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!

When You Don't Want to Leave

This past Monday night there was a winter storm warning out and we wondered if we should cancel Monday night prayer. It wasn't icey on the roads yet so we decided to go ahead and have prayer. I expected it to be down a little in numbers. But no, people are hungry for Gods presence. At prayer on Monday nights we continue to experience a strong presence of God in our gathering.

The past two weeks as I have sat down to pray during our devotional prayer time that precedes corporate prayer I quickly recognize God is there in a tangible way. There are times when I would rather not facilitate prayer because I just want to be still and soak it all in.

This night we had extended worship. On the last Monday of each month the focus is intimacy with God so we spend more time in adoration and waiting on His presence and a little less on supplication. It is a night we focus on praying for revival for West Texas. Our team has been using a new song from Shane and Shane called "Worthy of Affection". This is a song that people at prayer really connect with.
At the end of our worship time we spent some time being quiet in His presence.

Then there were three people that read a portion of the bible and then prayed over that portion and we opened mikes for others to pray into those verses. The first was Psalm 19 which speaks of the law of the Lord, The second was from Psalm 25 and the third from Isaiah 64 where Isaiah is asking God to open the heavens and come down. We had many who followed this, praying for God to move upon us.

It was one of those nights where you don't want to leave. I didn't want to close prayer. I knew it was snowing outside and we needed to let people go home but God was so in the place. Many people caught me later and voiced the same: "I don't want to leave tonight." There is something amazing that happens when the tangible presence of God touches our lives, we don't want to leave.

Jesus we love it when you love us and we love loving you back.

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Thanksgiving:
12 salvations this week and 20 last week.

comments:
•Today in church my thoughts about God changed and now I want to believe in HIM!!
•This church has made my husband want to come!!
•Awesome! Eye opening! REAL!
•Thank you for making me feel like I belong.

Is anybody laughing at you ? MNP Reflections

Reflections from Monday night prayer this week. . .

Celebrating over 70 first time commitments to Christ in the last three week.  This never gets old !

Experience Life had another record breaking attendance weekend, 2950.  Numbers aren't our goal, life change in Christ is.

Victor John, one of our missionary partners from India was with us. 

·         If nobody is laughing at your vision, it's probably not from God.: V.J.

·         One pastor/evangelist had his chickens stolen one day.  He prayed about the situation.  Late the next night the thieves brought back the chickens.  Their explanation was that since they stole the chickens they had gotten diarrhea.  V.J.

·         Prayer target for their ministries in India: By 2018, 30 million people coming to Christ.

Fear will try and keep us from Gods vision for us.  Confront those fears and be made whole.

A man visited our prayer gathering.  He went back to his church in Seattle and began a weekly prayer gathering there.  The results: For the first time in years some people committed their lives to Christ.  A son and father were reconciled.  A financial need was met for the church.

Prayer focus:

·         Praying for people to be healed from physical problems.

·         Praying for God to continue to do what He is doing and bring even more.

·         Praying for God to continue the work of people being reconciled to others.

·         Praying for the courage to forgive those who have wronged us.

Comments from the weekend:

• I forgave my Dad today. (this college student also committed their life to Christ for the first time)
• We need tissues ! Everyone's crying ! :)
• Breathless!
• Unforgettable!

Seeking His Face, Not His Hands

Being part of quickly growing church has its challenges.  There is much to do, many people have questions, many have needs.  Prayer is a key component of seeing God enable people supernaturally to meet these challenges.

There is a temptation that every Monday night becomes a time to pray over the list of needs we have.  This is the reason we needed a Monday night like this past one.  Our focus was "seeking Gods face, not His hands.  This is a theme the Lord dropped in my heart this week and it resonated with our Monday night crowd.  We had our usual time of worship.  People sang with fervor as we concluded worship with "Glory to God".   We followed with time waiting in His presence.  This was a targeted waiting as people were telling God of their hunger and thirst for Him.

We moved on by reading a couple of stories of how God moved powerfully in times past.  One story was of Evan Roberts,  a key leader in the Wales revival in the early 19th century, whom God visit him in the night for three to four months straight.  Gods love would come so powerfully he didn't know if he could stand any more.  We read of Charles Finney.  His account was of a time where he felt waves of liquid love flow through his body as he came face to face with Jesus. 

After reading these accounts we opened the microphones for anyone to come up and pray that God would encounter us in revival.  15 - 20 people came forward and prayed.  Prayers like "God, in our day and in our time, would you show yourself", "God, let this be the last one, let  there be no need for another revival because this one just keeps going", "Lord would you move in West Texas in way that is historical, let us be the ones whom you visit", "Lord we ask for you to use us in saving souls".  There were others who repented of sin.  This lasted for about 30 minutes.

Andrea Morey then shared her story about how God had used the prayers of people to help her in her battle with anorexia.  She had forgotten what Gods love was like and had recently experienced again the love of God.  Through prayer God opened a door for 18,000 of medical expenses to be given to her also. 

We closed with people praying for others with prayer needs.  It was really refreshing not to be praying through our list of needs and seeking His face this night.

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First Time Decisions:  23

Comments:

Amazing!  Pastor Chris spoke to my heart with specific examples of questions I've been facing!!

A lady that has been filling out prayer requests each week wrote: "Husband did not go through with our divorce!  He recommitted his life to Christ Tuesday morning!  Thank you for the prayers!"

Nourishing!

30 Days to Live

The series Chris is doing on the weekends is called "30 Days to Live". What if you had 30 days to live ? Would you learn to pray ? Would you pray more ? Prayer changes history so the more we do it, the more people are impacted with what God has for their lives. This is a great reason to come to Monday Night Prayer.

Monday night again was a full house of Experience Life people who come to pray.
The band has been doing a new song by Shane and Shane called "Worthy of Affection". One of the lines says "Let adoration fill this place". This described the atmosphere or worship Monday night as adoration filled the place. At the end of that time, I encouraged people to let their voices fill the place with adoration. There are many nights that you don't want to leave the place of worship and on focusing on Gods presence. Some nights we will sing another song and on others we want to move on to prayer and pray for the many requests we have.

Our focus on prayer was on families in our church who are going through trying seasons. Especially finding out about children who have lifelong diseases, so we spent time praying for those families. We prayed again for Gods favor on the vision we feel He has given us in 2010. We prayed for many specific nations of the world as third Mondays have a missions focus. We also prayed for Mike and Terri McCombs a couple we support in Guatemala.

In our ministry time we focused on people in the marketplace who were in retail sales. We prayed for anyone with a sense that God has called them to missions. We prayed for all of the college students in attendance and then for anyone who wanted prayer.

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Jan 16, 17th

First Time Commitments: 28
Baptisms 8

Comments:
What a blessing to watch people baptized on a regular basis! Wow!!

Great message! Praise God! The message brought me close to tears. It really spoke to my Spirit.

Nourishing. The enthusiasm of living with Christ is a nourishing fill each week!

Overwhelming! Life Changing!

I am PUMPED and can't wait for my family to get involved!

I really enjoyed this experience and it was needed. My spirits have been lifted!

If ...

2 Chronicles 7:14 begins with a little word, if. Yet it is such a large word. The movement of God hinges on this word "if". This verse goes on to say

"If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land."

At Experience Life we are believing God for a big vision this year. We are asking that we could be part of 1000 people coming to know Christ for the first time. We are believing God for many to be touched in 2010. This vision for 2010 hinges on "If".

Monday nights is a big part of that if. We are attempting to humble ourselves, pray, seek Gods face and turn from our wicked ways. We are seeing that as we seek Him, He is found. We spend time on Monday nights in worship and prayer and are impacted by a real presence of God that meets us in that place. Our second Monday of the month was standing room only in our prayer room. We are beginning to ask God what next. Where do we put these people who have come to pray and seek Your face ? What a great challenge to have.

We got to hear a little from Greg Lavo tonight as he shared about answered prayer and opportunities he had to share the gospel on his trip to China recently.

We spent dedicated time with people leading us in praying for our Vision 2010 which Chris shared the previous weekend. One specific prayer caught my attention as we were praying for God to encounter His people with His power. We prayed for new commitments, new members, baptisms, our prayer gathering, new lifehouses (small groups) and new life transformation groups.

During our prayer ministry time we prayed for one of our hight school groups and for anyone who had a need that night.

It seems we are pursuing the "If" of 2 Chronicles 7:14. God continue to grow us in pursuing you. We understand that pride increases as prayer decreases because prayer makes us aware of our need of You.

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Jan 10 Service

First Time Commitments 4

Unique Comments

a visitor from Alabama that visits here about every 3 months to see her grandkids wrote this...
"Very blessed to hear your Vision! I am telling my prayer group in Alabama to agree with you!"

It has taken me 5 years to find a church home outside of my home town. Because of the love God has shown me at Experience Life, I haven't missed in 2 months! I can't wait to see all the blessings in 2010. Thank you for this!

Last Sunday, I had someone from your prayer group pray with me. It was for a new life without guilt and fear. For the last year I had been abused mentally and physically by a man. On Nov. 12, 2009 he got sentenced to 20 years. ** Ever since last Sunday, I feel so relieved and feel like nothing can weigh me down!**

2010, Here We Come

What a great way to start 2010 Monday Night Prayer. We had a full house. The prayer room was packed. Gods presence was evident. The last song in worship was "Fire fall down". We lingered in His presence at the end of the worship time. John 15:16 came to mind as we soaked in Gods presence. "You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and appointed you that you would bear much fruit and that your fruit would remain". Even in our brokenness God has chosen us and will use us. He wants us to produce eternal fruit which only comes from spending time with Him.

We walked through the Lord Prayer in Matt 7, topic by topic. We spent time reading comments from this weeks service and had a couple of stories of what God had done recently. We then had people pray on the mikes that God would grow us in His word, prayer, and in community. We prayed for next weekend where Chris will share the vision of Experience Life for 2010. We prayed for revival in us (intimacy) and revival to us (God showing up in our geographic area).

The time ended as we had people stand who were sick and those who were believing for something specific for God to do in 2010. We had all those around them gather and pray for them.

I am more convinced than ever that prayer is vital to what God wants to do. I am praying we get stronger and more efficient in prayer in 2010.

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Christmas Eve Service

First Time commitments to Christ 25
Baptisms 2

What a blessing! You guys are all amazing and so talented. Thank you for all you do! May unending blessings be poured out on all of you! Merry Christmas!

A life experience and eye opening! (this FTG committed their life to Christ)

"Have had trouble finding a church I connect with but want to find one badly...Awesome band and sermon!" This was a 23 yr old FTG who committed to Christ, wants to volunteer with children, and marked Prayer Gathering interest ~ I think she found a church :)

The first time I visited this church I wrote on the connection card ♫ I still haven't found what I'm looking for ♫ I have now found what I was missing! (He committed his life to Christ!)

Jan. 2 and 3rd service

First Time commitments to Christ 5
Baptisms 8

Comments:

Awesome! I feel God's love! Even in a skating rink!!

It was awesome! I felt at home!

It was awesome :) I have never been so excited to wake up and come to church!

It was a very, very spiritual experience.

I like experiencing life differently! :)