Hi, my name is Emily! I recently graduated from the University of Houston, an easy choice since I’ve grown up just 30 minutes from campus in the Katy area.

I grew up in a Christian household, but it wasn’t until my freshman year that I truly met God through a college ministry. I later became a leader in that same ministry and had the opportunity to walk alongside many college students as they took their next steps of faith. The process of sanctification in college wasn’t easy, but it developed in me a deep desire for the presence of God. I was hungry for more of God and wanted to know the Holy Spirit. That wonder and curiosity led me to become fascinated with the house of prayer and to find people who could teach me what it meant to experience the presence of God.

After I graduated, I had opportunities to join the full-time staff of another ministry, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that the Lord was leading me to do the Nations School of Ministry and really set aside time to be with Him and finally pursue this deep desire in me to know the Holy Spirit and the depths of God. I spent this past year learning about the prayer room. What it looks like to minister to the Lord, and what it truly means to get rooted somewhere and learn to die to myself. It was a glorious year full of ups and downs, but the process of beholding the Lord as He takes us from glory to glory is life giving. I desire to spend the rest of my life looking to Him to perfect my faith until I look like Him. He was worth this whole past year.

One of the greatest things God did in me this past year was give me a love for the community Nations is in. As I spent countless hours praying for the Third Ward, the inner city of Houston, specifically corporately in the prayer room, I realized that ministering to the Lord was changing the way I saw the people around me. He began replacing my apathy with a genuine burden for my neighbors to know Him and live for Him. The Third Ward faces real poverty, addiction, and brokenness, but I believe God wants to do a new thing here. And not only here, but for the fatherless around the world.

The other foundational desire of Nations house of prayer was built from Coreluv, their nonprofit that works to defend the orphan. Right now Coreluv helps provide children in Haiti, South Asia and Honduras receive their six basic needs. Nations has made me aware of the passion God has for the orphan and how we can partner in prayer and action for the least of these.

1 Thessalonians 2:8 says, “Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.”

I believe God has shown me that I am to share my life with this community in this next season. To love them sacrificially, as a friend, as a neighbor, and as someone who desperately wants to see the Gospel move in their lives. So, I find myself saying yes to a staff position here, just three blocks from where I attended college, in a role that allows me to use my degree in media production to share the glory of God and tell the story of what He is doing in our prayer room and outside the walls of our house. It’s crazy how God works!

Years ago, He broke my heart for my classmates in this same area, and now I get to work for a ministry that cries out daily for the same college students to be saved. What God began forming in me during those years at UH, He is continuing to deepen as He roots me in this community. I’m excited to join this ministry and continue saying yes to what God is doing both in our neighborhood and around the world. It feels incredibly full-circle that the same place where God first began forming my heart for ministry is now the place where He is asking me to plant my life, serve my neighbors, and use the gifts He has given me for His glory.

I would love to invite you to partner with me as I step into this role at Nations. You can partner with me by praying for me, this community, and the work God is doing here. If you feel led to support me financially as well, I would be incredibly grateful.

If you would like to hear more about what partnership looks like, I would love to connect with you.

Emily

Emily Perez: emilyp5111@gmail.com or 281-794-5464