This Friday, starting at 7PM, Summit Church will be hosting 24 hours of prayer. We expect this to be a powerful event for us as individuals, for our church, and for our community. We hope everyone will participate in some way, committing at least an hour, but staying for as long as God tells you to keep praying. We will start off Friday night with worship, and then continue until 7PM Saturday, with each hour of prayer being led by a different prayer captain.
Emerge 24-hour prayer
Friday, April 26 @ 7:00 PM
through
Saturday, April 27 @ 7:00 PM
For a look inside the difference this kind of focused prayer can make, read this testimony from Bob Cowperthwait.
Does God get excited? Can one who is “all powerful and all knowing” be enthusiastic? In my own life, growing older and wiser has been offset with a subsequent loss in enthusiasm. So while there have been times of excitement in my life about God, I didn’t really think He got excited.
That all changed in one night. After weeks of preparation, our church body was within an hour of “ignition” for the first 24 hour prayer chain. I came about an hour early to setup. The church was empty. As I entered the sanctuary, the presence of God overwhelmed me. He was already waiting, and yes, He was excited!
While I knew the voice of God and had experienced His presence, the most time I had ever spent praying was a couple of hours. This event changed my life. Our church had spent a lot of time in preparation and in prayer leading up to the 24 hours, but no one really knew what to expect.
Does a 24 hour prayer chain sound boring? Or too much trouble? God amazed us all that first year with both the spectacular and the subtle. His manifest presence was so strong that the couple leading the first hour could hardly speak and we all just sat in awe. We had a large gathering initially, but after a few hours the crowds thinned and we noticed a pattern. For about an 18 hour stretch, we would have exactly 12 people each hour. The make-up of the group was different every hour. It would have been almost impossible to schedule, but God did it. There were a few hours where we had 11 instead of 12, but we knew that the Lord was reserving those times to complete the group Himself. Twelve is a special number in scripture, tied to governing (12 tribes of Israel, 12 disciples). The message was that God was establishing prayer as part of the church’s DNA.
Some people came “to do an hour”, and ending up staying 5-6 hours once they experienced His presence. Many began weeping when they entered the sanctuary. Some hours we would be gathered in a circle, waiting upon the Lord. Someone would get a song, sing one note, and the rest of the group would immediately join in as the anointing would pour over us (Psalm 133). That first year is still the high water point in my life for experiencing God.
My heart is to see the body of Christ enter into true revival, and experience the fullness that God intends for us to walk in. Entering into revival always involves prayer. I appreciate good preaching, but you cannot bring revival just through preaching. I appreciate good teaching, but revival doesn’t come just because of sound doctrine. Throughout history, revival has come because God’s people gather and pray until He shows up.
I pray that you will join us to be a part of history here at the Summit. Join us for our 24-hour prayer vigil and expect God to show up.
Bob Cowperthwait