NEWS from the Marcum Family!

- September 2013 -

IN THIS ISSUE…..

IHOP Internship Comes to an End! (what’s next?)

Report from Ministry Trip to Central Illinois

Family News

Standing for Life and the Ending of Abortion

Final Words…

We’re graduates! IHOPKC Internship Comes to an End

Hello Dear Friends & Loved Ones,

It’s with great joy we’re sending out our September newsletter, howbeit a little late. We’ve been so busy as

interns on the Missions Base, but as of this weekend we’ve officially graduated from Track One. Yahoo!

Fifty hours a week for 12 weeks = 600 hours of training – whew! But what a transforming time we’ve had

this summer as we have been allowing God to prepare us for the next season He’s bringing us into.

We have had around 150 hours of classroom training (the rest of our time was in the prayer room, attending

small group meetings and weekend services, and doing service assignments ushering, driving shuttles, etc).

Our classes have included The Book of Revelation, The Sermon on the Mount, The Lord’s Prayer,

Introduction to Song of Solomon, The Apostolic Prayers of the New Testament, The Importance of Israel,

Tools for the Prayer Room, Meditation on the Word and Fasting, and Intro to the Harp & Bowl Model.

As we said in our last newsletter, we were a part of two “life groups” – small groups which meet weekly for

sharing, fellowship, and praying for one another. Our Simeon Life Group met Wednesdays for lunch, and

we really did grow close to one another. I ended up playing guitar and leading the group in worship each

week, and another brother played harmonica & flute. A couple weeks we had a piano too. The worship

times were very sweet, and the presence of the Lord was often really strong. One time in particular, we

worshiped again at the end of the meeting after one of the ladies gave a really moving testimony, and a spirit

of joy broke out! There were several of us (all older saints, if I may say so) who were just dancing about the

living room, laughing and singing loudly with joy! Wow, it was fun!

We were also part of an evening Life Group where we met with one of the Intro to IHOP teams. We had

group meeting at our house several times, and one time we hosted a cookout and fun night, with sprinkler

for the kids (it was really hot outside that evening), volleyball, and ended with campfire and s’mores! Also,

as a part of our Revelation class, each team in Track One was required to do a presentation based on the

letters to 7 churches in chapters 2 & 3. Our Simeon team was

given the assignment of choosing 2 churches and comparing

what Jesus said to them to His teaching in the Sermon on the

Mount. We chose Ephesus & Laodicea, and did our presentation

as a news cast from the First Century. To the left is a picture of

Jim, who played “John the Beloved” and was interviewed about

his visions of Jesus and the letters he wrote! Melissa (not

pictured) played a reporter “Miriam Maccabee” who reported

from Laodicea. We had a lot of laughs, but were also serious at

the end as we talked about staying faithful under persecution in

the end times and then closed with leading a time of worship.

What’s Next?

Please pray with us as we are preparing to enter full-time staff on

the Missions Base. There are many opportunities, and we have

many desires on our hearts. For the next 2 weeks we will be

attending more training, as we have enrolled in the “Forerunner

Partnership Development” course. We will be learning about

developing our core team of financial partners who will stand with

us and support us as missionaries. THANK YOU TO ALL OF

YOU WHO ARE ALREADY PARTNERS WITH US! For those

of you who are not yet on our team of partners, you can expect a

letter, postcard, and phone call from us soon inviting you to join

us. Please pray about it!

Report from Jim’s Ministry Trip to Central Illinois

A few weeks ago, I was talking to Melissa about what I felt the Lord leading me into, and I said to her, “You

know, I would really like to travel some with Kirk Bennett.” The next day, we were passing by one of the

classroom doors at IHOPU, and we saw Kirk at the front of the room talking with a few students. We waved

hello through the window, and Kirk motioned us to come in. What we didn’t know was that he had told the

Joplin story to the class, and was just mentioning to one of the students that he was planning a trip to central

Illinois and would like the pastor from Joplin, Jim Marcum, to come with him! He told me later that as he

was driving to IHOPU that morning, he was praying about a team to take with him and the Lord said, “Ask

Jim Marcum.” Wow, sometimes the Lord is so quick to hear our desires and make a way for them to be met!

On September 5-8, I accompanied Kirk Bennett, Marcus Meier, and 2 other IHOP staff to central Illinois,

where we spent 3 days encouraging the house of prayer at Bloomington/Normal. This is a “twin city” right

in the heart of Illinois, with a state university, and a growing house of prayer. The theme of Kirk’s teachings

for the weekend was “Developing a Prophetic Voice.” I played guitar on worship team led by Marcus, and

was part of the ministry team – praying and prophesying over many people throughout the weekend. I told

the Joplin story a number of times, and on Saturday night I shared a dream I had clear back in 2003 that the

Lord reminded me of, with some things I believe encouraged the house of prayer there. The Springfield, IL

and Peoria, IL houses of prayer came over for the conference and brought worship teams to help out, so it

was great to see three houses of prayer in central Illinois standing together!

On Sunday morning, our team went to Journey Family Fellowship, the main supporting local church of the

house of prayer in Bloomington/Normal. This is an amazing fellowship of people, with a very special call

and ministry of adoption. There are children from all over the world in that fellowship! Kirk told me that a

few years ago the church began a website helping people with international adoptions, and it became the

number one website for helping Christian families adopt international children. The Lord gave me a

prophetic word from Isaiah 54:1-3 to speak to the pastor and a few of the leaders there, which I believe really

encouraged them. It was a great trip, and I believe the Lord has more trips like this in our future!

The prayer room was nearly full at

every service – lifting up Jesus!

Kirk Bennett brought powerful

teachings all weekend!

Springfield, IL HOP came over on Sat.

night & led worship – awesome!

FAMILY NEWS! Joy is a full-time singer in the Global Prayer Room! Ever since our arrival at IHOPKC last November, Joy

has been “subbing” as a singer on several teams in the prayer room. She was approached by Clay Edwards

(Misty’s brother) recently about becoming a full-time singer on his team. After praying about it, she did an

audition and was accepted! It is so awesome to see her up there now every weekend – doing what the Lord has

gifted her to do. And get this – yesterday morning we were both up early and I said to her, “Joy, you know

some time when Clay or Sarah (his wife) are not able to lead, they may ask you to lead a set.” She said, “Yeah,

but I’m not really comfortable as much leading teams – I would be better at leading a devotional set.” It was

later that day during Misty Edwards devotional set (2-4 pm) Melissa and I were in the prayer room and Clay’s

team was getting ready to go on at 4 pm after Misty. I left the room for a few minutes and when I came back at

3:30, guess who was at the keyboard leading the devotional instead of Misty? That’s right, it was Joy! Misty

had sent the sound tech back to the briefing room to see if someone would be willing to come and finish the last

30 minutes of her devotional set. Amazing that Joy and I had just talked about this that morning – wow!

Jessianna & Jonathan join Student Worship & Prayer Teams. We are excited that Jessianna and Jonathan

both auditioned and were accepted onto student worship teams again this fall! The youth keep a prayer room of

their own going in the evenings, Monday – Friday, where they form worship & prayer teams which rotate doing

2-hour sets. Jessianna is team worship leader again, and she is doing such an awesome job. She also continues

to serve as one of the main Worship Leaders at the youth meetings at FCF. Jonathan qualified this time to serve

on his team as keyboard player! He has really been progressing on keys and is doing a great job. He is also on

the “sub” list as both a singer and drummer. We’re proud of them both for developing the skill and the diligence

to serve on their teams.

Melissa has joined volunteer staff at Returning Glory Ranch. Melissa received training & is now volunteer

staff at Returning Glory Horse Ranch on Tuesday nights! She works one-on-one with girls from a local Teen

Challenge program, using horsemanship to teach Scriptural life principles to the girls.

Visits from friends! It was so wonderful to have visits from Peggy Luther & Alice Olsen on August 23, and

from Jessica Calvin on September 15. Peggy & Alice were on their way to a women’s conference in Des

Moines, and stopped to see us and spend some time in the prayer room. So great to see these two prayer

warriors and women of God (of course Melissa & I had them pray over us before they left!). And what a joy to

see Jessica Calvin and get a report from her 11-month missions trip! God has done so much in her life, and you

can see it on her face – she just looks different! We kept her up late into the night telling us stories of what God

is doing among the many nations she visited. The Lord was with her and kept her safe, and used her in mighty

ways – healing, teaching, preaching, etc. If you have an opportunity, have her over and listen to her stories, you

will be so encouraged. One highlight I remember her saying is, “Everywhere, literally everywhere I went, the

Christians there are saying, ‘He’s coming soon! Jesus is coming soon!’” The Bride is being prepared!

Joy leading devo set in Global Prayer Room. Joy singing on “Team Edwards.” Tune in at www.ihopkc.org/prayerroom/ Fri 10-noon & 4-6

pm, Sat 12-2 pm &4-6 pm, & Sun 2-4 pm to hear Joy’s team and worship & pray with them!

Standing for Life and the Ending of Abortion

We were privileged to be a part of two efforts this past month here in Kansas City which are standing for life

and the ending of abortion in America. The first was a “Show-Me Life” prayer breakfast we attended on

September 14th

at Westin Crown Center, which was part of the Midwest Republican Leadership Conference.

(We were surprised to discover that former senator Rick Santorum was one of the keynote speakers at the

breakfast). The director of IHOPKC’s Life Initiatives Department, Nick Stotzer, and his wife were there,

along with several of us who are involved in IHOP’s Life Initiatives. We had a spontaneous prayer circle at

the end, especially lifting up Nick, as well as Mark Olson who is on our Life team, and is graduating UMKC

this year with a political science degree. He has been called into the realm of politics for the express purpose

of rallying support among the states for the passage of a Life Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. You can

follow some of Mark’s efforts at one of his two websites: www.newclapham.com or www.1tim22.com.

The other effort we are a part of is called “40 Days for Life.” It’s a global movement of prayer and fasting

for the ending of abortion (www.40daysforlife.com). 306 cities are officially taking part, and the dates for

this year’s prayer vigil are September 25 – November 3. Each day, we are staffing a team of volunteers to

hold a prayer vigil from 7 am – 6 pm at two locations in Kansas City area where abortions are performed. I

attended the kickoff rally on Saturday morning, Sept. 21, and below are some pictures from the rally – one of

our group praying, and the other two are of the 2 abortion facilities where our prayer vigils will be held.

Final Words…. On September 19

th, IHOPKC celebrated our 14

th year of 24/7 prayer & worship in Kansas City. Thank you

Jesus! Since 1999, we have spent over 150,000 hours in corporate prayer. IHOPU has had over 600

graduates now who are taking night & day prayer to the nations. (This is the first year IHOPU is teaching

curriculum not only in English, but also in Korean & Chinese!) We’ve had over 5,000 interns complete

internships at the Missions Base, over 15,000 children who’ve participated in our Children’s Equipping

Center, and over 20,000 teens participate in our camps & youth initiatives. God has blessed this sanctuary of

worship & prayer, and so many are being sent forth from here to bless the nations of the earth! We are so

thankful the Lord has brought us here for such a time as this, and we’re excited to become more involved in

the days ahead. Thank you so much for your prayers and financial gifts – they mean so much! Please

continue to send us your prayer requests, and come visit us and see what God is doing here in Kansas City.

Better yet – become partners with us!!! We love you all, and we’re praying for you!

Because He is worthy of it all, Our contact information: The Marcums

Jim & Melissa Marcum & family P.O. Box 1099 Grandview, MO 64030 Phone & text: 816-287-3525 (Jim) 816-287-2228 (Melissa) Email & paypal: intercessorymissions@gmail.com

P.S. – If the Lord leads you to send a gift by mail, you may make check out to “IHOP-KC” to receive a receipt for tax purposes. (Note, giving through IHOPKC is done with the understanding that IHOPKC has complete discretion over the use of the donated funds.) Bless you!

Many came to pray during the kickoff

rally of 40 Days for Life in Overland Park.

Planned Parenthood in Overland Park

where many abortions are performed.

Another location where abortions

are performed daily by a father &

daughter physician team.