Leadership

Billy and Maribeth Humphrey have worked with youth and young adults since 1989. In 1997, the Lord began to release a burden for revival in their hearts. They were consumed with the call to be catalysts for revival wherever the Lord would lead them. In a unique season of visitation from 2001-2002, the power of God touched their youth ministry, as well as their lives, creating a desire in them to see God's manifest presence invade their city. While giving leadership as local church youth pastors, the Lord opened doors for them to minister in conferences around the nation, including the Brownsville Revival and Christ for the Nations.

After spending 12 ½ years in youth ministry in a thriving church in Metro Atlanta, the Lord began to deal with Billy and Maribeth to transition their lives and embrace the mandate of night and day prayer. Through a number of dramatic prophetic experiences, the Lord made it clear that they were to plant a house of prayer in Atlanta that would have as its central facet the reality of 24/7 worship and intercession. Through God's sovereign plan, Billy and Maribeth met Mike Bickle in the summer of 2003 and it became clear that they were to move to Kansas City to work with the leadership team there in order to be trained to plant a house of prayer missions base in Atlanta, similar to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. In September 2004 after working in multiple facets of the ministry in Kansas City, Billy and Maribeth returned to Atlanta and established the International House of Prayer Atlanta. A "Gideon" crew of eight people moved with them from Kansas City to Atlanta and another 30 joined them within the first month and IHOP Atlanta was launched with 40 hours per week of prayer and 40 people with a commitment to the prayer room. Within a short period of time, the Lord began to add missionaries as well as hours of prayer to the schedule. The prayer room grew to 75 hours and then 120 hours per week within a short period of time. On February 12, 2006, the 168 hour a week prayer schedule was completely filled and the house of prayer in Atlanta began to operate 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

As of June 2007, the missions base has over 20 departments with over 130 people with a commitment to the prayer room. Many of these live as full-time intercessory missionaries with the principal work of their life being night and day prayer. The house of prayer operates with a team concept of leadership. There are multiple leaders who have embraced the call as full-time missionaries to see night and day prayer in the International House of Prayer Atlanta missions base be a living and thriving reality. The prayer meeting that began on February 12, 2006 continues to this day as the Lord has graced these missionaries to see that the "fire on the altar never goes out."