Synod “intercessors” are being invited to gather in St. Louis Sept. 10-11 for “PRAY 2009,” an inaugural event at the Crowne Plaza Hotel (St. Louis Airport) that two pastors initially planning it pray will spark a prayer movement for the church body.
Dr. Victor Belton of Decatur, Ga., and Rev. Cliff Bira of Flushing, Mich., began contacting Synod interc
essors they know in late spring, inviting them “to come together for a time of prayer and intercession. We will not talk about prayer. There will be no presentations on prayer. There will be no diagnosis of the types of prayer. We are coming together to pray.”
Belton and Bira define a Synod intercessor as “[anyone] who regularly intercedes for our nation, our church, church leaders, and the world.”
PRAY 2009 is the first of several prayer emphases leading up to the 2010 Synod convention in Houston, according to Rev. Larry Krueger, assistant to the Synod president.
Belton said that as far as he and Bira know, this is the first time that Synod intercessors have been invited to come together.
In their invitation for PRAY 2009, they call for intercessory prayer in light of the Synod’s Ablaze! goal to reach 100 million people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ by 2017, the 500th-anniversary year for the Reformation.
They also point out that “the world and the church are at war in this day from both inside and outside. On every side there are challenges that threaten to destroy the very fiber of our Christian culture and our faith.”
“Our nation is in the midst of some of the most difficult economic times since the Great Depression,” they continue. “Social institutions such as marriage and the family are under attack.
“How does the militant church of Jesus Christ wage war in such a time as this?” they ask. “Clearly, it is time for the church to pray! This is no time for the church to be silent, but rather the church must go full into the fray on her knees!”
To register online for PRAY 2009 by the Aug. 20 registration deadline, go to http://pcbman.wufoo.com/forms/pray-2009-registration-form/, fill out the form, and hit the “submit” button. Registration is $50, covering the cost of two breaks, lunch on Sept. 11, and participant materials. After registering online, mail a check or money order for that amount — payable to “Holy Cross Lutheran Church” — to Holy Cross Lutheran Church (Attn: Pray 2009), 1209 Coutant St., Flushing, MI 48433. Filled-out registration forms also may be printed off and faxed to 810-469-2768 or mailed along with the registration payment.
For more information about PRAY 2009, contact Belton at pastorbe@pastorbelton.com or Bira at cbira@comcast.net; or call 810-659-5926, ext. 303.
For room reservations at the Crowne Plaza Hotel (St. Louis Airport) — at the special “PRAY 2009” rate of $67 per room (single or double occupancy), plus tax — call the hotel at 314-291-700, or go to its Web site, www.stlouishotels.crowneplaza.com. Mention group code “LPP.”
Call Lynne Marvin at 314-996-1355 for more information about the hotel or room reservations.
Re-posted Sept. 4, 2009
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