Akin to the account of Paul and Silas in the Book of Acts, groups of believers are planning simply to sing and pray together Oct. 1, crying out to God in a time of need and leaving the results to Him.
“If My People Will Pray” is planned for 5–7 p.m. at Samford University’s Wright Center in Birmingham and at churches and other sites throughout the world, including Washington, Jerusalem, the Philippines and Kenya.
“God stirred me out of a sleep and spoke directly and gave clarity and confirmation that we were to come together on Oct. 1, 2023, and we were to worship from 5 to 6, and then we were to pray from 6 to 7,” said Jacky Connell, pastor of Eden Westside Baptist Church in Pell City.
The plan is for no one to be introduced and no instructions for how to pray to be given. Each prayer site is to begin at 5 p.m. in its time zone, not trying to coordinate worldwide.
“It’s kind of a hard concept to think about,” Connell said. “We’re so familiar with programming everything, and we’re so familiar with somebody leading everything. It’s hard to visualize thousands of people coming together and nobody’s in charge.”
Like Paul and Silas, Connell said the groups will just “sing and pray and see what God’s going to do.”
When a U.S. congressman heard of Connell’s idea, he invited the pastor to meet with various leaders at the U.S. Capitol in June. They agreed to offer the Reflecting Pool there as a prayer site Oct. 1 for people to gather at the Capitol and pray.
“It was a blessing to see God going ahead of me to prepare the hearts of leaders of our nation in Washington,” Connell said.
Leaders made comments to Connell such as, “If we think that Washington can change this country, we’re only fooling ourselves,” he recounted. “The church is going to have to mobilize itself to seek after God and pray for this nation,” Connell added.
Joining together
The Scripture for the emphasis, 2 Chronicles 7:14 — “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” — is a guide for what Connell hopes will unfold.
“What I would love to see happen is the fulfillment of Scripture, and that is that we would turn from our wicked ways,” Connell said, noting that Christians must repent initially, not expecting the world to do it first.
“Can it change our world? Yes. We can see God work. He’s done it before, but in doing it before, it always started with His people,” the pastor said.
Connell said he “would love for every community — every city in our nation — to be willing to consider hosting a prayer gathering somewhere in their city, that churches would open themselves up and invite people to worship and pray at that time.”
Someone described the idea as puddles popping up all over America, Connell said, and those puddles could come together to create a raging river that would flood the country for God’s glory.
“I think that’s a beautiful picture of what could happen,” Connell said. “If the puddles will pop up all over this country of people crying out to God in concert, wouldn’t it be amazing to see the flood of God’s Spirit flow all over this country in such a supernatural way that we would have an awakening again?”
‘Divine opportunity’
Rob Jackson, director of the office of church health for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, said words cannot express his excitement and anticipation over “If My People Will Pray.”
“I am convinced these gatherings are a divine opportunity for God’s people to unite in worship and prayer,” Jackson said. “My hope is this day will be remembered as a time when God chose to send a downpour of revival and awakening that will reverberate across our globe.
“I encourage you to mark Oct. 1 on your calendars and commit to worship through song and prayer from 5 to 7 p.m.,” Jackson said. “May our collective efforts on Oct. 1 spark a fire that spreads across the globe, touching lives, healing wounds and guiding souls back to the path of righteousness.”
Kevin Blackwell, assistant to the president for church relations at Samford and director of the Ministry Training Institute, said the school is eager to see what will transpire around the prayer gathering.
“After meeting with Jacky Connell and hearing of this profound impression God placed on his heart to call God’s people together to pray, I knew that Samford had to host this gathering,” Blackwell said.
“Our team is committed to making sure that we are gracious hosts on Oct. 1, and the Leslie S. Wright Center is the perfect venue. It provides a great opportunity for Samford to offer our campus as a place where God will meet with His people in a remarkable way and for our Samford students to assist in worship leadership and to pray with local churches.”
For more information and to sign up as a prayer site, visit ifmypeoplewillpray.net.
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