Samuel's Blog

Recently, Allison was interviewed by fellow IHOP-KC missionary Nathan Wood for the IHOP-KC blog.  Check it out below or go to www.ihop.org and look at the blog for pictures and other cool stuff.

April 21st, 2010 by nathanwood

Nate: How did you come to the Lord? What is your testimony?

Allison: I was raised in a godly home with godly parents who testified to the truth and reality of Jesus throughout my life. However, when I was eighteen, I left home and went on a Grateful Dead tour. For the next few years I was caught up in a nomadic lifestyle, traveling all over the country.

Nate: What do you mean when you say nomadic?

Allison: I lived out of vans, in makeshift camps, and in woods all around the world. I lived in parks in the middle of cities.

Nate: So, you were a hippie?

Allison: Yes, I was a hippie. I became heavily involved in drugs, drinking, sexual promiscuity, and all the things that go with that. I was trying to find a community. I was very lost, very deceived, and it was all so empty. When I finally returned to the Lord, I was 26 years old.

Nate: At what point did you just realize that it was an empty lifestyle and not what you thought it was?

Allison: I think because of my upbringing, I always knew it was wrong. I always believed in God, but was furiously running from Him. I think that very early on in that lifestyle I knew I was chasing something that could never satisfy me.

Nate: So you had a little nugget of truth, in the back of your mind, always bothering you?

Allison: Yeah, that truth was always in the back of my mind, and my parents were intercessors, constantly praying for me. I was caught in the crossfire of God’s love. I constantly felt guilty, but I would try to medicate that guilt with other things.

Nate: At what point did you realize you couldn’t run anymore; what was the turning point in your heart or in your mind that pushed you to return to God?

Allison: It started in April 1996. I was a heroin addict, and I woke up one morning on the floor in an abandoned trailer in the middle of the Oregon woods. I had a moment of clarity. I looked around me, and there was no one near. I was sober, and I realized that I was dirty (I hadn’t had a bath in weeks), that I was broke, and that I was lonely. There was no one around me that had true affection for me. Anyone that I was with would have thrown me out of a window to get a fix. I felt the Lord speak to me. He began to say, “I have more than this for you.“ I was twenty-six years old. I was a smart girl, yet my life was a constant downward spiral. So I did what any normal person would do. I hitchhiked to a pay phone, called my mom, and said, “Help me!” It took me about two months to get back to Alabama, but I had a radical, supernatural deliverance from my heroin addiction in one day. I was completely delivered, without any side effects. That should not have been possible. So, even before my salvation, the Lord touched me and healed me. I actually didn’t end up getting saved for another two years. I was fighting the truth because of my desire to live life on my own terms. The Lord was drawing me, mostly through the testimony of my parents’ love and through His kindness in bringing me back. One night, I was waiting tables at a bar and somebody gave me a Bible. Later, I picked up a six-pack of beer, read Romans, and turned to the Lord.

Nate: Did you meet your husband Samuel while you were in Alabama?

Allison: Yes, I met Samuel in late October 1998, and I met the Lord about three months later in January 1999. Samuel had a huge part in bringing me to the Lord. He was obsessed with the man Jesus, and he constantly talked about Him. He stirred up all these things from my childhood—memories of the love of God and the unveiling of the Savior. We would dialogue about Jesus for hours. So when I got saved, Samuel was ready to go there with me.

Nate: How did you hear about the house of prayer? When did you come to the International House of Prayer?

Allison: We got married in 1999 and moved to North Florida, where our love for the Lord grew strong. We were involved in ministry, and we met some people who had been tracking with Mike Bickle’s teachings. As we learned about the forerunner ministry, it confirmed some words of knowledge that had been spoken over Samuel. He was at the Passion for Jesus conference in 1997, when Mike laid out the initial plans for IHOP–KC. He was hitchhiking through town when a woman told him, “If you come to this conference, I’ll pay for your dinner and I’ll get you and your friend a hotel room.” He wasn’t even there to go to the conference—he was a hippie looking for a free ride and some food. Later on, we established a house of prayer in Florida. Within that time period, we went to IHOP–KC’s onething conference in Atlanta in 2003. We moved to Kansas City in 2006 after the Lord made it very clear to us.

Nate: Tell us about what do you do here. What does the Lord have you doing in ministry?

Allison: Besides serving in the prayer room as an intercessor, my primary service is working with the Children’s Equipping Center, specifically, with a prayer room intensive for 8–12-year-olds in the Samuel Company. We minister to about 150 kids.

Nate: There are 150 kids?

Allison: Technically there are 130, but we have a lot of visitors each week. Our goal at the Samuel Company is to teach kids how to do what we as forerunners do: to build a house of prayer and to commit to a lifestyle of prayer and fasting. Of course, with children, fasting is never about food. But we do talk about making choices. With our kids, fasting means that they might choose to fast computer games or candy, but they don’t fast meals. We encourage them to love God with all their strength. We also teach them practical tools for the prayer room. Kids sometimes come in and don’t know how to pray. They don’t know how to pray from the Word, so we help them with it. We bring all 150 kids into the prayer room at one time, and the very atmosphere changes when they walk in. There’s electricity with these kids. People are seeing them worship with their hands raised and praying with their whole hearts to the Lord. It’s a very powerful experience.

Nate: I love that. There is nothing better than training the next generation in the things of God. So what’s it like to have your whole family here? What are the challenges and rewards of having your whole family involved?

Allison: Originally, Samuel and I had decided that we would do give our lives to God in the prayer room and through the forerunner ministry. After a couple of months, we realized that it wasn’t just about us, but that we were supposed to take our kids with us. In the prayer room, our kids were laying hands on people, and one of our sons was prophesying and just really getting involved. We homeschool our boys, so they get a regular education, but we really love watching them grow in the things of God when they go to the prayer room. We are a family of intercessory missionaries. It’s very rewarding as a mother to watch my kids grab onto the truth of the love and affection that God has for them. They are walking in the strength of that truth.

We have won if they understand the truth of God’s love. Knowing that they are running the race with comrades their own age is good too. They are challenging and provoking their friends and each other to learn Scripture and to pray. My kids were on a forty-day video game fast, and I could hear them encouraging their friends: “We haven’t played a video game in twenty-one days!”

The challenges are in living regular life. The prayer room is a place that my kids like to go, but there are days that they don’t want to pray. Then it’s time to encourage them. Sometimes I just want to check out of the prayer room, go outside, and pick flowers, but the Lord has called us to this lifestyle. It can be challenging to make sure that our kids don’t burn out, but at the end of the day they are strengthened in the things of God.

We made it!! Yes!! We made it and I CAN believe it, even though i am inclined to say the phrase “I can’t believe it”. But, in reality, I can. Why? Because I have a promise! The promise is Isaiah 54:13 “All your sons will be taught by the Lord, and great will be your children’s peace”. So, I knew I would make it to 2010 and that my son’s would be raised all of their days in the House of Prayer. Psalm 132:2-5 says “Surely I will not go into chamber of my house or go up to the comfort of my bed;I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids. until I find a place for the Lord, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob”. This was King David’s vow to the Lord! In verse 1 it says David “vowed” to the Mighty One of Jacob. This is a radical reality even today on planet earth; that there are people alive who would make a vow to the Lord like this. That people would make a vow to Jesus simply because He is worthy and worth it.
I remember a conversation I had one time with a “critic” of the House of Prayer. He was debating me on all the reasons why 24/7 prayer was, in his opinion, “not scriptural” , even though I gave him many scriptures to support the “argument” for the House of Prayer. Looking back upon that conversation there is one very important thing that I should have said. There is one very major piece of information that I left out, in fact, it is the most important piece of all. It is that simple fact that Jesus is worthy!! He is worthy of people gathering in a little room 24 hours a day 7 days a week and giving Him adoration. He is worthy of someone giving their entire life to Him in this way. That someone would say, would “vow”, to the Lord that this is their occupation, just as King David did, and give themselves to non-stop adoration of Jesus, simply because He is worthy of it. Now this is something to be a part of.
But what  about the Great Commission? Well, I promise you, it is IMPOSSIBLE to do 24/7 prayer, worshipping the Lord in absolute adoration and NOT FULFILL the Great Commission. In fact, it will be fulfilled all the more. If you get close to the flame of love that is Jesus Christ and the flame get’s in you then everyone who you come in contact with will be impacted with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They have to!
So, back to my son’s and 2010 and all that stuff. Yes, we made it! Yes, Elijah is 9 and Silas is 6 and Allison and I have been married 10 years and we have been @ IHOP-KC 3 years and my children are in the House of Prayer as a lifestyle and the scripture is true and 24/7 prayer is on God’s “To Do” list in the Nations of the earth….and and and and …

So… Go for it! He is worthy of it!

Big House

….that is, if the Lord called us there. And it’s not because of this castle either.  Though, we did get to go inside this very castle(which was originally built in 1250)and tour about 20 rooms of priceless art, furniture, war artifacts and other stuff, we even got to go up in that tall tower in the middle of the picture. It was pretty amazing. But, even though this castle was amazing and the many other cool places we got to go were awesome, nothing compares to the ministry that took place and the Glory that Jesus gets from the saints of the church in Germany.

We did meetings every night except Thursday and had an awesome time ministering to and with the people there. Our main teaching focus was on living a life of one thing (Psalm 27:4) and operating in the forerunner lifestyle and we built new relationships with some of the pastors and leaders that are wanting to build prayer ministries in their churches, homes and businesses.  One of the coolest meetings was  in my friend Peter’s auto shop (and the place is set up like, well, an auto shop) and the glory of God was thick in the room as we prayed for people, prophesied and ministered the word of God.

So, the missions trip was a success and we cannot wait to go back and see the German crew.

Well, we arrived safely in Frankfurt. Leaving KC @ 11am on a Saturday and arriving in Frankfurt at 7:30 am THE NEXT DAY is not much fun but over all it went well. Eli did not sleep a wink on the plane and Silas fell asleep 2 hours before landing in Europe, this makes for 2 cranky Moseley boys I assure you.

We were picked up by Matthias Kalder, my German Pastor friend who is hosting us, and we drove about 1o0 kilometers North of Frankfurt to a small town called Marburg. Matthias lives in Marburg with his wife, Dagmar, and son, Sebastian and they are church leaders in the region here.  It seems there are about 12-15 churches associated with their ministry and while we are here we will visit 3 of them as well as meeting with some leaders from other ministries in the area that are interested in starting a prayer network.  So, we are excited to be able to speak int o the church of  Germany and also excited in seeing what the Lord will do while we are here.

Please pray for many to get saved and come to the knowledge of jesus in the meetings and for the Word of the lord to run swiftly in Germany.  More to come later….

This my friends, is a VW Vanagon Syncro !!!

I do try, at least somewhat, during the day to update the blog and post about happenings in my life and at IHOP. BUT honestly, I find it hard to remember. So this is where the chips fall and all I can do is move forward and try again post to this “thing”. It is like some crazy beast, the world of blogging that is. If you do not have up to the date “news” or information most likely people will not read your blog, website or whatever on a consistent basis. We live in a time when information must be fresh or people do not even take the time to type in the web address. It is actually kinda interesting to think about. It’s like this: we have become so “up to the second” in the world of the internet that those of us who fail to provide the people with new information simply lose our influence. I mean, it is my fault though. I could search and type and post and do all that, but in reality it is just not me. I am a simple man… ahem…nevermind.
So, the blog. What is new? Well, Samuel Company is winding down in just 2 more weeks. Yes, on November 10th we will have our last evening of crazy(awesome)8-12 year olds. That night would be the night to come because those that memorized Revelation 4 and 5 will have a chance at recital and the grand prize will be revealed. No, I cannot tell you what it is. Then we leave for Germany on November 14th. Then I leave for Korea on December 7th. Then the one thing Kansas City New Years conference is December 28th-31st. EXCITING STUFF!

So, until next time when I might or might not fail to post to this beast, take care…

“Dad, can we play in the hose”? “Sure”. So it goes, little boys, a hose, a nice day and mud. Every little boy (and some adults like me) that plays in a hose are bound to see what happens when you point the sprayer real close to the ground and pull the trigger. It is so fun!! The water pressure digs into the ground and begins erupting back out towards you….thus, mud is sprayed in your face and, well, all over you. So, here are a few  photos of the boys for you to enjoy.

No, I did not name it bu Allison and I are directing it. Actually, I am not sure who named it but I know that God called Samuel at a young age so we are calling forth young “Samuels” in this day too. Yes, I have heard the phrase “Wow, you named a company after yourself” …among other. We will see who gets the last laugh.

So, The Samuel Company. It is an “intensive” for 8-12 year olds at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. We focus on the 4 fold mandate of intimacy, end times, Justice, and intercession in thecontext of day and night prayer. We eat, pray, play, study, teach, listen to teaching, pray some more….you get the picture.

Read about it here:
Samuel Company

The past 5 days i have: canoed about 5 miles on a river…twice, caught 47 or more fish, swam, painted war stripes on myself with mud, body slammed Eli and Silas in the water (their war stripes washed off), taught on 24/7 prayer to missionaries from… around the world, slept about 10 hours, purchased school supplies for E and S, left a sack of fish carcasses on Nate Wood’s doorstep. Let me expound on the sack of fish carcasses a little more. We went fishing and caught (and kept) a bunch of fish because Nate wanted to have a fish fry BUT he did not want to clean any of the fish. I agreed to clean the fish if he would cook them so we had a deal. The night we got home from fishing i cleaned fish in my backyard until dark but did not have time to clean them all. The next day I gave Nate a nice big bag of fillets and asked him to take the rest of the fish and either give them away or clean them (or something) but he would not take them and I was not going to have time to deal with them. Soooo, the story goes that Buzz caught on to what was happening and said “I will clean the fish” , which he did. So when I got home from IHOP about 7 pm on Monday night the bag of fish carcasses was in my back yard waiting to be thrown away. I waited until dark then took the bag (now stinking) to Nate’s house and left it on his doorstep, then I knocked real loud on his door and ran and jumped in the car and sped away. Juvenile i know, but it sure was fun.
Here it is Friday afternoon and another prayer meeting. Maybe this week will be as crazy as last week…who knows?