FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
WHEN CAN A PRAYER SESSION TAKE PLACE?
May we arrange prayer on specific days or schedule two or more people to get prayer at the same time or right after one another?
Generally, no. We need to work around our volunteers’ availabilities and endurance. Each appointment requires both a leader and an intercessor, one of whom must be the same gender as the person coming for ministry. It’s not easy to coordinate! Due to work schedules and other commitments of our team members, we don’t have enough leaders to schedule simulataneous sessions (except on rare Thursday evenings or Saturdays). Each session is scheduled in a two-hour time slot, and the team needs at least 15 minutes before and after for the leader and intercessor to meet and pray. Therefore, if the same team members do two sessions on the same day, the two sessions will be spread over 6 hours, to allow a little margin and a short break between them.
May I request that particular people be on my team?
You are welcome to let us know your preferences; there is a question about that on our Request for Individual Ministry form. We generally trust scheduling necessities and the Holy Spirit to determine which team members will serve at which ministry sessions, and allow you to select among available times. When there are special reasons for a particular team composition, scheduling may require a much longer waiting time until that composition can be scheduled, or it may require your making yourself available at a time that’s less convenient for you. We trust that the Lord is able to work through any of his servants to accomplish his will!
Can an individual Unbound prayer session be scheduled right away? I know you want recipients to read Unbound first but can you make an exception?
Sessions are intended and scheduled to be at least 90 minutes long. It’s challenging to listen to the person’s story and apply the 5 Keys to their lives in that time even when the prayer recipient has read Unbound. The book, a conference (live or on CDs or DVDs), or a Live Free! Seminar gets them familiar with the 5 keys, the process, the experience, and scriptures that support the model working as well as it does. When the person isn’t well informed about Unbound, more than half our time could be spent explaining all that.
Waiting offers definite benefits: time to prepare—not only to understand the process but also to reflect on the issues the recipients will bring to the session, to grow in their desire for freedom, as well as to understand that they and the Holy Spirit will be doing the work. Also, the two prayer ministers’ time that each session requires is best used praying, rather than summarizing what Neal Lozano put so well in his book. We are called to serve more individuals rather than lengthening sessions to teach the model and minister effectively.
The book Unbound is available at St. Dominic’s Parish Office and on Amazon and it is also downloadable as an audiobook from HeartoftheFather.com. We don’t require the recipient to finish the book, only to have read or heard Part One—the first seven chapters, about 120 pages. Thus, many people can get it done two weeks or less.
Urgent appointments?
Unclean spirits and unforgiveness take a while to work their way into people’s lives and people have generally lived with them for quite a while before hearing about Unbound. An urgent desire for prayer ministry can be a good sign of truly desiring freedom in Christ, and we want to help. However, usually waiting a couple of weeks isn’t a problem and helps with preparation. (See above about reading Unbound and reflecting during waiting time.) We don’t minister to possessed people but to Christians who are experiencing ongoing temptations or some demonic lies or influences. And those volunteering to serve in the ministry are not always available on an urgent basis. We don’t want to burn them out, making each request “urgent.”
The St. Dominic’s Team is still in formation. Are you ready to pray with people?
We’ve been conducting UNBOUND prayer sessions here since 2016, and are ready to schedule more sessions now! We only have a few women currently experienced in the role of prayer leader, and they are volunteers with work and other responsibilities. We have a team of intercessors who have completed Basic Ministry Training, and one or two of them will be at each session, interceding as well as observing and learning. All of these team members have their pastor, confessor, or spiritual director’s recommendation to serve in this position of utmost confidence. The relative newness of team members is no obstacle to the prayer recipient and the Holy Spirit doing the work of bringing Freedom in Christ into people’s lives. The 5 Keys and Unbound model works through our weaknesses and obedience, as we are all wounded healers or broken vessels!
I KNOW SOMEONE WHO’D BENEFIT FROM THIS . . .
May I schedule an appointment for someone else?
No. Sometimes the one suggesting the appointment overestimates the desire of the other, and this hasn’t worked in the past. There’s also a short personal intake process that precedes appointments.
How do I suggest that someone make an appointment?
By all means, tell them what the Lord has done for you and others through Unbound and encourage them! Give them the website, 5keystofreedom.com or our card or brochure, which have the website on them. The site will answer many questions and invites them to request a session by completing a form. If you forget the website, just have them look for “5 Keys” on the St. Dominic’s website and follow the link there. If you have one, give them a brochure. The parish office also has brochures and cards, and most weeks we have an announcement in bulletin, which is in the church and online. Of course, you could also give them a copy of Unbound.
WHAT ABOUT GROUP OR COUPLES’ SESSIONS?
When Live Free! Seminars (usually a one-day Saturday event) and Freedom in Christ Conferences take place (usually on a Friday evening and Saturday), some healing and freedom usually happen during the conference, and they also includes some individual prayer opportunities. We hope to eventually host a big Freedom in Christ Conference, but for now, the soonest and closest one will be in August in Sacramento.
Unbound Ministry usually gets into matters of a personal and private nature, so sessions are done on an individual basis so that those receiving prayer aren’t tempted to hold back. We have not been trained to do couples’ sessions, but we would consider doing a session with a child with the child’s parent present, under certain circumstances.
Team leaders Chris Smith and Lorelei Low are available to speak to parish groups, and have made numerous 5 Keys presentations and were part of the prayer services offered at the Northern California Renewal Conference. Chris has offered online teachings and retreats and will likely do more of that. See the Home page for more information on this and/or join our email list to be notified of those.
WHAT IF I’M INTERESTED IN TRAINING FOR UNBOUND?
We are not taking applications for any pending training sessions (we had one in April 2018), but if you are interested in serving on the team at St. Dominic’s, please see our TRAINING page for more info. It’s possible to complete Introductory UNBOUND Training in two days and Basic Unbound Ministry Training is available on DVDs. Prospective team members receive priority in scheduling sessions as part of their training. They must have a Pastor’s Reference (or equivalent).