Prayer Yields Powerful Results
Christians from various backgrounds gathering to pray ought to be common. But because of the spiritual enemy that works to keep us divided, we remain splintered.
However, there are inklings that may be changing. Three months ago, I learned of a prayer movement in the Fresno, California area that has been building for three decades.
In January “21 Days of Prayer and Fasting” saw a record 135 churches participating. Turnouts averaged more than 500 per night during the week and 800-plus on the weekends.
On the final evening some 1,450 people gathered at the host church, while another 600 watched the livestream.
Prayer Principles
There are some interesting principles underlying “Fresno Clovis Prays.” Among them:
- This didn’t happen overnight
In 1999, a pair of pastors who have since retired started groups they called “pastor clusters.” Every month (some meet more often) 15 to 30 pastors from multiple backgrounds meet for prayer; some groups include a lunch.
Then, in 2002 an Assembly of God pastor used organizational skills from his military training to increase the numbers. Today there are 14 clusters meeting across the city of 500,000 and neighboring Clovis.
“I learned from hanging out with special operations guys that leaders are ‘force multipliers,’” Elias Loera said of pastors. “Try to get other people involved (because) you can’t do it yourself. I applied that to the church.”
- Don’t discount small beginnings
To be technical, the community-wide prayer emphasis—which officially launched in 2015—goes back even further than 1999.
Earlier in the ‘90s, a pastor who has since died invited a large group of pastors to a mountain retreat in the fall. Those retreats are still going, with an in-town meeting every spring.
It’s doubtful anyone in that first retreat envisioned how far this pastoral unity would spread, but it did.
- Don’t be deterred by skeptics
A decade ago, Loera was trying to mediate a conflict between some local pastors and parachurch organizations. Finally, he suggested overcoming this spiritual warfare by 21 different churches hosting a night of prayer and inviting everyone in the community to attend.
Sixteen pastors were involved in that roundtable discussion; all shook their heads and said Loera would never be able to find 21 churches to join.
“I have 16 here,” he replied. “I only need five more.”
- When God’s people get together, God moves
During the 21 prayer meetings, organizers would have people divide into small groups and pray for each other. One night a man whose knee hurt so badly he could barely walk asked two strangers to pray for him. The next morning he felt fine. After visiting his doctor, the physician canceled his knee replacement surgery.
- Remember that God isn’t restricted by geographic location
Soon after this story appeared, I sent the link to a pastor I used to have lunch with periodically until he moved to another Midwestern state.
When he responded, he thanked me for sending it and said it is “truly amazing” how God is bringing His church together.
“I’ve joined a group of 30 churches from different denominations who are praying for our city,” he said. “Every church picks a day of the month to pray. Our church members then sign up to pray for an hour so that all 24 hours are covered in prayer that day. So now every hour of every day, someone is praying for our city.”
This all reminds me of the refrain of the song “Waymaker”: “He never stops, He never stops working.” I can’t wait to see what He does next.
