I would like to take this opportunity to at least briefly describe to you a local and tiny ministry called The Peace Inn. It is a guest house that supports the local house of prayer and its related ministries. People who are coming from outside the local area to minister, teach, sing, pray, preach, or assist with such activities at the International House of Prayer -
Siloam Springs are welcome to stay at The Peace Inn anytime, for any length of time at no cost.
The Lord gave my wife & I this house (that we live in) for a song about 5 1/2 years ago when it was still a neglected foreclosed and abandoned property. No one had lived in it for years and it was quite
literally falling apart. It had once belonged to Gina's family but had been sold and then fell into disrepair.
We drove by "grandma's old house" for months feeling sorry for it before I finally read the notice on the window. A few weeks later I was on the steps of the local courthouse bidding on it with one other man. When I bid my final amount, that Gina & I had agreed upon in advance, the other bidder all of a sudden dropped out and we became its new owners.
We did as much to it as we could the 30 days before we moved in. It was awful. It was mostly a month of removing filth, layers of it, and dead critter parts and
souvenirs. House parts that were thoroughly soiled were dragged to the curb. We slapped a fresh coat of cheap paint on everything just to give us a sanitary barrier.
I don't recall where we started after that but I know it wasn't too long before we needed to totally replace the entire bathroom. I took a week of vacation to get it mostly done. After that I started on the kitchen. Meanwhile we replaced most of the major fixed appliances. Then we found the termites. We paid (dearly) to have the house treated before too much damage was done. We replaced the roof, every door and every window in the house. We tore walls down and we built walls up. Most of the plumbing and electrical was replaced. We made room for a dishwasher, replaced the
countertop and added more cabinets. We replaced much of the lighting, flooring and trim and slapped some color on the walls.
Many people helped us over the 5 year live-in project, some paid, some eternally rewarded, some both. As we were nearing the official completion of most of the work something started happening in our hearts. It was around this time that we became acquainted with the House of Prayer and its supporting church, Antioch. We quickly became aware that many folks from outside the area, especially from Kansas City, were visiting and needing a place to stay and rest. We live just 7 doors down from the House of Prayer and as our lives were already becoming intertwined with this ministry it just made (spiritual) sense to open up our home in support of it.
So Gina & I moved our personal things out of the two extra bedrooms, made the beds and hung our sign (so to speak). As soon as we communicated our desire to the House of Prayer & Antioch we started receiving visitors. It started with the Derek
Loux team, then some missionaries from Israel, then 2 consecutive teams from the House of Prayer in Kansas City. Then we had an ice storm and housed a family with 4 kids for about a week. Now it's May 2009 and we will be near capacity 3 weekends out of the month all Kansas City folk.
The Lord has also given us the honor to host ministry/business meetings, social gatherings (usually with no notice), dinners for as many as 12 people, a cookout for about 30 people, and even a jam session at least once so far. We also enjoy the more intimate meals shared with friends whether we've known them 20 years or 20 minutes.
The Lord has surely blessed us and it is our joy to share what he has given us with others.
If you have plans to visit the ministry at the International House of Prayer -
Siloam Springs (or its related ministries) and are needing a place to stay and rest please feel free to contact us. We will do what we can to
accommodate you.
I'm sure you will be hearing more about The Peace Inn.
- Wade Baker
