This past Sunday at Rockharbor, we had the privilege of hearing from my friend, Pete Greig— a pastor and a total legend in the global prayer movement.
He preached on how we think about prayer, reminding us that prayer is slow, particular, and powerful. You can hear the whole message here.
His text was Luke 2, the story of Simeon and Anna waiting for the answer to their prayers for the renewal of God’s people. Towards the end of his message, he talked about how they started the 24/7 Prayer movement 25 years ago thinking that they were praying for a youth movement— a change in youth culture— in their own generation. Little did they know they turn toward God would come in today’s generation, Gen Z.
Here are just a couple of the news articles and stories he referenced that show the start of something powerful. (More on how to engage the spiritually curious here.)
He kept saying this:
“It’s not everything, but it is something.”
Then Pete called up everyone under 30 to stand on the stage so that we could bless them. He asked everyone in the room who had been praying for the next generation for decades to raise their hands. I looked over at my parents. They have been praying for my sister and me and our friends and then our spouses and kids for multiple decades.
When Pete called me up to the stage, he wanted the room to pray all at once for each other— the young for the older and the older for the younger.
But before he counted us down for a riotous prayer, I asked if I could interrupt.
I called my parents up to the front, to stand as the symbolic tip of the spear, representing all who had been praying for renewal in the next generation for years. See, my parents live in Colorado. But they “just happened” to be in California this past weekend to celebrate my dad’s 80th birthday together as a family. The timing was all too perfect to be a coincidence.
Pete gave my dad the mic and asked him to pray…
You can watch the moment unfold…have a Kleenex box handy.
