- Home
- Speakers
- Carter Conlon
- It Is Time To Pray Now!
It Is Time to Pray Now!
Carter Conlon

Carter Conlon (1953 - ). Canadian-American pastor, author, and speaker born in Noranda, Quebec. Raised in a secular home, he became a police officer after earning a bachelor’s degree in law and sociology from Carleton University. Converted in 1978 after a spiritual encounter, he left policing in 1987 to enter ministry, founding a church, Christian school, and food bank in Riceville, Canada, while operating a sheep farm. In 1994, he joined Times Square Church in New York City at David Wilkerson’s invitation, serving as senior pastor from 2001 to 2020, growing it to over 10,000 members from 100 nationalities. Conlon authored books like It’s Time to Pray (2018), with proceeds supporting the Compassion Fund. Known for his prayer initiatives, he launched the Worldwide Prayer Meeting in 2015, reaching 200 countries, and “For Pastors Only,” mentoring thousands globally. Married to Teresa, an associate pastor and Summit International School president, they have three children and nine grandchildren. His preaching, aired on 320 radio stations, emphasizes repentance and hope. Conlon remains general overseer, speaking at global conferences.
Download
Topic
Sermon Summary
The sermon emphasizes the spiritual and social conditions of the last days as described in the book of Malachi, highlighting the distinction between the proud and the righteous. It encourages believers to find strength and hope in God's promises, to stand firm in faith amidst darkness and fear, and to pray boldly for God's miraculous intervention in these challenging times.
Scriptures
Sermon Transcription
I want to read to you a passage of scripture from the last book of the Bible in the Old Testament, the book of Malachi, speaking about our day. And here's what Malachi said, the spiritual condition of our time. So now we call the proud blessed, and for those who do wickedness are raised up, and even they that tempt God go free. This is the social condition of the last days according to Malachi. The proud consider themselves blessed. Those that do wickedness are raised up and consider themselves in control. And those who tempt God, they tempt the honor of God, they test the Word of God, they believe that they can push against godliness, feel that there's no repercussion coming their way because of it. Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them. And a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on his name. I do thank God tonight that we're getting together with brothers and sisters from 161 countries around the world, and there are more prayer requests coming in tonight than in previous weeks. That means this prayer meeting is beginning to grow. More and more people are coming in. There are more and more profound answers to prayer happening right now in this generation. They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, on the day that I make them my jewels, and I will spare them as a man who spares his own son who serves him. Then you shall again discern between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him. The day is coming, burning like an oven, all the proud, all who do wickedly will be stubble. The day is coming that will burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, that will leave them neither root nor branch. In other words, there's a day coming on the earth, God says, then everything that can be shaken is going to be shaken. Everything that is not founded in God will lose its strength. Its foundations will be taken away. It will be proven to be worthless. It will have no strength. But here's the promise for you and I. But to you who fear my name, the son of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings. You will go out and grow like stall-fed calves. You'll trample the wicked. There'll be ashes under the soles of your feet. In the day I do this, says the Lord of hosts, to you that fear my name, God says I'm going to bring healing into your lives. I'm going to give you strength where you don't have strength. I'm going to give you freedom where you don't have, you didn't have freedom. I'm going to give you joy when all joy and is gone and darkness begins to invade this entire world. I'm going to give you confidence when confidence is being taken away. I'm going to give you a song when people don't know what to sing anymore. Vision, direction, hope, joy, and the glory of the Lord is going to become your strength. This is the promise of God. So if you're a believer in Christ tonight, you are a fortunate person right now. We're living in a dark and a fearful hour in history. But I'm not living for this dark and fearful hour. I'm living for something else now in my heart. I'm living for something that God is doing. I'm not getting my encouragement nor my discouragement from the news. That does not make my day. That does not send the trend of my heart. I get my strength from the Word of God, from everything that God has promised into my life. And my Bible tells me in this day of darkness, in this hour of fear, in this moment of terror in the world, God says you who fear my name, you who care about my glory, you who care about the honor of God in the earth, you who are pressing in to pray when everyone else is fleeing, you who are believing that not just for your own house, but for the houses of many others who don't have anybody to pray for them or anybody to stand in the gap for them, you who are coming to the house of God, I will arise upon you with healing. I will do something in your life and something in your heart that will give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. I'll give you an inner knowledge that nothing can stop the work that I've begun in your life. You'll not be governed by the fear of this moment in history. You'll be governed by the Word of God and the Word of God alone. Oh, thanks be to God. Thanks be to God. We are not a people of fear. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a power and love and a sound mind. Thank God for that. We who live here in New York City will not be driven from the house of God. We don't care what threats try to invade our society. We are not a people of fear. We will not be driven by fear. We will not be governed by fear. We are a people of faith. And though the mountains be shaken, though the seas escape their borders, though men's hearts begin to fail them for fear, we have a city designed and built by God. We have strength that this world knows nothing about. We have a song that nobody else can sing but the redeemed of the Lord. We have faith that when we pray, God will move mountains. We believe it with all our heart. We will not be driven into silence. We will not be quiet in this hour. By the grace of Almighty God, our voices will be lifted up. Our prayers will be heard. We will gather together as they did in the early church, and they said, Oh God, consider the threatenings of darkness against this hour. Consider, Lord. It's about your name. It's about your glory. And we ask you to give us boldness to speak your word as we never have before. We ask you, God, to stretch out your hand and begin to do the miraculous in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This is the finest hour for the church of Jesus Christ. I would rather be alive at this moment in history than any other moment in time. We've been given the privilege of carrying the torch of Christ and setting it upon a hill in a very, very dark time. We've been given the privilege of having hope when hopelessness abounds all around us. We've been given the privilege of looking away from ourselves and looking to the honor and the glory of God and the souls of men in this generation. We've been given the privilege of praying and seeing God move his hand again in a profound way in our generation. That's who we are as the church of Jesus Christ and we will never lay down and be anything else but what we are. It's time for the people of God to rise up. It's time for us to pray with boldness. It's time for us to live for the honor of God and the glory of God. It's time for us to pray like we've never prayed before. Glory to the name of Jesus. I challenge you with all my heart. Before 9-11, we were warned in this church. For those that were here, God came to this congregation. A stillness came on us and we were warned that something terrifying was coming to the city and we needed to be prepared. When 9-11 happened, I remember going into a room, one of the rooms, annex rooms in this church, and there was a quite a few people, I don't remember how many, maybe 30 or so, on their knees. Many were weeping. I remember clapping my hands and saying, everybody on your feet. We were trained for this moment. We were raised for this moment. We were warned about this moment. It should not be hitting us as a surprise. We shouldn't be cowering back and weeping. We need to stand up and be the church now. We need to prepare for the terrified in our streets. We need to buy food. We need to get out there. People began to go and we were ready because God had warned us. These days we're living in right now have not hit us as a surprise. We've been raised for this moment. We've been warned about it for 28 years. The days that are now here, the days when God warned us were coming have arrived. But you see, with the arrival of these days comes a renewed understanding that there's been a divine purpose placed on this church and those that are with us praying tonight. We're called to be a lighthouse in the darkened times. We're called to stand when everyone else is running. We're called to be given for the sake of others when everyone else runs to preserve themselves. We're called to be bold in our faith. We're called to have a love for God and a love for fellow man that casts all fear out of our hearts. That's who we are as the church of Jesus Christ. We must never be anything else than what God has designed us to be. This is the finest hour of the church of Jesus Christ and I thank God for it with all my heart. If ever there was a time to pray it's now. It's time to pray. We're going to believe God for that with all our hearts. We're going to stand. We're going to clap our hands. We're going to lift our voices. We're going to stomp our feet and we're going to run the aisles if God tells us to do that. But we're going to give praise to our God. We're going to glorify the one who has called us into this moment. Let's stand together. Let's glorify God in this house. You glorify God online. This is the finest hour of the church of Jesus Christ. Don't you ever let the devil tell you and it's anything but that.
It Is Time to Pray Now!
- Bio
- Summary
- Transcript
- Download

Carter Conlon (1953 - ). Canadian-American pastor, author, and speaker born in Noranda, Quebec. Raised in a secular home, he became a police officer after earning a bachelor’s degree in law and sociology from Carleton University. Converted in 1978 after a spiritual encounter, he left policing in 1987 to enter ministry, founding a church, Christian school, and food bank in Riceville, Canada, while operating a sheep farm. In 1994, he joined Times Square Church in New York City at David Wilkerson’s invitation, serving as senior pastor from 2001 to 2020, growing it to over 10,000 members from 100 nationalities. Conlon authored books like It’s Time to Pray (2018), with proceeds supporting the Compassion Fund. Known for his prayer initiatives, he launched the Worldwide Prayer Meeting in 2015, reaching 200 countries, and “For Pastors Only,” mentoring thousands globally. Married to Teresa, an associate pastor and Summit International School president, they have three children and nine grandchildren. His preaching, aired on 320 radio stations, emphasizes repentance and hope. Conlon remains general overseer, speaking at global conferences.