Face to Face with 24-7 Spain's Jaz Jacob - 9 Jan 2006
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Madrid, Spain |
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Jaz Jacob, 24-7 Spain’s International Director, has a story of her own to tell. Jaz, aged 20, is blessing her home country of Spain in a major way, and the story of how God is using her is nothing but the classic ‘stuff’ of the gospel: when we walk with God, He uses our human circumstances for large-scale blessing.
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A little history
Jonah Bailey started 24-7 Spain in 2000 after hearing Pete Greig speak Contra Correinte (cross current), an annual youth conference in Spain. Three years later, at the same conference, Jonah met a skinny, curly-haired girl named Jaz who was way into his ideas about prayer and young people.
“I just happened to sit in front of Jonah at Contra Correinte 2003, and overheard him talking to someone about 24-7 Spain,” says Jaz. “From there, I knew I wanted to get involved, but that was about it until somehow I ended up in Amsterdam for the annual 24-7 gathering.
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“That was when Jonah told me he was going to stop leading 24-7 Spain, and that if nobody took it on then it would basically die out. He asked me if I wanted to take it over.”
'Blue Like…'
Being asked to lead a national ministry at 18 should have been a sizeable blip on Jaz’s radar. |
.JPG) Jaz and Loida relaxin' in Chichester | |
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That blip, however, was overshadowed by a bigger issue – Jaz had spent the last few months trying to piece her life together after her dad, a well-known Spanish pastor, lost his faith and left Spain.
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“I definitely didn’t know how I could handle leading a ministry at that point," Jaz recalled. "Just months ago I lost my connection to church, family and most of my friends very suddenly. |
"Everything that I based my beliefs on was basically gone. I was starting all over." | |
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"Everything I based my beliefs on was basically gone, and I really had to seek God because I didn’t have anyone to hang on to. I was starting all over. So when the idea came about leading 24-7…well, I didn’t feel emotionally stable after the year I had just had. But I really felt like somehow I was supposed to do it. So I just did.”
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.JPG) Putting their heads together for Spain |
Time to Run
24-7 Spain had a pretty chill first year under Jaz’s leadership.
“We basically didn’t do anything except get a team together in the first year. I was dealing with a lot. Looking back, I can see that 24-7 was a saving distraction for me. | |
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"I was able to focus on something other that what I was feeling."
A year later, the seasons had changed in Jaz’s life and it was time to go for it. Within one month after the 2004 ILG, she had a team of 6 committed people, and by January they started doing 24-7. What happened next, though, was an unexpected explosion of prayer. “Two months of prayer were planned,” Jaz recounted, “and basically it just went crazy. We ended up praying for seven straight months.” | ||
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“We were totally shocked – and not just because it went on for so long. It shocked us because we saw churches of 20, 30 people from all over the country doing an entire week of prayer, even in months like August when the entire nation shuts down. |
People were sacrificing their vacation and their time to do prayer. | |
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“It happens every year: churches close. Supermarkets close. And people were sacrificing their vacation and their time to do prayer. And we were like, ‘wow, that’s really cool.’ It was a big seven months for us, and also for Spain. We were praying during the Madrid terrorist attacks, for instance. When the bombs were going off, someone was praying in that very second.” | ||
.jpg) Jaz's hometown of Madrid |
What now?
The last pope said that Spain needs to be re-evangelised. In Jaz's words, "Catholicism is basically dead. You can sit outside on the street and watch people leave mass, and you won’t see anybody under 60. We want to see young people praying and seeking God in a place where the main religion is dead. We’re also looking to draw people in from the south of Spain in the future.” | |
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++Pray for 24-7 Spain++
+ For 24-7 Spain's newest 'push' initiated this January to see more prayer happen
+ For young Spanish people to catch the vision of intimacy with their Heavenly Father, praying and seeking God in a place where the main religion is dead
+ For impact and relationships from the south of Spain
+ 24-7 is the only 100% youth-run ministry in Spain (worship/pray over that one!)
+ For Jaz and her team - fun, friendship, wisdom | ||
 Barry Hall and his wife Charlotte moved to Chichester, England from Kansas City, Kansas to be a part of 24-7 Prayer. They both graduated from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Between the both of them they love hiking to the trundle, writing stationery, Widespread Panic, and our dog Bella!! Please email Barry here with feedback, questions... | ||