New Adventures in Kansas City

New Site

2010-10-14T08:44:00.000-07:00

After a year of blogging on our adoption site we've realized that we only have the capacity to maintain one blog :) So, if you happen to land here, scoot on over to www.thekellyjournal.com and check out our new family blog for news in all areas of our lives.

The 40-Day University Daniel Fast

2010-03-02T09:27:00.001-08:00

The following is an email from Lou Engle, founder of TheCall:

There are moments in history when a door for massive change opens. Great revolutions for good or for evil occur in the vacuum created by these openings. It is in these times that key men and women, and even entire generations, risk everything to become the hinge of history–the pivotal point that determines which way the door will swing. We believe that America is in such a moment of history.

The 40-Day Fast

Four years ago, a profound movement of 40 day fasting and prayer chains spontaneously erupted on university campuses across America. God was breathing prayer for university awakenings. At the same time, Lou Engle joined with the Justice House of Prayer in Boston for 40 days of prayer and fasting from March 1st to April 9th. Hundreds of young people gathered to pray and fast, day and night, for breakthrough at Harvard and for the Ivy League schools.

During that 40 day season a trusted godly man had the following dream: “I saw masses of young people with welts on the temples of their head. I then asked, ‘What are those welts on the temples of their head?’ I heard a voice answer; ‘It’s poison ivy on the mind of a generation. The Ivy League universities were intended to be the leaves of healing and to bring the light and the glory of God to the nations of the earth. Instead, they have poisoned the mind of a generation.’” This dream is profound as it speaks to the ideological strongholds we face, but also to the intended purpose of these schools and what could be if we pray.

Now four years later it seems the wind of God is blowing again. Bethany Temple, the leader of JHOP Boston, felt an urgency once again to call all of New England universities to 40 days of fasting, but she needed confirmation. A young man gave her the following dream: Lou Engle was on a stage praying with a drummer behind him. The prayer that was being prayed was “Beseech the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into the harvest field.” Suddenly, the drummer interrupted Lou with what sounded like the voice of the Lord, declaring, “Now has come the salvation of God! And it will begin on April 9th, 2010.”

Obviously, such a dream with a date must be carefully weighed before the Lord, but April 9th is the same day that the 40day fast ended four years ago and it is also the anniversary of the Azusa Street outpouring. Could it be that Lou Engle praying represents the 40 day fast that God wants to interrupt and answer with a new move of evangelism and a new breed of spiritual awakeners stirring the universities of New England and the nation? Even now, reports of outpourings of the spirit are being heard on scattered universities.

The students of IHOPU in Kansas City, MO have been experiencing an extraordinary move of the Holy Spirit marked by salvation, physical/emotional healing and deliverance. We believe this is only a foretaste of what is about to be released upon our nations campuses. Knowing nothing of the previous dream, the leaders of IHOPU were stirred to launch 40 days of prayer, fasting and evangelism targeting Boston and the Ivy League schools of New England during these very dates – March 1st through April 9th.

On the weekend of April 9th, not coincidentally, Awakening America is gathering students from across the land to Oral Roberts University with an expectation of imminent spiritual visitation in the nation. On April 9th as well, Jeremy Story with One Cry, will be gathering in New York City at Times Square Church and they are expecting hundreds of university students to cry out for campus awakenings in America. Also on February 25th, the Collegiate Day of Prayer is being resurrected after nearly 100 years of silence. Many other prayer initiatives are taking place in our universities. What is going on? Prayer is being breathed for university awakenings and all of this coincides with a prophetic word given by William Seymour, the Azusa Street pioneer, that in 100 years (prophecy given in 1909 by William Seymour) another great outpouring of the Holy Spirit would take place. If we are in such a moment where a door for great change is opening, then by all means we must become the generation that risks everything to become the hinge of history. Let us follow in the path of our Master who fasted 40 days preparing for his apostolic gospel to be unleashed in the earth.

With this faith in our hearts, we are calling all of those whose hearts are stirred in colleges and universities across America to engage March 1st through April 9th in a 40-day Daniel fast (no meats, no sweets and limited intake) March 1st through April 9th releasing one great cry, one dominating prayer, “Lord of the harvest thrust forth laborers into the harvest field. Give us a third great awakening in the universities of America!”

40 years ago a great spiritual rebellion and revolution took place on the campuses of America and now we are reaping the fruit of that 40-year rebellion. But, 40 years are up and we are believing that a new generation will arise with the flaming tongue of the gospel and launch a spiritual revolution that could shake humanism and false ideologies through a mass harvest of souls coming to Christ. Shall we not dare to believe that giants were meant to fall and that God is greater than the boasting spiritual powers that dominate our universities today? Let us go up and possess the land for the sake of Christ.

Lou Engle, TheCall, Inc.

Please visit TheCall.com for more details.

Daily Prayer Devotional Site Launched!

2010-01-01T18:59:00.000-08:00

We've decided to create a new site solely devoted to Jason's current writing project: 365 Days of Biblical Prayer. We'd love to share it with you and hope it encourages you!

Each day you can read some of his musings on one of the 365 verses in the Bible with some form of the word "pray" in it.

http://jhkelly.wordpress.com/

365 Days of Biblical Prayer

2009-11-06T04:37:00.000-08:00

Come January 1, 2010, I will begin posting a daily entry on this website of the daily devotional I have recently begun writing called "365 Days of Biblical Prayer." By then, if I keep my pace of banging out one meditation per day, I should have a few months worth of the book already completed! Pray that the Lord gives me perseverance, wisdom and revelation in completing this project I believe He has given me. Below is an excerpt from the Introduction to the book. If you would like to have these daily devotions emailed to you daily, send me an email at jasonkelly@ihop.org and put "GIMME DEVOS!" in the subject line. Or just check this blog at you own pace and leisure. :)

One day recently, I decided that I wanted to find all the references to prayer in the Bible so that I could begin to wrap my mind around how prayer has functioned throughout the history of God’s interactions with humanity. So I went to biblegateway.com and typed the word ‘pray’ in the search box. I found it interesting that in the NIV there were exactly 365 different verses that had some variant of the word ‘pray’ in it: one for every day of the year. I have found that oftentimes, searching with a different version will produce a different number of references found, so I went to the NKJV and gave it another try. Again it read: “365 results.” And the idea came to me that I could meditate each day of the year on a different prayer text and that my meditations could be written down to make a helpful daily devotional for anyone who wanted to dive deeper into this vast ocean that is prayer. And hence, this book [or daily blog entry] you now hold in your hands.

Certainly these aren’t the only texts on prayer in the Bible. There are many places where prayer is implied by the use of other words. But for a good place to start, I decided to limit my focus to these 365 verses (I am mostly following the NIV listings). As you read each of the daily devotions, I encourage you to familiarize yourself with the story or context from which the verse comes from. Also, I’ve included quite a few cross references in each meditation. I encourage you to look those up as you come across them, to see what connections the Holy Spirit begins making for you. I hope you find helpful and encouraging these musings on what the Bible has to say about prayer. Moreover, I pray that as you gaze at this subject, you would find the spirit of prayer coming upon you (Zechariah 12:10), and that the God who has seemed distant or conceptual would come close and share with you the secrets of His heart, and that you would begin entering deeper into the most powerful calling any human being can ever enter into: to encounter God in intimate communion and to partner with Him in shaping history through prayer.

We've Moved!!

2009-07-15T07:47:00.000-07:00

Our last post announced that we sold our home in Idaho. Now we've officially purchased and moved into our new home here in Kansas City! Wahoo! We're still getting settled (a.k.a. there are boxes everywhere) but it's super fun to have our own place. The guest room is all set up and ready for visitors! For all of you financial supporters and people who just like sending snail mail, here's our new address:
8204 E. 103rd Terrace,
Kansas City, MO 64134

Sold!

2009-06-09T21:24:00.000-07:00

We just returned from three weeks in the Northwest visiting family, supporters and packing up our house in Moscow, Idaho. Our Idaho house is officially sold! It was a bittersweet visit- good to see friends but sad to say goodbye to Moscow. Now we're excited for the opportunity to buy a house here in Kansas City where we can host small groups and out of town visitors! (hint hint)

It's Spring!

2009-04-23T09:45:00.000-07:00

Spring has officially sprung in Kansas City. It's time to pack up the scarves and break out the flip flops! I love not only the warmer weather but the return of greenery, budding flowers and friendly backyard creatures (we have a ground hog living in our yard we affectionately call "fat albert") Of course, the bugs & humidity of summer are probably on their way, but at least the snow is gone!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2009-03-17T14:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the IHOP community joined in Kansas City's St. Patrick's Day parade. Hundreds of "IHOPers" spent the morning talking to people along the parade route about who St. Patrick really was and his faith in Jesus. (The bottom picture is one of Jason and our friend Cory talking to a guy who was promoting a karate business in the parade.) Once the parade started we all walked and danced behind the big IHOP float. Our float (see middle picture) had a big green mountain with a guy dressed up like St. Pat giving mini sermons in an Irish accent. Behind him was one of our worship teams who would play the song "Grace Like Rain" while we all waved streamers and danced behind! It's hard to capture the feeling with words, but it was a fun celebration to dance down the street with a couple hundred people praising Jesus! To top it all off, it was the nicest day of the year so far- not a cloud in the sky and 80˚ warm! We believe there are people who came to the parade whose lives will be forever changed. For more stories on the St. Pat's day parade, keep an eye out for our newsletter in the next week or so. (If you don't get our e-newsletters and want to, email us. We'd love to add you to our list.)

Hallelujah, grace like rain falls down on me
Hallelujah, all my stains are washed away, washed away

Weak Love

2009-02-18T10:31:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd share with y'all the lyrics of my current favorite worship song. It's by Sarah Edwards and can be found on the Forerunner music album "Constant."

I can’t understand this work of grace
How a perfect God would come and take my place

The stars they don’t move You
The waves can’t undo You
Mountains in their splendor
they cannot steal your heart

This God who is holy
Perfect in beauty
Awesome in glory
Is ravished by my heart

Though I’m poor you say I am lovely
Though I’m dark you say I am beautiful

Somehow my weak glance has overwhelmed You
And somehow my weak love it has stolen away Your heart

You can listen to the song on her myspace website:
http://www.myspace.com/sarahedwardsihop

Longing for His Return

2009-02-02T11:27:00.000-08:00

Here at IHOP we talk a lot about preparing ourselves for Jesus' return. People get ready, Jesus is coming. You see it all over the New Testament- the writers really were living for His return and hoping He'd to come back at any moment. We sing things like "Come Lord Jesus" and "the Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come'." Every believer knows that one day Jesus is going to come back and wants to be ready to welcome Him.

The other day I was challenged by one of IHOP's speakers, Dana Candler. She asked us this question, "At the heart level do we really want Him to return?"

Or do we hope maybe He'll wait to return until after we ________(get married, have kids, get that job... fill in the blank with your own answer.) She talked about longing for His return in a way I hadn't thought of it before. She talked about it like mourning. You naturally mourn the loss of a loved one. You miss them. You want them back. In Matthew 9:15 when some people asked Jesus why his disciples didn't fast he said, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast."

Jesus himself said his followers would mourn his absence when He left. Do we long for Him in this way? What challenged me most was when Dana said, "How much we long for Him indicates how well we know Him." You don't mourn the loss of someone you don't know. And the better you know them, the more you feel their absence.

I want to get to know Him so much better, so much that I want nothing more than His full-out- with-us presence- His physical return. What could be better than to have Jesus return? He's going to make all things new, right everything that's wrong and wipe away every tear! Why would I want Him to wait... so I can have one more day without Him? Wouldn't it be better to be with Him and not have sin and selfishness keeping me from really experiencing Him as He is?

Let's keep on getting to know Jesus so we can sing with all the saints, "Come Lord Jesus" and mean it! Maranatha!

~Kara

The Prayer Room

2008-11-11T17:25:00.000-08:00

The prayer room is the center of the IHOP missions base. While there is a lot of activity, teaching and ministries associated with IHOP, the 24/7 atmosphere of prayer is the heartbeat of everything that goes on. Everyone on staff commits to spend 12-24 hours a week in the prayer room, whether they are a janitor, teacher, student, bookeeper or worship leader. Like King David established a tabernacle that had singers and musicians who ministered to the Lord day and night, the prayer room gives us a place where we never cease worshiping God and interceding for our world.

The prayer room operates in sets, with singers and musicians rotating every two hours. These sets are either what they call "worship with the word" or "intercession" sets. During a worship with the word set, the band will focus on a passage from the Bible and sing about it. It's kind of like musical meditation :) It's a prayer format in which we agree with God's heart as we sing the biblical truths of who God is and what He promises to do. During the intercession set the focus is on corporate prayer centered around a specific theme. Individuals in the room are able to pray on the microphone and lead the room in prayer on a topic. These times are always centered around scriptural prayers and interwoven with music.

These two pictures are from the other day during an intercession set when Jason was leading the room in prayer for the church in America. Good times! ~Kara

Intro to IHOP has begun!

2008-10-01T20:52:00.000-07:00

Hi friends in blogland!

Well, we started our official internship this week and it looks like it's going to rock! We have awesome leaders and gifted teachers and lots of time set aside for prayer and seeking God.

I have to admit, I signed up for this internship a little hesitantly- as 24 hours a week in the prayer room seems like quite a bit of prayer time to me! I wasn't sure I was up for the intensity of that or for the hours of teaching and processing new information. But, as of day 3 at least, I have to say I think this is going to be good for my heart. I can already tell that I am more open to the Lord teaching me and changing me and taking those things from me that are getting in His way. I think it's going to be difficult in the sense that He's tearing down the things I've leaned on and the things I've become comfortable in. But I know that He is going to build me up again stronger in Him and more fully dependent on Him. I don't know how to quite put what I'm trying to say into words. Hmmm. Maybe I'll just leave you with a psalm. I feel like this verse sums up where I want to be and how I am hoping God will use this internship!

Psalm 62: 5-8

Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress where I will not be shaken.

My victory and honor come from God alone.

He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.

O my people, trust in him at all times.

Pour out your heart to him,

for God is our refuge.

Thanks for "listening" ~Kara

A Rumbling economy calls for steadfast hearts in prayer

2008-09-20T10:59:00.000-07:00

"The Mighty One, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets. From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth... "...I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains and the creature of the fields are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine and all that is in it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you and you will honor me."

- Psalm 50:1,2...9-15 (NIV)

"Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you," says the Lord Almighty, "and I will accept no offering from your hands. My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations," says the Lord Almighty.

- Malachi 1:10,11 (NIV)

The two passages above are spoken by God to a corrupt priesthood who semi-adhered to a religious system but failed to offer God their whole hearts in gratitude with a true spirit of prayer. Paul spoke of many in the last days who would be much the same: "having a form of godliness but denying its power."(2 Timothy 3:5) These people would be "lovers of themselves, lovers of money...ungrateful... lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." (3:2,4) And Paul's description of these is preluded by this statement - "Mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days." (3:1)

Why am I writing this? I guess because I see a convergence of themes in these passages that I believe are very relevant for this hour of history we find ourselves in. Many in our country are beginning to panic because of the rumblings in our current economy. Major banking institutions that many thought were unsinkable ships are either faltering or filing bankruptcy. The housing market is suffering from the fallout of unscrupulous loans made in the name of greed. Gas prices soar as the stock market plummets and speculation on Wall Street of the impact of natural disasters like Hurricane Ike only make matters worse. At the same time, we continue to hear of spiritual leaders falling into sin. We have seen many men with big ministries, but not enough with large interior lives before God. I believe what America is experiencing is just the beginning of the beginning of a shaking...something that all nations will be experiencing in the not so distant future, if they aren't already. Jesus calls it the Great Tribulation in Matthew 24 and the book of Revelation. Haggai wrote about it: 'This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'in a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations (Jesus) will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord Almighty. 'The silver is mine and the gold is mine,' declares the Lord Almighty. The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the Lord Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the Lord Almighty." (Haggai 2:6-9)

In the above passages, there is a reminder that God is the one who owns all the wealth of the earth. There is a cry for us to not find our security in anything or anyone but in God and in Him alone. In all of the passages, there is a decrying of religious form void of supernatural power and in each there is the promise of an end-time global prayer movement "from the rising to the setting of the sun" (see also Psalm 113:3, Isaiah 45:6, 59:19) that will truly bring God the glory that He deserves. (For the symbolic significance of incense see Ps. 141:2, Rev. 5:8, 8:1-5, Num. 16, Hebrews 13:15,16)

Do you find yourself stressing because of these financially stretching times? (Trust me, I too have been there myself of late). Prayer and thankfulness are what rises to God like a fragrant offering in such times. Do you want to know what the Lord is looking for? He is looking for a people who will take up their crosses and follow in the steps of Jesus our Great High Priest, who not only offered sacrifice - He became the very sacrifice for the sins of the world. Nothing can replace that once and for all ultimate atoning for sin. But we too, in gratitude for what we could not do for ourselves, are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1). It is in doing so that we "are to God the aroma of Christ...the fragrance of life" and "the fragrance of the knowledge of Him" (2 Corinthians 3:14-16) John Wesley use to pray each day: "God set me on fire so that people would come from miles around to watch me burn." True, we are to burn before men. But first and foremost, our hearts are to burn, our very lives are to be like incense - an unbroken prayer to God, a pleasing aroma to the One who owns the whole earth, who holds it all in the palm of His hands and who paid such a price to see it restored, for He is worthy. When we choose to pray, we choose to make God's name great instead of our own...for when God answers prayer and does the impossible - no one can take the credit but rather His Great Name is exalted. God promises that if we call on Him in our day of trouble, he will answer and He will deliver. He promises that He owns the silver and the gold. It was a originally a promise to those who would rebuild the Temple after it's destruction at the hands of the Babylonians, but I believe it spoke also of the generation before the Lord returns. We find ourselves with the influences of Babylon all around us once again. God is looking for Daniels who will fast and pray regularly, regardless of the flack they get for it. God is rebuilding his Temple, restoring it as "a house of prayer for all nations" (Isaiah 56:7, Mark 11:17) once again. Where does this building project begin? Ground is being broken as we speak in the hearts of believers all over the earth who are hearing the call to pray. His name will be made great again by a praying church, for we are now the Temple of God's Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16)

With the troubles you face and the pressures that seem to only be increasing all around us, I urge you to choose the pleasing aroma of thankfulness and prayer and find the Lord's deliverance. The Mighty One, God the Lord is perfect in beauty and He shines forth from Zion. Let His light shine in whatever darkness you are facing. He says, "the world is mine and all that is in it." Will you trust his leadership, even as it feels as all that can be shaken is being shaken? The shaking is a necessary prelude for the 'Desired of the Nations' to come. He will use the least severe measures to bring the greatest amount of people to Himself at the deepest measures of love at the heart level without violating man's freewill. But because of our great propensity to selfishness and sin, that least severe measure will be actually rather jarring from our perspective. The rumblings on Wall Street are nothing compared to what is coming, but they are a foretaste of the shakings to come. And as the shakings continue to occur, His name will be made great by a praying church. The word in Malachi 1:10 and 11 is a prophetic word for the church in this hour - shut down business as usual and give yourself to the place of prayer.

May you see God's deliverance and blessing as you choose this day the sacrifice of a thankful heart, (some days it feels more like a sacrifice than others) and cry out for Him to do what only He can do. I pray that in doing so, you will see the Mighty One as perfect in beauty, shining forth in answer to your prayers. ~Jason

The Excellencies of Christ

2008-08-30T18:14:00.000-07:00

"For the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting Himself for man. Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices Himself for man and puts Himself where only man deserves to be. Man claims prerogatives which belong to God alone; God accepts penalties which belong to man alone."

-John Stott

Awesome! We've been auditing a class on the "excellencies of Christ" and this quote was part of the session where we talked about the cross. I don't have much to say to expand on it, but I just wanted to share it with whoever is out there in "blogland"!! ~Kara

The Call DC

2008-08-23T20:20:00.000-07:00

On August 16th, 70,000 people gathered on the mall in Washington DC for twelve straight hours of prayer and fasting, asking God to forgive the sins of our nation and to send revival to America. It was not a day of finger pointing, but of humble soul searching and earnest repentance. I had the privilege to be a part of that historic day.

I had originally planned on not attending so as to save money and to be with my wife in this strange new city we had just transplanted ourselves to...though inwardly I had longed to attend ever since I heard that the event was happening last spring. On the Wednesday before, Kara (who could not attend due to a schedule conflict) made a comment that she would feel bad if she was the reason that I didn't attend. "Really?" I said. "You mean, you won't be resentful if I go?" - She assured me that she wouldn't be. "You should go, if you can find a ride." I spent that afternoon looking for anyone caravanning to DC from KC and before I knew it, I had rounded up 13 strangers and three cars ready to embark on an epic journey to our nation's capitol within a few hour's notice. [I give God all the credit for this, but it did confirm again a sense of calling to pioneer new things and a gifting to recruit folks into wacky adventures for God]. It was a crazy five day ride, full of divine appointments, miraculous provisions and hours and hours of bonding with new friends in cramped quarters.

We arrived into DC the night before the Call and I stood in awe of the Athenian structures that spoke of the power that is wielded from this place. But the next day I was reminded that there is a hill that stands higher than Capitol Hill. That place of ultimate authority is spoken of in the scriptures as "the mountain of the Lord" , and the day is coming when Jesus, the King who is above every other king will establish true justice and peace on the earth once and for all. This king has such tender love for His people, the scriptures describe Him as our Bridegroom. And the Bible ends with the reminder that He will not be returning to Earth in a vacuum. No, the Bible tells us that he will return in response to the heartfelt cries of his Bride, the church: "The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come!" (Revelation 22:17). It was in that spirit, that we cried out for the breaking in of the Kingdom of God in our nation's homes, schools, media and governments.

The event, [known as "the Call DC"] was spearheaded by Lou Engle who is now on staff at IHOP as of the last year. Lou hosted the first Call gathering in DC in 2000 with 400,000 in attendance. He has hosted other "solemn assemblies" (see Joel 2:12-17) around the nation including one I attended last summer in Nashville, Tennessee on 07-07-07. God has raised up this man to be a prophetic voice to our generation of the desperate need for the church to change the direction of our nation through prayer and fasting. His greatest passion is to see God send another Great Awakening to our nation but he believes that the issue of abortion is perhaps the biggest hindrance in our day to seeing this come to pass.

I know that some of our friends out there can resonate with this position, while others are already bristling at the thought. Let me begin by saying that I know this is an emotional and deeply personal issue to many. Perhaps many of our friends have had an abortion or know someone who has, or simply resonate with the thought of having the right to choose to have an abortion. Before you proceed further, know that we love you and so does God. And before you feel condemned by my thoughts on this issue, know that God's forgiveness extends to you no matter what you've done in the past (1 John 1:9). But I cannot stay silent on this issue regardless of how politically incorrect it makes me. I believe that deep down we know that abortion is wrong. To take a stand for life is to speak up for those without a voice (Prov. 31:8). It is also an act of compassion for the mother's who are haunted by the choice to abort years after the fact. To say that life doesn't start at conception is a little too convenient. Dr. Suess had it right in the mantra of Horton Hears a Who: "A person is a person, no matter how small." I applaud both Rick Warren and John McCain for not wavering on this point (see YouTube for the interview that happened on the very day of the Call DC). The fact of the matter is that since Roe v. Wade in 1973, 50 million babies have been aborted in our nation. Every 22 seconds, someone chooses to kill another potential Martin Luther King Jr., Flannery O'Conner, or Abraham Lincoln. The problem I have with the pro-choice camp is that the child within has no choice in the matter. It grieves God because he knows the destiny he had dreamed over each child while they were in their mother's womb (Psalm 139:13-18). In fact, we are enraged when we hear about the genocide of 200,000 in Darfur or of six million in Nazi Germany. But the abortion of 50 million babies is a holocaust that makes World War II pale in comparison. I believe that like Abel's blood, their blood cries out from the ground (Genesis 4:10). And because God is just, we stand as a nation deserving judgment. But, praise God there is a blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel's (Hebrews 12:24). And when a nation is in crisis, when there is no human solution, God still has a holy remedy. It is found in Joel 2:12-17. It involves massive prayer and fasting. 2 Chronicles 7:14 says, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sins, and I will heal their land."

That's just what we did. It was an exhausting day. But it was also exhilarating. I was moved to see so many, so hungry to see God do what only He can do. Watch for the Call coming to a city near you. The next one is planned for November 1st in San Diego. Don't let the testimony of Ezekiel's day be what is spoken about our generation:

"I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one." - Ezekiel 22:30.

~Jason

Our new address

2008-08-10T19:54:00.000-07:00

An update for our supporters

(or anyone wanting to send us snail mail!)

Jason & Kara Kelly

4201 E. 115th St.

Kansas City, MO 64137

7 states in 2 days

2008-08-06T19:27:00.000-07:00

We made it!! Monday morning we took off from Moscow, headed up to Spokane, drove through the top of Idaho's panhandle across Montana, down in to Wyoming and stopped for the night in South Dakota. The next day we saw the rest of South Dakota, a bit of Iowa and finally arrived in Missouri. Phew! We are tired but happy to be here.

We are starting the process of getting settled and finding our way around. As we adjust and begin our adventures, we will keep you posted on all our happenings!

For more thrilling pictures of our 7 state tour, visit: www.picasaweb.google.com/karalynnkelly/7statesin2day

6 days till take off!

2008-07-28T18:29:00.001-07:00

Sorry if there's anyone out in blogland that's actually been checking our blog for updates. We intend to update it more often once we have landed in Kansas City. We leave on Sunday for our roadtrip across the country!

Thanks to all for your prayers and support. Please pray that we would have safe travels and for our transition once we get to Missouri. It's pretty weird to be leaving Moscow and doesn't feel real at this point... but it will in about a week!

We're heading to IHOP!

2008-06-07T11:00:00.000-07:00

And the countdown begins...

We're planning on moving August 4th. Until then we're doing all the fun stuff of moving: packing, finding housing, applying for jobs, meeting with supporters, planning a yard sale. Wahoo!

Keep an eye on our blog for updates on our adventure!