Our Story - Pueblo Incense House of Prayer
In October of 2012 a handful of young adults, led by our current Director, Zac Acosta, began a weekly prayer meeting out of their local Church (New Begginnings Church). There wasn’t any long-term vision associated to this weekly prayer meeting, it was started simply because these young adults were hungry to encounter God. Over the next few years more young adults began to get involved in the growing prayer movement and the leaders decided to add more weekly prayer times and give the ministry a name, Pueblo Incense House of Prayer (PIHOP).
It was in this season, that Zac began to develop a leadership team to help develop a long-term vision for PIHOP. Zac and his wife Chelsea, we’re enrolled full-time at the Kings University receiving Bible training while giving leadership to PIHOP. Additionally Zac, Chelsea, and the PIHOP leadership team we’re involved with a few thriving prayer ministries in Colorado Springs (45 minutes north of Pueblo) and also frequently took trips to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City to receive some training and equipping related to advancing night and day prayer.
Over the next few years, PIHOP maintained a few weekly prayer times throughout the week and also a weekly encounter service. From 2012 to 2018, PIHOP had functioned out of New Beginnings Church but, at the beginning of 2018, we moved our prayer meetings to The Life Church in order to make the “set up and tear down” process easier. During this time the leadership team of PIHOP also went through some changes as a few of the leaders moved out of state to pursue oversees missions work. We also added some new visionary leaders.
2018 and 2019 were foundational years for the House of Prayer. Our new visionary leadership team refined the vision and mission of the ministry our vision became defined and solidified. Our vision is to advance night & day worship and prayer in our region. PIHOP continued to sustain at least 4 weekly prayer meetings and a weekly gathering time centered on teaching and training. During these two years, PIHOP began to lay some important foundations related to vision, mission, systems and strategies on which to build upon.
In 2020, the earth got rocked with global crisis and many churches shut down for a season. PIHOP decided to keep functioning as normal despite the challenges of the times, and this became a key time for growth for our ministry as many people got plugged into the prayer room for the first time. As Churches began to open up and function again, PIHOP decided to partner with The Vineyard of Pueblo to host one of our weekly prayer meetings at their Church building. As we continued to grow, we also partnered with Pueblo Christian Center in 2021 to host one of our weekly prayer meetings in their building too. Partnering with multiple local churches was not apart of the original plan, but because we don’t have our own building, it was a strategic move in order to build relationships with local churches in our city.
In 2022, we hosted Brad Stoup for a "Culture of Prayer" conference. During this conference Brad did some consulting sessions with the leaders of PIHOP. Brad gave them strategic building ideas in order to advance the vision and mission of the Pueblo Incense House of Prayer.
Currently, the Pueblo Incense House of Prayer is looking for a neutral space (not in a local church) in order to further develop a culture of prayer. We now currently sustain 10 weekly prayer meetings and rent space at The Vineyard of Pueblo. At our prayer meetings, we focus on praying through the scriptures and also praying over our city in specific ways. We have live worship at each prayer meeting along with a prayer leader that guides the room in biblical prayers. Our hope is to get our own building soon so that we can continue to advance night and day worship and prayer in Pueblo. There are many ways to get plugged in the House of prayer. Click here to find out how you can involved.
