The pace has picked up for the summer at ZHOP. On June 16^th the first night watch internship “The Awakened” started. There are four interns that have set themselves to pray from midnight-6am six nights a week for three months. We believe that God wants to establish day and night prayer in Charlotte so the night watch is a very valuable part ZHOP

   On July 1^st a group of 25 fiery young people from all over the nation came to ZHOP to be a part of the Camp David youth internship. They will be in the prayer room for 4-6 hours a day to encounter God and minister to Him. We believe that we are to raise up a young generation to worship, pray, and prophesy. These young people will be at ZHOP for 3 and ½ weeks and the main priority for them is to encounter the Lord.

   The Cause USA and Bound4Life (www.bound4life.com) hosted a rumble from July 1^st-4^th here on the base. It was a busy 4 days as hundreds of people from all America came to intercede for our nation. We need God to move in our nation and establish righteousness and justice! On the last night of the conference, one of the bound4life staff members talked about South Dakota and the battle that is going on there for the ending of abortion. If we pray and abortion is ended in South Dakota it could turn the whole nation around! One of the other topics spoken about at the conference was the need for adoption. When abortion ends there will be a need for families to adopt the thousands of children that would’ve been aborted daily, the spirit of adoption needs to fall on the hearts of the bride of Christ. We also prayed and sent out a group from the Cause called “red riders” who will be traveling across America this summer. Their vision is to “carry unending worship and intercession across America - pleading the blood of Jesus over the gate of every state and contending for a wave of repentance and revival from the East coast to the West.” For more information on the red riders and what cities they will be going to go to www.redriders.org.

   On July 5^th-26^th we are entering a 21 day season of fasting and prayer that we’re calling “The Call to the Wilderness” a sacred gathering. The fast is based around Joel 2. There are 5 prayer points for the fast:

1.    Turn to God with all of our hearts(Joel 2:12, Leviticus 19:4, 1 Kings 18:36-37, Malachi 4:5-6, Luke 1:17, Acts 3:19)

2.    Sparing of the people(Joel 2:1, Joel 2:17, Joel 2:14, Psalm 90:13-14, 2 Chronicles 14:7, Esther  4:14)

3.    Open Heavens(John 1:50-51, Genesis 2:10-22, Ps 90:17, John 14:12-14, Deuteronomy  28:23-24, 1 Kings 8:10-11)

4.    Outpouring of the Spirit(Joel 2:28, Acts 2, Acts 4:29, Ephesians 1:17-19, Luke 24:49, John 20:22)

5.    Radical New breed of believer(Psalm 14:5, Isaiah 5:26-30, Romans 10:1, Psalm 90:16, Malachi 3:16-18, Revelation 5:10)

 For more information on the fast please see the events section below. To listen to teachings on Joel 2 that will give a foundation to why we are doing the fast go to http://zhop.org/resources.html.

Update from Kirk

We are in a 21 day fast that the Lord called us to. We call it ‘The Call to the Wilderness’.

We’re contending for the Open Heavens and a breakthrough, it is a Joel 2 decree that God gave us. I believe that something devastating is coming to the US in the next months to a year and we can’t see it fully. There are a lot of rumors of ‘wars’ but something really serious is about to break. I would urge the body of Christ to fast in this hour. We trust God for things we’ve not yet seen.

We have 50 staff right now that are full-time missionaries, 25 teen interns for 3 weeks in Camp David, 4 night-watch interns, making our nightly night watch about 10-15 people, we have about 20 day watch interns beginning in August. We’ve been open since Jan 2^nd 06 and have seen a lot of guests and visitors. We are joyful, exhausted, glad, mad, and sad, everything that it takes emotionally to pioneer a work. God is very faithful and continues to prove himself as an 11^th hour God. We are doing 2 Encountering God Services every Wednesday and Saturday; the teachings are on our resources page for free at www.ZHOP.org .

I just started a Zadok School of the Priests class with my daughter Katie playing with her team for 2 hours last night. That goes from 7-10:30 on every Friday night for a year from 7/7/06 to roughly 7/7/07.

I continue to travel once a month (except the first 4 months of 06 [laying foundations for ZHOP]) and the fast in July) and I find that God meets us every time on these trips. I will be teaching in Salem, Oregon in August and Germany for a conference on the priesthood in September, we hope to visit Hernhutt on our Germany trip.

Housing and funds are always a challenge but God has brought opportunity as well. ZHOP has 12 large new homes being built right across the street in a housing development that will probably have 20-30 staff houses in it before it is completed. God touched a man to create the Zadok Homes INC and build the first ten homes. Wow! Now we just have to see the funds come to pay monthly for them. Pray for us in this area. Same God who gave the vision is the God who will provide.  

Hope you guys keep contending. God is truly about to move in our land.                                                                                                                                                                                                    Much Love in Christ,                   

Kirk Bennett

Internships

On June 16^th the first track of the night watch internship called “The Awakened” started. Here is an update on the internship from it’s director Jacob Ferrell:

“In mid-June we received 4 interns into the Awakened internship  (night watch 12am-6am).  These four remarkable young adults have set themselves before the Lord for the next 3 months pursuing the reality of His presence.  Within a few weeks of arriving they have jumped head first into the house of prayer.  They sit before the Lord in meditation for 4hrs a night and are involved with one of the worship teams for 2 hrs a night, six days a week.  The schedule is intense, but they are pressing in with abandonment.  They, like all of us, have encountered their weakness but are learning how to run into God's heart for them.  In short they are at the beginning of a life long journey of intimacy with the Lord.  Little by little and day by day, as they minister to the Lord, their hearts are being awakened in love for Jesus.”

For more information on The Awakened internship and the dates for Track 2 please visit www.zhop.org/internships.html.

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 John 6:35-36:“And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.”

Here is some insight from one of the Awakened interns Matt Welch:

“Recently I have been meditating on John 6:[35-]36 on how the words of Christ are "spirit and life."  God is showing me that His voice is powerful.  And this power He created the earth and everything in it.  And in His awesome power, He always speaks in perfect love.  This love is the reason for my life.  God delights to put His Spirit in us and I am seeing that only His Word satisfies and builds us up.”

 Trips

 On June 8th-10^th a worship team from 7thunders/ZHOP went to Nashville, Tennessee to be a part of a conference being held by Pure Life Revolution. Pure Life Revolution was doing a 21 day prayer siege outside Hustler Hollywood in Nashville. They stood with blindfolds over their eyes that said PURE on them and prayed for purity for the church (www.pureliferevolution.net). Here is a report from the trip by one of the team members Ben Greutman:

We had a powerful time of worship in Nashville. Katie was joined by Jordan Johnson her old associate worship leader from IHOP-KC to lead worship for one of the night sessions of the conference. Corey Russell spoke at the conference that night about the knowledge of God and how activism without intimacy is pointless. If you don’t have the heart of the Lord for something then why do it? Activism comes out of a place of intimacy with the Lord.

Upcoming Trips:

August 31-September 2 – Salem, OR

September 26- October 6 – Südwerk Bürgerzentrum in Germany

October 20-24 – Fort Wayne, IN/Elkhart, IN

November 3-4 – Council Bluffs, IA

Events

 CALL TO THE WILDERNESS

THE AWAKENED INTERNSHIP

Who: Those ages 18-25

When: 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.

 * 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!

* For the Cause USA (http://www.redriders.org/) as they travel across the country in July and August. Pray for safety and guidance.

* For the 25 Camp David interns that are here for the Camp David Internship during the month of July.