Fire StartersCharlotte Terris - 16 Jun 2010

Charlotte Terris is 24-7 Prayer's queen of branding and merchandise and traditionally spends much of her summer working the 24-7 stand at festivals and gatherings in the UK and beyond. The summer season kicked off recently and she writes about the pleasure and the pain of early mornings, late nights and the privilege of meeting thousands of people and connecting them in prayer.

A couple of weeks ago the 24-7 Prayer stand was taken from it's winter hiding place, dusted off and loaded into the familiar Ford Transit van as we set out on the road again. The first of the seasons Christian events, the 'Big Church Day Out', a British Christian music festival draws over 20,000 people and artists like Switchfoot, TobyMac and Tim Hughes. Pete Greig MC'd the event and of course the ever-present merchandising team were there to support him.

Lugging the 24-7 Prayer Merchandise stand around the United Kindom is exhausting, we often drive through the night to get to the site before anyone else and we're nearly always the last to leave. But once it's unloaded, set up and attracting people who want to chat and share their experiences of prayer or hear our stories it is a total honor and faith builder. My friend Sheena and I got to meet so many people this weekend who opened up their lives to us. Some shared about how Pete’s book ‘God on Mute’ had been a key to them realising God's love in times real pain. But mostly we got to raise faith levels, sharing stories from ten years of 24-7 Prayer and inviting individuals to join us and take that leap into a deeper prayer life asking God what he wants to do in their lives, in the life of their church and perhaps dream to see their town transformed by God through them as they humble themselves in prayer.

I must admit It still surprises me when I meet people who haven’t heard of us, 10 years of non-stop prayer, thousands of prayer rooms in more than a hundred nations and they slipped the net! But I love seeing their eyes bulge, their heart quicken and the excitement of recognition that this is a God Idea that they want to grab hold of.

Then there are those who have heard of us, and want to start a prayer room in their town or church but are worried their group is too small or that 7 days are too long. I love talking to these guys because all they need is a little fuel to be poured on the spark of prayer that they already have. Even as we whisper stories of Prayer Rooms that have brought communities together and the vulnerability that is shown in a Prayer Room we usually find they sign up for the weekly news review from 24-7 Prayer 'Rewind' so that they can begin pouring their own fuel by reading stories from other Prayer Rooms.

The stand also attracts a third group of people. These are those who have done a Prayer Room and want to share their stories and experiences. Often these are stories about how a week of prayer changed their relationship with Jesus. These are people who are so full of life and expectancy that they recharge me as I begin to flag and my feet start to hurt during an intense and busy day, reminding me that God is still answering prayer, still hanging out in creative spaces and continues to show up as we pray just as He did 10 years ago when the first 24-7 Prayer Rooms began in the United Kingdom.

Here are just a few of the tales of prayer I heard over the weekend:

• One lady told how her teenage son had found God again in the Prayer Room and was now sharing Jesus with his friends. Her other 12yr old son was so convicted by the power of prayer that every Tuesday lunch time he uses the intercom system in his school to broadcast that he’s about to have prayer meeting and asking people to come and join in!
  
  
• We met another lady who God called to establish a skate park in her area but is finding it hard, as everything seems to be rushing at a hundred miles an hour and she feels that she is being pulled and stretched in all directions. As we chatted about the possibilities of Prayer Room's a light bulb switched on in her head and she realised that this could be the key that she & her community needed to still themselves with God and give Him back the focus.
  
  
• A guy who had been been a DJ in on the Mediterranean party island of Ibiza told us how this had been a really dark time for him. He came across the 24-7 Prayer Ibiza team used to go to the Prayer Room  on the island because the guys that ran it were lovely and he could use the free WiFi. Since coming back to the UK he has become a Christian and the Ibiza team laid some of those foundations. He wants to go back out there to encourage and help them.
  
  
• We met a 13 year old girl that had been in a prayer room and had been impacted by the unity and care that can happen in a space like and how she felt that she met with God every time she walked into the Prayer Room. She is now trying to get a prayer room started in her secondary school.

And as I pack up the transit van and begin to plan for the next event where 24-7 Prayer will be represented I know that the hard work, the early mornings and late nights are worth it. I love fanning the flames of prayer that are burning up and down the country and all over the world.

If you would like to hear how 24-7 Prayer can help you with resourcing and fanning the flames in your town, city or country please do get in touch.