Participation Guide for the National Day of Prayer
May 2nd, 2007 by bob
Knoxville Day of Prayer (held in conjunction with the National Day of Prayer)
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Date: Thur, May 3
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Time: 6:30-8:30pm
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Place: Civic Auditorium
The 50/50 Challenge
On Thur, May 3, 2007 the Knoxville Day of Prayer, held in conjunction with the National Day of Prayer, will culminate in a two hour city-wide prayer gathering at the Civic Auditorium from 6:30 – 8:30pm. Fellowship is one of 50 churches in the area seeking to have at least 50 people present and participating in this event.
To that end, we would like to encourage Fellowship small groups, communities, and ministry teams to participate together as a way of joining God in His unifying work within our region of the world.
Click here to learn how you can participate in the 50/50 Challenge.
The Program
During this evening prayer gathering, church leaders from around the city will lead us in a time of prayer focused in five specific ways:
- Unity
- Humility
- Repentance
- Forgiveness
- Healing
The Possibilities
Praying together for one another is perhaps the most potent form of ministry within the body of Christ. It is foundational ministry to and with one another (James 5:16). It derives its spiritual power from a unified voicing of our dependence upon God for any work of true redemptive value. When we declare the excellencies of His glory, and call upon His name, (his reputation, character, identity, nature), we position our hearts rightly before Him…a veritable offering of our selves before Him…through which He works to change the world in which we live.
In a very real sense, we are calling upon God for a spiritual climate change – beginning from within our own hearts and extending outward to address all the ways in which the world, flesh and demonic have conspired to ravage the earth. Corporate prayer in this way is an exercise of the ‘power of the gathered cry’ (2 Chron. 7:14).
That is a huge opportunity. And it is good ministry.
Therefore, as a small group, a community group, or even a family, let’s join our city in exalting His name and putting our very lives at His feet. Then let’s lift up to Him the needs, the desires, the desperate dependence we have of Him…
- for unity within the body of Christ
- for humility through which relationships can be built and prosper
- for repentance from the things that hold us back from living in this way as a city
- for forgiveness – both His granted to us and ours granted to one another
- for healing of all the dead spots, broken places, and sickly areas of our lives, our families, and community that has not experienced the resurrection power of the Messiah.
The Practicalities
One way to think about this kind of prayer opportunity is to look at your life and relationships as a series of concentric circles. Much like radar, those things which are the closest and most important to your heart and life would be toward the center. Other things not as close or important would exist in the outer rings reflecting a decreasing proximity to your heart and life. (See Figure 1) In this way, your family, small group, and church community might occupy the center ring. Your work, school and neighborhood might occupy the middle ring. Then finally your city or region might occupy the third ring. Obviously to this we could add our country, missions and the movement of God’s Kingdom throughout the world. But for the time being, let’s just focus on what is happening in our part of the world.
The biblical pattern for this comes from Acts 1:8 – where the call went out to be His witnesses “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
All of these areas, regardless of its proximity to your life, stand in need of unity, humility, repentance, forgiveness and healing. So praying for these – again from the inside out – is certainly a ‘spot on’ way to pray. It is safe to say that praying in this way would be within the will of God.
On the evening of May 3, it can be helpful to begin in your own heart moving from the inner circle outward. You may find it more familiar to pray within your own inner circle. But God is continually calling us outward into the world. Consequently, we’ll find it takes energy to pray for things more exterior to the center of our lives. But that energy is a ministry called intercession…and it is not the province of just a few “prayer people” but the call and the capacity for ALL in whom the Spirit of Christ lives. We are all intercessors! It is the Spirit of Christ that intercedes for us, within us, and through us. Please be encouraged to know that you have “what it takes” to pray in these ways.
So…this is an evening of opportunity for us as a church to exercise our identity as intercessors and participate in one of the great ways God is sustaining and redeeming the world for His glory.
The Preparation
It is good to prepare our hearts for a corporate experience of this kind (1 Peter 1:13, Ps. 10:17). Among the ways you could prepare might include fasting, spending an extended time in the Word beyond your typical devotional time, spending a time of service to someone in need the day of or even afternoon of the prayer gathering, or coming by the church for some quiet time in the prayer chapel, loving those with words whom you meet along the way.
We would suggest that you try to get off work a bit early that day if possible, and that you arrive at the Civic Auditorium early enough to find a seat with others from Fellowship.
Afterwards: Questions for Discussion and Sharing
It would be further useful to share with one another your experiences of this Day of Prayer event. This could be done immediately afterward over pizza, ice cream etc. Or it could be at your next small group or community meeting. To that end, here are a few questions to help you get started:
- How was your preparation time for this event? What kinds of things did you do to prepare your heart? How prepared did you feel going in?
- What were your expectations? How did the experience match up against those expectations?
- What were some of the emotions you experienced during the prayer event?
- What observations did you make about the evening? How did you perceive what you heard and felt during the evening?
- Which of the five focus areas (unity, humility, repentance, forgiveness and healing) resonated the most with you?
- How might you look at the ministry of prayer differently as a result of this evening?
- Take time once again to pray together for one another.
For more information about the National Day of Prayer or the Knox Day of Prayer, go to www.knoxdayofprayer.com, or contact me at brad@fefc.com or 470.2820 x114.
Warmest Regards,
Brad Hobbs
PS. If you or anyone in your small group would like to join the citywide mass choir that will be singing that night, please visit www.unitedpraiseknoxville.com for rehearsal times & song selections! This is another great opportunity to use your gifts in unison with other believers from around the region!
National Day of Prayer: 50/50 Challenge
The 50/50 Challenge
To facilitate the greatest level of participation among area churches, the NDP team has presented the 50-50 Challenge. The idea is to have 50 area churches each bring 50 of their people to the Civic Auditorium. That would create an assembly of 2,500 believers who will enter together this time of consecrated prayer and worship.
Register to participate!
That is where you come in. To be one of Fellowship’s 50 (or maybe more!) we’d like to encourage you to “register” your plans to attend. But we would also like to invite you to express your standing in agreement with the heart of this event even if you are unable to attend. You would in effect be standing in agreement with God’s desire for a unity of the Spirit that is pursuant of a unity in the faith (Eph 4:3-13). That is the heart behind the evening.To register, simply click this link to email your name to Wendy Heintz. Give Wendy your name and whether or not you’ll be able to attend. Please note that after you register, your name will appear on a roster on this page. Click here to see the churches that have signed up to participate in the 50-50 Challenge.
I look forward to seeing you downtown on Tue, May 3.
Prayerfully,
Brad
I would like to stand in agreement with all those who will be participating in the event. Please know that I will try to make it to the Civic Center on Tuesday Eve.
I’ll be there
I plan to attend DOP tonight and my wife, Sherry, is particpating in the choir/worship…any FEFC carpool plans?
I will be attending the National Day of Prayer with the churchs of Knoxville at 6:30-8:30pm in the Civic Auditorium.
I will be attending the event for the National Day of Prayer.
As will my husband Josh Lohmann
Please add Naomi Lohmann and Josh Lohmann
This was a special evening for the body of believers in our city. To see Holly Miller (Sevier Heights Baptist) and Gerald McGinnis (Parkwest Church of God) and Eric Leake (Greater Warner Tabernacle AME Zion) sharing the platform and united in worship (ya gotta love the different styles of response to the worship) was an absolute blessing. For much of the evening all I wanted to do was stand there and take it all in. THIS was a blessing. Thanks to those from Fellowship who were there to share it…and to those who could not make it but were standing in agreement with us.