Recently, I was interviewed by the IHOP-KC blog to discuss Luke18 Project, who we are, and where we are going.
Read the interview below:
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We recently interviewed Brian Kim, a senior leader at IHOP–KC and director of Luke18 Project, a missions movement that exists to train 10,000 young leaders to plant communities of prayer and fasting in the hardest and darkest places of the world. In this interview, Brian comments on the urgency of the hour and the necessity for revival in America.
Nate: We have heard much about the merging of the missions and prayer movements. As a representative of both, how do you think the convergence of the two will impact this generation?
Brian: We are living in one of the most unique times of human history. Missiologists tell us that we are within reach of fulfilling Matthew 24:14 in this generation, which promises that the gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed to every people group. In tandem with this growing missions movement, we are seeing a burgeoning prayer movement explode across the nations of the earth. The Lord is bringing together both the missions movement and the prayer movement—which I believe from heaven’s perspective are, and always have been, one movement—in a glorious convergence to finish the task of world evangelization and to pray for Jesus’ return.
Nate: What do you see transpiring in the coming years through this convergence?
Brian: I believe that over the next five to ten years, we are going to see traditional field missionaries, church planters, and evangelists teaming up with intercessory missionaries, and that together they will reach some of the least-reached peoples of the world. I believe that God is establishing intercessory missionaries to gain “air supremacy” over regions with intercessory worship and prayer so that the “ground troops” can reap a great harvest in the hardest-to-reach places, among the least-reached peoples. I am excited to see prayer and missions come together in a more dynamic way for the task of the Great Commission.
Nate: Will you tell us a little bit about the upcoming Luke18 Project tour of California? What is the heart and vision of the Purple Pig Tour?
Brian: The Purple Pig Tour is a two-week journey (September 26–October 9) through the state of California to call college students and young adults to plant prayer furnaces, or communities of prayer and fasting, on their campuses and in their cities. We plan on visiting college campuses, churches, and houses of prayer in California. We believe that California is in a critical hour, and we must contend for revival and pray for another Jesus Movement to sweep across the state.
Nate: What is the purple pig? Why use that name?
Brian: “Purple pig” is taken from a book written by Dick Eastman called The Purple Pig and Other Miracles. That book has been foundational in the mission and vision of Luke18 Project. Eastman describes a vision of a movement of young people who are radically and totally given to 24/7 prayer, evangelism, revival, and missions. Eastman is a true father and statesman, not just in the missions movement, but even more so in the prayer movement. Dick had visions of 24/7 prayer and worship in the late 1960s and early 1970s, long before people in this generation were even talking about night-and-day worship and prayer. Both Mike Bickle and Lou Engle say that Dick Eastman and his teaching ministry gave them a vision for prayer and revival in their early years.
Today, 24/7 prayer and worship is normal and accepted in the Body of Christ, because men like Dick Eastman have been calling people to the place of persistent worship, adoration, and intercession for over forty years
Our hope is that through this tour, many young leaders will give themselves afresh to the vision of planting prayer furnaces, where people can pray for God’s justice to be released on the earth, and where Jesus is worshiped and adored.
For more information about the Purple Pig Tour, please email purplepigtour@luke18project.com or visit www.thepurplepigtour.com.
Nate: Why do you feel California is strategic right now?
Brian: As the popular saying states, “As California goes, so goes the nation.” California is one of the most strategic—if not the most strategic—states in our union. California exerts more cultural influence than any other region, perhaps more than anywhere around the world.
Even more important than its cultural reach, however, is the history of revival and movement of the Holy Spirit that have been sustained in California over the past 100 years. Beginning with the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles in 1906, California has been a hotbed of revival activity, especially among the youth. From Azusa Street to Aimee Semple McPherson and the Foursquare, and from Billy Graham to the Jesus Movement, California has seen the moving of the Holy Spirit. I believe, as Lou Engle states, that “where there are godly roots, at the first scent of fresh water, new shoots can still spring forth.”
Nate: Do you know how many houses of prayer or prayer furnaces exist on college campuses?
Brian: We are connected to about 400 prayer furnaces on college campuses in our nation. Our goal is to serve students by planting prayer furnaces on all 2,600 four-year, accredited colleges in the U.S. by the 2012/2013 school year.
Nate: What is the goal for these houses of prayer?
Brian: Our goal is to call students to pray for revival, and to create an environment for training and discipling—where students are discipling other students and growing as leaders. We believe that these prayer furnaces can help students cultivate the gifts of leadership, communication, and discipleship, which will prepare them to be the next generation of Christian leaders.
We believe that college campuses are particularly strategic in missions and prayer because, historically, they are epicenters of missionary activity. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, God used college students in the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions to serve in one of the greatest missionary enterprises in history. In just forty short years, the Student Volunteer Movement mobilized nearly 20,000 students to give themselves as missionaries under the guiding principle, “the evangelization of the world in one generation.”
Moreover, college campuses are important because they are melting pots of different cultures and peoples. While it may be difficult for some Western students to serve as missionaries in some parts of the 10/40 window, college campuses are filled with students, often the most privileged and influential, from those regions. This provides a unique opportunity for Christians on campus to share Christ’s love with those people and disciple them, with the knowledge that they will go back to their regions as carriers of God’s love.
You can find the link to the interview here: http://blog.ihop.org/general/ihop-kc-staff-interview-brian-kim/