BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

Following Black Monday in 1987, John and Judith thought they were supposed to move to Texas where John would take another job. They decided to seek the Lord with all their hearts for His will. For the next three-and-a-half years, John prayed in tongues for one to two hours a day. Judith prayed in tongues for two to eight hours a day. Afterward, they knew one thing for certain: They’d been wrong. John wasn’t supposed to take a new job in Dallas. God wanted them to start a church in Oklahoma City. “We started Church on the Rock—Oklahoma City on May 5, 1991,” John says. “Because we’d prayed the whole thing out in tongues, it was the easiest thing we’d ever done. Everyone warned me that in order to build a church I would need to quit my job. That didn’t make economic sense to me so I worked full time for the first five years.” One summer after starting the church, John and Judith sowed a large offering into KCM during the Southwest Believers’ Convention, as seed for a new house. A few years later, Judith dreamed about a house nestled among large trees alongside a lake. Soon afterward, a member donated the house to the church as a parsonage. Faith for Recovery In addition to working full time and leading a church, John also started a prayer network, working with local pastors of various denominations. Not long after, a pastor said to John: “When I read the Bible, it doesn’t mention the First Pentecostal Church of Ephesus or the First Baptist Church of Jerusalem. It talks about the church of each city: the church of Jerusalem, the church of Antioch, the church of Ephesus.” Then, the man asked: “If the Lord was going to write a letter to the church in Oklahoma City, who would receive it? How would they get it to all the believers?” No one imagined how valid, or prophetic that question would prove to be. In the months leading up to April 1995, when internationally recognized prophet Chuck Pierce received a warning about looming disaster, there was no way to get the message to key leaders. When intercessors of different denominations across the state picked up on the warning, there was no centralized way to get it to various denominations, churches, pastors or intercessors. On April 19, 1995, Pierce was on the phone with a minister in Oklahoma City, trying to get someone to heed the warning, when a bomb exploded in downtown Oklahoma City. It was the first act of terrorism on U.S. soil. “While the prayer network began before the bombing,” John recalls, “the bombing drove us together in prayer with a new fervor. Our city was traumatized, and the Church in the city and state was fractured. What began as prayer for the city grew into the Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network. To me, it stood to reason that if the kingdom of God was advancing, there would be tangible results in our neighborhoods, cities and states. Those were the markers of success I wanted to see. “As we gathered corporately to repent and ask God to heal our land, we began seeing those changes. For instance, in 2006 and early 2007, the lakes and rivers in Oklahoma were so low that meteorologists predicted it would take eight years to recover. After our corporate meeting, it began to rain, and within a short time the drought was broken. Each time we went to a different state, we saw the same results. Time after time, when we met to deal with issues and stand in the gap through identificational repentance, God fulfilled His promise to heal our land, each time with undeniable results.” Twenty years ago, Oklahoma City was so spiritually disjointed that when God sent a prophet to warn of impending disaster, he could find no cohesive group to tell. The bombing in downtown Oklahoma City left it looking like a war zone. The state’s economy had a long history of poverty and Oklahoma stood at the back of the class in most areas of society. Today the Church in Oklahoma is strong and Christian leaders have taken their places in city and state government. While the U.S. suffered wide-scale recession from December 2007 through June 2009, "Forbes" magazine listed Oklahoma City as the No. 1 most recession-proof city in the nation. "USA Today" headlines declared, ‘OKC Defies Recession.’ "Business Week" listed Oklahoma City as third among the 40 strongest economies in the nation. However, one of the most telling changes may be that Oklahoma can mobilize prayer across the state within minutes. When Dr. C. Peter Wagner investigated what was happening in Oklahoma, he said, “In the position that I have, I am in contact with a lot of people who are doing things around the world as well as in the United States…. The reports that I get from HAPN are the most tangible, measurable results of high-level prayer and spiritual warfare that I have heard yet in my life.” “We don’t take the credit for the transformation in Oklahoma City,” John says, “because following the bombing, Oklahoma City was prayed for more than any city on earth except Jerusalem.” Today, HAPN (hapn.us) has grown to include all 50 states and 63 nations. Dr. Benefiel’s book, "Binding the Strongman Over America," describes their over-25-year journey. The church and the prayer network weren’t the only things growing. Today, John and Judith Benefiel’s family has grown to include 10 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. “We learned faith for ourselves beginning in 1973, when we partnered with KCM,” Judith explains. “We used the same principles to grow the church and the prayer network. The same faith that changed our lives is transforming cities, states and nations.” God will do for you the same thing He did for John and Judith Benefiel and for Oklahoma City. If you will believe, He will restore everything you’ve lost, but He won’t stop there. Faith will take you further than you ever dreamed you’d go. V 14 : BVOV

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