"What else is there?" - Pastor Steve Carpenter

Prayer is the foundation of any successful internship program. At Joshua Generation School, our hope is that while they are here, above all else, the interns mature into a closer, more intimate relationship with God, including an established and powerful prayer life. Without a healthy personal prayer life the interns will not last very long spiritually. In a recent survey, 98% of kids who had gone through an internship said it was the daily prayer times that really made a difference in their lives, and that is what this internship is all about, changing lives so that those lives can change others. For an internship to function as it should, daily prayer times are essential. At Joshua Generation School the interns learn how to pray.

In our internship program the daily prayer times are a priority in our schedule. The entire Internship staff, along with all the interns, meet every morning from 8-9 am for a time of spiritual strengthening as a team (and that is what we truly believe these interns are, part of the team).

First of all these daily prayer times are meant to be a time of cleansing and repentance. It is our desire for each of our interns to start each day fresh with nothing holding them back from an intimate relationship with God. There are times when we just have to take some time to wash the smell of sin out of our lives. This is also a time for mending of any broken relationships among the team members themselves. Even day to day there are so many attitudes and argumentative spirits that can arise, and how can a team divided hope to accomplish anything? Before the interns can be used to help build the local church and touch the world, first they must be able to work together as a team. We have found that in these daily prayer times there is a real spiritual bonding that happens between the interns themselves. You might even say that the morning prayer times are a time for the interns to daily deny themselves and take up their cross to follow Christ.

The daily prayer times are also a time for spiritual strengthening and renewing. With the day's schedule as jam-packed as it is, and everything that must be completed before day's end, we are simply too busy Not to pray! As Pastor Steve Carpenter, head of the City Church Internship program said recently in an interview, "Talk to God before you talk to others," and this is absolutely our philosophy here at Joshua Generation School.

The consequences for not starting the day out right, with prayer, are too spiritually fatal for us even to consider. One of the dangers we have found is that, at times, the interns have a tendency to substitute the corporate prayer times for their own individual prayer times. This is a tendency which, down the road, after they are out of the internships and on their own in doing whatever God has called them to, leaves them with a dry and unstable personal walk with God. This is one of the reasons we stress the need for development of each intern's personal prayer life, and this is where the training and instruction comes in.

What good are we in our own strength? None at all, which is why these times of spiritual strengthening are so vital. These times of refreshing to be filled anew with the Holy Spirit are absolutely indispensable. Through Christ, and in His strength, we can do all things, but if we try to make it on our own strength we are a bad case of burnout just waiting to happen. Whenever the leaders here at Joshua Generation school sense that the interns are getting overloaded, overwhelmed or just plain stressed out, our quickest recourse is to immediately turn to prayer. It is only by God's strength that we are able to do any of this, so at the soonest indication of trouble it is to Him that we immediately turn.

The daily prayer times are also a key time to impart vision, both the vision of the internship, and also the vision of the church itself. Joshua Generation School is a fundamental part of the local church. It is not a separate entity in itself, but is here to build and strengthen the church. One of the primary goals of this internship program is to raise up leaders within the local church. There are some that will be called to minister elsewhere, but our focus remains on training up leaders in the way they should go.

We have found that the daily prayer times develop an excellent atmosphere to simply wait upon the Lord and seek His will. There is no amount of instruction on the planet that equals hearing the voice of God. It is imperative for the interns to learn to know the will of God for their own lives, and the morning prayer times are fundamental to this learning process.

Prayer is not all that is included in the structure of these daily prayer times, these rendezvous with God can also be a time to actually teach and instruct on the subject of prayer. Even Jesus' disciples asked Him, "Lord, teach us to pray...." You'd think that if osmosis would work for anybody, it would work for Jesus and His disciples but no, He actually taught them to pray. It is our goal in this internship program that the interns learn to pray. The daily prayer times are a time of encouragement and instruction in: Prophecy and prophetic intercession, the singing of new songs, tongues, moving in the gifts of the spirit and also praise and worship.

We have found that all that is needed at times is a little bit of encouragement to push the interns out of their comfort zones and into new levels and realms of prayer. At Joshua Generation School our hope is that the interns learn to feel the freedom to sing new songs to the Lord, both corporately and individually. Throughout the year we also encourage the interns to step out with prophecy, both with prophetic intercession, and also with prophecy over the group, the church and each other. As in other areas we have a hands on "practice makes perfect" training philosophy. For if the interns can't begin to move in the Spirit, as we are so often commanded to Biblically, in the prayer times with the other interns, where will they be able to.

As I have previously stated, the internship program is an integral part of the local church, and here to build and strengthen the local church. It is our belief here at Joshua Generation School that prayer, along with being the foundation of the internship, is an indispensable component in building the church. One of the number one keys to church growth is prayer. What could be more powerful and effective in growing the church than raising up leaders who have a vision to pray, have been trained, and are ready to train and impart the vision to others. The multiplicational effects of this principle in the spiritual realms are remarkable to contemplate.

"Everything rises or falls on leadership," as John Maxwell so fittingly states, is a principle that directly applies to the principle of prayer. One of the principal reasons the interns choose to be in the internship is because they want to receive impartation from the leadership, and the vision and passion that resides in the hearts and minds of the leadership will be at least partially recreated in the interns. The leadership as a whole must be completely sold out on the importance of prayer.

There is yet another resource provided the local church by the internship that cannot be overlooked. If properly organized the interns can be a powerful team of intercessors. The power of intercessors absolutely cannot be disregarded. Peter Wagner states in his book, Churches That Pray, "If the intercessors God has placed in each congregation would be recognized, coordinated, trained and released for ministry, churches across America and the world could be completely turned around." The interns at Joshua Generation School are an integral part of the intercession teams in the church.

There is a powerful effectiveness in corporate prayer that is an essential part of making this internship work. In Acts 4:31 we read about the power of corporate prayer in the early church that is also for the church today, "After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly." As the church members lifted up their voices in prayer together the power of God was revealed. The power of corporate intercession can cause a shaking, both in the spiritual and natural realms. It is this spiritual shaking that we so want to see in our church and in our city. It is our belief that the interns at Joshua Generation School are going to be key players in effecting that vision throughout their prayers. In the internship program we also schedule times for fasting and prayer as a team, with both the internship staff and the interns participating.

The interns are also involved praying in many other sections of the church including: 24 hour prayer ministries, prayer walks in the community, prayer chains, prayer retreats, specialized prayer teams, and many are involved as personal intercessors for the pastors and the staff. As you can see the interns are inseparably a part of and involved with the local church, and the church is much the stronger for it. Many of the things that consume our time and energy seem so important to us at the time, but in the long run few produce any lasting fruit, and have little or no eternal consequence. These unimportant matters drain our time, energy and resources, which should be applied to eternal matters, and to prayer and intercession.

In the book of Acts we are presented with a intercession model that we have tried to emulate here at Joshua Generation School. It is our goal to follow the first church in being a church committed to prayer. The believers in the early church made it a habit to pray corporately, "...in one accord." - Acts 4:23. The early church made prayer a priority in their ministry, they were men of prayer, first and foremost. The early church was encouraged and exhorted to "Pray without ceasing." We believe that there our times to come together corporately for a period of continuous prayer, which is one of the primary philosophies at the basis of our 24 hour prayer ministry.

The early church was also in the habit of praying over ministry teams before sending them out. Acts 13:2-3 present us with a very straightforward format. Believers prayed and fasted, they laid on hands and sent out the team. Here at Joshua Generation School we have made it our practice to have the ministry teams have a period of time in prayer together before they proceed out in ministry.

The early church also had a habit of praying in times of crisis. What better place to turn in times of trouble than to the Lord in prayer. We make it our practice to take time out to come together as a team in prayer during times of trouble and crisis, there are many times that we know it is only our prayers and the grace of God that allow us to even make it through the day.

At Joshua Generation School we don't see prayer as just another part of the internship program, prayer is integrally immersed in every aspect the internship. Nothing happens without prayer. Which is why one of our primary goals in this internship program is that the interns learn to pray. At Joshua Generation School you will learn to pray!

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