Onething 2008

More than 16,000 people gathered at Bartle Hall in downtown Kansas City on Dec. 28, 2008, for the annual Onething conference hosted by the International House of Prayer in Kansas City (IHOP-KC)

Since 2001 IHOP-KC, a ministry centered around 24/7 intercessory prayer, has hosted the Onething conference for young adults in downtown Kansas City. The conference has grown so large that it has gone on tour with smaller Onething conferences all around the world.

Every year, Onething is a major highlight of all the ministries that come out of IHOP-KC .

“… this year, the Lord has spoken very clearly to me, and I believe that IHOP—KC’s Onething ‘08 young adult

Photo by Devin Mork

 conference will prove to be more than just another conference,” said Mike Bickle, the primary leader of IHOP-KC, to registered Onething attendees before the conference.

At 2 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 28, 2008, the conference began with an hour of praise and worship with the 16,000 attendees. Bickle later took the stage and introduced the audience to what the leaders at IHOP-KC have come to call “The Eschatological Revolution.”

Merriam-Webster Online defines eschatology as “a branch of theology concerned with the final events in the history of the world or of humankind.” Yes, 16,000 people had indeed gathered in Kansas City to talk about the end times.

While most ministries don’t touch the book of Revelation or the subject of end times, IHOP-KC has become totally enveloped in it. In one of his messages, Bickle said that spending time in prayer and understanding the events of Jesus Christ’s second coming as laid out in the Bible are key to understanding who God is and growing in relationship with him.

Bickle also paralleled our relationship with the book of Revelation to the book of Acts with this question: “What if the apostles had the book of Acts ahead of time?” He said that this is how the church should view the book of Revelation, but most people don’t care.

One afternoon, the entire IHOP-KC leadership team took the stage together to answer questions that audience members had e-mailed to them during the conference.  Questions ranged from individuals asking how the team knew that their views were correct to inquiries on how to live a lifestyle that would prepare a person for Jesus’ second coming.

The conference came to an end at midnight Jan. 1, 2009. People were influenced, paradigms were shifted, and hundreds made decisions to give themselves to a lifestyle of prayer, fasting and a pursuit of growing in relationship with Jesus by understanding the end times. The people at IHOP-KC only consider this the beginning of what will be the Eschatological Revolution.

Photo by Jessica Chen

~ by demo318 on January 26, 2009.