Two weeks ago, the amazing Todd and Sheila Eby brought to our leadership team an idea for the Effect. Their vision of creating a night for the sole purpose of prayer was truly outstanding. The guys (Dustin Gill, Jason Mishler, Corey Ryman) and myself were all for it. This was a great way to go about creating a unified group of believers in addition to gaining some accountability in the smaller, gender-specific prayer groups. Since it was the Eby's idea, they took full reign on making it possible and we chose this past Friday night as a kick-off to get things started and introduced. Our leadership team did have a meeting to come up with some ideas to add to the nights, and those ideas were and will continue to be utilized and expanded.
So, with candles all set up and prayer verses around the room and journals to write in, we began our first prayer night. The attendance was small, a little over ten, but that was pretty good for a Friday night. We started the night off in a large group, popcorn praying over three different areas related to the Effect:
1) Keller Park Missionary Church and Sonnyvilla. We have been so blessed to become a partner with these groups building hope for the youth and the community there. Every first Saturday of the month, we load up the bus and help out with tearing down, rebuilding, and finishing homes that can be used as safe Christ-centered environments for the kids who may not have that anywhere else. It's been amazing to see the relationships we've built, the children's growth, the progress with the community and just a true desire for hope and change within the area.
2) Monica Mast and Michelle Feldman. These amazing girls, members of the Effect family, felt a calling to go to Mexico with Dayspring Missions Trips for seven months to serve our awesome God and share His love and truth to the people down there. They had to leave their families, jobs, and lives behind and completely rely on God with the entirety of their lives. They return in August, and we are so awed by what God is doing through them already. It's simply wonderful.
3) Lastly, was the Effect itself. The journey for our young adult ministry has been a tough one at best. It started out with low numbers, but is now growing nearly every weekend. Our leadership team, primarily the guys, have a strong vision of what they'd like to see with the Effect, and we're definitely on our way there. Authentic relationships with each other and with Christ has been our main focus this year, and after the Winter Retreat took place, we've already been able to see the amount of growth in the people there. It's also spurred an interest into others throughout the church and their curiosity has led them to start coming on Sunday nights. It's a great ministry and God is truly doing a work in it right now.
After about an hour of constant prayer for these three areas, we broke off into gender specific prayer groups. The idea behind this time was to develop closer relationships within the girls and guys groups and to develop accountability with those people. The prayer was to be focused solely on ourselves, how things in our lives were going, and how it affected us personally. It was a time to be selfish, but it was also a time to let our guards down and to trust those around us. At 10:20pm, the five girls, including Sheila Eby, finally finished their times of prayer. It was amazing. Over 3 straight hours spent in constant prayer to our awesome God. We brought praises, worries, requests, concerns, trust, and so much more to Him that night. I left feeling so great, not just because I felt like I was a "good-Christian" for a night, but because the power of prayer was so intense and so inspiring. I just can't explain it, really. I'm looking forward to these prayer nights and I think it's one of the best things the Effect has ever done.
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