Prayer meetings are gatherings where believers unite to seek God’s presence and intercede for needs, reflecting communal faith and perseverance (Matthew 18:20). Illustrations often depict the power of consistent, heartfelt prayer and the impact of faithful attendance, using images of small groups, devoted individuals, and enduring fellowship.
Spurgeon emphasized brief, varied prayers in meetings to maintain engagement.
Spurgeon, insisting on brief and varied exercises in meetings for prayer and conference, said, "I never like to have one of my deacons pray for half an hour, and conclude with asking the Lord to forgive our shortenings."
Small prayer groups before service brought solemnity and blessing on ministry.
I have been endeavoring to establish among us what are called Aaron and Hur Societies; i.e., little collections of four or five or more persons, who meet before service on sabbath morning, to spend an hour in prayer for a blessing on the minister and the ordinances. They began on New-Year's Day, and we seemed to have an immediate answer, for the meeting was unusually solemn; and we have reason to hope that the word was not preached in vain.
— Dr. Payson
A neighborhood prayer meeting persevered for forty years, sustaining faith through trials and growth.
Mr. W—, of —, N. Y., (says the writer of a tract,) was a plain man, a farmer, with a very limited common school education. But he studied the Bible diligently, not to theorize, but that he might know the will of God, and do it. His piety was consistent, humble, meek, benevolent, active, uniform. He was acknowledged by all to be an every-day Christian.
At a time when the church was small and but two or three brethren lived in his vicinity, he consulted his pastor and established a neighborhood prayer meeting, to be held on Sabbath evening in the district school-house. In the circle of attendance there were sixteen or eighteen families, in very few of which the domestic altar had ever been erected. The meeting was commenced in the year 1800. Mr. W— led it for twenty years, when, with a hope full of immortality, and a faith which triumphed over death, he entered his eternal rest.
Others were raised up, who have also gone to their reward. And after the lapse of forty years, when but two of the original heads of families yet live, the prayer meeting, which no heat or cold, no darkness or storm, breaks up, is still sustained and cherished with warm affection.
During the first year of the meeting, several parents and a few youth were brought publicly to profess Christ.— Then succeeded a long and severe trial of faith and perseverance. For fourteen years very few were added to the church, and “the ways of Zion mourned.” Thoughtlessness and mirth prevailed. Few came to the prayer meeting, but it was never relinquished. Mr. W— and one or two others, now in heaven, were always at their post, to pray and speak a word for the Redeemer, to warn sinners of the error of their way, and beseech them to become reconciled to God.
During the fourteenth year of this spiritual dearth, these individuals became so deeply affected in view of the condition of the impenitent, and so anxious that “Zion might arise and shine,” that after others had retired from the school-house, they frequently remained one, two, or three hours in prayer. In the opening spring their hopes revived. The meetings became full and solemn. Their cries had reached heaven, and the Holy Spirit came down. One evening, a youth who had been deeply impressed for several days, could no longer suppress his feelings. He gave vent to his burdened heart by a single expression of warning to his companions, which carried conviction to several other minds, and from that hour a deep solemnity pervaded the neighborhood, and resulted in a glorious and powerful work of grace. The means, blessed of God,
6:8 were personal conversation, family visiting, and more frequent prayer meetings, all conducted among themselves, with very little ministerial help.
The revival continued for two years, and spread not only through that congregation, but into neighboring churches, and hundreds renounced their sins and consecrated themselves to God. In this district nearly every family had now erected a family altar, and nearly every adult was rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. Other seasons of refreshing have been enjoyed, and eternity alone can make known the number of souls that have been and will be converted in answer to the prayers offered in that school-room. Some whole households down to the second and third generations, give evidence that they will be united in the great family above. And as another result, not less than ten men have been raised up in these families to preach the blessed gospel.
An old lady revived a neglected prayer meeting by faithfully attending alone, inspiring others to join.
A pious old lady, (says the Religious Intelligencer,) in a country town, has long been in the habit of attending religious conference meetings, for, like many others, she had often found them refreshing. It happened, however, as in many other places, religion had got to a low ebb—the ways of Zion mourned because few came to her solemn feasts—the love of Christians had waxed cold—the wise and the foolish were alike asleep, and they gave up conference meetings entirely. I am inclined to think, however, that it was because they gave up these meetings and neglected other duties, that they became so cold and stupid; be that as it may, the old lady could not bear to give them up; she spoke to one and another of the brethren to introduce them again; but with one accord they replied, "We have worn them quite out, nobody will attend." Not satisfied, the old lady said she would go, if nobody else went. Accordingly, the next Wednesday evening she took her hymn-book and walked some distance to the school-house where the meetings used to be held—here she prayed, and sung, and prayed. On her way home, she stopped at a neighbor's house to rest. "Where have you been?" said the neighbor. "Why, I have been to conference." "To conference! I didn't know there was one—who was there?" "O, God was there, and I was there, and we have had a good conference; and there is to be another next Wednesday evening."—Accordingly, next week the old lady went as before; but what was her joy and surprise to find the house was crowded; her pious zeal had admonished professors; Christians were awakened; sinners were alarmed; and verily, God was there, and from that time has been carrying on a glorious work of grace in that place.
Evangelist Louis Arnold quoted Paul Harvey about a 73-year-old man who was rescued by friends, just in the nick of time, after being pinned beneath his tractor longer than Jonah was in the belly of the great fish. Although his ordeal took place during a driving rain in a terrible storm, the four days and nights cost him only the amputation of one leg below the knee. It could have cost him his life - and would have, too, had not his friends come looking.
Why did they go to his farm to check? He missed prayer meeting! Not showing up for the least attended service on the church calendar caused those who knew him to realize something must be drastically wrong. His faithfulness to the Lord and His work saved his life.
If you missed prayer meeting, would any come looking for you, fearful that something terrible had happened?
Jesus prayed before each major event in his ministry, and churches need to rediscover the power of prayer.
(Suggestions are given for how to receive prayer requests for members.)
Lyle Schaller writes, "While it is impossible to prove cause and effect, the evidence strongly suggests that those churches that places a highly visible emphasis on the power of intercessory prayer have a higher ratio of worship attendance of membership than those that give it low visibility."
(Other suggestions are given for prayer meetings, prayer triplets, and fasting.)
(A schedule is given for a Prayer Sunday.)
When Major-General O. O. Howard [of the Civil War and Nez Pierce war] was on the Pacific Coast, some of his friends wanted to honor him by having a reception, and they decided to have it on Wednesday night. It was to be a great affair, and the President had given it his sanction. Then someone said, “We had better let him know so he will he ready on Wednesday evening.” Finally they went and told him, “General, Wednesday night we want to see you on a matter of business.”
“Well, gentlemen. you cannot see me on that night because I have a previous engagement.” Finally they said, “It is a celebration, and the President of the United States has given it his approval.” And the old veteran, his eyes flashing, stood up and said, “You know I am a church-member, and I promised the Lord, when I united with his church, that from time to time on Wednesday night I would meet him in prayer-meeting, and there is nothing in this world can make me break that engagement.”
They had the reception, but they had it on Thursday night. When I was out there I asked, “Where is the man who has the greatest influence?” And they said, “It is not a minister of the gospel; it is Major-General Howard.”
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J. Wilbur Chapan, “Present Day Parables.”
On a gloomy day in 1857 a man in New York City by the name of Jeremiah Lanthier scanned the morning newspaper as he rode to his office. He was distressed to read that the depression gripping the nation was causing fear and panic among the people. Factories were stopping production and thousands were unemployed. Although Lanthier was not a big industrialist, but only a clerk, he had one important distinction. He was a man who had great faith in God!
Concerned with the grim economic situation, he sent a note to all his business acquaintances, telling them that each day at noon a prayer meeting would be held in his office. With high hopes he arranged 20 chairs in a circle, but the first day no one came. All alone he prayed fervently that God would bring about a great change in him and in America. The second day he was encouraged, for a few friends joined him. A short time later a similar gathering was started on Wall Street, another on Williams Street, and finally a fourth on Broadway. Then like wildfire the movement spread to all parts of the country. The moral tone of the nation was affected, and there was a great upsurge in the spiritual life of the people. Some historians say that this effort of united prayer and faith was an integral part of the improvement in the economy which soon followed.
Michael Faraday lectured to a group of distinguished scientists on
the magnet - its nature and properties. When he finished, the
spellbound audience ricked the hose with enthusiastic applause. The
then-Prince of Wales proposed a motion of congratulation, which was
carried with applause. The audience waited for Faraday's response but
the lecturer had vanished!
The renowned scientist was a faithful Christian. Elder of a small
congregation, he never missed prayer meeting. The hour at which
Faraday finished his lecture was the hour at which the midweek prayer
meeting was scheduled to begin.
The preacher stood up and sadly said, "Brethren, I feel we may as
well drop the midweek prayer meeting." This caused an uproar among
the congregation, and they all planned to vote no.
"But," said the minister, "what you don't seem to know is that we
haven't had a prayer meeting in six months."
There was a line waiting at the Pearly Gates to get into Heaven when suddenly there was a loud commotion near the front of the line with shouting, clapping and cheering. A man near the end of the line inquired of an angel as the source of the commotion. The angel answered, "A man up front just found out they're not counting Wednesday night prayer meetings."
Counselors stood by Tuesday at a Kentucky high school to help classmates of three girls killed in a bloodbath Monday that the principal said could have been worse if not for the heroics of one student.
Heath High School principal Bill Bond said the 17-year-old student, Ben Strong, confronted and held the 14-year-old shooter after he had emptied a .22 caliber handgun into an early-morning prayer group, and possibly prevented him from grabbing two loaded shotguns and 100 rounds of ammunition within easy reach.
"We could have had a much more devastating tragedy than we had," Bond told reporters.
"We will be with our friends, we will be with our teachers, we will be with counselors and ministers if we need to, but we will move ahead as close as we can to getting things back to normal at Heath High School," Bond said.
Strong said he was willing to forgive, if not forget, the so far unexplained outburst of violence.
"If you don't learn to forgive, you won't make it through life, you know," he said.
Strong said the shooter "lost it" when he shot and killed one of his friends, a girl, and began firing indiscriminately.
The boy - described as a fairly good student with only minor problems at school - was restrained by Strong and dropped the handgun. He immediately said he was sorry, but has since offered police no reason for the attack. He had warned classmates last week of "something big happening" at school.
Captain Danny Midyett of the McCracken County Sheriff's Office said the boy was being held at a juvenile detention facility "somewhere in Kentucky," and would likely be tried as an adult. A juvenile court judge would determine whether he would face adult charges at a hearing scheduled for Dec. 10, he said.
For now, the boy was charged in the deaths of two of the girls, aged 17 and 15, as well as six counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary related to his admission of stealing the guns from a neighbor's garage.
The parents of a 14-year-old victim who died after being kept on life support for several hours approved the donation of her organs, a hospital spokesman said.
Of the five wounded in the attack, two boys were treated and released Monday, while a 15-year-old girl was in serious but stable condition and another girl was said to be improving from serious condition. One girl's condition previously listed as fair was being kept private.
President Clinton was among those vexed by what motivated the boy's violent attack.
"Of course, we still don't know all the facts surrounding the tragedy or why a 14-year-old boy would take a pistol and open fire on his classmates in a prayer group. We may never know," Clinton said at a White House ceremony.
^REUTERS@
Paul Ratsara, President of the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division told of an exciting experiences:
In one of their countries a police officer was giving our church people a very hard time. He said they couldn’t hold meetings in that town. He said he would arrest them if they did.
Things seemed really hopeless. But the members knew that with God, all things are possible. So they began to pray. They didn’t just mention it in the church prayer time, they all prayed earnestly for two days. And then a truck pulled up to the police officer’s door early in the morning. A senior officer jumped out and delivered orders from the government that the man was to move to a new district - not tomorrow or next week - NOW!
The members and villagers watched in amazement as men carried out the police officer’s belongings. Then the officer and his family climbed up in the back with their things and the truck left the village in a cloud of dust.
Prayers of praise began to ascend to Heaven. But now a new problem presented itself - who would replace the police officer? The members turned their prayers to the One who still takes down and sets up leaders as He did in the days of Daniel.
Soon a truck pulled in with the new officer. Almost immediately the village people not belonging to our church gathered around and told him “Don’t mess with the people of that church or you will surely get moved.”
None of the villagers knew until several days later that the new police officer was also a member of our church. The meetings are now going ahead and the power of the Holy Spirit is touching many lives.
________
Homer Trecartin, MUSINGS, August 19, 2007
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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #20932]
Soon after Jewel Hansel and Shirley Cox started a community prayer meeting four years ago, they saw a visible demonstration of what God was about to do in their town.
One night as they returned home from a dinner out with their husbands, they saw two preachers –- one Baptist, the other Pentecostal –- warning people of the need to repent.
After stopping their car, they saw two teenage boys who were carrying a large cross through the main park in the town of 2,600 in south-central Kentucky. Talking to their mother, they learned the boys were from Ohio. God had awakened them one night and told them to carry the cross around the nation while preaching the Gospel, their mother said.
“We haven't heard any more about them, but we felt God was telling us what He was getting ready to do,” Hansel said.
She and Cox learned to watch for God at work in an “Experiencing God” course at First Baptist Church of Mount Vernon.
Right after the course concluded, several members began meeting at a gazebo in the park each Thursday morning to pray about the drug problems wracking their town.
But as they continued, Hansel said God led them to expand their prayers to their state, nation and world. They asked God to reveal Himself so that everyone would recognize His power.
Interest in prayer spread; eventually, the group moved to a community center. Then a second group formed in the evenings to allow more people to participate.
Although each only averages 10 to 20 participants, Hansel said missionaries have visited from Guatemala, Israel, Honduras and other places to learn more about what God is doing there.
Northside is pastored by Chad Burdette, a reformed drug addict. Since he took over as pastor in 2001, the church has grown from about 30 people to 400.
In addition, about 10 former drug addicts who accepted Christ as Savior under Burdette's pastorate now attend the community prayer meetings, Hansel said.
While methamphetamine labs, heroin and other drugs are still in the community, Hansel said the situation is much better than it was four years ago.
Hansel is so convinced that God will do even more that she took early retirement to devote more time to Bible study, prayer, counseling and public speaking.
“My personal passion has always been for prayer, for almost 29 years, so prayer is not new to me,” Hansel said.
“But I've seen more the past four and a half years of how God is working through united prayer than I've ever seen before. I've experienced a new realm of what God can do when the body of Christ unites in prayer.”
Cox, a Mission Service Corps volunteer specializing in photojournalism, also has experienced times of powerful leading in prayer.
Two years ago, after meeting an MSC volunteer who started a ministry to needy mothers, Cox felt prompted to call and ask if she needed more diapers.
As Cox drove to deliver them the next day, she sensed God telling her the trip wasn't about diapers, but about writing Bessie McPeek's story.
Stopping to buy pens and paper, Cox interviewed her. The resulting story will be featured on the cover of the October issue of Missions Mosaic, published by the Woman's Missionary Union.
“When I prayed in that group for God to touch the state, nation and world, I had no idea He was going to use me,” Cox said. “Prayer is my life, my breath, and it's increased my faith tremendously.”
Cox, who attends Northside Baptist Church, said the growth of the church -– which recently moved to a building more than twice the size of its old sanctuary –- is one of the most amazing stories in Mount Vernon.
Another she named is Christ's Outreach for the Blind, a 900-acre camp three miles south of town scheduled to open next summer.
Located on land formerly used to grow marijuana, Cox said founder Mike Gates (himself blind) has had his life threatened since he reclaimed the property for God's purposes.
The hearts of volunteers helping develop the camp have been touched, Cox said, with nine people accepting Christ as Savior this year.
Other MSC volunteers in Kentucky also recount stories of answered prayer, such as Frank Plewinski, a member of Crestwood Baptist Church in Crestwood.
Plewinski took early retirement last year to devote more time to the Dodii Foundation. Named for his wife's mother, it supplies Scripture-based greeting cards, hand-crafted dolls and other items to cancer victims.
A resident of LaGrange, Kentucky, Plewinski felt God calling him to devote more time to the ministry three years ago. But as the manager of a manufacturing plant, he said he didn't have the time or energy after working long hours.
He and his wife, Cindy, began praying about his retirement. They also prayed periodically with Larry Martin, leader of the Kentucky Baptist Convention's missions growth team.
Two years ago the plant offered early retirements, but Plewinski wasn't old enough. Last year the company made him an offer, even though he was two months shy of his 55th birthday.
After accepting the offer as of June 30, the company asked him to work one week a month for the rest of the year. That gave him extra income and made a smoother transition away from his longtime occupation.
In addition, he saw how his experience in learning about plant finances and managing employees helped prepare him for his role as the foundation's chairman.
“I tell people, 'If you want something done, go to the [Kentucky] Baptist Convention and have them pray for you,” Plewinski said. “Churches are missing out on opportunities in the Baptist family.”
Linda and Larry Otterback of Woodland Baptist Church in Middletown also have seen God move in many ways since starting monthly mission trips to eastern Kentucky.
After helping distribute goods at a ministry center for two years, in 2002 they formed Eastern Kentucky Sonrise to sponsor spiritual retreats for men and women. Linda said at a session last October, all but two of the 135 women attending answered an altar call to commit their lives to Christ.
Her husband has been so touched by what he has seen that he has closed his business to apply for work as a chaplain.
“We've heard story after story about people who went home and no longer live in bondage,” Linda Otterback said. “So many have come to the Lord, I didn't keep track. I couldn't.”
Their latest answer to prayer involves a retreat tentatively planned for late October at Fort Campbell. A large Army base, it spans parts of western Kentucky and Tennessee.
For five months they tried unsuccessfully to arrange a meeting with the base chaplains. After numerous prayers, Larry Otterback reached the head chaplain in early July and discovered he was receptive.
“My husband and my lives have changed so much,” Linda Otterback said of the difference prayer has made.
“We were Christians and churchgoers all our lives, but we didn't follow the Lord. We are so on fire for God that's all we care about. We pray about everything.”
*
The atmosphere was electric in Atlanta. Three NASCAR drivers (Mark Martin, Dale Jarrett and Jeff Gordon) had the chance to win the NASCAR Winston Cup championship in the last race of the season. The “hype” was extraordinary all weekend, as seldom in the history of racing have three people been in the position to win a championship with only one race left in the season. The championship is the highest achievement for any driver for the entire year. It certainly was a momentous occasion for these three men. It was a special weekend for thousands of NASCAR fans.
During the day on Saturday, as these drivers were hounded by the media for stories, the most remarkable story was forming quietly between those three drivers and me. A special meeting was being planned that would occur following the usual Saturday Bible study that met in Mark’s motor coach in the infield area reserved for the drivers and owners.
Shortly after 7:30 p.m. everyone left the study except Mark, Dale, Jeff and me. What was about to happen probably had never happened in the history of racing. In fact, it probably had not happened in any major sport on the eve of a championship game. Seldom would any professional athlete commune with their opponents in any kind of setting. But here in the quietness of Mark Martin’s motor coach, this unique event was unfolding.
After we chatted a moment, Mark Martin, unquestionably ably one of the toughest race-car drivers ever; Dale Jarrett, who came from a racing pedigree; and Jeff Gordon, loved and hated for the absolute dominance he brought to racing, joined me in holding hands for a special time of prayer. Dale started the prayer, asking God for safety and to give Mark and Jeff a good day of racing that would be fun and exciting. Mark prayed, expressing thanks for allowing him to be in the position for the championship with these drivers, and for God’s graciousness for giving him the privilege to race. Jeff began to communicate his gratitude to God and how much God meant to him, and asked that God would allow each of the drivers to be at their best and not have any difficulties during the race. They were united in their prayer — “We give this race to you, God.”
"I wish you would come down and lead our prayer meeting tonight," a young man said to a friend he met downtown. "We are particularly anxious to spark interest, and you know you have a gift for stirring people." The young man thus petitioned demurred for a moment. What his friend had said was true. He was a Christian, so far as a blameless life was concerned, and yet it had been impossible to enlist him in really unselfish effort. His gift for "stirring" people had been exercised chiefly in furthering what was to his personal advantage. His friend's words appealed to his pride somewhat, so he agreed to go.
When he arrived at the place of meeting, he learned that the prayer meeting was to be held for the purpose of enlisting workers in a certain mission that was just now in great need. He tried to speak of the needs of the case and to urge his hearers to help, but somehow his eloquent tongue seemed to have deserted him. When he knelt down to pray, he found himself in a still more difficult situation. He was mocking God when he asked him to put it into the hearts of others to do the things he himself was unwilling to do. A conception of the needs of the case rushed over him, and, instead of asking that laborers be raised up, he finished in broken tones, "Lord, I am ready to go. Take me and use me."
It was not the first time that prayer for a sacrifice to lay upon the altar had led the man to offer himself. When men begin really to pray to God to send helpers, they may expect to hear their own names called. Jesus said unto his disciples, "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest" (Matthew 9:38; Luke 10:2). Then he called the twelve unto him and sent them forth, saying, "As ye go, preach" (Matthew 10:7).
I have always had a love for studying (and even more being a part of) movements of God, from my childhood when our small church erupted in the Jesus Movement to teaching courses on the subject today. Santayana said those that do not learn from history are doomed to relive it. I think those who do learn from history can best deal with culture today.
In August I began my 12th year teaching at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. That same month, 200 years ago, an event happened that still affects the students I teach today. That is what happens when God moves. Let me give just a snapshot of what God did two centuries ago concerning the event historians call the Haystack Prayer Meeting.
On the 12th year following the founding of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, a 23 year old named Samuel Mills enrolled as a freshman. The son of a pastor, Samuel’s home church had been touched by a wave of revival that instilled in him a passion to take the Gospel to the nations. Samuel Mills soon proved to be a poor student in the classroom but a great student of the work of God.
While at Williams College Mills began to meet with a group of students -- Harvey Loomis, Byram Green, Francis L. Robbins, and James Richards -- twice weekly for prayer. On a warm August Saturday in 1806, a rainstorm drove the group to seek shelter at a large stack of hay. Sheltered from the wind and rain at the side of the great haystack, the men continued in prayer. While there Mills proposed a mission to India. There and then he uttered his famous words concerning his proposal, “We can do it if we will.” Although Loomis felt the focus should be on domestic missions, the rest agreed to seek to share the Gospel in Asia.
Subsequent historians have referred to the meeting as the Haystack Prayer Meeting. In 1808 the group organized to study and pray for missions, calling themselves the “Brethren.” After seminary graduation, Mills and others of the “Brethren” asked the General Association of Massachusetts to send them to India as missionaries. This association formed the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions on June 28, 1810. It was the first official foreign missions organization in the United States.
Some of the most famous missionaries of the 19th century, including Rev. and Mrs. Adoniram Judson and Luther Rice, would be among the first commissioned and sent overseas by the new American Board. Judson has been called the father of Baptist foreign missions for his work in Burma. He left for Asia in his early 20s with his wife of only seven days. It would be over six years before Judson would baptize the first new Christian in Burma. But soon after his death in 1850 the Burmese government noted over 210,000 Burmese Christians! Rev. and Mrs. Samuel Nott, Gordon Hall, and Rev. and Mrs. Samuel Newell also traveled on the maiden mission. Mills stayed behind in part because of his ability to promote the cause of world missions in America.
The Haystack Prayer Meeting sparked the missions enterprises to which we still remain in debt. They were just a bunch of college students, meeting for a time of prayer. Mills was such a poor student he was not allowed to participate in graduation ceremonies. (Interestingly, the valedictorian, also named Samuel, missed his speech because he was drunk.) God took a mediocre student with a radical passion for the nations, and we are debtors to him.
This year, the Census Bureau reports there are more teenagers than at any point in U.S. history. Colleges are about to swell like never before in numbers, and the most rapid growth is in private schools, including evangelical colleges. Do we believe God could take a handful of students and change the world? I do. And that is one reason I teach.
The next time you see a raindrop fall, take a moment and thank God for the Haystack Prayer Meeting, and for young leaders who would risk all, not for fame or influence, but for the Gospel. May God give us a generation like that!
Did you ever hear of the prayer meeting that shook America? Find a U.S. history book and read about the Fulton Street prayer meeting on September 23, 1857, started by Mr. Jeremiah Calvin Lanphier, a simple merchant in New York. Times were as difficult then as they are right now in America. People were disheartened by depression, unemployment, crime, bankruptcy, and empty church pews. Mr. Lanphier had a great burden for prayer and asked for a noon prayer meeting once a week in his church. The consistory let him do it. They hadn’t much else left to do but to close the doors like other churches had done for lack of membership.
On that September day Mr. Lanphier took his place at noon in an empty church. For half an hour he prayed alone, but when the meeting closed at one o’clock, there were six men who had joined him in prayer. Out of that humble meeting came the Spirit wind of a great revival that shook America. It happened so fast that only six months later people prayed everywhere -- the churches couldn’t hold them anymore, and in Philadelphia the biggest tent was put up to provide a place for as many as 150,000 praying people who gathered to change America. History tells us that a million people were converted, the churches filled up again, and crime rates went down.
God hasn’t changed -- we have. It is time to do first things first again. And the first and most important thing is consistent, fervent prayer.
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Source: THESE TIMES, Copyright (c) 1978, Pacific Press, http://www.signstimes.com
I suppose there are always two dangers in speaking about prayer. The first is that some men make it so demanding a spiritual exercise that it becomes intimidating. You can picture the scene of some ascetic speaking with intensity of feeling about wrestling with God. His eyes look into the distance, and his closing prayer is full of strangled emotion and semi-sobs. His hearers are sinking lower and lower into their seats as this Everest of praying reaches to the clouds and disappears from view. That’s a mountain they have never climbed, his hearers think, nor ever will. You have probably been in prayer meetings where the leader has strayed too far into that frame and the meeting has been killed.
The second danger is the reverse. The speaker is so laid back and cool, assuring us that prayer is a breeze, that we can pray anywhere and for everything - finding a place to park the car is the usual illustration - and the whole spirit is one of relaxed chumminess. Terry Johnson of Savannah speaks of his deliverance from that kind of praying which a summer pastorate provided. He had been converted in Southern California and in the spring of 1978 became an intern in a church in Edinburgh. He knew the essentials of small-group discipleship and scripture choruses and felt prepared for any prayer meetings. As he arrived at the church the minister was taken sick and he had to step in on the Sunday and preach. Before the service fifteen people met together to pray.
Terry says, “When it looked like all who were coming were present, they rose up, turned and faced their chairs, knelt down on their knees, and began to pray. Though this was a working-class congregation, and though none of those present were college educated and even a few were functionally illiterate, I soon realized that I was in over my head. Something was seriously amiss. I had never heard such prayers. They were full of God, full of Scripture, full of passion, full of reverence, and full of humility. My prayers, by comparison, had always been of the ‘just really’ variety - trite, self-centered, too casual, and too familiar. The spiritual maturity of their prayers exposed my spiritual poverty. The God that they knew was almost a different God.”
Terry was taught about prayer in the best way, in hearing true prayer. Not all praying is acceptable to God or to the church. “You judge people’s prayers?” someone says, aghast. Yes. God does, and so must we. There was a kind of praying of which the Lord said, “When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen” (Isaiah 1:15). The Lord Jesus heard a Pharisee praying in the temple and Christ said that “he prayed about himself” (Luke 18:10). Prayer reflects the pray-er.
Counselors stood by Tuesday at a Kentucky high school to help classmates of three girls killed in a bloodbath Monday that the principal said could have been worse if not for the heroics of one student.
Heath High School principal Bill Bond said the 17-year-old student, Ben Strong, confronted and held the 14-year-old shooter after he had emptied a .22 caliber handgun into an early-morning prayer group, and possibly prevented him from grabbing two loaded shotguns and 100 rounds of ammunition within easy reach.
"We could have had a much more devastating tragedy than we had," Bond told reporters.
"We will be with our friends, we will be with our teachers, we will be with counselors and ministers if we need to, but we will move ahead as close as we can to getting things back to normal at Heath High School," Bond said.
Strong said he was willing to forgive, if not forget, the so far unexplained outburst of violence.
"If you don't learn to forgive, you won't make it through life, you know," he said.
Strong said the shooter "lost it" when he shot and killed one of his friends, a girl, and began firing indiscriminately.
The boy - described as a fairly good student with only minor problems at school - was restrained by Strong and dropped the handgun. He immediately said he was sorry, but has since offered police no reason for the attack. He had warned classmates last week of "something big happening" at school.
Captain Danny Midyett of the McCracken County Sheriff's Office said the boy was being held at a juvenile detention facility "somewhere in Kentucky," and would likely be tried as an adult. A juvenile court judge would determine whether he would face adult charges at a hearing scheduled for Dec. 10, he said.
For now, the boy was charged in the deaths of two of the girls, aged 17 and 15, as well as six counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary related to his admission of stealing the guns from a neighbor's garage.
The parents of a 14-year-old victim who died after being kept on life support for several hours approved the donation of her organs, a hospital spokesman said.
Of the five wounded in the attack, two boys were treated and released Monday, while a 15-year-old girl was in serious but stable condition and another girl was said to be improving from serious condition. One girl's condition previously listed as fair was being kept private.
President Clinton was among those vexed by what motivated the boy's violent attack.
"Of course, we still don't know all the facts surrounding the tragedy or why a 14-year-old boy would take a pistol and open fire on his classmates in a prayer group. We may never know," Clinton said at a White House ceremony.
^REUTERS@
I have always had a love for studying (and even more being a part of) movements of God, from my childhood when our small church erupted in the Jesus Movement to teaching courses on the subject today. Santayana said those that do not learn from history are doomed to relive it. I think those who do learn from history can best deal with culture today.
In August I began my 12th year teaching at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. That same month, 200 years ago, an event happened that still affects the students I teach today. That is what happens when God moves. Let me give just a snapshot of what God did two centuries ago concerning the event historians call the Haystack Prayer Meeting.
On the 12th year following the founding of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, a 23 year old named Samuel Mills enrolled as a freshman. The son of a pastor, Samuel’s home church had been touched by a wave of revival that instilled in him a passion to take the Gospel to the nations. Samuel Mills soon proved to be a poor student in the classroom but a great student of the work of God.
While at Williams College Mills began to meet with a group of students -- Harvey Loomis, Byram Green, Francis L. Robbins, and James Richards -- twice weekly for prayer. On a warm August Saturday in 1806, a rainstorm drove the group to seek shelter at a large stack of hay. Sheltered from the wind and rain at the side of the great haystack, the men continued in prayer. While there Mills proposed a mission to India. There and then he uttered his famous words concerning his proposal, “We can do it if we will.” Although Loomis felt the focus should be on domestic missions, the rest agreed to seek to share the Gospel in Asia.
Subsequent historians have referred to the meeting as the Haystack Prayer Meeting. In 1808 the group organized to study and pray for missions, calling themselves the “Brethren.” After seminary graduation, Mills and others of the “Brethren” asked the General Association of Massachusetts to send them to India as missionaries. This association formed the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions on June 28, 1810. It was the first official foreign missions organization in the United States.
Some of the most famous missionaries of the 19th century, including Rev. and Mrs. Adoniram Judson and Luther Rice, would be among the first commissioned and sent overseas by the new American Board. Judson has been called the father of Baptist foreign missions for his work in Burma. He left for Asia in his early 20s with his wife of only seven days. It would be over six years before Judson would baptize the first new Christian in Burma. But soon after his death in 1850 the Burmese government noted over 210,000 Burmese Christians! Rev. and Mrs. Samuel Nott, Gordon Hall, and Rev. and Mrs. Samuel Newell also traveled on the maiden mission. Mills stayed behind in part because of his ability to promote the cause of world missions in America.
The Haystack Prayer Meeting sparked the missions enterprises to which we still remain in debt. They were just a bunch of college students, meeting for a time of prayer. Mills was such a poor student he was not allowed to participate in graduation ceremonies. (Interestingly, the valedictorian, also named Samuel, missed his speech because he was drunk.) God took a mediocre student with a radical passion for the nations, and we are debtors to him.
This year, the Census Bureau reports there are more teenagers than at any point in U.S. history. Colleges are about to swell like never before in numbers, and the most rapid growth is in private schools, including evangelical colleges. Do we believe God could take a handful of students and change the world? I do. And that is one reason I teach.
The next time you see a raindrop fall, take a moment and thank God for the Haystack Prayer Meeting, and for young leaders who would risk all, not for fame or influence, but for the Gospel. May God give us a generation like that!
I have always had a love for studying (and even more being a part of) movements of God, from my childhood when our small church erupted in the Jesus Movement to teaching courses on the subject today. Santayana said those that do not learn from history are doomed to relive it. I think those who do learn from history can best deal with culture today.
In August I began my 12th year teaching at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. That same month, 200 years ago, an event happened that still affects the students I teach today. That is what happens when God moves. Let me give just a snapshot of what God did two centuries ago concerning the event historians call the Haystack Prayer Meeting.
On the 12th year following the founding of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, a 23 year old named Samuel Mills enrolled as a freshman. The son of a pastor, Samuel’s home church had been touched by a wave of revival that instilled in him a passion to take the Gospel to the nations. Samuel Mills soon proved to be a poor student in the classroom but a great student of the work of God.
While at Williams College Mills began to meet with a group of students -- Harvey Loomis, Byram Green, Francis L. Robbins, and James Richards -- twice weekly for prayer. On a warm August Saturday in 1806, a rainstorm drove the group to seek shelter at a large stack of hay. Sheltered from the wind and rain at the side of the great haystack, the men continued in prayer. While there Mills proposed a mission to India. There and then he uttered his famous words concerning his proposal, “We can do it if we will.” Although Loomis felt the focus should be on domestic missions, the rest agreed to seek to share the Gospel in Asia.
Subsequent historians have referred to the meeting as the Haystack Prayer Meeting. In 1808 the group organized to study and pray for missions, calling themselves the “Brethren.” After seminary graduation, Mills and others of the “Brethren” asked the General Association of Massachusetts to send them to India as missionaries. This association formed the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions on June 28, 1810. It was the first official foreign missions organization in the United States.
Some of the most famous missionaries of the 19th century, including Rev. and Mrs. Adoniram Judson and Luther Rice, would be among the first commissioned and sent overseas by the new American Board. Judson has been called the father of Baptist foreign missions for his work in Burma. He left for Asia in his early 20s with his wife of only seven days. It would be over six years before Judson would baptize the first new Christian in Burma. But soon after his death in 1850 the Burmese government noted over 210,000 Burmese Christians! Rev. and Mrs. Samuel Nott, Gordon Hall, and Rev. and Mrs. Samuel Newell also traveled on the maiden mission. Mills stayed behind in part because of his ability to promote the cause of world missions in America.
The Haystack Prayer Meeting sparked the missions enterprises to which we still remain in debt. They were just a bunch of college students, meeting for a time of prayer. Mills was such a poor student he was not allowed to participate in graduation ceremonies. (Interestingly, the valedictorian, also named Samuel, missed his speech because he was drunk.) God took a mediocre student with a radical passion for the nations, and we are debtors to him.
This year, the Census Bureau reports there are more teenagers than at any point in U.S. history. Colleges are about to swell like never before in numbers, and the most rapid growth is in private schools, including evangelical colleges. Do we believe God could take a handful of students and change the world? I do. And that is one reason I teach.
The next time you see a raindrop fall, take a moment and thank God for the Haystack Prayer Meeting, and for young leaders who would risk all, not for fame or influence, but for the Gospel. May God give us a generation like that!
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