A room fills up with hundreds of people suffering from different physical ailments, who are all seeking a touch from God. Across a divider, members of the International House of Prayer’s healing teams prepare to pray for them, confident that Jesus will touch those with ailments, both big and small.
This is a scene from the healing rooms at Onething, IHOPKC’s annual young adult conference, which runs December 28–31 at the Kansas City Convention Center.
For the first two days of the conference, ministry teams offer prayer for physical healing. Many who come report significant improvement—if not total healing—of their condition.
“I asked them for prayer for healing for my back,” said a woman who attended Onething 2014. “As they were praying for me, laying hands on me, I started feeling the pressure and the pain just release.”
“I felt this tingling feeling in my ankle, and I felt stuff moving,” said a man whose pain went from a seven out of ten down to a zero. “I can walk and I can jump!”
For Brian Pendleton, director of the healing rooms at IHOPKC, Onething is his favorite expression of the ministry.
“At Onething, we all minister in one big room, so if someone gets healed, anybody close to them knows it. It builds faith and excitement in the room,” said Brian, who has been involved in IHOPKC’s healing ministry for nine years.
There’s a heightened sense of expectation at the conference, as 20,000 young adults—and people of all ages—gather to experience God. Healing is one way that Jesus manifests His presence.
In such a unique atmosphere of faith, many prayers are answered.
“I came with an expectation that I will be healed today,” said a woman who was able to walk and lift her hands after receiving prayer in the healing room. “I came for it, and I promised I wasn’t going back to Canada the same way I came.”
The healing room process is fairly simple. After signing up, people sit in a waiting area where soft music is played. Then, they are ushered into an adjoining room and seated with teams of two healing ministers.
The ministers ask about their condition, anoint them with oil, and lay on hands (if the person is open to it), and pray for several minutes. The team may pray more than once if the person reports improvement, or to press in because nothing’s changing at the moment.
Healing can be both instantaneous and a process, as it was for Jesus (Mark 8:22–25). Although many people are healed, some don’t see or feel it right away.
“There are countless people who come back and say, ‘I was here three years ago, I got prayer for this, and I got healed, but I didn’t know about it until two weeks after I got back home,’” Brian says.
For instance, two years ago, a couple from St. Louis sought prayer to be able to have a child. A year later, they came to Onething holding a 2.5-month-old baby, “which means they got pregnant right after the conference,” Brian explains. “You’ve never seen somebody so giddy as the minister who prayed with them!”
But what about people who are unfamiliar with the healing ministry, or who question whether it works?
To them, Brian says, “Just come. You will feel loved—that’s the feedback we often hear, whether people are healed right then or not. Come for a touch of God. We have teams that want to minister to you. All we need is more people to pray for!”
Last year, about 650 people received prayer at the Onething healing rooms, but there were enough ministers to pray for literally twice that number. Any sickness, ailment, or level of faith—or lack thereof—is welcome.
“I’m confident the Lord will touch anybody that comes in with His presence and His peace, and you just may go home healed,” Brian says. “Just come and see what the Lord will do. What have you got to lose?”
The Onething healing rooms are open December 28–29; registration is located outside the prayer room at the conference. Ministry is on a first-come, first-served basis.
