In 1998 Steve Snow started a Prophetic Chat Group on ICQ. The group met weekly to pray, share prophecy & to encourage one another. To our surprise from the very first meeting God seemed to bless us with meaningful words of prophecy! It was a new medium for the prophetic for all of us. In time new groups were founded, the name ICQ Prophetic Group was coined & the vision for the ministry grew out of the "Open Tent Vision"...
A member of the leadership saw a large tent - the poles held up the roof, but the sides of the tent had been removed. The tent had been erected over the pathway - & people constantly moved along the pathway - there were complaints about the position of the tent. But other came in through the open sides from all directions.
At the time we understood that the Lord was saying - no walls! People must be free to come to ICQ Prophetic Group - & leave! as they needed to; that those pathways must be free to take what they can within the tent & move on without hindrance; that we should not heed the calls of some to remove the tent. We saw that the roof of the tent provided protection people who werelearning to walk in the prophetic gifts - a protection provided by leaders who work together under authority & understand how to allow the Lord to shine through them.
In the center of the tent was a table. It was always empty. Whenever (Alison Papfenus) asked the Lord about that table He seemed to say "Put food on the table". As fast as we put food out it seemed to be gone {it was like having a football team helping themselves from the fridge!} As the numbers of people visiting the tent grew it became apparent that many were not blessed with supportive local fellowships; some were housebound, some had wounds from the past, many had no one to pray with.
