Could it happen again?

I have just come from a meeting I chaired of the executive committee of the Denominational Prayer Leaders Network. We were reminded that next year is the 150th anniversary of the Fulton Street Prayer Revival. You may recall the Christian business man Jeremiah Lanphier calling on those in the business world to join him for noontime prayer, and how the trickle of folks there in New York City grew into a vast river of prayer that swept the nation [see the story below]. This "laymen's prayer revival" will be commemorated in September of 2007 with a celebration in New York City, coordinated by Mac Pier of Concerts of Prayer Greater New York and Jonathan Brownson, prayer leader of the RCA denomination, and others. Our own DPLN will meet in Dallas next January and recall the prayer revival under the theme Kingdom Calling: Marketplace Prayer from Main Street to Wall Street.

This morning I simply want to ask, could it happen again? One of the great hopes of the group planning this 150th remembrance is that marketplace prayer groups will spring up all across our nation, and even around the world. There is a great emphasis today on living your faith in the marketplace. Already there are many groups, meeting over lunch in break rooms or conference rooms or nearby restaurants, opening their Bibles or bowing to pray together. What if this trickly also became a river of calling upon God?

Yes, it certainly could happen today! Why? Because God would graciously bring it about. If we try to make it happen with human effort, it will be short-lived. But if God moves, if His grace is truly behind it, nothing will stop it. And we can ask Him for it! "Lord, teach us to pray, move us to pray, make us desperate for you."

Circumstances of our time should cause us to be desperate for God. Denominations are in the news, determining to ordain openly homosexual pastors and bishops. Studies reveal that a huge percentage of evangelical young people are leaving the church after leaving home. And that perhaps half of the folks sitting in church on Sunday aren't truly born again. A war on terror is taking the lives of our brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, with a seemingly endless supply of terrorists willing to kill themselves for their cause, be it political or religious or both. A flood of pornography is leaving men without courage or will to be faithful husbands and fathers. And our culture is addicted to leisure and in love with money. The list is endless.

But God is Lord and King and Sovereign. He has his plans. Jesus Christ is Lord, and that will never be changed by the will of man. To the very end of the age, the proclamation of the gospel will bear fruit by the power of the Holy Spirit, in every tribe and language on earth. "This gospel must first be preached to all the nations (people groups), and then the end will come."

Christ is all! David Bryant reports that this message, which is the title of his outstanding book, was also being heralded in the church prior to Fulton Street, and that a vision for Christ's supremacy in fact fueled the laymen's prayer revival. David can document that; I simply believe it because the preaching and teaching of the glory of Christ would be God the Father's plan for revival and spiritual awakening.

So let us pray. Let us call upon the church to pray. To put Prayer First. Let's preach the glory of Christ and the wonder of the gospel of Christ. Be not dismayed (by the times and circumstances). God is not mocked (he is alive and well and reigning supremely). He holds history in the palm of his hand. His purposes will never be thwarted.

Here is a retelling of the Lanphier story by John Piper in a sermon:

Secular and religious conditions combined to bring about a crash. The third great panic in American history swept the giddy structure of speculative wealth away. Thousands of merchants were forced to the wall as banks failed, and railroads went into bankruptcy. Factories were shut down and vast numbers thrown out of employment. New York City alone having 30,000 idle men. In October 1857, the hearts of people were thoroughly weaned from speculation and uncertain gain, while hunger and despair stared them in the face.

On 1st July, 1857, a quiet and zealous business man named Jeremiah Lanphier took up an appointment as a City Missionary in down-town New York. Lanphier was appointed by the North Church of the Dutch Reformed denomination. This church was suffering from depletion of membership due to the removal of the population from the down-town to the better residential quarters, and the new City Missionary was engaged to make diligent visitation in the immediate neighbourhood with a view to enlisting church attendance among the floating population of the lower city. The Dutch Consistory felt that it had appointed an ideal layman for the task in hand, and so it was.

Burdened so by the need, Jeremiah Lanphier decided to invite others to join him in a noonday prayer-meeting, to be held on Wednesdays once a week. He therefore distributed a handbill:

HOW OFTEN SHALL I PRAY?
As often as the language of prayer is in my heart; as often as I see my need of help; as often as I feel the power of temptation; as often as I am made sensible of any spiritual declension or feel the aggression of a worldly spirit.
In prayer we leave the business of time for that of eternity, and intercourse with men for intercourse with God.
A day Prayer Meeting is held every Wednesday, from 12 to 1 o'clock, in the Consistory building in the rear of the North Dutch Church, corner of Fulton and William Streets (entrance from Fulton and Ann Streets).
This meeting is intended to give merchants, mechanics, clerks, strangers, and business men generally an opportunity to stop and call upon God amid the perplexities incident to their respective avocations. It will continue for one hour; but it is also designed for those who may find it inconvenient to remain more than five or ten minutes, as well as for those who can spare the whole hour.

Accordingly at twelve noon, 23rd September, 1857 the door was opened and the faithful Lanphier took his seat to await the response to his invitation …. Five minutes went by. No one appeared. The missionary paced the room in aconflict of fear and faith. Ten minutes elapsed. Still no one came. Fifteen minutes passed. Lanphier was yet alone. Twenty minutes; twenty-five; thirty; and then at 12.30 p.m., a step was heard on the stairs, and the first person appeared, then another, and another, and another, until six people were present and the prayer meeting began. On the following Wednesday, October 7th, there were forty intercessors.
Thus in the first week of October 1857, it was decided to hold a meeting daily instead of weekly.

Within six months, ten thousand business men were gathering daily for prayer in New York, and within two years, a million converts were added to the American churches ….

Undoubtedly the greatest revival in New York's colourful history was sweeping the city, and it was of such an order to make the whole nation curious. There was no fanaticism, no hysteria, simply an incredible movement of the people to pray.

Is there a Jeremiah Lanphier among you?

http://www.desiringgod.org/library/sermons/82/010382.html

Prayer Champions June 27th

On June 27th our Prayer First ministry is sponsoring a day for Prayer Champions. If you are currently trying to mobilize prayer in your church, or simply have a heart for prayer in your church, you are welcome to this event. You will receive a free copy of Dee Duke's book, Prayer Quest, and Dee will share his remarkable story and insights in two sessions. Please join us from 11:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Seminary Chapel of Bethel University. Cost for on-site registration is only $35, and that includes the free book! Here is an article I wrote briefly sharing Dee's story. It appeared this spring in the magazine, BGC World:

“What do you mean you’re leaving?”

By Dana Olson

When Dee Duke’s father took military retirement, he purchased a dairy farm in Washington. Dee’s high school graduation dream was to be the world’s greatest dairy farmer. Prior to settling down with his dad, he decided to enter Bible college.

There, the young Duke and his wife helped a pastor start a church in the small town of Jefferson, Ore. When he finished school, Duke, his wife and kids returned to the farm. It was his great love. He also became very active in his local church — so much so that the pastor wanted to make him his assistant. This sounded terrific to Duke, dairy farming and ministry together. But at the church business meeting the proposal was defeated.

Deeply disappointed, Duke poured himself into the farm. It seemed his future lay there. Then one day the telephone rang. It was Jefferson, Ore., calling. “We don’t know if you’ve heard, but things have not gone well here. The pastor left and we’re down to just a few people. We are planning to close the church, but we thought that before we did, we would call you. If you and your wife will come back to Jefferson, we’ll keep the church open and try to make a go of it.”

Whew. A tough decision. Duke loved that farm, and plans were in place for him to take it over. But there was a pull to use his ministry training. His father advised, “Perhaps if you don’t give this a try, you’ll always regret it.” So Duke and his family packed up and moved to Jefferson.

The ministry flourished. Jefferson Baptist Church grew to 50, then 75, 100 and more. The people responded, and God blessed the work.

Then there were setbacks. The church fell into a pattern of ups and downs, growing toward 200 attendees, then falling back to 100. The church remained viable, but the peaks and valleys were starting to take a toll. The breakthrough of that 200 barrier never seemed to come. Duke finally thought he had done all he could. He prepared a resignation letter.

Before he could submit it at the next board meeting, another letter arrived. It came from Joe Aldrich, then president of Multnomah School of the Bible, inviting Duke to join other pastors from the region at the first-ever “pastors prayer summit.”

No agenda, except four days of worship and prayer. No special speakers. No planning or strategy meetings. Just prayer. This seemed impossible to Duke. How could anyone pray for four days?

But the summit would be held at a camp on the gorgeous Oregon coast, and Duke thought how nice it would be to hike the coast before resigning. He would attend some of the prayer sessions and walk the coast when bored.

It never got boring. God touched that first summit with revival. Many pastors changed dramatically — Duke was one of them. He didn’t skip a session.

Before leaving the camp, he made a list of seven prayer goals for himself and his church:

1. Spend one uninterrupted hour per day praying by himself.
2. Spend one hour per day praying with at least one other person.
3. Pray for everyone in the church by name weekly.
4. Pray at least once per month with other pastors.
5. Preach on prayer for three months.
6. Plan four major church prayer events each year (always precede a major evangelistic thrust).
7. Identify their “farm” (20 miles in every direction from the church). Claim it and target prayer for it.

Duke returned to JBC and shared these seven items. The congregation began the journey to become a praying church. As they did, God confronted them about their lack of love. Known today as a praying church, they are also known as the loving church, because they have constantly searched for practical ways to show love to the community.

In a town of 2200 people, JBC has an attendance of well over 1000 people and has planted two daughter churches nearby, with a third starting in September. They have extensive missions work overseas. Many prayer ministries have developed, including targeted prayer teams, an official “church intercessors” group (commit to 100 hours of prayer for the year: 50 at home and 50 at church) and more than 40 prayer meetings per week.

Their motto: “Much prayer, much blessing; little prayer, little blessing; no prayer, no blessing.”

DANA OLSON IS DIRECTOR OF BGC PRAYER FIRST MINISTRIES.

He Rides Upon the Storm

Both at home and in my office we are praying much for a friend whose twentysomething son died on Sunday night. Hearing the news made my hugs and kisses of my own three daughters much more significant. So today in our chapel I will lead a hymn from long ago. The poetry of William Cowper is deeply moving, reminding us of God's greatness, from the depths of trouble. I recall also the address of John Piper on Cowper, that he was often deeply depressed and unable to rest in God's grace in His life. So, it is even more remarkable that a poet in such a gloomy state could write with such confidence and faith in God's providence. May we also have a strong confidence in God's grace and power, so that in our worst and most troubling times we will hang on to God's glory and not give way to despair.

God Moves in a Mysterious Way by William Cowper

God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter, And He will make it plain.

This blog is devoted to prayer. Specifically, calling the church to the priority of prayer, putting Prayer First. The name comes from Paul's letter to Timothy, in which he wrote, "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people..." (ESV)

My name is Dana. I serve as Director of Prayer First, the prayer mobilization ministry of the Baptist General Conference. I also serve on the executive committee of the National Prayer Committee (U.S.A.) and as chair of the Denominational Prayer Leaders Network. Most of my ministry is devoted to biblical preaching and teaching on the subjects of prayer, renewal, worship, and Paul's command to "be filled with the Spirit." Right now, much of my time and effort is going into the spiritual renewal focus called Fire & Reign, which has been embraced by 160+ churches so far, with more coming. Dr. Jerry Sheveland, my friend and the President of the BGC, wrote the workbook for Fire & Reign, and I was privileged to work on the call to fasting and prayer which is part of the focus. I also coordinate the effort to help each F & R church have a spiritual renewal weekend, with a guest Bible teacher. More on Fire & Reign can be found at www.bgcworld.org when you click on the appropriate box.

I have a wife of 23 years, Christa, and three daughters. Soon one of my daughters will leave the nest to attend a Christian university in Tennessee. My oldest daughter has a lifelong physical disability, and as a result we are very active in the family retreat ministry of Joni and Friends, the disability ministry of Joni Eareckson Tada. Joni is one of our family heroes. We highly recommend the family retreat ministry for any family dealing with disability. More on that subject can be found at www.joniandfriends.org when you click on family retreats.

I am inspired to try this blog by friends who are doing it. I don't know what I am doing. If I am messing up and you can help me, please let me know. Let this be our prayer for the church in America today:

Awake, O sleeper,
And arise from the dead,
And Christ will shine on you.