NEWS FROM THE MARCUM FAMILY!

February 2013

Dear Loved Ones,

NEWS FLASH!!!! We are coming to Joplin for our first Worship & Prayer Weekend March 1-3! Please mark your calendars for these dates. Joining us for the weekend will be a team of worshipers & prayer warriors from here at IHOP-KC, along with a team from Mercy House of Prayer in Alma, AR where Jordan & Sarah are ministering. Please see the end of our newsletter for times & locations of the worship & prayer meetings we will be having that weekend DONT MISS IT! It has only been a few weeks since our last newsletter, but we wanted to get this one out now so everyone can prepare for the March 1-3 weekend with us. We are so excited that a group from MHOP is joining us for this! Both Joy and Jim have taken trips to Alma recently. Joy took a small team with her and went to Alma for six days, Jan. 14-19. They helped lead worship in the MHOP prayer room, and helped serve in other ways. Then on Jan. 25-27, Jim was able to accompany Kirk Bennett and some other leaders from IHOP-KC to Alma for MHOPs Grand Re-Opening weekend. It was an exciting time as we witnessed God really moving there in the rebirth of their house of prayer in Alma! [see pictures on last page of the newsletter!] The above photo was taken at Justice Prayer Room (JPR) where we spend at least two evenings a week now, instead of going to the Global Prayer Room (GPR). That is because both Jessianna and Jonathan are serving on worship teams there in the evening. Actually it reminds us of JOPHOP, it is much smaller and more intimate. The worship the teens are leading is very powerful, and we have no problem entering into a spirit of intercession! I promised more pictures in this newsletter, so here are photos of Jessianna & Jonathan helping lead worship at the JPR:

I (Jim) have been twice now to a small prayer group that meets in one of the side rooms at the GPR on Monday nights and whose prayer focus is native Americans. The prayer group leader is named Anita Hensley, and there are several faithful prayer warriors meeting with her. The first Monday night I attended, I was sitting in the GPR when the announcement came across the TV monitors that a prayer group praying for native Americans was meeting in one of the side rooms. At that same exact time I received a text from a Christian sister who had been a part of Citywide/JOPHOP asking me to join her in prayer for bringing down the stronghold of casinos/gambling among the native American tribes in NE Oklahoma, it was something God had really been laying on her heart for over a year. Wow, what timing! So I went into the prayer group for the first time, and shared this with them, and it kicked off some good prayer time! I plan to keep attending at least every other week. The story is too long to tell, but the Lord has been drawing me to what He is doing right now among native Americans, and I have been to a couple prayer events in the last year that focused on this. Some of you know, I have also been really stirred to pray for the defeating of the stronghold of casinos/gambling in SW MO and NE OK too. So getting this text from the sister who was a part of Citywide/JOPHOP was a real confirmation! Stay tuned for where the Lord takes this one! (next page please)

page 2 As you all know, Monday, Jan. 21 was the public inauguration of Barack Obama as president. In our staff prayer time at Bethel Academy that morning (where Melissa and I are volunteer teachers), we had an impression from the Lord to share with the upper class students in the afternoon the story of our dreams, the Joplin tornado, and meeting the president & giving him the word about ending abortion. I was not feeling well that day, so by the time afternoon came I told the head teacher, Mr. Lewellen, that I would have to share the story the next day. What I did not realize, UNTIL THE NEXT DAY, was that Tuesday, Jan. 22 nd , was the 40th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, and the passing of the federal law that legalized abortion on demand in America. Wow, again, what timing! So on Tuesday, we began the afternoon with the upper class (jr. high & high school) students at Bethel by telling them our story. It turned out to be a very powerful time, and ended with the class interceding for President Obama. While were talking about the ministry were doing at Bethel Academy here are a couple pictures, one of Jim teaching the Greek language class [they start teaching Greek in grade school!], and the other is Melissa tutoring one of the students in Math.

In mid-January we were invited to the home of a family we have met and are becoming friends with who have been friends with Lou & Therese Engle and their family for some time. Lou & Therese were there too, and Lou began to ask about the book I am writing. I told him Im having a lot of resistance and havent really begun to write yet and he said he believes there is an urgency on the book to be written & published. Amazingly, he even said he would help by writing an endorsement, or a forward to the book! I will not hold him to that, but was really blessed and encouraged by his offer to do this. It ended up, Lou laid hands on me and prayed that I would be given the wisdom and courage to begin writing this book. Since then, I have written some chapter headings and have begun organizing my thoughts so at least there has been some movement. Please pray for me about this, it is a daunting task and I need courage right now! The campuses of the Global Prayer Room, and IHOPU are really bustling these days with the return of second term students, and the beginning of several internships in January. 561 students are enrolled at IHOPU for second semester, and they are joined by 70 Fire-in-the-Night interns, 30 Intro-to-IHOP interns, 65 One-Thing interns, and 15 Simeon-Company interns. It is really great to have the infusion of these (mostly) young people, and their hearts hungry to know the Lord more! The Forerunner Christian Fellowship family also is doing well, with the addition of many new friendship groups meeting throughout the week for fellowship & relationship-building, along with weekend services which are always encouraging with great worship times and teaching from the IHOP leadership. And the whole IHOP community is gearing up for the STAND conference coming up in a couple weeks, a conference bringing together young black leaders of the church in America for a time of encouragement and impartation. Many of you have heard that Joy is planning to fly to Pasadena to help serve the 40-day launch of the Antioch House of Prayer there on the campus of the U.S. Center for World Missions. She is raising funds now and preparing for departure on March 4 th. She will be there with Lou & Therese Engle, Rod & Marion Hall, and several others she already knows very well. Joy has also become part of leadership here at IHOPKC in the Student Ministries department, so she is working with mentoring/discipling the teens of the families here on the missions base. Please pray for Joy, while these assignments from the Lord are exciting, they are also challenging and stretching her! (next page please)

page 3 The Lord encountered me in the Justice Prayer Room this past Thursday night while I was reading Ezekiel chapter 22. I am still meditating on this chapter, so perhaps will share some things in the next newsletter. What I want to briefly share this time is a Scripture that the Holy Spirit highlighted to me while I was in the Global Prayer Room a couple weeks ago. It is from Psalms 92, the last few verses: Psalms 92:12-15 (12) The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. (13) They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God. (14) They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, (15) to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. I realize the Holy Spirit was speaking this to me personally, but I believe it is for some of you who are in your 40s, 50s, and 60s. You (and I) are looking at a season of life that is coming to us called old age. Lets hear what the Holy Spirit says about this season for us we will still be bearing fruit, full of sap and green! We will be planted in the Lords house, and we will be flourishing in the courts of our God! I was especially ministered to when I did as I often do when the Lord is ministering a particular passage of Scripture to me, and looked this up in some other Bible versions. Look at what the New Living Translation says in verses 13-14: For they are transplanted to the Lords own house. They flourish in the courts of our God. 14 Even in old age they will still produce fruit; they will remain vital and green.
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I truly feel like the Lord leading our family to move here to IHOP-KC was Him transplanting us to His own house. Where might that be for you? I never thought I would be transplanted in my old age, but here I am at IHOP-KC beginning a new season in my 50s! Lou Engle is moving back to Pasadena to plant a new house of prayer and missions base, and he just turned 60! Life with the Lord is an adventure, and we mustnt settle just because were getting old! I encourage those of you, like me, who are getting a little older, claim the power of these verses from Psalm 92 and believe that you will keep on going strong in the Lord, full of vitality, not brittle but still green and tender and flexible to the Lord! Amen! I will close now. We so look forward to seeing many of you at our first Worship & Prayer Weekend in Joplin coming right up on March 1-3. Check out the schedule for the weekend printed below, and we hope you will join us! Also check out the last page for a few pictures from the trip to Alma, AR. Love you all! Because He is worthy of it all, Jim & Melissa Marcum & family Our contact information: The Marcums 13304 Donnelly Ave. Grandview, MO 64030 Phone & text: 417-483-6723 (Jim) 417-825-0841 (Melissa) Email & paypal: intercessorymissions@gmail.com

SCHEDULE FOR WORSHIP & PRAYER WEEKEND IN JOPLIN! [more details to come later] FRIDAY, MARCH 1ST , 6 PM MIDNIGHT Prayer Furnace at Bethel Worship Center, 1840 N. Rangeline, across from Del Rio. Feel free to come and go during the evening as we have various teams leading sets of worship & prayer! SATURDAY, MARCH 2ND, 9:30 A.M. - NOON Back at Bethel Worship Center for coffee, bagels, and sharing about the house of prayer, followed by prophetic ministry teams available for those who would like prophetic ministry. SATURDAY, MARCH 2ND, 7 9 PM Worship & Intercession for Joplin at Joplin Family Worship Center, 5290 E. 7 th Street. SUNDAY, MARCH 3RD To be announced.

TRIP TO MERCY HOUSE OF PRAYER IN ALMA, ARKANSAS!

The Mercy House of Prayer is led by Damon & Lisa Chandler, and is located in Alma, Arkansas about two hours south of Joplin, MO, and 1 hour south of Fayetteville, AR. Alma is a small town, but is considered a bedroom community to Ft. Smith, Arkansas with a population of 87,000. The five-county metropolitan area (called The River Valley) is home to around 298,000 people. The Lord has provided the Mercy House of Prayer with a beautiful facility that was formerly home to an Assembly of God church. MHOP holds night and day prayer meetings throughout the week, and on weekends they have a fellowship gathering Mercy Christian Fellowship. Since Jordan & Sarahs arrival at MHOP, they are not only helping lead worship sets, but are now leaders of Burning Hearts Youth the jr. and sr. high youth group at MCF. Below are pictures I took during the Grand Re-opening in January!