UPDATE: IHOP Visitor Shot to Death Was a Man ‘Marked by the Love of God’
A Chinese man in town to visit Mike Bickle’s International House of Prayer in Kansas City was shot to death Wednesday night.
Xindong Hao, called Haodong or Stephen by friends, was reportedly gunned down while walking near campus.
“My husband Haodong was a man marked by the love of God,” his wife, Laura, says. “His precious life was full of testimonies of near death experiences where God reached down and gave him life. The Lord saw him through childhood illness, traumatic head injury, a hit and run, beatings, surgery and in 2003 when he was broken and homeless Haodong decided to take his own life. On that fateful night, men shared the love of Jesus with my husband and that salvation encounter transformed his life. Since that day Haodong lived a life driven to bring God’s love to thousands of others living in hopelessness and pain. He was a remarkable pioneer and visionary who had so many dreams left unfinished for China. I ask that God would raise up many men and women in his place to continue the work of sharing Jesus with the nations. I also pray that the man who took his life would find the love and forgiveness of God that once so transformed my husband. (John 12:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.)”
IHOP ministers are grieving in the wake of Hao’s death.
“We are grieving deeply for his family for their loss,” Lenny La Guardia, vice president of ministries at IHOP, tells Charisma News. “He was a visitor with his family. They were missionaries in China, and they came to the International House of Prayer to visit the prayer room like many other people do. We’re grieving as a community for his family.
Hao died at the scene from his injuries. A second person was taken to the hospital with serious injuries. A third person was grazed by a bullet, according to police.
Hao’s wife and four children are in town as well.
Though some sources report Hao was a student, LaGuardia says they have no records indicating he was enrolled.
His family set up a GoFundMe page, which has already raised $13,000 for the family.
Please pray for his family during this time.
