“Prayer is work. It’s not a warm, fuzzy thing that’s easy to do.”
That’s what retired International Mission Board president Jerry Rankin told about 350 South Carolina Baptists who attended “A Day of Prayer” Sept. 6 at White Oak Conference Center, sponsored by the South Carolina Baptist Convention.
Ron Barker, SCBC evangelism strategist, said “the culture we live in is causing more and more people to see the necessity of prayer. That’s helped the turnout this year.” He also cited “good planning, communication and organization” by the SCBC staff.
Barker said the previous two Day of Prayer events did not reach 200 participants, but said the annual event is gaining momentum. He applauded the involvement of the WMU and acknowledged that Rankin’s position at the IMB and his role as an adjunct professor at Columbia International University helped raise the event’s profile this year.
Jim Austin, SCBC executive director-treasurer, said he was “thrilled” at the response and that “true revival won’t come until God’s people embrace the priority of prayer.”
Lee Clamp, director of the SCBC’s evangelism group, said he wanted this year’s prayer event to be “more than a conference.”
“Our desire was that it would serve to be a catalyst for a movement among our churches to develop vibrant prayer ministries that focus on praying for the lost to be reached in our communities,” Clamp said. “We would like to see 10,000 prayer warriors actively mobilized to be praying that our churches break out of the walls of the church and into the community.”
To that end, Clamp said that 35 prayer facilitators – including directors of mission, prayer team leaders, and women’s ministry leaders – gathered information from those attending A Day of Prayer. The information included how churches are mobilizing their people for prayer. Also, the names of other statewide prayer warriors not attending the event were gathered, and all the individuals will be part of a statewide prayer database.
“Our desire is to accelerate our efforts toward prayer for the lost,” Clamp said. “I would love to see every church in South Carolina have a prayer ministry leader who coordinates a team of prayer warriors to pray for their community and individuals who are far from God. I’d love to see that position be the first filled by a church’s nominating committee.”
Clamp also announced that the state convention will be offering regional prayer gatherings to bring a “focused time of prayer closer to home in our communities.” He said each regional gathering will have a “different flavor, but our vision is that each would be focused on praying for the needs and lost” in their communities.
The regional gatherings, Clamp said, will include brainstorming about areas of the city that are not being reached; identifying people of the city who are not being reached; gathering names of the lost to pray over; praying for the city and for those far from God; and discussion about further developing prayer ministry in the local church.
Will Bradham, Southeast Association director of missions in Georgetown, said he would like for his association to host one of the regional prayer events. “I want to see something happen in our state – in our association, in our churches – something that I just can’t explain.”
Clamp said the SCBC will facilitate the fall gatherings, but he hopes to train those at the conference to host their own regional prayer gatherings and see the movement multiply in 2013.
He said next year’s statewide event will have a speaker, but more time will be allocated for discussions between church leaders and for prayer time together.
Clamp took time during the prayer event to introduce the idea of praying for people and beginning conversations with people about salvation. He pointed to an initiative of the convention staff, where staff members put the names of people on a board, pray for the names and pray toward having faith conversations with those people.
Laurie Register, state WMU executive director-treasurer, said it was “great” to see many members of WMU at the prayer conference.
“The WMU has always been known for praying – for missionaries and for the lost – so I believe A Day of Prayer was a natural fit for them,” Register said. “I believe they can be some of our strong leaders in a prayer movement across our state. Because of his connection to missions, I think Dr. Rankin’s leadership at this event was a bonus for these women who have prayed for missionaries for so many years.”
Mike O’Dell, York Association director of missions in Rock Hill, said that Baptists “do church better than anyone, but we aren’t making real progress.”
“We must have the power of God behind us,” he said. “Prayer is absolutely essential to what we do.” – SCBC