When Misty Edwards joined the International House of Prayer in Kansas City in 1999, she was 19 years old with no professional music training and no ministry credentials. She simply showed up for a two-hour worship slot in a room that never closed.
The Prayer Room
The International House of Prayer (IHOP-KC) launched its 24/7 worship and prayer model on September 19, 1999. Teams of musicians and singers rotated through the prayer room in two-hour shifts, keeping an unbroken stream of worship going around the clock. Edwards signed up for one of the earliest slots.
She was not polished. Her voice was raw and unrefined. But something happened in those early hours in the prayer room that she did not anticipate. As she sang — sometimes to an empty room, sometimes to a handful of people — she began to experience what she described as the presence of God becoming tangible. Not occasionally. Consistently.
Worship Without an Audience
Edwards has spoken about the discipline of singing when no one was watching. No applause, no congregation, no feedback. Just a microphone, a keyboard, and an open Bible. She described nights where she felt nothing for the first hour, and then something shifted. The worship moved from performance to encounter.
Over time, Edwards became one of the most recognised voices in the IHOP-KC movement. Her songs — written live in the prayer room, many of them spontaneous — were recorded and distributed worldwide. But she always returns to the same point: the songs did not come from a writing session. They came from worship in a room where nobody was performing.
The Long Obedience
Edwards remained in the prayer room for over two decades. While other worship leaders toured or built platforms, she stayed. The consistency shaped everything — her voice, her theology, her writing. She has said that the most important thing she ever did was show up to a room where nobody clapped and just worship.
What This Means for You
There is something that happens when you worship with no audience, no applause, and no timeline. The most significant formation of your life may not happen on a stage. It may happen in a room where no one else is watching, in the hours when it feels pointless, in the discipline of singing when nothing seems to be happening.