A testimony of prayer growing in local neighborhoods…
“The Lord has been stirring a handful of ministry leaders on the south-side to focus on the community of Roseland for specific united prayer. We call our movement “Pray Roseland” since we have been inspired by Pray Chicago. We have had two events so far; one in May and one in August. Our events look a little different since we are targeting our specific community. We have been using them as outreaches. We gather the believers together initially for a half hour of vision, prayer and instruction, and then we break up into teams and spread out to 2-5 specific corners. We set up a table and offer “free prayer” and pass out water, candy, and Bibles. We have prayed for several hundred people walking the streets, as well as cars and buses that stop and ask for prayer. We have seen 3 people trust Christ as well. This has been great. Our prayers have been focused on specific needs in the community of specific people.
Our team meets every two weeks for prayer ourselves and to plan for the upcoming events. Every other meeting we hit the streets with our prayer table and pray in the middle of the afternoon on the street corners with people. In the colder months, we plan to visit the schools, alderman’s offices and businesses to pray for people rather than stand on the corners. God is growing our team and we are seeing many lives touched by the gospel. Everyone who attends gets a special aqua blue “Pray Roseland” shirt that unites us together.
At our last Pray Roseland event, we had some people who were grilling free hot dogs and chicken wings along with the prayer (A Wing and A Prayer). A CTA bus pulls up at a place where there isn’t a bus stop and says one of the people wants a hot dog. Our team jumped on the bus, gave them hot dogs while one of the members was praying out loud on the bus from up front. Everyone loved it!”
Marc Henkel
CRU City Co-Director, Chicago
EN