds around how to effectively pioneer campus prayer movements. But I was overwhelmed at how much my heart tapped into His as we spent time in the Twin Cities and learned more of His heart for prayer in that specific region.

We witnessed the open doors and invitations that Joma and Katie have been given to see prayer unite the region. Students would just pop up in Katie's path, asking her for help to get prayer initiated on their campuses. Favor would go before Joma as she stepped back onto her alma mater, North Central University, from students to the president of the university. We grew more and more excited as we sat in a round table with student leaders from 3 major universities, North Central, Bethel, Northwestern Universities, who wanted to lock arms in prayer, together.

I was excited, until our last night in town, when we showed up to a regional prayer meeting Katie and Joma planned. It was set to be at Northwestern, in one of their new prayer rooms decorated by the students themselves. Expectations were set that maybe 10 students would show, maybe 20 if everyone who said yes, really came. But that night about 55 students packed into the room, worshiped for about an hour and then broke up into groups praying for their schools, I was caught in my own dismay and moved to tears.

I loved it and though we've met many people in the Twin Cities who talked about how difficult it was to develop unity between schools, races, and denominations, we were seeing it take place right before our eyes and it was beautiful.

I think I secretly thought, I wanna stay here! Until, quickly the Lord reminded me that His desire is to use our team to see this nationwide. And in that case, I wanna stay serving in my assignment at IHOP and continue to pray this into reality.

Will you join me, as the fall semester hits the mid point, to pray for a greater grace to encounter our students to seek Him first, seek Him solely and see Him move students all over the nation to gather in hunger and prayer!

-angela-

Tuesday, October 7

Week of 24/5 Prayer & National Coming Out Week @ U of Missouri—KC!

This week at the University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC), there is a tent set up in the middle of campus where students will be gathering around the clock to pray for UMKC. For 5 days this week, five ministries have each adopted 24 hours of prayer where students will take shifts around the clock in the prayer tent to believe God for spiritual awakening & revival on their campus.

But our prayer tent was not the only 24-hour tent to be found on the UMKC quad... an LGBT student group, Queers & Allies, had also rented & set up a 24-hour tent on the quad for the National Coming Out Week where students are encourged to "come out of the closet" about their homosexuality. What an interesting "coincidence": two 24-hour tents, one for godly prayer and the other for gay pride, to be set up across from each other on the same week on the same campus!

So last night, Angela & I were hosting an evening shift at the prayer tent. We were struck by the strange reality of us sitting in a prayer tent at UMKC across from a gay pride tent. We didn't know what to make of it, but we knew that if we were there, we were going to pray... So pray we did that God would break into the homosexual community at UMKC with His love and that revival on campus would start there. Next thing we know, a young lady walks across the quad from the gay pride tent to our prayer tent! In the next half hour, she starts opening up her heart and sharing about the challenges of her life. We end up getting to share the Gospel with her and praying for her. It was SO powerful!

And this was just the first night too. I believe what God is doing at UMKC this week is going to become a normal reality in Christian communities on college campuses — where prayer becomes the paramount priority of all ministry and where prayer is no longer just a "good idea" but a critical necessity. Please continue to pray for UMKC, this week of 24/5 prayer, and the homosexual community that we've had the privilege of reaching out to.

Co-laboring with you,
-thai & angela-