Just last week federal prosecutors in Kansas City charged 12 people with luring illegal immigrants to the U.S. to work as what they called “modern-day slaves” in 14 states.

We cannot be fooled into thinking our country, because of our advanced culture, is immune to entering into this kind of depravity. Condoleeza Rice has said “Trafficking in persons is a modern-day form of slavery, a new type of global slave trade. Perpetrators prey on the most weak among us, primarily women and children, for profit and gain. They lure victims into involuntary servitude and sexual slavery.”

Download the TIP Report
You can get a clearer picture by downloading and reading the “Trafficking in Persons” (TIP) Report put out by the State Department in 2007. You can download that here.

America does however enforce its laws against trafficking, so its not out in the open as in countries like Thailand or Cambodia. But do not be fooled by thinking its only in the underground scenes in megatropolises. It’s happening in those places for sure, but also in suburban homes and in small towns where most people won’t think to look… so they won’t get caught.

Reports of Trafficking
I just heard from a friend that they are finding that the Panama City, FL port security is lax and they are finding traffickers know this information and are using it.

Just a few days ago I saw a news report about 3 traffickers that promised a 15 year old girl from Mexico an opportunity to work at a restaurant in Houston, TX. The girl saw hope in helping her ailing mother with being able to send money back to her. But the game changed once she reached Houston. “They forced her into prostitution once she got over here, telling her that her family would be injured or harmed if she did not comply,” said Harris County Asst. District Attorney Donna Hawkins. And when she failed to meet her nightly quota they would begin to beat her.

Here is the video of that story:

In Los Angeles, CA, according to a News America Media Report, Human Trafficking has Escalated as Economy Plunges. The Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking estimates that at least 10,000 women are being held in clandestine brothels in Los Angeles alone. They also say that the State Departments numbers are way low, and actually estimate about 50,000 people are brought into the United States each year to be modern day slaves.

Let’s not be fooled. Let’s pray and get involved. Visit exoduscry.com to find out more, or read some of these related articles below.

“There really is nothing like the death in the eyes of these children inside these brothels who are just being serially raped. But when someone shows up to intervene on their behalf, I’ve seen life return to those same eyes.” - Gary Haugen, President, International Justice Mission

I am leading team on a missions trip to Thailand in July. To support our mission trip and this ongoing effort to end human trafficking donate here https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=5042467. To find out more information check out our facebook group page here http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=187579955607.

One of the most appalling things that I have come across in my journey so far is the targeting of orphans for sex-slavery. In March 2003 the U.S. State Department reported a “pattern of trafficking” involving orphans in Russia. According to the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, the girls at risk are those who “must leave orphanages when they graduate,” usually at sixteen or seventeen.

According to data from the Health and Social Development Ministry, more than 730,000 children in Russia either have no parents or have been abandoned by their parents. Of this number about 200,000 of them live in orphanages and internats.

More than 160,000 children are waiting to be adopted according to the state database.  International adoptions have been hampered by recent legislation.  As of March 2007, only 20 organizations had received accreditation from the government to oversee international adoptions. In 2007, 9,000 Russian children were adopted by foreign families. More than 4,000 of these went to the United States.

Statistics sited from the article “Russian Orphans” By Svetlana Osadchuk in the May 19, 2008 edition of the Moscow Times.

The horrifying thing is that traffickers often know precisely when these girls are to be turned out of the institutions (”some orphanage directors sold information… to traffickers”) and are waiting for them, job offers in hand. The State Department also notes that throughout Russia, there are “reports of children being kidnapped or purchased from . . . orphanages for sexual abuse and child pornography” and that child prostitution is “widespread” in orphanages in Ukraine. And in Romania, “many orphanages are complicit in letting girls fall victim to trafficking networks.”

What if Christians began adopting at-risk children from countries where they were being targeted?

So which orange dot are you?

This map is from google analytics and represents visitors to adamparker.org over the last 30 days. Most visitors are obviously from the U.S., but in many more places than I actually have any influence over. I also know people in Germany, so I expect hits there. But Australia, Thailand, Korea, Egypt, UK, Brazil, California? Who are you?

I know you are reading this blog, so this is my invitation to you to pipe in. Make your voice heard. Say something, let us know you are alive and well.

Lou Engle speaks about Proposition 8 on May 25th, 2009 on CNN on a segment called Blogger Bunch. This decision was monumental in a state such as California, especially in the face of 5 other states having already passed legislation allowing homosexual marriage. This is truly a justice issue.

There are 143,000,000 orphans in the world today. 143 MILLION! The number is so incredibly large that we just look at the number and skim past it without it really phasing us. But to put a little perspective to this… Let’s take all of the people that live in New York City (8,214,426), plus all the people in Los Angeles (3,849,368), then add the people in Chicago (2,873,326), and then add the people from the next 47 largest US Cities…. PLUS… the entire population of Ireland (4,109,086), as well as Nicaragua (5,603,000), and Norway (4,770,000), then all the people from Denmark (5,457,415), then Costa Rica (4,113,884), and the entire population of Greece (11,170,957), and then finally ad the 62,000,000 who live in France to equal the 143,000,000 orphans worldwide.

We cannot help all 143,000,000, but we can help one at a time. And that one is hugely significant.

But getting back to my original question… how did it take us this long? Stephanie and I have been christians for a long time and are just NOW really beginning to make the sacrifices to bring in kids into our family. Where is this teaching in the body of Christ? Maybe we were just in the wrong circles, and I know some are doing it, but largely the body of Christ is VERY Vocal on being “Pro-Life” but nearly silent when it comes to Adoption. People are wanting see an end to abortion, but aren’t even looking at one of the main solutions.

The Inconvenience of the Orphan
The main thing that I see as the roadblock to many taking the next steps to adopting is being the inconvenience that taking in kids would bring. Many are not quite at the point in life where they feel they are “well-off” enough to adopt. Or maybe they are older and their kids are grown, and starting all over seems too much. I am of the opinion that if you are a you should either be adopting, or walking along side those who are adopting. No kid should grow up without a family.

It’s not even well known that if you adopt locally, many times you can adopt at little or NO cost at all. I encourage you to call your local department of human services and find out about adopting through your state’s foster care system.

Check out the new video blog post I did this week. I hit on topics such as the new direction of my blog, Revelation 15 and even have a short video clip of one of my sets in the prayer room.

Enjoy.

Here are some of the bloopers I’ve done while leading worship:

1. Singing the wrong words. This is my standard, my norm for goofing up. I very often sing wrong words, I’m working on this. I won’t point out anything specific b/c all you have to do is watch every other set I lead, I’m sure I’ll get a few words wrong.
2. Having the piano go completely silent on me while I’m singing. This definitely happened to me yesterday. I think I was singing “We Fall Down,” and while I was singing that, the dude next to me that was unplugging his stuff (accidentally) bumped my cord which made it come loose and silence. I kept singing, so it was just my voice there for what seemed like a minute, but was probably more like 5-10 seconds until I figured out a way to get sound back.
3. Giving Direction in the Talk Back - Yet it goes out into the people. We have a button we can step on (called a panic button) that when stepping on it, it allows us to talk to all of the band members (because we all have in-ear headphones). Worship Leaders often use this to give direction about what song to do next, when to change chords, etc. So a couple of weeks ago I was giving direction, and used it correctly, but then I went to say something else and I forgot to press the button and I gave the direction in a talking voice for all to hear in the crowd. It was funny and a little embarrassing. I’ve done that at least 2 or 3 times. Not fun at the time.
4. Starting a VERY LOUD Loop while the music is coming to an end. I’ve done this one or two times. It’ll be at a very somber moment in worship, where we are just worshipping God and its very peaceful, when “BANG”…. oops… that just ruined the moment. I did that the other day at the JPR (Justice Prayer Room) when I was leading for the Onething Internship and it was so abrupt that people started to laugh… then I started to laugh. I almost couldn’t keep it together, but I finally did.
5. Having a Chair Fall of the Stage and Make a Very Loud Noise. When I was singing with Luke Wood’s team 8 months to a year ago or so, I was scooting the stool over and behind me and unbeknown to me the legs were hanging off of the ledge. I then scooted back and BOOM, BANG, CRASH… It seemed to last forever and it was extremely loud. Many people laughed, as did I. That was not fun.

Allison Moseley

I asked her to write an article on the End-Times and what she thought was important at this time. You can read more from Allison at her blog www.raretune.com.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

Revelation: (noun) The act of revealing or disclosing; Something revealed, especially a dramatic disclosure of something not previously known or realized; A manifestation of divine will or truth.

The Revelation of Jesus Christ: What is this mysterious work that remains the most misunderstood book of the Bible? Is it for today? Is it relevant to our understanding of Christ Jesus? Is it really that important for our faith? Is it just there for enjoyment of the random and rare elite scholar? Or is it something to be read… heard… kept.

“Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.” (Revelation 1:3)

Indeed, it was God the Father who commissioned Jesus to reveal more of His majesty to His Church. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants… (Rev. 1:1) For you see, the time for divine revelation had come, and in His glory Jesus revealed Himself as the Bridegroom King who will judge all that hinders love as He prepares to take over the earth. We see both a blessing and an invitation in Revelation 1:3. Again, in Revelation 22:7, we see another promise. These beatitudes bookend the prophecy in Revelation as an encouragement to believers to take the prophecy seriously so that we would receive the revelation of Jesus’ majestic personality and plan with understanding, and engage the content of the book in active partnership.

We are to READ the book of Revelation, and not just privately. As a community of believers, when we read aloud the words of this prophecy, it helps us intentionally keep this powerful testimony of Jesus at the center of our daily walk. The Church is hindered by the loss of this prophecy. Without His revelation, our understanding of Jesus weakens and we are left with an ethereal, fuzzy concept of a God-man unknown. As the sovereignty and supremacy of Jesus fades to more sensible modern notions, singing from an overflowing heart of wholehearted love and adoration gives way to intellectualism and stale religion. Jesus’ return becomes an abstract concept not a concrete plan to hasten His coming through dynamic partnership.

We are to HEAR the words of this prophecy. Truly hearing the Lord happens by the power of the Holy Spirit as He searches the deep things of God and makes them known to us. This is the reception of divine insight as God releases the Spirit of wisdom and revelation unto our understanding. Hearing takes place when our spiritual senses are awakened to the truths contained in the book and suddenly the content shifts from the realm of principles to be pondered to the place of living understanding that demands a response. When we really hear His testimony in this prophecy, we gain understanding of the personality, power, and plan of Jesus in the End-Time drama!

We must KEEP the words of the Revelation of Jesus. The Greek word for keep means “to guard” from loss. Blessed is the one who guards the content of the book in a way which takes the details seriously. The content of God’s word is to be activated in the life of the believer, igniting a fiery zeal within us as we long for the return of our Bridegroom. This prophecy is an invitation for hastening the day of the Lord through active participation. Which generation will read, hear, and then keep the prophecy? Which generation will come into the revelation of Christ that produces the faith to keep the prophecy? Who will come into agreement concerning the time is at hand and will embrace the Lord’s desire to come establish justice on the earth?

“Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” (Revelation 22:7)

What does intercession mean to you and how do you practically walk it out during a regular week?

Sean Downs is a full-time missionary at IHOP and is the Production Manager for the Evening Section (6pm - 12am).

“To me intercession means simply agreeing with the heart of God. It means coming together as a corporate body and taking a topic such as God encountering the hearts of young adults in college campuses or for the ending of abortion and agreeing that the Lord is going to do what He said He will do. I use my intercession times in the prayer room to root inside me the desires of God’s heart so when I am outside the prayer room during my regular week those desire’s stay with me, i.e. by saying 10-30 second prayers throughout the week or by singing the prayers that we prayed during the intercession set. I find that intercession is the most practical and easiest way to walk out humility, righteousness, and love.”

“For me intercession is about partnering with Jesus, who ever lives to make intercession for us. For me there are three main components to this, one is having specific times in prayer for cities, churches and people that are on my heart, secondly continuing to grow in revelation of Jesus Christ through the meditation of Scripture that I can partner with his heart and thirdly living a lifestyle of holiness that my life is reflective of what He says to good and right.”

Samuel Moseley

Well, the first thing that comes to mind is “Standing in the gap”. Ezekiel paints a perfect picture of this in Ezek 22:30:

“And I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land,  that I should not destroy it”…

To me this is the intercessors call, to carry a burden through prayer seeking breakthrough. Standing in the gap on behalf of the land crying out to God asking Him for mercy so that He would withhold His righteous judgments for a little while longer so more sons and daughters will be saved. This is exactly what Jesus did on the Cross; He gave Himself in intercession on behalf of all mankind when He prayed “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”. He willingly laid down His life so others could be free from sin, sickness and death.

How do I walk it out as a full time intercessor week to week?

I help build the House of Prayer that sustains the solemn assembly of Joel 2:15-17

Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, and call a sacred assembly.

Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children… Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, spare Your people, O God…

I join in with others in unity praying the prayer of faith and using Apostolic Prayers (that are God’s Biblical prayers for the Church) I ask for His light to shine on darkness. I carry my own personal “prayer burdens” throughout the week knowing that God hears me when I pray and I am actually moving Angels and demons when I tell God what He tell me to tell Him…through His Word and prayer. I recognize daily that my prayers really matter and that God acts on behalf of a praying people.

Dawn Spalding is a full-time missionary at IHOP and is a Service Coordinator for the Student Ministries department. She is also a Production Manager and a Worship Team Administrator.

Intercession, it is key to know that it’s an act of partnership with the heart of God. It’s not just something that is done from oneself for oneself, or another. Intercession is joining in what the Lord has already been praying and is praying for. It’s not a new concept to Him.

The way I personally walk it out is, first, to listen and be still. Knowing what it is the Lord is speaking is critical. Second, I write out what I have heard. I search for it in scripture what He is saying to me. Speak it out, and join in corporate worship, and prayer times.  I believe that my heart and my soul move when I am in communion with His heart. To join in what He is doing. For We were made for Him. To partner with him. Not that we would benefit. But oh the joy when we do fully partner with Him prayer. We gain an eternal peace to live with Him. For when He returns oh the beauty of giving our life now to be doing what He is doing. Intercession.

What does intercession mean to you?

I asked Richard to write about the importance of Intercession. He has some incredible things to say regarding the necessity of standing in the gap and agreeing with God’s heart in intercession.

Intercession:
God is calling the body of Christ to the place of intercession. Intercession is the place where God and people meet, to stand between two opposing parties with the aim to resolve enmity. There is a depth to reach in Intimacy and friendship with God that only comes through intercession. Intercession is about fellowshipping with God yet at the same time being fully sympathetic with the misery of mankind. He’s calling us into His heart, His mind, and His will and wants a people committed to His plans and purposes in this generation. Intercession is coming into agreement with God.

God wants to fill His Church with power, the sick healed, the blind seeing, the lame walking, the captives set free, wickedness driven off the earth, God wants revival. God desires for His righteousness, His Kingdom, His will and His Name to be glorified in the earth. He chose to do these things in partnership with His people, its simply more enjoyable for Him this way. He wants us intimately involved with how He governs the universe. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” (Matt 6:10) He also gave His people a key principle to live by, “ask and it shall be given,” (Mt 7:7) James says, “we have not because we ask not.” (Js 4:2) John says, “If we ask according to His will he hears us and we know we have that which we’ve asked of Him.” (1 Jn 5:15) Let us therefore get consumed with His desires and partner with Him through Intercession to see His Kingdom come to earth.

Jesus Himself lives forever to make Intercession. (Rom 8:34; Heb 7:25) Jesus embodies Intercession. Both fully God and fully man Jesus stands as the worthy Intercessor between the Father himself and mankind, until He brings all things both in heaven and on the earth together in Him. Through Christ, the Eternal Intercessor and Mediator, Heaven and Earth will be made one. Jesus is beckoning us into His heart to love what He loves, to hate what He hates, to actually desire what He desires and feel what He feels.

Intercession is standing in the gap between the misery of mankind and the everlasting pleasures of God, becoming the mediation between the temporal and eternal. Intercession is being caught in the tension of pleasure and pain, the nature of the Divine and nature of man. We must stand before God on behalf of mankind and stand before mankind on behalf of God. Who will stand in the gap? Who will partner with Jesus in Intercession in bringing Heaven to earth? I believe like in Ezekiel’s day, “God is searching for men who would make a wall and stand in the gap before Him on behalf of the land.” (Ez 22:30) We are called to literally hasten the day of the Lord, thus we have the ability to hold back that Glorious day. We can bring an end to wickedness and the misery of this fallen world faster and help establish everlasting righteousness; peace and eternal pleasure quicker as we eagerly wait for and passionately long for Him in Intercession. At its core intercession is the groan found in the last pages of scripture, “The Spirit and the Bride cry come.” (Rev 22:7)