Prayer not pancakes

In the C of E you get a sabbatical every 7 years. A pal of mine rang me up this week telling me of his plans, part of which is some holiday in the States and a chance to visit some churches and places of interest. One place that has come on his radar that he is keen to visit is called IHOP and he urged me to look a film on their website.

When you put IHOP into google surprisingly what comes up but the 'International House of Pancakes'. I cleverly deduced that the 'P' may in fact be for prayer not an egg and flour batter mix and found the site. Now, to be sure, this is clearly on the more full-on end of the charismatic scale but I confess I enjoyed watching it.

A couple in our church visited IHOP last year and I now understand why they had so many questions and confusions about eschatology. The end times is front and centre stage at IHOP. I gave them a copy of my friend's book which he has written precisely to iron out the theological nuttiness that surrounds some of this. So, if you are planning a trip to IHOP be sure to take a copy of 'And the lamb wins' in the bag.

What did strike me watching this was the extent and passion for prayer which I have to say is compelling. Prayer seemingly happens all the time.

See what you think.