Awaken 2011

Hello everyone!

I don't typically like to use my blog for advertising, but I need to let you all know about the upcoming Awaken conference, first of all, check out this video that I made advertising it!

If the player above isn't working, click here to watch it on the Awaken website. 

I encourage each of you to come to the Awaken conference, from June 10-11 at St. Albert alliance church. Wes Martin and Justin Rizzo (click on their names and you'll be directed to their websites) are going to be presenting. Both of them are missionaries in Kansas City at the International House of Prayer. I have been privileged to personally meet both of them and I must say they are both incredible men of God. You will be truly blessed if you are able to make it to the Awaken conference. 

There is also something special around Awaken that I want to inform you about. If you have ever wondered what worship is like in the prayer room, there is a perfect opportunity for you the day before the Awaken conference. Mark Your calendars for June 9 at 7:00. We will be having a night of worship, prayer, and teaching at Central Baptist Church. Wes Martin will be speaking to us on the House of Prayer and why it is so important, and Maria Collette (with me and a few others) will be leading a time of intercessory prayer and worship (just like we do in the prayer room, only with a full band!) Please try to make time for this! Especially if you have been able to support me financially, it would be a great way for you to come and experience the ministry that you are sowing into!

Thanks and blessings,

sorry for the advertisement, but I am so passionate about Awaken, it is going to be SUCH an incredible conference and you all should attend!!

That's enough for today, 

until next time,

Daunavan Buyer

Back in the Swing of Things

Hello blog followers, friends, and anyone else. Thanks for checking my blog today. It's been a while since I've updated and I'll be honest: I've been super busy! Since my last blog post, I've been to San Diego (vacation), Mexico (missions trip), Medicine Hat (ABA General sessions), completed a video for the ABA on leadership development, and had a really bad 1 1/2 week sickness... Needless to say, it's been crazy!

I wanted to start off this post today by simply praising God for how faithful He has been to Kirsten and myself in this last little while. Not only did God provide us with the funds that we needed to GO to Mexico for the missions trip, He also provided us (every penny and more) with the shortage of funds that came as a result of Kirsten missing 2 weeks of work. Thank you thank you thank you to those of you who have been financially supporting my work at House of Prayer. I hope you know that you are causing miracles because of your faithfulness to God! I have really seen the church at work and God at work since I've been fundraising, and I have to say: there is really nothing more beautiful than when the Church truly acts as the hands and feet of Jesus. All the praise goes ultimately to God but I also hope you know that I am so grateful for each of you reading this, for your prayers as well as for your financial support! That being said, if you feel that you would like to support what God is doing at House of Prayer, please follow this link  and click "Donate Now." If you would like these funds to specifically go to myself, my designation is HR03. There are other ways that you can give, so email me if you have any questions.
On the Horizon
So, now that my cold has finally lifted, I can honestly say I feel like I am back in the swing of things (finally!). So what's on the horizon for myself and House of Prayer?
1. I bought running shoes, which I hope to employ as soon as this wretched white stuff runs goes away for a little while!
2. I am extremely excited to let all of you know that House of Prayer Edmonton is hosting an Awaken conference in June (10-11) where people from the International House of Prayer in Kansas City will be coming to teach us and lead us in worship. This conference is open to everyone and is centered around "Encountering the Beauty of Jesus." I highly recommend anyone to go to this conference, I believe it could be life-changing for anyone going that is keenly hungry for the things of God. For more information on the conference, click here.
(There's more blog under the photo, but please prayerfully consider attending Awaken and click the poster underneath!)

3. In light of the upcoming election, House of Prayer Edmonton is hosting a night of worship and prayer centered around praying for Canada and that God's will would be done with this election. The night of prayer is happening at McKernan Baptist Church (11125, 76 ave.) in the Lighthouse (West Building (McKernan Child Development Center)) on Tuesday, April 26. Prayer and worship will begin at 7:00PM and we highly encourage any and everyone to come and join with believers from across the city in prayer (Invite your friends, it's going to be an awesome night). 

4. For myself, I am doing quite well. With the Awaken conference coming up, a lot of my focus at this time is going to be on promoting the conference (making videos and trying to get churches on board). We want this to be quite a big deal because we believe that it's going to be such a great time.. I am excited for this. 
5. Finally, both through House of Prayer and my own initiative (and a Focus3 course), I am beginning to pursue a vision that God has laid on my heart for city wide interdenominational unity (both through corporate events and relational seeds being sown). My primary focus is going to be something called "Unity Nights." I don't know how they are going to start, when they are going to start, or anything like that.. at this point it is a vision. Please pray for me, both for wisdom as far as how I am to go about getting this off the ground, and practical doors to be opened. 
6. Mark your calendars for ONE more thing (I Promise, other than Mexico, this is the last update), On TUESDAY, MAY 24 I am going to be preaching at HoPE Tuesday (our weekly prayer meeting on Tuesday nights). It would be great to get a bunch of support out for that! I will be preaching on Ephesians 1:17-19, Paul's prayer for the Ephesians that they would receive a Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of God... I'm looking forward to it and believe that the Holy Spirit is going to use that time powerfully!
Mexico Trip:

(Our team and the Church we helped complete (scattered as usual))

(A better shot of the team)
For those of you asking about the Mexico trip, it was amazing! We stayed with missionaries in San Luis, Mexico (Rich & Lori Barcelona), whom our church has built a very incredible relationship with over the years, and we served a church plant minutes away from Rich & Lori's church. The trip was a family trip, so there were kids on our team from 5 years old to 13 years old. While this caused a bit of chaos at times, for the most part it was awesome to see the kids really excited about serving in another culture (our prayer is that this will become something normal for them). 
Other than 'normalizing' missions for the kids, one of the main purposes of the trip was to serve this church plant. When we arrived, the church was not quite finished. While there was a roof, a concrete slab, and walls (With some electricity and minimal plumbing), it looked like very unfinished. We were able to drywall, paint, install bathrooms, and a whole variety of other things, making their church quite beautiful!

A view inside the sanctuary, Blain and Cam finishing up by screwing a cross on the front wall.

Their pastor joyfully posing for a picture in his now (almost) completed sanctuary.

I can honestly say that we really got a taste of what the Kingdom of Heaven is like while we were on our trip. Not only in seeing how the team was able to bond in unity together in being the hands and feet in Jesus, but also in hearing the stories of what God is doing through this church planting couple in Mexico.. They literally sold everything they owned and moved to San Luis out of obedience and it's incredible how God has used them to help many many people come to faith, feed many hungry children, and see many people healed (emotionally and physically). 

Thanks for those of you who've made it this far. If you have any more questions about the trip or want to know how to support the missionaries there, please email me. I look forward to hearing from you. 

I also look forward to updating you all soon about the awesome stuff that God is doing.. I am excited for this summer and the many opportunities for kingdom impact that the summer is bringing! Be blessed! 

Daunavan Buyer

Just a few of many nice sunset pictures that I took.. I hope this blesses you a bit today

Finally Spring...

Hello Friends, Family, Followers, Supporters, and anyone else who may have just stumbled on this blog!
I hope that you are all doing awesome and I hope that reading through this encourages your hearts a little bit today.
So it's spring again, I can tell because my car is dirty as ever, but it's a good thing. I celebrate not having to let it warm up for 5 minutes in the morning.. my jeans are getting ruined from the puddles but again I celebrate that I'll be wearing shorts very soon! Today I want to take some time to fill you all in on the last month. I got home from Kansas City and since then, life has been a blur but it's been great! I'm going to quickly touch on what God's been teaching me recently, what I've been up to, and how you can be praying as we continue to move forward.
What God's been Teaching Me
Two verses have really been at the forefront of my journey over the last couple of months:

[27:1] The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?

[2] When evildoers assail me
to eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
it is they who stumble and fall.

[3] Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet I will be confident.

[4] One thing have I asked of the LORD,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to inquire in his temple.
 (Psalm 27:1-4 ESV)

And  [11] You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
 (Psalm 16:11 ESV)

Both of these verse talk about the fact that a relationship with Jesus Christ is something that is pleasurable, something that is not burdensome. I often pray that God would give me a heart like David had, that in the midst of struggles I would seek the face and presence of God rather than let myself succumb to the attack of my enemies.

One of the books that I've been reading that has really been speaking to me is 'Pleasures Evermore' by Sam Storms

(to order the book, click here) This book has been awesome and has really helped me to re-orient my thinking about who God is and His plan for my life. I have been learning that God has created us each to be in relationship with Him and, because of this, when we are enjoying that relationship and when that is most fruitful, we experience the best possible life we can: one that glorifies Jesus Christ with everything rather than ourselves. This really hit me over the last couple of weeks in the areas of sin. I've learned that sin is simply indulging in anything other than God that is promising to satisfy the deepest yearnings of my heart. The thing about it is, though, that sin is crippling, it simply does not satisfy. The other thing about sin is that, when we are living in lives of habitual sin, we become 'satisfied' with where we are at in our desire to know God. Keep with me here... we lose our desire to know Jesus through the scriptures, we begin to stop  wanting to spend time with Him, we become stagnant in our personal growth and character development, and, worst of all, we lose our hunger to know Him (Ephesians 3:19 implies that knowing the love of God is the way to living in the fullness of God). Somewhere, we began to believe a lie that the longings of our heart (which I believe is ultimately to know God) can be satisfied by something apart from God, and sin becomes a punishment in itself because it keeps us from longing to know God more (Romans 1 says that God 'gave [us] over to our sinful desires,' meaning that the penalty for our sin is often the sin itself).

Back to those verses: what I've been learning is that the way to overcome sin is to overcome something greater. One of the teachers at International House of Prayer said that he was raised eating chopped steak and jello pudding as delicacies (they are really both terrible), but the first time He tasted a real filet minion and cheesecake, the chopped steak and jello pudding became that much less desirable. David knew something about God that I long to know in my heart: that 'at the right hand of God there is fullness of Joy and Pleasures evermore.' Because he knew this, he desired to know God and be with God more than anything else, and this completely re-oriented his thinking and he was the one man the Bible referred to as 'a man after God's own heart.' Once we have tasted of the pleasures and joy of God, Satan will dangle chopped steak and jello pudding in our faces, but we will know that the joy of the Lord and the knowledge of God is so much sweeter, so much more desirable, so much more healthy and fulfilling, and we will be able to say no to sin and yes to Christ. I know this sounds a little abstract, but I've seen the fruit of this in my own life... you want to know how to grow in the knowledge of God: LOVE the word of God, spend time with Jesus, talk about Him with your friends, pray that He would reveal Himself to you, spend time in quiet trusting that He is speaking to You, listen to and read stories about how he is at work, pray in groups of people, come to church EXPECTING to meet with Him and longing to passionately express Your devotion to Him... the list goes on an on. I think we complicate things like sin and temptation a lot, but really our only way out for real is to know that our God is so much more satisfying and desirable. Get this, I mean truly get this, and your life will change. Even the pursuit of knowing this has changed my life.

I pray Ephesians 1:17-19 over anyone reading this, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might
Father You are so beautiful, reveal Yourself to anyone reading this now, strengthen them in the knowledge of You. May nothing other than You appear as sweet and satisfying. We bless You, Jesus. Amen

The last Month
So, other than learning what I wrote in those last couple of paragraphs the last month of my life has been quite intense. Life since Kansas city has been crazy (in some positive and some negative ways). HoPE tuesdays launched at the end of February and it has been amazingly well attended and quite awesome. I invite anyone who wants to know a bit about what I do at House of Prayer Edmonton and the vision for what I wrote above to come out on Tuesday nights from 7-9 in the Marketplace Chapel, West Edmonton Mall.
Other than HoPE Tuesdays, I have compiled a video for House of Prayer Edmonton on the prayer room, what it is, why we do it, how we do it. It is almost available to watch online, we just need to get permission from everyone involved and I will send everyone I know a link to watch it so that you can see a bit of the practical day-to-day stuff that I am doing.
Apart from HoPE, this has also been a busy couple of weeks because I am compiling a video for the Alberta Baptist Association on leadership development and the awesome tools that they are using to raise and develop young leaders. This video is a huge blessing because it came at a time of financial need and will hopefully be a springboard for more videos.
Coming Up

• In big news, TOMORROW my family is leaving for Mexico! We are going to visit one of my favorite families, the Barcelona's, who are missionaries in San Luis, Rio Colorado, Mexico with other families from McKernan. Typical for the Buyer family, we are driving and attaching a little holiday at the front, 24 hour drive to Vegas (don't worry supporters, I'm not going to Vegas for 'Vegas' ) with one day spent with my mom's awesome family, then a  6 hour drive to San Diego for 3 days of fun in the sun, golf, ocean, and various other things! 
• Please pray for this trip as we will have a lot of children (mostly young boys) there. Pray that they would really truly experience and learn about Jesus while they are there (and the parents too), and that it would not just be a fun trip (which it will). Pray that we would make an impact in the Kingdom there, that we would be able to support the amazing work that God is doing through the Barcelonas. 
• Another quite big thing that I have coming up is both involved with House of Prayer and simply a passion that I've had for quite some time: Unity Nights. I have such a heart to see people from different denominations and backgrounds worshipping together and I am working on a plan to begin to do city-wide unity events here in Edmonton. I will keep you posted as far as what they are, when they are, and how you can be involved... even if simply reading this is impacting you, email me and tell me so you can get in on it right away. 
• Looking ahead we are still in a season if financial need so if you have been encouraged by this blog and would like to support me and what's going on with House of Prayer please email me and I will send you more information about  how you can join the team. 
• House of Prayer is going to be hosting a conference in June called Awaken. I would like to inform you of this so that you would be aware and begin to plan on coming. It is going to be phenomenal.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I appreciate it so much that people are following this blog. If you want to receive regular updates from the blog, click "Follow" on the right side. I will be updating while we are in Mexico so check often.

Thanks! In Him

Daunavan Buyer

HoPE Tuesdays

Hello everyone,
Thanks for checking my blog. I hope that you are all doing well!
Just wanted to let you all know that I really do intend to make a quick video blog from my time in Kansas City, so keep checking the blog for that.
In other news, something really exciting is happening tomorrow! The HoPE Prayer Room is opening on Tuesday nights from 7-9PM! Not only is this initiative happening to help give people options who have regular jobs, HoPE Tuesdays are going to be a time of learning as well as praying, as some people involved with House of Prayer are going to be taking time to share what God's laid on their hearts pertaining to prayer and the apostolic prayers.
Tuesday nights are something that I am taking a bit of leadership in, as I will be there every week to lead worship, run PowerPoint, sing, pray, and eventually even teach (I will keep you posted as far as when this will be happening).

Feel free to drop by the Marketplace Chapel in West Edmonton Mall on Tuesday nights to really get an idea about what God is doing at the House of Prayer. For a bit more info on it specifically, check out Jim Hall's (Director of HoPE) blog by clicking here.

Thanks a lot!

Daunavan

Sitting in MCI

Well, here I sit, sitting in the Kansas City Airport, waiting for the flight to Minneapolis and then back home! I'm actually going to be working on a video blog tomorrow with more details and visuals from the trip... so this is more of a reflective deal tonight.

At this point In leaving I am torn. My time here has been amazing, our schedule has basically been eat, pray, and meet with people who have been involved at iHOP for years. It has been quite different from 'real life,' but it has been so enjoyable. I keep telling people that the only thing that could have made this trip any better was if my beautiful wife could have come, and I do mean that!

Other than missing Kirsten (I know, cry me a river and all that), I'm excited to go home because the trip here has been so good. I have felt equipped the whole time that we have been here, and equipping really starts to get exciting when the work is being done, and there's a lot of work to do. I have never been in an environment before that has lended itself to so much reflection, planning, and great conversation. All of that is going to start to take shape in the next couple months.

I will be posting again in the next couple of days to go more in depth about the good that God is doing, so this is mostly just to get you excited!

Thanks for your prayers while I was gone, I could feel an uncanny ability to connect with God over this last week and I know that a lot of that has to do with the fact that I have a whole team of people praying for me at home. Thanks so much!

See you in 6 hours, Edmonton!

International House of Prayer in Kansas City

So I was planning on doing a video blog, but I seemed to foget one extremely important thing to make that happen, my cord to connect my video camera to the computer! So that's not going to happen. The other problem is that the internet here is super slow, so even if I could have made a quick video update, it would have taken ages for it to upload. So the video update is going to have to wait, but if you have some time to read, please read this blog as it's pretty awesome what's happening here in Kansas City!

What I'm Doing: 

There is a team of 9 of us up from Edmonton in Kansas City, Missouri from House of Prayer Edmonton to visit the International House of Prayer. The team consists of myself, Nathan (volunteer), Jim Hall (director of HoPE), Georgina (volunteer), Maria & Troy (Maria is an intercessory missionary with me!) Peter and Colleen (House of Prayer enthusiasts, and faithful intercessors) and Carlotta (HoPE enthusiast).  The purpose of this trip was simply to visit and observe a culture where night and day prayer is happening and has happened for 12 years! We did not come with an agenda or really anything lined up, we simply came to learn and encounter God. 
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the International House of Prayer, it is a missions base in Kansas City that has birthed out of a vision that their founder (Mike Bickle) had to see night and day prayer estabilshed on the Earth. Think of the Levites ministering in the tabernacle to God. For years, 24/7 they were paid to play their instruements and worship God. We refer to this idea as ministering to God, and we do this by singing songs of worship to God (both praise and surrender) and by taking time to intercede for world events (they've basically been praying everyday for hours for Egypt). So, the prayer room is simply one aspect of IHoP. IHoP also has Sunday services, conferences, a university, internships, adoption agencies... it's a huge deal! With over 1000 staff and interns, God truly has blessed the International House of Prayer and He has truly answered many of their prayers. I am no expert on the ins and outs of IHoP, so if you want more information, check out their website (www.ihop.org). To see a live feed of the prayer room (which is brodcast world wide 24/7) just click on prayer room and You can get a bit of an idea of what goes on in the prayer room (it truly is amazing).

So we came here to get an idea of what goes on here and to visit the prayer room. Our basic daily schedule has consisted of being in the prayer room and eating. In the midst of that, some really awesome stuff has been happening. I had the opportunity to visit a prophecy room and it was here where they encouraged me that, though I am facing life-change, God has all of the details under control and He has been the one working in my decisions from the beginning. For those of you who don't know, I quit my job at Transcend a few weeks ago so that I could commit to House of Prayer more and finish school. This prophetic word (from a complete stranger who had no idea of my situation) really affirmed where I am at!

Along with getting to the prophecy room, our group has been overwhelmingly blessed from some of the key leaders here at IHoP.  Wes Martin and Justin Rizzo blocked out a period of time where we were simply able to talk to them and ask them questions. It was a very fast hour and a half as Wes and Justin really shared their hearts with us, affirming what God's doing at House of Prayer and really challenging us as they talked about how they live their lives! After this, Justin invited myself and Maria to his worship practice as well as their briefing session for their time in the prayer room, and this was awesome! Justin is an incredibly gifted musician and someone I respect and look up to as a worship leader as well as an intercessor. to be able to watch him interact with his teams and friends was extremely encouraging and I learned so much simply by being there. It was a huge honor to observe Justin in his element (and even here a new song that even his band was hearing for the first time!) Wes has also told us that he would love to meet with us all again before we leave, so I am anticipating another great period of time for us to really talk to Wes about where things are at! I'm excited for this. 

Probably one of the most intense times we've ever had for our group happened yesterday. Peter and Colleen are partners with IHoP, so they come to visit quite often (so often, that they have purchased a house and rented it out mainly so that when they are here they can stay in a guest suite). In their time here, they have met many people involved with IHoP, two of which are very gifted prophetically (they both serve on prophecy and evangelism teams here). These two met with our group yesterday and we had an incredibly powerful time of group prophecy. They went around the circle and prophecied over each one of us! The accuracy of what they said was phenomenal and it was a blessing that we were all able to experience this together. It really helped us grow as a group and we learned a lot about each other and what God is doing for the group. It was quite humbling to realize that I am a part of such an anointed group of people who really are going to be used by god in profound and uniqe ways. 

The other aspect of this trip that has been amazing has been the  conversations that have arisen with people from my group. House of Prayer Edmonton is still very small and in a place where we are on the verge of a lot of growth. This growth comes with a need for strategy as well as vision and a lot of the conversations that we have been having have been extremely exciting as we look forward to going home and really seeing HoPE take off! 

So that's a bit of a summary of what I've been doing practically while I've been here at the International House of Prayer. It's been awesome and I'm extremely excited about what I'm learning and what God's doing! Today or later tomorrow I am going to take some time to write out a blog about what I'm learning, as God has been teaching me a lot about who He is and who I am. 

I hope that you are doing amazing and that God is speaking to each of You. thanks for your support and friendships. It means the world to know that I have such incredible people at home who have my back!

You are greatly appreciated! 

Daunavan

Welcome to a New Season of Life...

Hello everyone! thanks again for checking out my blog! This blog post has been a long time coming but at the same time, a lot of what I have to say is only recent news, so I hope that it will fill you all in. 
Major news Update...
There is no easy way to say this, so I am just going to throw it out there: I had to quit my job at Transcend. 
This was not an easy decision especially given where Kirsten and I are at financially, but I felt that this was something that God was leading me to do and, after lots of consideration, the only way that I would be able to finish school and avoid "burning out" this semester. I saw that a lot of what I had on my plate was really boggin me down as I was committed to over 55 hours a week and I was simply not able to get all of my responsibilities (with the third service as well as House of Prayer) done to the best of my abilities. I'm sorry that I could not tell everyone in person about this, so I thought that I would use this as my way of communicating it. I had a great time at Transcend and if anyone that I worked with there is reading this, please know that I LOVED working there it just came down to my own personal health and having the time to give my best to the ministries that I am involved with.
Where does this Leave Kirsten and Myself?
Currently, I am committed to House of Prayer for 20-25 hours a week, the Third service for 10 hours a week, and finishing school (10-15 hours a week). Because of this change in our working situation, Kirsten and I are trusting more than ever that God will be providing finances for us at through my work at House of Prayer, so please don't be surprised if you get an email of phone call from me in the near future and please prayerfully consider tithing some of your money to House of Prayer (of which 90% of that money will be my salary and you will receive a donation receipt). If you would like to initiate this conversation, please email me or call me! 
More than money though, Kirsten and I are in need of your prayers! I am not concerned about the financial situation (as Charlie Robinson prophesied over me on the DAY of my last shift: "You are entering a new season in life, you have a lot of unknowns, but everything will be taken care of, so you don't need to worry about it," so I'm not worried, but I do know more than ever that I need to depend on God's Spirit for our every day needs. 
Please Follow my Blog
One of my number one priorities right now with House of Prayer is communication (communicating with people who are currently supporting me as well as those who are simply curious) so I am making it a goal to be weekly updating my blog with news as well as things that I am learning and want to pass along. Simply click "Follow my blog" on the right of my page so that you'll get updated when I do a new post! I would love to hear from you if you have any questions about House of Prayer or about how Kirsten and I are doing! Thanks for reading this and please know that we are daily praying for you (and all believers) in the prayer room, that God would be revealing His heart and character to each of you! 


Blessings,
Daunavan