14 January 2012

By Raymond Billy and Patrick Butler | ResonateNews.com

GARDEN VALLEY, Texas — The four-hour prayer gathering hear Saturday ended with nearly as many people as were present at the its beginning. About 1,000 people, event organizers said, attended the Church United in Prayer, and barely anyone opted to leave the meeting prior to its conclusion.

The dimly lit sanctuary of Community Christian Fellowship Church — which hosted the event — was packed with enthusiastic “prayer warriors,” emotional worshipers and passionate preachers who hoped to have an encounter with God that would send ripples throughout the East Texas community and — among the more ambitious — the entire nation.

The Rev. David Hickey said he was “very happy” with the tone of the event.

“I feel like God came,” he said. “It went better than planned. There was a merciful transparency here that can't be manufactured.”

Church United is the first of three such events scheduled in Smith County this year. The goal of the events is threefold: Encourage repentance among Christians with behavioral patterns that defy biblical morality; unite followers of a faith who are sometimes fractured by denominational factionalism; seek the mind of God for wisdom in an election year that many believe could herald significant change for America. The theme of the event was a call for purity as event leaders urged Christians to be the forerunners of change they hope to see nationwide.

“If we don't examine our own hearts, we can't presume to go to God and ask him to heal our land,” said Dave Hasz, executive vice president of Teen Mania Ministries.

Hasz and his caravan of Teen Mania interns were among dozens of area ministries represented at Church United. Among others were Youth With A Mission, Father Heart Maternity Home and The Fellowship of Prairie Creek.

If unity was a goal of the prayer gathering, camaraderie appeared to be on display. Attendees gathered in impromptu prayer circles throughout the day to petition God on behalf of schoolchildren, marriages, churches, and civil institutions.

“There was a wonderful sense of sincerity today, a spirit provoking us all to forgiveness,” said Paul Baloche, who led worship at Church United in Prayer for much of the day. “I think the fruit of today will be healings of body and soul, answers and wisdom and the mending of broken relationships just from being in his (God's) presence.”

But the day began with a series of prayers for personal forgiveness on behalf of those in attendance. Among those prayers was for minds to be renewed by God.

“Change our minds, change our thinking so that we can leave this place and different,” Kyle Nees, pastor at GraceLife Fellowship in Lindale, Texas, prayed. Later, Nees prayed “for a brokenness that breaks down the wall of our hearts that let's the oppressive things go free.”

The Church United in Prayer is the intellectual offspring of The Response, a prayer and repentance event in Houston last summer said to have drawn 44,000 people to Reliant Stadium. Saturday's event is one of several that are slated to take place this year modeled after The Response, which was called for by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, among others.

Dan Cummins, pastor of Bridlewood Church in Bullard, said he hoped “that other churches in our community and our country will catch” the prayer rally “vision, bring people together, and pray,” Cummins said.

Brian Johnson of Abba Justice, a Tyler organization devoted to worship and prayer ministry, predicted Cummins' desire would come to fruition.

“This was very sincere, heart-felt and passionate. All I can say is, 'wow,'” Johnson said. “What we saw here today were the 'first fruits' of deeper meaning for the entire region.”

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