Latest / The OneCry Podcast / #197 United in Prayer - with Special Guest Amy Parks from the National Day of Prayer Task Force

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#197 United in Prayer - with Special Guest Amy Parks from the National Day of Prayer Task Force · The OneCry Podcast

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  What better thing to do as a young person than to surround yourself with men
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  and women who are dedicated to prayer, learning what it was to pray,
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  not just, thank you, Lord, for our food.
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  And of course, that's a foundational moment and rhythm, but really to press
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  into the heart of God and to sit at the feet of God, interceding for neighbor
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  and nation has been a joy and an honor.
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  Welcome to the One Cry Podcast, a nationwide call for spiritual awakening.
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  The goal, accelerating the movement of God through sharing revival truth, stories, and reports.
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  Well, welcome to the One Cry Podcast, and I'm so glad to be with you. I'm Ben Dishner.
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  I'm the Global Ministries Director, and you don't see me often,
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  but today I have a great opportunity to talk with Amy Parks,
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  who's with the National Day of Prayer Task Force.
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  And Amy is their communications director, and she has so much good stuff to
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  talk about that's going on with the National Day of Prayer, which comes up in May.
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  We wanted to discuss some of those things and just have a great conversation
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  around what God is doing in that arena. So welcome, Amy. It's good to have you.
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  Thanks so much, Ben. I'm glad to be here. Amy, would you tell us a little bit about what you do?
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  And also, tell us a little bit about what drew you to the National Day of Prayer Task Force.
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  Oh, that is a great question. Well, first, I want to share what the National Day of Prayer is.
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  So many people don't know that the National Day of Prayer is actually a federal
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  law that was passed in 1952 after Billy Graham stood on the Capitol steps of the U.S.
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  And challenged Congress to establish a National Day of Prayer,
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  was signed into law in 1952, that each year the president will call for a day of prayer.
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  And then in the late 80s, the law was amended under Ronald Reagan at the great
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  encouragement from the great Vonette Bright, married to Bill Bright that founded Campus Crusade.
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  And then that was when the National Day of Prayer was established as the first
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  Thursday of May each and every year, therefore giving Christians the ability
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  to have a day to plan and prepare for this National Day of Prayer.
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  And we call the National Day of Prayer the most unified day in the church because
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  it's the one day a year that so many Christians move outside of the walls of
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  their church, connect together, pray, seek the Lord in this heart of unity.
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  So as our communications director, I get to talk about prayer throughout the
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  year and what better joy could there be?
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  I get to connect with our over 19,000 local prayer missionaries throughout the
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  nation that are in all 50 states and two United States territories.
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  Then leading up to and through the National Day of Prayer, I get to meet with
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  so many of our great partner ministries like One Cry,
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  other prayer ministries, and then even Christian broadcasting networks who partner
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  with us to talk about prayer on their radio stations,
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  calling the nation to prayer, and many of them who carry our National Day of
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  Prayer broadcast that we produce each year for the National Day of Prayer.
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  So just remembering your question is you were wondering how I got involved.
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  So in 2019, Kathy Branzell became the president of the National Day of Prayer.
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  And as the Lord's hand would have it, Kathy had mentored me throughout high
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  school for many years, and I reached out to her in college, really having no
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  idea what the Lord had her up to and said, hey, Ms.
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  Kathy, with Love and Internship, I was getting a communications degree and wondered
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  if she knew any local ministries.
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  I was in Georgia, so wondering if she knew anyone maybe in Atlanta that was
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  up to some godly kingdom ministry.
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  And she said, well, why don't you come work with me? And I said,
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  great, what are you doing?
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  And she had just taken over, I stepped into the presidency of the National Day
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  of Prayer Task Force and that was my first introduction to it as a college intern
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  and then coming on full-time in 2020 after I graduated.
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  And it has been an incredible journey and a joy that what better thing to do
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  as a young person than to surround yourself with men and women who are dedicated
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  to prayer, learning what it was to pray, not just thank you, Lord, for our food.
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  And of course, that's a foundational moment and rhythm, but really to press
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  into the heart of God and to sit at the feet of God, interceding for neighbor
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  and nation has been a joy and an honor.
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  Wow, that's awesome. And it's awesome to hear how God brought you into that.
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  It'd be neat to hear, what are some things that God has really stirred in your
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  heart since you started working with the NDP?
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  Wow, that is a great question. I think one of the biggest things that I have
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  learned, I would say the two biggest, the first one being how to linger in prayer.
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  So the first time I participated with the National Day of Prayer staff in a
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  prayer meeting, they had had a picnic and I had joined in and they're like,
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  oh, let's spend some time in prayer.
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  And my boyfriend, now husband at the time, was actually there with me.
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  And I was like, great, we're going to go to the movies after this. Everything's cool.
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  An hour and a half later, we did not go to the movies.
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  We went bowling, I think.
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  But I was not prepared for an hour and a half of prayer. And I was like, wow.
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  And many of the leaders in our organization that are coordinators are older.
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  Maybe my parents' age are older.
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  And so really getting to sit at the feet and pray with these men and women who
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  have been in their prayer closets for more hours than I had been on this earth.
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  And just how they sit and linger with the Lord and listen. Pray, pray, pray.
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  Listen. What is God stirring? Who is He putting on your heart?
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  What area is God burdening your heart for that you see brokenness or pain that
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  you want to lay back at His feet or invite Him into those situations?
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  Then the other thing that I think the Lord has really taught me is how to pray
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  His Word and how that has just opened up a whole new dimension of Bible study and walking with God.
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  So reading Scripture, seeing where does God reveal His character?
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  Is He being a provider here? Is he our loving Heavenly Father who is disciplining
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  someone in Scripture? Is he...
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  Being magnified. So taking and unpacking those, oh, this is a characteristic of God.
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  How can I ask God to reveal this characteristic in my life?
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  Or is He acting on a promise in Scripture?
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  Is He speaking a promise? Or is someone speaking a promise that He's given?
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  Okay, well, all of His promises are yes and amen. So how can I walk in His promises?
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  Okay, Lord, you say you'll never leave me or forsake me.
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  God, I'm not alone right now. Thank you so much. You know, Jesus talks about how He wants us to be one.
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  In John 17, Lord, help me to walk in greater unity with my brothers and sisters
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  in Christ, even the ones that,
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  you know, we may have personality differences or some theological differences
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  on secondary issues, but Lord, how do we, as the National Day of Prayer,
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  and then of course myself personally, walk in these promises.
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  So that has really just opened my eyes.
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  And I've gotten to share that with so many of even my friends and family members
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  of, wow, look how much more rich the scripture is when we see prayer and Bible study as one, you know,
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  and coming together like that. Amen. That's awesome.
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  One Cry focuses on three primary things, and that's repentance,
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  prayer, and unity in the body.
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  And one of the things we love about partnering with National Day of Prayer Task
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  Force is, and Collegiate Day of Prayer for that matter, but is the unity aspect.
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  How God's bringing His people together to do something so much bigger than one
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  church or one denomination can do.
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  And it's really all of us turning our hearts toward Him and asking Him to move
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  in a mighty way. We're praying for a movement.
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  And so what are some ways that you have seen over the last couple of years?
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  It sounds like there's been some growth in the participation with the National Day of Prayer.
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  But what are some things you have seen in the last couple of years as far as
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  that growth aspect and unity in the body?
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  That is a great question. I think, so like I said, I came on in 2020.
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  So part of it was, okay, how do we navigate COVID? But I think there was a beauty
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  in that for me because all of these people were like, well, before COVID, this is how we did it.
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  And organizationally, I had no idea of what before 2020 looked like.
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  So coming out of that, I would hear so many of our local coordinators talk about,
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  wow, you know, there was a breakthrough with this pastor or a breakthrough with this church.
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  But now after COVID and we are coming back together, they wanted to then participate
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  in the National Day of Prayer. So, I mean, I think about I live in South Carolina.
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  I can drive down our main road and see a Baptist church, a church of God,
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  a Presbyterian church, some charismatic churches.
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  And, you know, those are some really different church cultures.
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  And so on the National Day of Prayer, getting to hear what local communities
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  are doing to unify together.
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  And there are guidelines that we have for unity in different areas of,
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  hey, here's how we stay within the bounds of Christianity, but here's how we
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  honor one another in our different expressions of worship.
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  And so getting to hear about communities where churches or different leaders
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  from different churches came together
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  and then after the National Day of Prayer, they thought, oh, yeah.
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  We should keep praying together. We should keep ministering together.
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  So seeing how the National Day of Prayer has launched so much kingdom ministry
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  because everyone took that first step in praying together.
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  And you build trust together and you experience the unity of the Holy Spirit
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  in prayer, which then launches us out into action and other kingdom efforts.
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  Yeah, I refer to National Day of Prayer and Collegiate Day of Prayer events
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  like that as catalytic events. I believe there are times when they can be a
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  springboard for future activity to happen.
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  And God does so much in those times if we will really press in.
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  I've been in the past to some National Day of Prayer observances in communities
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  like in government buildings, things of that sort.
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  Other than that, can you share some ways,
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  creative ways you have seen people observing the National Day of Prayer,
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  whether it be in a church environment or in a community environment outside of the town hall,
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  outside of a government building?
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  Could you tell us about a few of those things?
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  For sure. Oh, my goodness. How do I narrow it down to just a few?
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  So one of our favorites, we partner with an organization called Prayer Flight,
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  and they fill the air with prayer.
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  So on the National Day of Prayer, they have private pilots that take up their
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  little Cessnas or other planes.
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  We encourage them to go with a pilot and an intercessor, of course,
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  so the pilot can focus on flying.
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  But that's a really creative way that on the National Day of Prayer,
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  that pilots will take up an intercessor and just fly over their community,
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  fly over their state capital, and pray on the National Day of Prayer.
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  And of course, we know that prayer is the same whether we're in our prayer closet or in an airplane.
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  But the Lord just really sparked so many creative prayers from that different perspective.
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  And seeing how, you know, you're 30,000 feet up and you don't know,
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  oh, is that church this thing? Or is that the community center?
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  Or is that the aquatic center? Just praying God's blessing over the entire area.
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  Other really creative National Day of Prayer gatherings in the past have been
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  prayer walks or prayer bike rides, where beforehand the National Day of Prayer
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  coordinator will have a preset route.
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  Okay, we're going to stop at this church and pray over this church,
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  but pray for other churches. We're going to stop at this school and pray over
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  educators and students. We're going to stop by the government building and pray
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  over our city leaders. Some of them will even develop.
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  Their own prayer guides with maybe specifics listed out. Here's the name of our mayor.
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  Here's the names of our city council members. Here's the name of the principal
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  for the school that we're going to stop at.
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  That has been another really popular prayer avenue, as well as prayer walks.
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  Very similar. We're going to walk through this area.
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  Others have done a drive-through prayer where people will come through and either,
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  hey, how can we pray with you?
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  Or drive through and receive a prayer guide to then go out and pray in their community.
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  Of course, our National Day of Prayer team produces a prayer guide that's available,
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  but it's always fun seeing how people will use the prayer guides in different ways.
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  Like I said, going to local places in their community just to pray on site in
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  an area with insight, inviting God into that moment of, Lord, I'm standing here.
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  What do you have to show me in my heart?
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  Those have been some of my favorites that I've heard about.
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  Other communities have gathered golf carts together and gone on prayer drives
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  and golf carts. I'm assuming that's Florida.
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  I believe that was Florida. There's a couple of Georgia communities too that
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  I know are very golf cart centric.
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  We've also seen a big uptick in gatherings taking place in the evenings.
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  So I know in the past, meeting at noon at City Hall was a very popular gathering
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  spot for the National Day Prayer.
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  And still is, as so many people on their lunch hour can come together.
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  Everyone's right downtown.
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  But a lot of people have also been gathering in the evening at football stadiums.
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  In North Carolina, there's a group that gathers at a racetrack in their community.
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  And that evening time also launches a lot of unity because you get people who,
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  maybe students during the day, or people who work night shift,
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  who sleep during the day, or people who aren't able to take off lunch break
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  and go downtown, but can come in the evening.
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  So that's another really exciting way that,
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  expanding what does the National Day of Prayer look like in your community and
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  seeking the Lord for that answer.
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  Well, I know that you and Kathy and the rest of the team are so busy.
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  Can you describe what this next few weeks leading up to the Washington observance,
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  what do those look like for you guys?
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  Oh man, lots of details and spreadsheets and prayer and coffee in the glory of the Lord.
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  Our team is really grateful that we are invited to help host the Congressional
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  National Day of Prayer Observance, in addition to partnering with other groups,
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  the Museum of the Bible National Day of Prayer Observance.
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  But we know that those are just two gatherings out of the tens of thousands
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  that are going to take place.
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  The big hurrah moment for us is going to be at 8 p.m.
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  Eastern on May 1st, the National Day of Prayer, when we get to unveil and pray
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  together through the National Day of Prayer broadcast that'll be available on,
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  almost every major Christian television, radio, streaming network.
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  We're grateful for so many partners that are joining with us in that.
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  And that'll be our moment to, you know, it's 8 p.m.
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  Eastern. So some of our West Coast brothers and sisters might still be at their
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  gatherings, but for so many people to get to sit together and pray through that,
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  knowing that, okay, we're not all in the same room.
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  Some of us may be in our pajamas in our living room by then,
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  but we're all in the throne room together seeking the Lord in prayer.
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  Amen. So what would you say to a listener who maybe has never been able to be
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  involved in anything with the National Day of Prayer,
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  but also what would you say to them about maybe branching into it and maybe
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  stretching their feet a little bit?
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  How do they get involved?
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  How do they encourage their church to get involved?
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  Absolutely. Well, the first step I would encourage you to do is to check out
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  our National Day of Prayer Gathering Finder,
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  nationaldayofprayer.org forward slash find, F-I-N-D find, and using the search
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  function there to see if there's already a local prayer gathering going on in
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  your community that you can join.
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  Each prayer gathering has a point of contact listed there.
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  So I would encourage folks who want to do more than just attend to contact the
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  local person and just be a willing heart and hand and say, hey,
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  brother and sister in Christ, what can I do?
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  Can I pray with you? Can I pray for you? Can I help hand out prayer guides?
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  That's another great way to get involved. And if there isn't a local National
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  Day of Prayer Gathering in your community, they are able to start one.
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  A great way that we encourage folks to do that is to get our prayer guides off of our website.
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  They're available for order and download and just taking time to pray through those.
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  There's a national prayer that we have written every year. There's the seven centers of influence.
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  So there's scriptures listed for each one of those as well.
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  So we've seen some really creative ways that people have just used that prayer
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  guide to have a 40 minute hour long prayer gathering, praying through different
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  people, reading scripture, perhaps singing a worship song because that's how
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  we sing our prayers as well.
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  And then of course, they can also live stream the broadcast pray through it
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  together and then either beforehand or afterwards have sort of a prayer debrief.
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  What did you feel the Lord telling you?
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  Where do we need to pray more? What do we do after this? How do we keep praying in unity?
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  Those are just a couple ideas for people to join us and participate in prayer.
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  That's so cool. I love how it has been growing. And I love when I hear the first
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  time I heard you say the number of gatherings that you guys have,
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  I was able to be a part of the congressional observance last year.
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  And just to hear those statistics really blew my mind because I had no idea
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  that we had that many gatherings happening across the country.
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  So to see that grow really excites me, especially being in revival ministry.
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  We believe that revival is going to fall on the heels of united prayer.
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  And so that's a really amazing thing.
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  Tell you what, I think we might need to do a second episode because I have a
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  few more questions I'd love to talk to you, ask you, talk about.
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  And that is concerning prayer in the next generations.
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  And we just recently had a conference we discussed about a lot of these things.
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  But I'd like to talk to you more about what you're seeing in that.
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  Could you lead us in a prayer to close out this episode? I would be honored to. Let's pray, family.
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  Lord Jesus, we love you. Lord, we glorify your name. You are holy,
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  holy, holy high and lifted up.
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  Lord, we thank you for the brothers and sisters at one cry that are calling our nation to revival.
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  Lord, I pray ahead for this National Day of Prayer, God, that you would bring
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  hearts that are open and ready to seek you in prayer.
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  Lord, I pray for an outpouring of your unity, Lord, that this time of prayer
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  would first and foremost be glorifying to you.
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  But Lord, that we would be fulfilling the prayer of Christ, that we would be
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  unified, that we would love one another as Christians.
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  God, I pray as your gospel is proclaimed all across the nation at these National
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  Day of Prayer gatherings, that many would come to faith in you,
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  or that this National Day of prayer would be the first step
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  in their lifelong walk with you lord as
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  they we get to walk with you here lord and then step into life
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  with you in eternity lord i thank you for the men and women that have come before
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  us in generations that have prayed for us lord that have prayed for revival
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  that have prayed for our nation we love you lord in jesus name amen amen amen
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  well amy thank you and we will.
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  Music.