December 2010

What an amazing God! And an amazing year. I'm so blessed. Here's just a few highlights from the last month...

















OJC fellowship (orphanjusticecenter.com): I just finished a 3 month intensive learning about the plight of the orphan in the US and in other countries. It was challenging, but incredibly rewarding! We even saw one 10 year old adopted boy accept Christ. Last week we took Happy Meals and cupcakes to 50 kids in a residential facility that can’t be placed in foster care (behavior, mental or physical health problems, etc.). They loved it!! They were so precious...they broke my heart. Above is Brittany and me making a gingerbread house together.



Prostitution Ministry (exoduscry.com): I love this outreach to women on the streets. I had the privilege of leading one prostitute, Meka, in a prayer of salvation on the street. Tonya’s doing well at Second Chance, the women’s transition house. She has her ups and downs, but is determined to stay clean. The Christmas party was so fun! Testimony after testimony of Christ delivering women from addiction, prostitution, and despair.










Mission Trip in KC: Five friends (including my sister) from First Baptist church from Elgin, IA, visited IHOP-KC one weekend. We went to Hope City to work with inner city kids and adults, served the Loux family with 9 adopted kids and helped spa & minister to some women at Second Chance.



Children’s Book: I just finished illustrating a children’s book about Ethan, Silas, and Sasha Loux’s adoption from the Ukraine. It will be published in January. I was so blessed working on it. Their father, Derek Loux, passed away last December 23rd, so it’s in honor of him and his vision for adoption. (www.louxfamilyblog.com)

bethanyhackmann@ihop.org

November 2010 Update

The Orphan Justice Fellowship started Sept. 28th and we have just four weeks left. It has been such an incredible time…it could take a week to express all that God is doing!


Orphan Justice Center Fellowship

“Seek justice, rebuke the oppressor, defend the fatherless, plead for the widow.” Isaiah 1:17

“Understanding the crisis” part of the fellowship includes reading and research involving human trafficking in the world and in the U.S., foster care, child development, attachment disorders, and how God views justice. Each week we give presentations on various topics related to justice, write blogs (mine is lovinggodskids.wordpress.com), study leadership, and lead prayer in the global prayer room (You can join us Friday mornings 6am-8am www.ihop.org/prayerroom).

My schedule has been pretty full, 6am – 6pm or 9pm some nights, but my spirit feels so alive! I tangibly feel the Lord’s delight and love for these little ones. And I feel His zeal for justice; to make the wrong things in the world right. I’m so thankful He’s going to make all things new one day!! (Rev. 21)

The “restore” part involves mentoring adopted and foster children by bringing them into the prayer room twice a week to learn about Jesus and to pray for them. Sundays we take the kids on fun field trips. It has been so eye-opening working with these kids…some are growing so rapidly in the Lord! They are affectionate, eager to learn about Jesus, and creative. Others have taken more time to trust and respond to our efforts. So many of them have touched my heart. I’m ready to take one in:)



(Me and Hadassa)

We’ve also toured a battered women’s shelter, a Christian troubled girls’ home, and a state boys’ home. It is hard hearing the stories of abuse, feeling the hopelessness of a home without Jesus. But the Christian home was full of love! The girls shared testimonies of how Jesus saved them and healed their hearts and families. These tours have helped us gain strategies for rescuing and restoring children. IHOP-KC has a vision of bringing in thousands of orphans, so we need to have a plan:)

One boy that touched my heart is Moses. I had received a text from an OJC friend before the fellowship started, asking me to pray for a 4 yr old boy who had been severely abused. An IHOP-KC family tried to adopt him, but they didn’t get him in time. He was hospitalized and remained in a coma for two weeks. The doctors had to cut his skull because of all the swelling. We continued to pray, knowing brain damage was probable without a miracle. A few weeks into the Fellowship, a new boy showed up for me to pray with. He was 4 yrs old with a large scar from one ear to the other. He was beautiful and his name was Moses. My heart leaped! Here he was, sitting next to me a few months after leaving the hospital, coloring a picture of his new family and lots of green grass. I was overwhelmed by his joyful spirit and affection toward me. How powerful is our God!!

Thomas was a ten year old adopted boy that was difficult, full of rejection, hatred, and wouldn’t look us in the eyes. I had a hard time in school with him, because he would lie a lot and had no motivation. We prayed so much for him!! His heart was hard toward God. He said he didn’t care about God, that He didn’t want to know Him. After long, intensive prayer and weeks of speaking truth to him, he accepted Christ!! There was such an instant change in him. He looked at us, smiled, and wanted to go to the prayer room with us! He came running up to me at school and said “Bethany, guess what?! I got saved 10/10/2010 at 10am! And I’m ten years old!!” I laughed, and I blurted…”Thomas, you are a miracle! God has amazing plans for you!”



Prostitution Outreach

“God sets the lonely in families, he leads the prisoners out with singing.” Ps. 68:6

I went with Exodus Cry teams to reach out to prostitutes downtown Kansas City last Thursday. It was extremely cold last week, so the streets were relatively quiet (except for a few gunshots). Our team met three women who were standing outside a rehab center. One girl was 3 months pregnant. She had been clean 45 days. As we prayed over them and gave them words of encouragement, the tears flowed. Their hope was renewed. The Lord is so near the brokenhearted! He wants his little girls free from their pimps and the prison of addiction. I think of Tonya, how these women could be just like her - just needing one person to pray for her, to help her break through bondage and take a step toward the Father…steps to freedom! Tonya’s doing really well. She has been at Second Chance since my last update. She’s involved with an inner city Baptist church that is closer to the house, and they’ve taken her under their wing. It’s beautiful to see her determination to stay clean again for her new grandbaby. Her son’s girlfriend is pregnant. She just turned 40 and is going to be a grandma soon!


First Baptist Church mission team comes to KC

“The spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed” Luke 4:18-19

1st Baptist from Elgin is bringing a team of six (including my sister Tracy…yay!) to Kansas City November 18-21. I am super excited for them to come to serve in the inner city, serve adoptive families, to evangelize, to experience the prayer room, and to draw close to God!

July-August Update

Orphan Justice Fellowship

“Adoption is greater than the universe. It was there before the universe, it is above the universe and it is the purpose of the universe.” John Piper

September 5th, I will begin the OJC Fellowship! I am honored that the leadership asked me to do this intensive training. Just ten of us will be doing this first-ever Justice Fellowship, which is designed to equip leaders to go out and change the plight of the orphan. So for three months we’ll research the crisis of 163 million displaced children neglected, abused, and trafficked worldwide and in America. Then we’ll study and practice restoring them- how the House of Prayer is important for this, recognizing abuse, take foster care training classes, working in foster care shelters, working with adopted children, ones with special needs, etc. It will be very intense, but I am excited! www.orphanjusticecenter.com

OJC Families

“My friends, adoption is redemption. It’s costly, exhausting, expensive, and outrageous. Buying back lives costs so much. When God set out to redeem us, it killed Him.” Derek Loux

Two days last week, I took care of the youngest four Loux boys. They are so precious! Sasha is 7, adopted from the Ukraine and has spina bifida. He loves to dance, tipping onto the top of his head and shaking his shoulders. Ethan, 6, and Silas, 3, have down syndrome and laugh and smile at the simplest things. Judah, 1, has just arrived from the Marshall Islands. He loves to be held and tears would fall from his big brown eyes whenever I put him down. The older girls are so sweet and shower affection on the little ones. The home is full of love and joy...I am amazed at how quickly they opened up to me and shared their lives with me. Renee, a single parent now, her two biological daughters, and eight adopted children all amaze me. This is the Father’s heart. Renee said a blind and deaf girl will join the family from the Marshall Islands this Saturday. She said she and Derek promised that family they would take care of this girl. She will continue to carry out the vision she shared with her husband was still alive. God’s love is deep. www.louxfamilyblog.com

I’ve continued to hang out a bit with Kayla and her younger sister, Brittney. They are also in a family with ten children, nine adopted in the U.S. Each child has an amazing rescue story! The youngest is six months old and had meth in his system when the VanLues took him home from the hospital. The VanLues run a restaurant, and spend long hours making ends meet.

Inner City Healing, Restoration & Salvation!

“Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his [Jesus’] feet....“Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” Luke 8:47,48

A week after my last update, Tonya relapsed. I walked her through the first one, but she relapsed two more times, up to two weeks on the streets again. It was so hard to see her high on crack and walk away from safety and the people who love her, from the Lord. It was hard to not to rescue her when she called me when she was high, to hear the things she did out of desperation because of her addiction. I know the Lord can set her free! I don’t know why He does it in an instant for some, but for others it’s a daily battle. It’s hard to see the toll the addiction took on her family, her health and her heart. She’s so broken and full of shame. But God met her! She had been hospitalized for hemorrhaging, and after she was released, she said she was reading in her Bible the story of the woman who had bleeding for twelve years, and as she read, she was healed! The bleeding in her body instantly stopped:)

I gave Tonya a drawing, a portrait of herself in a black frame. I had promised her I would do it for her for her 40th birthday. She opened the gift and she just couldn’t believe what she saw....She kept saying “That IS me! That IS me! Girl, you got everything! You even got the scar on my nose!” And she showed every woman in the house.“Look...this is how I look when I’m not out running on the streets. Look!!!” Later My friend Kimberly said to me afterward with tears in her eyes “Do you have any idea how healing that was for Tonya? You drew her as Jesus sees her. She can see herself through His eyes. How healing, how beautiful.” Thank you Lord! Thank you that this simple artistic gift you’ve given me has restored hope and life to a broken heart.

I have been going to a recovery house for women called Second Chance for a few weeks to mentor two women, Pam and Susan (also where Tonya is now!). They are in recovery and have a hunger for the Lord. They both got baptized at IHOP-KC services. As Pam was preparing to be immersed, she admitted that she’s not really saved! She had never prayed to ask Christ to be Lord of her life. So Kimberly led her to the Lord in the bathroom. Thank you God!!


New House

I've moved a few blocks to a new house. Instead of 6 housemates, I now have just 2. And my rent is $50 cheaper - the lowest around by far! It is a gift from God. My housemates are amazing!! Donna was in YWAM with me in ‘02 (Korean American) and Enid is a good friend (Puerto Rican) so I will still have lots of Ethnic food in my house:) Our landlords live in an addition they built off the garage. They are IHOP staff and have been like parents to us. Every day we find new things in the house they got for us - furniture, vaccuum, dishes, tomatoes from the garden, etc.

Often I lay on my futon bed at night, in my air conditioned room, and I thank God for every little thing. I thank him that I don't go to bed in fear. That I'm comfortable. That He has provided my every need...above and beyond anything I could have imagined. I even have a garage for my car for the first time ever in my life! I was willing to suffer and live in poverty, but that's not what He did. He is a good Dad:)

More Updates

- I’m co-leading six new girls in Pure Heart. I’ll only be with them five weeks, until the Fellowship starts. I love to hear what God has done in each of their lives and can’t wait to see what He will do through this course.

- Burget family renunion (Mom's side) in Iowa was July 25-28th. It was so fun to see my little nieces and nephews, brothers and sister, parents, etc. and also extended family from various parts of the U.S. Also had lots of fun with friends and church family. I am so blessed:)

- Evangelism training continues. I am going to be assisting with a Kids club the end of Aug and through September to reach our neighborhood for Christ.

- My sister Robyn and her husband Chris came to Kansas City! I joined them for lunch with their son Mike, who lives and teaches here. Robyn visited the Prayer Room and took me to get my car looked at.

- I had strep throat for 2 weeks...finally feeling better. I will make sure to go to the healing rooms right away next time I start to feel sick!! The doctor and meds were $120. The healing rooms are free:)

June Update

Orphan Justice Center (OJC)

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.” James 1:27


My first outing with the Orphan Justice Center was great! We took home-schooled kids, adopted kids (some with disabilities), and foster care children on a field trip Thursday. Kayla, an 11 yr old girl (one of 9 adopted children in the family) walked up to me and said “I’m going to hang out with you today.” They were all precious and loved the attention. What a blessing to be able to love on the kids and give the parents a break.

Even though I have no experience with children with physical or behavioral issues, I know the Lord will equip me. Through prayer He keeps showing me His love for children; especially the fatherless. He told his disciples to “become like little children”. Oh, how His heart aches for these little ones! He rescues them. He protects them. The Bible is full of verses about his heart toward the orphan. The OJC was founded by the late Derek Loux from IHOP-KC, who left behind two biological and eight adopted children.
(louxfamilyblog.com)

I haven’t gone through Foster Care classes yet, so I’m going to the prayer & training meetings and eventually I can get placed with a family. Until then, I can assist with field trips! :)


Tonya's Life Update



“whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” Matt. 25:40

Tonya has been clean seven months now, and determined to stay that way. She’s strong. I’ve been giving her rides to work, to Hope City prayer meetings, a hair appt., errands, etc. and spending some time with her. She works a lot. Night shifts at McDonalds and barely makes ends meet. I met her sister, her two nieces, and her sister’s girlfriend who doesn't like Tonya living there. I’m looking into housing for her through IHOP’s Hope City ministry.

Tonya’s past mistakes with her children weigh heavily on her. All four of them were put into the system, adopted, and are now young adults. Two are in college, one in KC working, and one in prison. But she is so thankful to God that she is able to work, live, eat, sleep (she’s moved up from sleeping on the street to a couch!), to be able to share Jesus with her little nieces, and to have godly friends that love her. God loves her so much.! He will take care of her. It is by His spirit working inside her that has kept her from crack, alcohol, and prostitution all these months. He loves to love!!

Tonya wants her relationships with her four children to be restored. She said “I want to help other women know they can make it. They can get off the streets and stay clean. There’s hope.” She bought me $4 earrings last week. She said “I don’t ever get to bless others. Let me bless you.” Oh, Tonya, I AM blessed! I am blessed beyond measure:)


Pure Heart Finishes

“Who may ascend the hill of the LORD ? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart.” Ps. 24:3-4

Pure Heart finished well! Our last session ended with happy tears & words of blessing. One girl’s countenance changed in the short 8 weeks of the course. She makes eye contact and smiles now. Her whole face lights up! It is a miracle from God to see hearts healed and completely transformed by His love. I’ll get a new group of girls in August.


More Updates

• 3 friends visited me! Kara Hanson, Jess Stephens, and Kari Solheim all work together at UIU in Fayette, IA. They were encouraged and touched by God & are excited to come back! :)

• An IHOP (Exodus Cry) mission trip team led two women in S. Africa to a Safehouse this week! The two women were being forced to work the streets. The team even prayed over their pimp and he let them go.

• Evangelism training is underway. YWAM, IHOP and area churches are working together to evangelize the entire city of Grandview, MO (pop. 30,000) by the end of August. How exciting!

May Update

4-State Women's Retreat

“He loves us, Oh, How He loves us!” J. M. McMillan

It’s over. The 4-State Women’s Retreat at Village Creek Bible Camp went so well! I am still in awe of all that God did.

During the Retreat and the week after, I heard testimony after testimony of women impacted and changed by God’s love. A few women told me they had never felt the presence of God like that before. Some got freedom from years of rejection, shame and self-hatred. Some didn’t know God delights in them...that He likes them! Some felt the courage to follow the calling/dreams they knew God had given them. Many went forward for prayer for freedom, peace, and healing. One woman from Waukon told me “I have never really read the Bible, but I can’t wait to go home and read it now! “. One commented on all the tears during the retreat, “It wasn’t just emotions, it was the spirit of GOD.”

The IHOP girl band was a huge part of the weekend. They were incredible (I knew they would be)! Heather Deters led the worship
team, and the presence of God there was beautiful. Five other girls from IHOP came and prayed for and with many of the women throughout the weekend. What a blessing! And I get to live near them:) You can see some of the girls sing in the prayer room. (www.ihop.org/prayerroom)

My mom and sister Tracy did an excellent job hosting. My aunt Alice played beautifully. I am so blessed to have such strong women of faith in my family:)

God did a huge work in me as well! Thanks for your prayers. The week before the Retreat, I hit a huge wall of discouragement. Then the Lord’s presence fell on me so heavily, my only response was to weep for an hour! In that moment, I knew I was free from fear of failure, fear of disappointing God. When my heart is toward Him, there is nothing that can separate me from His love!!! I was able to speak at the Retreat with freedom and joy! I am SO thankful to Him! Words cannot express... He continues to amaze me day after day.


Tonya

“I, the LORD, have called you...to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.” Is. 42:6-7

Last Friday I went to Hope City (IHOP’s inner city ministry) with Eunice, who wanted to go encourage a woman that had recently come off the streets. That woman, Tonya, immediately recognized me. I realized we had met last October when I was walking around downtown Kansas City with a friend. She approached us, asking for money, and I prayed with her. She was touched by our prayer and told us how she wanted to get off the streets but she couldn’t get clean. She cried, hugged us, and called us her “angels”. Now she’s been clean from crack and alcohol and off the streets for six months! She lives with her sister, works at McDonalds, got baptized at an IHOP service, and attends a Bible study. God is so good! She wanted me to take her picture so I can draw her portrait:)


Pure Heart

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matt. 5:8

I have been an Assistant Leader now for three weeks, and it has been intense! I realize how much I need to learn, but I am also amazed at God’s work in the girls’ hearts. Already I’ve seen them
receive freedom through confessed sin, healing from wounds from childhood, negative words, abuse and neglect. How beautiful to see them free of shame and condemnation and able to receive God’s love! I want everyone I know to take this course :) It’s so good.


Mom Visits IHOP-KC

“Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere.” Psalm 84:10

My mom brought me back to Kansas City last week and visited IHOP prayer room and an awakening meeting. She loved it. She said “There is such a sweet spirit in this place.” Before she left to go back to Iowa, she said, “I will never be the same!” :)


More Fun Happenings

• I ran a half marathon (13.1 miles) May 1st in Prairie du Chien, WI
• Joined 1st Baptist’s 24 hr prayer event in Elgin, IA
• Got to celebrate my sister Tracy’s milestone Birthday while I was in Iowa.
. 800 Koreans are visited IHOP-KC May 11-15th for a Passion for Jesus conference.

Garden of Sorrow

Thursday, April 1st, commemorated the Last Supper. Jesus finished dinner with his companions of the last three years and went out to garden of Gethsemane. We know He was distressed. Sorrowful and troubled. The Messiah, the Face of God, in anguish.

He went out to pray, knowing what was to come. He took only three with Him; Peter, James and John. These three were the ones He wanted with him at that dark hour. I wonder if he noticed the breeze...if He could feel darkness in the air. Evil lurking, moving in human souls to destroy His life.

Jesus said to his friends, “Sit here while I go over there and pray”. Were they clueless as to what was happening? “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and watch with me.”

“Going a little farther, He fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.’” He knew death awaited him. Not just death, but abandonment. Torture. Accusation. Torment. What human can endure that? But he loved his Father. “Yet not as I will, but as you will.’” Oh, God, can I surrender my will to you, even unto death? Unto full surrender in my life? Will I do it without offense? Will I accept disappointment of men; accusation, rejection, disrespect, heartache, even physical pain?

“Then He returned to His disciples and found them sleeping. ‘Could you men not keep watch with me one hour?” he asked Peter. ‘Watch and pray that you will not fall into temptation. The Spirit is willing, but the body is weak.’”

Oswald Chambers says Satan tormented Jesus in the Garden that night. That after the 40 days of temptation in the wilderness, "the devil...departed from Him until an opportune time."(Luke 4:13) Satan's final assault was against Jesus as the Son of Man. Chambers says this experience reveals all that it cost Jesus to make it possible for us to become the sons of God. He triumphed. Because of what the Son of Man went through, every human being has access into the very presence of God.

Again, Jesus prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” Perfect surrender. May Your will be done in my life, Lord. I will do whatever you ask. Your requests seem insignificant next to the suffering you endured.

Again, he found the disciples sleeping. Again he prayed God’s will be done. He said to the men “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer."

That quickly, He was arrested, tried, and hours later tortured and killed. Oh, Lord! Help me be the one that will pray! Help me be the one that will carry your burden with you. Help me pray that I might not fall into temptation, to be led astray by the Evil one. Give me the strength, the stamina to stay “awake”, the love for you that compels me to obedience and sacrifice.

I weep today. I weep because you, Jesus, are so beautiful. Because I wish I could have known you when you walked the earth. That I could have seen with my very eyes your face, heard your voice, have heard your laughter, seen your compassion. I want to see the ones you healed. The hearts set free. I want to hear your conversations with loved ones and strangers. The anger you had toward evil and the Evil One. The compassion you had on the sick and simple. The humility you had to enter a human body. A body with limitations; aches, pain, emotions.

Yeshua, the Messiah. God incarnate. I would have wanted to make your suffering less painful. But I would probably have been like the unknowing disciples, asleep when you needed companionship the most. You were sinless, perfect. You loved the lowest of the low. You love me. You know my thoughts, my fears, my hopes, my sin, my future. You endured this for me.

What can I offer? My small, simple soul. My obedience, my heart, my small sacrifices. The suffering of singleness is bearable. Living a life that is dependent on others and foolish to the world? Denying myself joys and pleasure of the world. None of this compares to knowing You. When persecution comes, may your beautiful name be on my lips, your gaze on my face.

Yet not as I will, but as you will.

Rescued from Slavery

Exodus Cry began when IHOP decided to pray for the ending of Human Trafficking Feb. 7, 2007. The meeting lasted all night. The very next day, one of the largest human trafficking busts in history occurred involving 2,400 arrests in 77 countries. That prayer movement has evolved into a movement of intercessors and abolitionists called Exodus Cry.

Last Monday night (March 8th), IHOP prayed for the ending of Human Trafficking in Belgrade, Serbia. Thursday (March 11th) Serbia announced the arrest of the notorious "Balkan king of human trafficking", Milivoje Zarubica-Puja.

God hears the prayers of His people! Oh, God, thank you! Thank you for hearing the cries of your children and going to their rescue. Just as you did for the Israelites, you do for today's slaves in bondage. THANK YOU!!

"The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians..." Ex.3:7-8