Perpetual Prayer at ChiHOP Bolingbrook

Bolingbrook IHOP: open 24 hours on weekends, home of the Rooty Tooty Fresh N' Fruity breakfast combo.

Bolingbrook ChiHOP: endeavors to be open 24/7, home of the Monday night Encountering God and Friday night Fire Within services.

Aside from long hours, the two establishments, both located along Bolingbrook Drive, have little else in common.

The Chicago House of Prayer resides in a strip mall at Remington Boulevard and is only loosely associated with the International House of Prayer, an organization recently sued by the popular breakfast restaurant for use of the acronym.

But the similarities between the two church groups are far more striking than either's relationship to the famous pancake house.

"The concept is to have what I call a 'prayer furnace' that would go on 24/7, with musicians, singers, and intercessors; or people who pray," said Todd Beery, director and founder of ChiHOP Bolingbrook. "We were the first ones in the state of Illinois to have a house of prayer, and the second one in the nation.

"I'm not trying to start a church like how other people would see a church. I don't have 'members,'" Beery said.

A new prayer session begins every two hours. And people of all faiths are always welcome.

Inside ChiHOP, a demure entryway with a few wrought iron chairs opens into a large prayer room with seating for more than 100 people.

The first International House of Prayer was opened in Kansas City by Mike Bickle, whom Beery considers a friend, but not necessarily a formal associate.

ChiHOP actually began in Beery's living room in 1995, when he and his wife decided to hold a prayer service on Monday nights. Word got around after a friend happened upon the private session one evening, and the idea took off.

When the Monday night prayer service hit 70 participants, Beery and his wife moved it to the Holiday Inn in Elmhurst.

"That eventually came to what we're doing here," he said. "Those meetings would go sometimes from (7 p.m.) to 3 a.m."

Beery has been an ordained pastor for more than 20 years, and was the pastor of a church for seven years before he founded ChiHOP.

Vergene Kosearas of Willowbrook has been attending services since ChiHOP opened 10 years ago, and has taken on some of the administrative duties of running a church.

"It's all volunteer. I'm here in the mornings and evenings, five days a week, sometimes six," she said.

Kosearas, a former Assembly of God member, devotes herself to ChiHOP because, "the presence of the Holy Spirit is here continuously."

While they don't have the staff to keep the prayer room open all day, every day quite yet, Beery is certain the goal of continual prayer will not elude him.

"I want to see Bolingbrook and the Chicagoland area have 24 hour a day prayer. I know this place is going to see 24/7," he said.

For more information visit Chicago House of Prayer online or call, 630-739-1022.