4 amazing girls from Salem City Church in Salem, Oregon, USA have taken every single 3am prayer room shift for their church's 24-7 prayer month!

By coincidence (?) one girl, Dot,  had 2 "random meetings" with a work colleague within the same week, as she was going from and to the prayer room and had an opportunity to witness to him both times!

 

Dot claims her boldness is very out of character, but she's hoping her colleague will become a Christian by the end of the prayer month (this Sunday 10 April), so let's all get praying for him and see what God does!

 

 

(By the way if you want to know the full story, read on!)

 

Dot writes:  "Lily, Ashley, and I were in the prayer room covering our normal 3am shift.  We decided to pray over our bricks as a group.  I had a couple of bricks with several different prayer requests on them.  One of these bricks had my workplace 'Roth’s West Salem' written on it. On the other brick were written names of people I work with who need salvation. Our shift was meant to be over at 4am, but the person covering the next time slot didn’t show up.  Their alarm clock didn’t go off, but I think this was the way that God planned it.  We hung around until 4:30am. 

 

At this point, Lily and Ashley sent me home because I still had a lot of homework to do.  I walked outside and across the street, smoking a cigarette, was one of my co-workers from Roth’s named K----.  The whole encounter seemed really random.  It was 4:30 am and all the businesses downtown were closed, yet he was just standing out there on the street.

 

I crossed the street and asked him what he was doing.  He said that one of his friends had to go to the bathroom in the alley, so they were just hanging out waiting for him.	'...he has not forgotten that night.  It is ingrained in his memory.  I know that God is chasing him and will not let him get away...'

K had another friend with him that was totally smashed.  He said if I'd seen him just an hour or two earlier, he would have been totally smashed also. He asked me what I was doing downtown at 4:30 am and what the building was that I had just come out of.  I told him this was my church, that I had been praying and shared briefly about 24-7. 

 

His friend asked me what I had been praying for and I told him, “That the lost would be saved in Salem”. At this point K joined in the conversation.  He said, “I’m a big sinner and have messed up a lot.” I asked him, “Who hasn’t sinned?”  To this he replied “You.”  I quickly protested against this comment and informed him of my many sins.

 

K then said something very significant:“Yeah…but I have done it all except murder someone.”

 

 

The Holy Spirit began to work and put words in my mouth.  “Have you ever heard of Saul?”  I asked. He didn’t seem to respond so I continued.  “He was this guy in the Bible who murdered Christians.  One day he had an encounter with Jesus and God used him to build the Church.”

"I hadn’t heard that story.” K said.

 

"You know who Moses is right?” I asked. 

 

K responded yes and we joked for a moment about Charlton Hesston and the Ten Commandments.  He knew this story well.  “Did you know that Moses was a murderer?”  I asked.

 

K’s face began to change.  “Moses was a murderer?” he asked. "Yeah!” I said, “And do you know who Jesus chose to be his disciples; to follow him around while he was here on earth?  They were 12 big losers: Tax collectors who cheated people out of their money, and fishermen who smelled bad and probably knew every cuss word in the book and then some.  They were the freaks, geeks, and losers.”

 

K seemed to indicate that he felt that he fell into this category of people.

 

“K,” I said, “God loves you and has a plan for your life.  He uses people just like you to build his Kingdom.  Jesus came and died on the cross to forgive all your sins.  No sin is too great, not even murder.  I have been praying for you K and will continue to do so.”

 

“Don’t say that,” he said, “now I will have to be up thinking about this all night.  I know that someday I will probably become a Christian.  I like to view life like fate, though.  You know how a spider web is formed so there are many different crossroads and you go one way or the other?  That’s how I like to view life.”	K then said something very significant:“Yeah…but I have done it all except murder someone.”

He indicated that this brought up a whole different subject area.  

“K, how could that all just be coincidence?  I mean look at the fact that we are talking right now.  How can this be coincidence?  What am I doing here at 4:30 am downtown Salem and what are you doing here?  Not only that, I was in that room just a couple of minutes ago praying that people at Roth’s West Salem would get saved.”

 

He replied that had I walked out of that prayer room two minutes later, he would have been gone. 

 

A sort of realization appeared across his face.  “Do you ever wonder if there is something more?” I asked. “I don’t really like to think about it.” came the reply. Our conversation pretty much ended here.  I told him again that I was praying for him and that God has a purpose and plan for his life.  He spoke once more of having to lay awake in bed and think about all that we had just talked about.  I didn’t really mind that this was the case.  It excited me. “This is the first pleasant conversation I believe that I have had with you.” K said. 

 

This was a real encouragement to me.  It wasn’t just me preaching at him. We were both engaged in this life and death discussion over the Truth.  I was amazed at the grace and mercy of God that He would even allow me to speak such words.	Awe filled my heart as I realized how God had orchestrated such a divine appointment and that K was receptive.

Awe filled my heart as I realized how God had orchestrated such a divine appointment and that K was receptive.  It is not like me to speak with boldness such as this.  My first instinct when I see a couple of drunk guys on the street at 4:30 am is to open the car door, put the key in the ignition, and drive away as fast as possible. 

 

But God had a different plan for this early morning hour.

 

A week later I arrived once again at 3am to pray, only to find K standing across the street smoking another cigarette. I quickly crossed the street to talk to him.  He wasn’t quite as sober as he was when I shared with him. He was standing a couple hundred feet from the prayer room door. 

 

I invited him and the friend he had with him to join Sally, Lily, and I in prayer.  They said that they would think about it, but never came in.  However, I told K once again that I was praying for him. I don’t know why he was there.  Maybe it was just coincidence, but I believe that the Spirit of God is drawing him. That night at work, I invited K to join us in the prayer room the following morning.  He said “We’ll see.” 

 

Although he never did show up, and informed me later that night at work that he was not planning on coming, there almost seemed to be a part of him that wanted to come to the prayer room.  K is the kind of guy that will say “no way” to something.  With him there is none of this maybe stuff. Today at work, I was discouraged, as he kind of made fun of me and said that I preached at him that night. 

 

However, he has not forgotten that night.  It is ingrained in his memory.  I know that God is chasing him and will not let him get away.  I believe part of him wants to surrender himself to God and another part of him is confused; not quite wanting to hand over the controls.  Pray for K that the Lord will continue to draw him unto Himself and that by the end of these 30 days, we will be able to call him “Brother.”'