On Tuesday morning, September 22nd 2015 I (Patrick) woke up after having a significant dream. In my dream I was in a large Church in Seattle, Washington that I was well familiar with. In the dream a man came into the room where about 15 others and me were meeting and said, “there’s a smaller prayer meeting that needs some help, will somebody go?” I didn’t personally respond to go. I liked where I was and didn’t see a need to leave. But after a little while, when nobody responded, I figured why not, and I said that I would go, thinking it was a short-term trip. The dream continued as I walked outside into the parking lot where about 75-100 people from my IHOPKC family were. We all walked out onto the street and went to the first light, which was two blocks away.
The first light turned green and we took a left. We walked two more blocks to the next light and when it turned green we took another left. We walked two more blocks to the third light and it turned green as well and we went left. Now the Church that we just left was in view and I thought to myself, “we just went full circle.” This time when we approached the fourth light and it turned green, everybody entered back into the Church parking lot except for me. As I stood in the street, alone, away from my friends at IHOPKC I started crying. I said to the Lord, “I love You, I’ll go anywhere, but this doesn’t make any sense. Why would you move us?” The Lord responded to me and said three times,” call Gary Wiens, Bellevue.” That’s it.
As you could understand, I woke up pretty shocked. Gary and Marie are dear friends of mine who planted the International House of Prayer Northwest (IHOPNW) in Federal Way, WA in 2008. I knew this dream was about God transitioning us from Kansas City, MO to the Seattle, WA area. After a couple of significant days of God confirming this dream to me, I talked to Jen. Though Jen knew it was the Lord, it was really hard for her to think about leaving life as we knew it in KC. During the next three weeks Jennifer and I didn’t say anything to Gary and Marie. We kept what God was doing quiet and shared only with our closest mentors. Each significant person in our lives unanimously signed off that this was, in deed, the Lord. We were shocked again.
On Friday, October 16th 2015 I had the opportunity to sit down with Gary and Marie at Starbucks in Ellensburg, WA where I was starting a conference later that night with dear friends Bill and Lynette Miller. This was the first time that we talked since I had my dream in September. They shared that Jennifer and I had been on their hearts for around 7 months and they felt like God wanted us to come to the Seattle area and work with them. To which I responded, “were ready to come. God has spoken to us, we’ve looked up moving costs, we have peace and we’ve been released to leave KC and come.” We all sat in silence, stunned at what God was doing. It was clear God was already knitting our hearts and lives together.
Over the next month as I returned back to KC we video chatted with the leadership team from IHOPNW, exchanged emails and talked over the phone as we both got to know each other better. Just 1 week before Thanksgiving, IHOPNW flew us out to spend a day with the staff as well as teach on Sunday morning. During this visit Gary and Marie officially offered us the position as the Executive Pastors of IHOPNW. We were humbled, honored and gladly accepted the position to work alongside Gary, Marie and the leadership team of IHOPNW. As we came back to KC, we started packing up our house for a December move as well as saying goodbye to beloved friends and family.
With the help of God and amazing friends we packed the house and moved on December 14th making our way to Auburn, WA where we had rented a house. Spending Christmas with our families was an amazing time and further solidified God’s leadership over our lives and family. The Holy Spirit made this move much easier than it could’ve been. We had an unusual amount of favor and wide open doors.
I officially started work at IHOPNW in mid January 2016 after returning from a wonderful conference Jennifer and I were teaching at in Canada. This transition has been quite the whirlwind of emotions, new relationships and adjustments to once again living in the Northwest. Our kids love being around our families once again and are doing great overall. Through it all we can confidently say that we are exactly where God has placed us. The Lord is moving in the Northwest, raising up a people of prayer to fill the Seattle-metro area with Jesus’ glory and we are excited to once again be apart of this.
Jennifer and I will continue to be full-time missionaries with the International House of Prayer Northwest, raising the majority of our salary through financial partnership with God’s people. We are so grateful to be on this journey with others who are both running alongside us and have empowered us to do what we are doing. Thank you!
Patrick and Jennifer Walton