The Story

It was in the fall of 2005 that the Lord began to stir my heart in the passage of Psalm 127- “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps awake in vain”. At the time I had no idea the meaning of this passage, much less the journey he had me on… I just felt that He wanted me to stay in it for a while. Daily I would read it, pray it, meditate on it, declare it, and in the fall of 2005, I even wrote a song declaring it’s truth- “God’s Building a House”.

In February 2006 while traveling, the Lord spoke very clearly to my heart concerning this passage. The revelation was this- The house which He was speaking to me about in Psalm 127 was the house of prayer. In my understanding, the Psalm 127 passage took on a new meaning- “Unless the Lord builds the house (of prayer)”. My understanding had gone from seeing the passage in the context of family, to Him building a dwelling place- a house of prayer.

He then spoke to me that I would be involved in raising up this “house of prayer”. Interestingly, just hours after this revelation was a major confirmation in the connection of Psalm 127 and the house of prayer. On this day in February, the Lord had my attention!

After pondering this (house of prayer and my involvement) for several weeks, I submitted it to my pastor. I walked him through the short journey from fall until then, sharing how I wanted to walk in all that the Lord had for me. At the time, I was leading worship, teaching, and traveling in both areas.

Upon sharing my heart, my pastor immediately threw me into their (local) prayer ministry. At the time, it was lead by lead pastors and others who were willing at the time. It was wide open for me to jump in and lead this ministry. So, I did just that. In April of 2006, I started leading the prayer ministry, which soon became the One27 house of prayer- name reflecting the core passage of Psalm 127. To be quite honest, I didn’t know how to lead a prayer ministry… I had never been trained to do so… I was just thrown in the middle. Although active in the place of prayer, I never considered myself a strong intercessor. Quite clearly my zeal was well ahead of my experience.

To make a long story short, I led the prayer ministry for 4 1/2 years. During this time, (only by the grace of God) we raised up 7 weekly “on-campus” prayer sets, hosted annual prayer walks, as well as hosted the Repair the Breach conference. To say the least, I learned a lot.

The Next Step

It was in fall of 2009 that the Lord began to stir my heart for the house of prayer establishing it’s own location. A place connected to the citywide and local church, just not in the same location and under the same roof, but it’s own intety. A place dedicated to just that - an emphasis on prayer and worship by raising up intercessors, musicians, singers, etc… I didn’t know what to do with that, so I sought the Lord’s direction, only pondering it in my heart. This pondering would be well over a year process - from the fall of 2009 to that of 2010.

After some time in prayer and pondering this, I began (in January of 2011) to call a gathering together of those whose hearts desired the same as mine - to see a place set apart for the dwelling place of God by an emphasis of prayer, worship and intercession. Meeting from house to house, we would simply seek the Lord by prayer, worship, fasting, and fellowship. It was a sweet yet powerful season!

Soon we were given a place to meet, on Sundays. That lasted only a few months. In May of 2012, we obtained a storefront building in London, KY. In November of 2012, we secured a building in Somerset, KY- where the Lord has now led us to focus all of our efforts, in building a ‘culture of worship and prayer’. We are excited to be part of the prayer movement that the Lord is raising up in this hour. Since the first of 2012, we have hosted several 24-hour worship and prayer events, several regional conferences, corporate gatherings and many many weekly worship and prayer sets. We are looking forward to much growth in the future as we consistently “build Him a dwelling place” by day and night prayer in this great state! May His kingdom come…

Robby Atwood
One27 Director