USA to India: 24-7 travels - 1 Sep 2005
24-7 Hits
“Guess what? We have set up a prayer room in the church office for people to come and pray anytime. [We] are hoping this would be a permanent prayer room. We may even do a 24-7….thanks to all of you for getting us started on this.”
-email from Kavie, August 2005
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On the heels of two dynamic 24-7 prayer room experiences this spring in
use us to carry the flame of 24/7 to Chennai. As we later discovered, God was also speaking to the pastors of our partner church about 24-7 at the very same time. Jake and Kavie, an Indian couple in their 30s, pastor a young, urban church in Chennai that ministers to the English-speaking upper-middle class.
use us to carry the flame of 24/7 to Chennai. As we later discovered, God was also speaking to the pastors of our partner church about 24-7 at the very same time. Jake and Kavie, an Indian couple in their 30s, pastor a young, urban church in Chennai that ministers to the English-speaking upper-middle class. And so it happened: in a whirlwind of briefing, planning, and divine provision, two weeks later we found ourselves in a meeting with leaders of the church in Chennai, sitting back as they launched ideas back and forth and fleshed out a foundation for a model 24-7 prayer room in their city. Together, we initiated a “model” 24-7 prayer room that operated for two days in a temporary third-story space known among believers in the city as “The Upper Room.”
Jake and Kavie’s hope was that in this brief window, the seed of 24/7 prayer would be planted in Chennai, and God would crack open the door for a new wave of prayer in the church and the city.
Despite short notice, the 48 prayer slots were soon filled, and many church members and oth
ers came to meet God in the little converted room. Drawings and scrawled prayers covered the walls and windows, a Styrofoam board labeled “Healing” was peppered with scraps of colored-paper prayers, and the “Unsaved family and friends” wall fluttered with long, carefully-inscribed lists of names after only a few hours. In the center of the room sat a traditional wooden bowl filled with water, its surface a kaleidoscope pattern of floating flowers and candles.
ers came to meet God in the little converted room. Drawings and scrawled prayers covered the walls and windows, a Styrofoam board labeled “Healing” was peppered with scraps of colored-paper prayers, and the “Unsaved family and friends” wall fluttered with long, carefully-inscribed lists of names after only a few hours. In the center of the room sat a traditional wooden bowl filled with water, its surface a kaleidoscope pattern of floating flowers and candles. It was beautiful to see the Indian characteristics that made this prayer room so distinct and unusual to me, yet so familiar at the same time.
In the weeks following the prayer room, Jake and Kavie received numerous calls from people asking if the room was still open, and if they could go and pray. The momentum from the two-day prayer room has led this church (currently without a building) to devote a room in their office to prayer. They now hope that the prayer-space will become permanent…and maybe even a hub for 24-7 prayer in the future.