What is 24 Hour Prayer? ...continued

There is a longing in many tired hearts to rediscover two simple pillars that birthed the early church: Prayer and Community. Acts 1:14 ("steadfast in prayer....in one accord.") These two ingredients were the posture of the disciples when the Spirit was poured out upon an unsuspecting city.

Two years ago I fell in love with The 24-7 Prayer Team. Now in over 60 nations, Pete Greig and his team have seen a plethora of prayer rooms popping up in churches, store fronts and even busineses - such that it is somewhat out of control. That's good. So, good that I jumped in with them and now find myself serving the movement on the International Leadership Team and giving enouragement to the teams in the US and Canada. Now CityForce and 24-7 are joined at the hip - invading our cities with an all out asault of day and night prayer and genuine community.

When you pray with people you fall in love with them -community is born. Now we are seeing a number of new communities, bands of friends popping up in various places: inner city youth in Kansas City, University students in Madison, snowboarders in Whistler, BC, and the artistic community in Minneapolis to name a few. In the 24-7 family we affectionately call them Boiler Rooms.

This is all the result of many leaders praying for the manifestation of new forms of Church. These communities tend to love the poor, not be very religious, are militantly loyal to each other, love the unsaved, are oozing with creativity and tend to infiltrate societal life together in small culturally relevant clusters.

Their direction is primarily centrifugal not centripetal, heart honest and a bit crazy. City leaders need fear little from this neo monastic expression of the Church. Ten years from now we will thank God for their pioneering efforts in a church phobic culture.

Check out the 24-7 Prayer US web site: http://24-7prayer.us/

and the International website http://www.24-7prayer.com/.

Read Jessica's Story and see the effects of "sacred space" on an unsuspecting young lady." READ MORE

Jessica's Story, continued from hompage

"As an adult I have been to numerous churches ranging from Pentecostal, Catholic, Methodist, Southern Baptist to Mormon. I could not even tell you the names of all the churches that I have been to in my search for God, but I can tell you of the judgment that was passed on by the members of that church. So I gave up, without truly ever getting started. Then Debbie Tietsort showed me the prayer room.

"I have a hard time putting into words the emotions that overcame me at that moment. Still a nonbeliever, I was rocked to the point of no longer being able to stand on my own two feet. I simply had to sit down. As Debbie continued talking with my real estate partner and the world continued on, I was overcome with emotions. I sat there shaking with tears that I desperately tried to hide, I FELT something but could not, until now, put it into words. I FELT God. I simply felt HIS presence and was shocked. I was here on business, not for God. I thought I had given up on there being a God. The idea that this church would build a room that would be open at all times to come pray in seemed selfless to me. Why would they do it?

"When we left that day I told Cathy, a deep believer, about what had happened and she immediately pulled the car over and prayed. I continued to feel His presence but by the time I got home I discounted these events as nothing. I continued to live my life in the manner that I had before, a nonbeliever. Then a few weeks later I received a call from my sister who was due a month later that she was on her way to the hospital after leaving her doctors appointment. Our baby was very sick and they were inducing labor immediately. Cathy was with me at the time and before I left she put her hands on me and prayed. She called her church and put my sister and the baby on a prayer list. My grandmother did the same and so did many others.

"My sister delivered a healthy, beautiful baby girl to the amazement of all the doctors working on her case. While my family continued to talk of the ignorance of all things medical I once again was rocked to my very soul. I KNEW that I had just witnessed a miracle beyond the one of life. I knew that my niece was healed through the power of prayer and I was instantly and to my own shock a great believer in Jesus Christ.

"That Sunday I entered Believers Church and felt peace instantly. I do not recall what the sermon was about, or what songs were sung. I spent the majority of that morning in tears and when total and complete strangers put there hands on my children to pray for their safety, their continued faith in God I was brought to my knees. I finally found what I had been searching my entire life for, home. I still fumble my way through this walk and feel inadequate about my knowledge yet I know that Believers is the place that will show me the way. That the people inside this church are the same as me, fallible. I rejoice every time that I enter this church and am thrilled to be surrounded by people who are enthusiastic about God and Jesus Christ.

"I pray that my story may inspire others and remind them that God is always with us, even when we think that we don't want him to be."

"May God continue to bless you,

Jessica"