24-Hour Prayer Vigil

(August 28-29 9:00 am to 9:00 am)

The children of Israel, under the leadership of Nehemiah, were engaged in the difficult task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Their numerous enemies all plotted together to fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against them. The people were discouraged and afraid. Yet, we read in the book of Nehemiah, “But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.” (Nehemiah 4:8-9)

Work (even hard work) without prayer is only that - work. Moreover, prayer, without work, takes advantage of God's grace and is sometimes a spiritual disguise for laziness. The people of Israel put the two together. They knew that, if the wall was to be completed, God's guidance and protection were required. Yet, at the same time, common sense said to post guards on the wall.

They prayed, and they worked. In these two words, prayer and work, we find the key to almost any successful venture. We seek the Lord fervently in prayer, and we roll up our sleeves and get to work.

We have done a lot of work so far in this campaign. The list - FAQs, print materials, phone calls, stuffed envelopes, meals, meetings, Bible classes, planning sessions, and the countless hours logged by an army of volunteers - is staggering. However, long before this work began, there was prayer. It would be safe to say that since the campaign started, every meeting has included prayer. Many of you pray regularly that we will continue to see God's vision for this church and that He will continue to change our church and community. We are in the middle of 40 days of prayer by the congregation. This campaign has been bathed in prayer.

We have one more focused prayer time on our schedule. The twenty-four hour prayer vigil begins Friday morning, August 28th, at 9:00 a.m. and concludes Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. How appropriate it is that we close out forty days of prayer with our twenty-four hours of prayer on the weekend we all make a commitment to the campaign. We are asking every member of this congregation to come to the building at some point during the prayer vigil and join with others in prayer. If you are out of town on that day, please take time in your schedule to pray wherever you happen to be. Remember that prayer request cards are at the building. Fill out these cards, and your requests will be prayed over along with the other requests from our members and friends.

The key event of our enVision What God Can Do Campaign is not Commitment Sunday or even the Celebration. The most important event is this prayer vigil. We have posted the guards. Now, we pray!