A Movement of Prayer

This month we have seen God bring many new people to our Monday Night Prayer Gathering at Experience Life.  We moved out into the rink the first week in March and our attendance has been above 200 since.  Numbers for numbers sake isn't our goal, but developing an army of people who are calling out to God is.

It is obvious to myself and our leadership at Experience Life that this is not something we have put together.  I have been around the block a few times and you don't get over 200 people coming weekly to pray by sending out fliers or making announcements.  Something amazing is taking place.  God is showing up on Monday nights in a skating rink as people are humbling themselves and seeking Him.

We continue to see many first time commitments to Christ in our weekend services, we believe prayer is the catalyst that is behind what is happening.  We continue to see and hear story after story of life change in people each week.  Again as hard working and dedicated as our staff is, as incredible as our people are in serving each week, we just can't make those things happen.  Life change happens as God steps into our lives and puts His super into our natural.

Each week God gives us guidance on specific groups to pray for.  We try and pray for people in the marketplace because we believe this is a key place God can touch people.  We pray for specific ministries within our church, and we pray for felt needs in people.  In past weeks we prayed for those in the health care industry, we have prayed over our kids, we've prayed for those who have lost trust due to broken relationships in their past, we have prayed for those on the mission field.  These are a few examples of prayer items God has directed us to.

And each week we continue to hear answers to prayers we have been praying.  We continue to pray that in our day and in our time Gods name would be great among us and that He would show up in our lives with His works.


Answers to prayer and comments from past few weeks
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37 first time commitments to Christ

I always feel very blessed & happy when I'm here. I can feel the Lord here always!!

Very encouraging! Thank you for all that you do. Way to listen and serve.

Awesome! This service hit just what I was going through.

Extending Our Reach

For months now the room we have been using for prayer has been full. We cram chairs close together with little room between them just so we can more people in. There is usually a sense of expectation in the room as corporate prayer takes off each night.

Last night we took the next step of seeing God grow our prayer gathering. We moved out into the Skating rink which is where we hold our weekend services. As with many things we have done at Experience Life, it seems that when we move to reach more people more people come. Last night was no different as 208 people came to spend an hour in prayer.

I shared at the beginning of the night that prayer invites Gods power and presence into the life situations of men and women with the result being many peoples history gets changed. We believe our corporate prayer gathering is actually changing history.

We had a panel of people share why prayer was significant for them and some of their personal experience with Monday Night Prayer. We heard how prayers had been answered and how people had encountered God personally during this time.

Chris Galanos, our lead pastor, then got up and shared about the vision of prayer that was part of the planting of Experience Life. From day one they prayed at Chris home. As they went public in the Skating Rink they began with a handfull of people meeting weekly to pray. That handfull has now grown to over 200.

Chris reminded us that "closet prayer changes lives, but corporate prayer changes cities and even nations." Our goal is to see 300 people praying weekly by year end and by 2018 to fill Jones Stadium with Lubbock believers calling out to God for renewal and revival in our region.

We then prayed for many things. We have added worship videos 15 minutes before prayer begins as a devotional prayer time and worship video 15 minutes after for extended prayer for people.

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What we are thankful for this past week:

32 first time commitments to Christ.

Comments:

1. I love it here! I'm hooked for life now!
2. Great Message!
3. Awesome! The presence of the Lord was really strong!
4. Set up was awesome! There is nothing more encouraging than seeing God's family working together!