Allen Hood

The International House of Prayer (IHOP) couples prayer with action. The prayer room lays the foundation for vibrant ministry, as people seek the heart of Jesus around the clock. Whether ministering to the homeless, the fatherless, former gang members, or victims of sex trafficking, the International House of Prayer brings hope as people fall in love with Jesus’ heart.

Even the disciples connected Jesus’ public ministry with his personal prayer life. Just as Jesus taught his disciples to pray, so the International House of Prayer University (IHOPU) makes prayer the foundation for preaching and serving.

“In Psalm 2:8, the Father tells the son, ‘Ask of me, and I’ll give you the nations,’” Allen Hood, President of IHOPU, said. “The second person of the trinity has to pray to the Father to receive the nations. If Jesus has to pray to the father to receive the nations, we do, too.”

As President of IHOPU, Allen makes prayer part of the curriculum. Each week, the students spend 15-20 hours in corporate prayer and worship in the 24/7 prayer room. The students, about 40 percent of whom are international students, master theological truths through the spiritual discipline of prayer and meditation on the Word.

Students study theology in the classroom and then pray and meditate upon those scriptural truths in the prayer room, taking content that stretched their minds and embedding it deep in their hearts. Doing this in a thriving mission’s context helps insure that theological reflection is wed to heartfelt devotion and sacrificial mission.

“You can only teach so much on prayer,” he said. “You have to grow in it and watch how the spirit over time transforms you.”

He encourages the faculty to model these principles as well.

“I tell our faculty that our students have to see the back of your head in the prayer room and doing the works of ministry three times more than the front of your head in a classroom setting,” Allen, who has worked with IHOP for 16 years, said.

Ironically, Allen didn’t grow up in a church that emphasized prayer. Yet, he realized prayer helped people engage with God and began exploring the relationship between prayer and spiritual revival.

“I knew that if I was going to transform the world, prayer was going to have to be the foundation,” Allen said.

Prayer not only increases spiritual intimacy and releases the power of God, but it also provides denominational unity. Although thousands of denominations exist around the world, prayer is the foundation for solidarity around the word of God.

“Catholics, Protestants, Baptists, Pentecostals, Methodists and Presbyterians are willing to pray together to see the church built and the great commission fulfilled,” he said.

As a result, Allen believes the Church is getting her heart back.

 “I am more excited for the church right now than ever before because the church is starting to discover God and His radiant Son again in the place of prayer and worship,” he said.

Not only is the Church being revived, but its young people are experiencing the transformative power of Christ as their knowledge of and relationship with Him increases.

“I watch young people come without any ability to connect with the Lord, from broken homes, from sordid pasts, filled with shame, and insecure in their body image,” Allen said. “In the place of prayer, they discover the grace of Christ and the love of the Father and begin to learn how to fellowship with the Holy Spirit in the place of prayer.”

Allen is deeply committed to promoting the establishment of unceasing corporate worship and intercession in every tribe, tongue and nation. His highest calling is to intercede for the fullness of God to be released in the Church worldwide and to labor for the strengthening of the global prayer and missions movement. 

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Hear more stories like Allen’s from faculty, current students and alumni, who are serving around the world. In the Voices Collection, you’ll find pastors, missionaries, professors, founders of non-profit organizations, authors, disciplers, counselors, spiritual directors, evangelists, leaders and more.