Why I came here
I moved to Kansas City three winters ago, just before my twenty-second birthday.  I had just graduated from Bethany College of Missions and felt like the next step in preparing for the mission field was to spend a season "set apart" in a focused way to seek the Lord, to deepen my prayer life, meditate on God's Word, and learn to "wait on the Lord."  A sort of modern-day monastic community centered around a 24/7 prayer room seemed like the perfect sort of place to do just that.

That's one side.  The other side is that I'm not really sure why I came to IHOP in particular.  To a certain extent our own path in life remains a little bit of mystery to us.  It sure feels like God was leading me here.  But why here?  I could have learned much of what I'm learning here in innumerable other places. But I am glad that I came, and for all that I've learned, and how I've grown in my relationship with the Lord.

If nothing else, I have learned and become convinced that Christ alone is my Great Reward.  Not my calling, not my successes, not my ministry, not my accomplishments in His name, not even His blessings-- but Jesus Himself.  For that revelation alone, my time here has been worth all the blood, sweat, and tears.