APEPT came about as a result of a small group of pastors meeting together once a week for prayer. We discovered that God was using this time to melt our hearts together, bringing about a unity of the Spirit and empowerment in the realm of the Spirit that has changed our ministries and our lives.

We found this prayer time not only became a place of unity, but also became a place of enrichment, enabling us to minister to each other, share our vision, and pray for the needs of other churches as well as each other’s ministries. God so blessed these meetings, we realized that this was not an option, but that we had touched a real spiritual need in the body of Christ.

There was a discussion at the time that there was a need for a fellowship that would be able to recognize that the gifts of the five fold were active today and there was a lack of support and understanding of the place in the broader body of Christ. In establishing a recognizable fellowship that is able to understand the gift and credential that individual for the ministry of bringing the church into maturity for the work of the ministry.

APEPT became an Iowa not-for-profit corporation and 501(c)3 in April of 1999.