Justin Rizzo's blog

I spent this past weekend ministering in Siloam Springs, Arkansas at The Pointe church and house of prayer. The Pointe leadership has done an amazing job at merging a local church with a house of prayer.  Atop their org chart is a prayer furnace from which flow all of their other ministries. This was my third time ministering at The Pointe and every time I go, I am so impressed by the unity and amazing leadership God has placed there. I think The Pointe can serve as a model for other churches that desire to form a house of prayer.

Today's set was the last for 13-year veteran IHOPKC worship leader, Marcus Meier. This summer, he will be moving his family to Brazil to plant a house of prayer. His final set ended with the room giving him a standing ovation honoring him for his years of service in this prayer room. In the last thirteen years, Marcus has led six times a week, two hours per set, totaling over 7,000 hours of leading prayer meetings!

I remember the first time I ever walked into the prayer room in Kansas City. Marcus was leading worship and I was so in awe of this young man who had committed his life to being a priest who ministered to the Lord as his full time job. I was hooked from that point and knew that this is what I wanted to do with my life. 

The book of Philippians talks a lot about joy. It’s mentioned over thirty times, which seems strange because Paul is writing while sitting in a Roman prison. Clearly his joy was not based on his circumstances.

I don't know about you, but I am very affected by my circumstances. Whether due to internal or external things, I find that I can be joyful or sorrowful, happy or sad from one moment to the next. But thank God that He has given us a glorious invitation to find the superior joy and pleasure of knowing Him, which can carry us through any storm or trial we may face. This is what Paul tapped into.

So how can we find this joy and live in it continually?

I spent this past weekend with my wife and band (pictured above) in Connecticut and New Jersey. We led two nights of worship hosted by a ministry called Revival Generation led by Paul DiMarco. Paul has been hosting nights of worship in the New England region for years along with a variety of other events. The second worship night was at the Community Coffee House in Danbury led by Chris Barrett. Both Paul and Chris were amazing hosts and we so enjoyed getting to know them over the weekend. The above picture was taken at a State Forest we found while driving around.