Untitled - America's Prayer Meeting Movement

Pray America – Pray! Organizational Guide

Pray America – Pray! ORGANIZATIONAL GUIDE All Rights Reserved www.americaspraymeeting.org America’s Prayer Meeting Movement – A Movement of Hope!

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Action Invitations July 4 – The 245th Birthday of the Nation Prayer Event

Call2Fall – A Family Research Council Prayer Resource Sunday AM, July 4 – Call to congregations to fall on our knees and pray for the nation

Prayer Rides – Eight Sponsored Prayer Routes Across the Nation Consecrating the Nation to God, from border to border and coast to coast

How You Can Sponsor a Prayer Mission Route Across the Nation



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PRAY AMERICA – PRAY!

JULY 4 THE 245TH BIRTHDAY OF THE NATION

A NATIONAL VIRTUAL PRAYER MEETING IN YOUR CONGREGATION

n July 4, we invite congregations across the nation to pray – specifically for the nation and a national spiritual awakening.

A unique piece of media will be available – a video-driven prayer meeting. It will be a collage of music, narration, calls to prayer, and prayer moments. Pastors and prayer leaders will be encouraged to intermittently stop the video and lead a spontaneous prayer moment.

The video will begin with a celebrative tone – “My Country ‘tis of Thee; Sweet land of liberty.” Scenes will unfold of America’s beauty and the story of God’s blessing on the nation. The narrative will also capture our current crisis and our desperate need for God. It will ask if we are aware that we have offended God, that we, His people, also need to repent, that we, before the world, must first model respect for God’s holiness.

It will offer hope that around the world, fires of revival are blazing. The days of revival are not over – certainly not if we acknowledge what God is doing on the earth in non-Western nations. These are perilous times, true, but they are also times of incredible advances in reaching the harvest. The question we must confront is this, “Has God moved on? Is the center for global gospel engagement now in the global south, in Africa, South America, or Asia? What is to be of America’s destiny and purpose as a platform for global evangelism.”

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As noted in this guide, pockets of the global population live throughout the nation, especially in our cities, with more than 500 diverse language and people groups. Of these, 185 are unreached and without an effective gospel movement among them. A total of 21 million immigrants here in America have never heard the gospel clearly and compellingly, one in every 14 people. And among them, 1.7 million are critically unreached. Suppose Great Awakening was to flood our nation and wake up this immigrant population to God’s love. In that case, it will ignite a global revival, a harvest the likes of which we have not seen since the apostolic era. (See Immigrant Notes, p. 60).

The church must first be awakened – and every Great Awakening rises out of a movement of desperate, passionate, and holy prayer. Tearful prayer. Prayer that knows no other option but reliance on God. We lack such prayer.

The church must be awakened not only to pray but also to pray for evangelism and the boldness to share God’s love. We can no longer be intimidated by a liberal and aggressive left, determined to make the nation secular and atheistic. Whatever the cost, we must break our silence.

Start in prayer. Join America’s Prayer Meeting Movement on July 4. Download the prayer video guide at www.americasprayermeeting.org.



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CALL2FALL

any people are quite surprised when the Christian views of Thomas Jefferson, who we are repeatedly told was no Christian, are set

forth. Listen to his words,

“Fasting and prayer are religious exercises; the enjoining them an act of discipline. Every religious society has a right to determine for itself the time for these exercises, and the objects proper for them, according to their own particular tenets; and right can never be safer than in their hands, where the Constitution has deposited it.”

—Thomas Jefferson, 1808

Historical Background First Call of Prayer in 1775 From the earliest days of our nation, calls to pray for the nation by its leaders have been a vital part of our history. If you listen to radical, militant secularists today, who speak so authoritatively, you would believe that atheists established the nation. These views are set forth boldly without any hesitation, without footnotes. Sadly, they are presented as factual, as the final and definitive word, brushing previous historical accounts aside, as irrelevant and placing Christians on the culturally disempowered side of the important faith and value issues.

Faith grounds traditional values – and among those values is integrity, truth, or as Francis Schaeffer said, ‘true truth,’ whether it is a convenient truth or a convicting truth. If, however, your values are reduced to outcomes, to who wins in the end, then a valueless struggle for power and control ensues. Who then cares about ethics and rules unless they can assure the desired end? Rules are then utilitarian, and so is history in our modern era. History is cast aside, and the narrative is rewritten to accomplish the end objectives. This is the game in which we find ourselves – changing rules and moving foul lines.

Don’t expect the opponents of traditional faith, particularly of Christianity, to tell the truth – truth is itself both a foundation for and a fruit of faith. Faith is rooted in logical propositions, in objective ideas. Faith without truth is irrational, relative, transient, always shifting, like sand. Our history as a Christian people is being sacrificed, silenced, hijacked, and rewritten to justify the revolution of secular atheism. As true faith needs true truth for clarity and objectivity, power needs truth for purity and justice. It must be subordinate the truth’s values, values that restrain power and protect the people. What truth will guide and secure the rights of citizens in a secular government?

The Founders, most of them, were men of prayer and deep conviction, contrary to what secular revisionists assert. We have a long history of public prayer and national days of prayer and fasting. One of the first

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and highly significant calls to prayer was in 1775, when the Continental Congress called for prayer throughout the colonies, asking God for wisdom in the formation of the nation and the creation of its founding documents, its governmental structure.

On July 20, these colonial leaders gathered in Christ-Church in Philadelphia for a day of prayer. Pastor Jacob Duché was invited to address them. He preached a historic sermon, called “The American Vine.” He declared that God’s hand of destiny and purpose was obvious on the many who had made their way to our North American shores and now constituted the population of the colonies. And most especially, the Divine Hand, destiny was seen in the nation’s future. The pastor warned about our “national guilt,” not merely about personal sins. Corporate sin, he suggested, was affecting the quality of life and the quantity of God’s blessing on the nation. Blind eyes failed to recognize God’s chastisements. He cautioned about hard hearts that failed to discern God’s visitations and his displeasures. We should hear, loudly and clearly, that warning again, now, in 2021. We seem oblivious to the very notion of divine national judgements.

Duché began his sermon with a prayer that suggested that the nation in its formative stages had failed to

“lament, that the dark cloud of judgment… now hangs over our heads, [and] hath risen from our unnumbered sins and rebellions against thee [God]! Against thee only have we sinned!”

Again, drawing a parallel, we seem to see no “dark cloud of judgement” and there is little or no “lament” among the people of God, much less, the nation as a whole over our sin.

The sins Duché named in his generation are those we could name now - disobedience and ingratitude. Prosperity – even in colonial days, he suggested – “rendered us forgetful” of God and His holy ordinances. He called for national prayer and humility in the face of bloodshed. So should we.

He prayed that about the

“great danger we are in from our present unhappy divisions.” And about the “hatred, bitterness and resentment…”

Divisions in the hall, during the proceedings of the Second Continental Congress were deep – and as the discussion progress, they grew deeper. Those who wanted to placate, amend the differences with England and remain loyal believed strongly that their position was more prudent than the reckless actions of the Sons of Liberty in their raid on English merchant ships in Boston’s harbor. Those who believed that England did not have the Colonies’ best interest in mind, and that independence, through risky, was the only true road to freedom, were equally passionate. They were divided.

“Enable us to forgive our offending brothers,” Duché pleaded in prayer.

England needed forgiveness – whatever was done should not be done from rancor. Such actions are far too often irrational. And the representatives that sat together in Boston’s Church on that day of pray also needed to forgive one another, and work together for the good of all. Destiny was at stake.

And then Duché noted the forgotten concept of an “offended God!” Seeking God’s forgiveness must involve a clear sense of what offends His holiness. Love never stands alone – it stands with truth! Only God, the pastor, noted in his prayer, “can make men to be of one mind in a house” together. No longer one house, they were fractured and confused about the nature of their true problem and its solution – and so are we today. They were, Duché asserted, in trouble with God. They had offended His holiness.

Duché prayed for God to restore “brotherly union and concord,” which he argued should never be violated if we are, indeed, to be a “great family.” However, the roots of such accord are not merely civil but sacred, and this is the fact that the Founders recognized. Civil codes without sacred roots were insufficient to compel civility



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and moral conduct. They needed faith roots, and the people needed religious grounding. Duché prayed, quoting Paul, but his thoughts were of the nation, “there is but one body, and one spirit, and one hope of our calling, one LORD, one faith, one baptism, one GOD and FATHER of us all, so may we henceforth be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity!”

National stability and greatness are rooted in personal piety and the bonds of faith at the core of the nation’s leaders. Here was the Continental Congress, in church, on their knees. This is how the nation was born. This is how it will be saved.

The church, Duché believed, was the glue that was to hold the nation together, “… give thy blessing to a preached gospel! Enable thy ministering servants of every denomination to be instant in season and out of season, in promoting the great work of Christian love…” And he prayed this all for the sake of “Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Lincoln and Modern Presidents When the nation was in the days of its bloodiest war, President Lincoln called for a national day of “humiliation, fasting, and prayer” in 1863.

In recognition of such days in our past, in 1952, Congress created an annual national day of prayer. President Truman signed it. In 1988, that annual day was permanently settled as the first Thursday of May, annually, and was signed by President Reagan. Each year, the sitting President is presented with a proclamation to sign, encouraging and calling the nation to pray. Sadly, in recent years, at times, some Presidents have dutifully signed the proclamation. Still, the practice is repeated in all fifty states by governors.

Sadly, Washington treats the day almost as any other. It does not stop and hold its breath before God. The ceremonies associated with the day have become pluralistic – and that would have been shocking to the Founders. The very idea of a national day of prayer and the practice of public prayer has been persistently challenged in the last sixty years. As recently as 1983, the Supreme Court was forced to uphold the practice of an invocation in state legislatures (Marsh vs. Chambers) due to legal pressure to end such prayer.

Prayer is still legal. In fact, it is “the law.” And while the window remains open, we need to seize the opportunity for public prayer!

A Bit of History

• 1775 – The first Continental Congress and a day of prayer for and by the nation. • 1863 – Abraham Lincoln’s call for a day of prayer and fasting amid the civil war. • 1952 – Congress establishes a National Day of Prayer, signed into law by President Truman. • 1988 – The day is permanently set by law on the first Thursday of May annually, signed by President

Reagan. • 146 times, the nation has been called to prayer by a President of the United States (1789 – 2017). • 69 Presidential Proclamations for the National Day of Prayer have been issued and signed by modern

presidents. Every President, since the National Day of Prayer became law, has signed a proclamation. • Of the nation’s 46 Presidents, 36 signed proclamations for prayer. The most recent President, Biden,

released a statement on the ‘power of prayer’ but failed to mention God. Three of the ten Presidents who did not sign proclamations calling for national prayer died while in office.

• Including the state level, records indicate 1526 calls for national prayer since 1775.



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CALL2FALL SUNDAY – July 4, 2021 Call2Fall is simple. It is a moment urged upon local churches during worship on July 4, 2021, when the congregation is invited to kneel and pray for the nation. It is a call to repentance and dependence on God. It is a demonstration of humility.

Every congregation, every Christian, is urged to participate. America is in trouble, and Washington cannot fix us. The goal is that 40,000 congregations will join in this national call2fall to our knees in prayer.

Take 3-to-5 minutes and pray for the nation. If your church is not planning this as a part of its service, ask if it is possible to have such a moment before or at the close of the service. Or, organize a moment of prayer at an alternative location on 4th of July Sunday.

As we celebrate our “Independence,” let’s remember the source of our freedom, our “Dependence” on the Lord. Cry out to God. Ask Him to heal our land. The key verse is 2 Chronicles 7:14:

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Begin, on your knees, with humility. Here are resources: https://www.call2fall.com/resources.

When The First Continental Congress called for a national day of public prayer and fasting, for humility, on that July 20, 1775, an estimated 3 million people fell on their knees and prayed. It stunned the colonial leaders, “Three millions of people on their knees at once, supplicating the aid of Heaven, is a striking circumstance, and a very singular one in America.” That prayer may have rallied heaven’s help. The Revolutionary War may have been won on that day – and on that day alone.

If prayer gave birth to the nation – can such passionate humble prayer, to God, again save the nation?

For more resources on consecration, see Claude King’s Consecrate the People. Order from LifeWay: https://www.lifeway.com/en/product/consecrate-the-people-P005617917

Claude King Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/13367310. Call2Fall video: https://vimeo.com/69194215

https://www.lifeway.com/en/product/consecrate-the-people-P005617917

https://vimeo.com/13367310




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SPONSOR A PRAYER



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PRAYER MISSIONS ROUTES ACROSS THE NATION

FOR THE HEART OF AMERICA, AT THE HEART OF AMERICA

JULY 23, 2021 VISION: Praying for America. Pray America – Pray!

A multi-route Prayer Ride, (8+1), prayer missions across the continental United States of America with intentional and targeted times and calls to prayer. These simultaneous prayer mission teams will unify, coalescing in Lebanon, Kansas (the defined geographical center of the continental United States). There, a national prayer congress will occur, Livestreamed to the nation.

WHO: Everyone is invited to join.

SPONSORED ROUTES: Eight Prayer Route Leaders of sponsored and official prayer mission routes will recruit others to participate in the cross-country prayer mission. The prayer mission teams will expand as they journey across the nation, with other members joining the teams. All teams and their members are requested to be present at the National Prayer Congress at the heart of the nation in Lebanon, KS. Apply to join one of these teams – from its inception point, or along the way, and journey with them to Kansas. Intersect with one of these teams as it comes through your state. Join them for prayer along the route. Bring the names of your loved ones, your city and county – to be offered on the altar in Kansas as we ask God for the greatest national harvest of souls in our history.

Join a prayer route Pray with the Along the Way

Go to www.prayerattheheart.com, and click on prayer routes.

From July 5 – 31, teams will be praying for the nation daily. Join the call at 518-318-7117. These teams will be joining these calls at various points during the day and sharing their experiences of prayer across the nation.

http://www.prayerattheheart.com/



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SPONTANEOUS ROUTES: In addition to the eight sponsored and official prayer mission routes, others are encouraged to form their own routes, beginning in their city or town and making a prayer pilgrimage to Lebanon for the National Prayer Assembly. If you choose to form a team and make the journey, we ask that you plan prayer stops along the way. Stop at state, county, and city borders, significant historical landmarks, capital buildings, and city/county centers, places of spiritual, historical significance. Plan your route. Meet with pastors, other believers, with a mayor or official. Read the historical prayers and declarations provided (See pages: 50, 116, and 119). Give the gift of prayer to the city – bless. Ask God for a spiritual awakening! Inform americasprayermeeting.org of your intention to bring a prayer mission team and, if possible, the route you will take and the cities through which you will pray.

WHAT: A Nation-wide Call to Prayer – a proliferation of prayer walks and missions, prayer meetings across the nation, culminating in a National Prayer Congress at the heart of the nation.

A humble, desperate, bold call to national prayer to make a united Appeal to Heaven. A collective act of faith - praying from the edges of the nation to the heart of America, at the heart of America, appealing to the heart of God for divine intervention. And then traveling back to the edges – of pain and promise, light and dark.

WHEN: The Month of July • A 245th Birthday Prayer event, July 4. Downloadable, virtual, national. • Pray Everywhere – local, spontaneous prayer walks, drives, missions, prayer ambassador teams,

church and community prayer meetings, workplace ‘salty’ groups (three-to-five believers who fast lunch and connect to pray at their place of work). See information on the SALTY GUIDE on page 120. Download guides www.americasprayermeeting.com.

• Sponsored Prayer Mission Routes - Most of the prayer mission routes will be active in the 3rd week of July, 17th – 22rd. Each will determine their own calendar, defined dates, stops, and places with all routes converging at Lebanon, Kansas, on July 23.

• Spontaneous Prayer Mission Routes. Each will determine their own time frame, route, departure, with the goal of meeting in Lebanon, July 23.

• July 23, 2021, Noon, assembly of prayer mission teams. • July 23, 2021, 2 – 8 PM CST - National Prayer Congress at the heart of the nation. • July 24-July 31 – Pray to the edge. Prayer everywhere, from any heart (city, county, state) to the

edge. WHERE:

8 + 1 + 100 or more! Eight routes are planned from the north and south, the east and west, and the nation's four corners. Some will zig-zag in an attempt to cross the boundaries of all 48 continental states. One route is circuitous, encompassing the west coast, the southern border, and the east coast before heading to Kansas. No route is currently planned across the northern border.



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Our prayer is that a hundred or more spontaneous routes will form – from anywhere and everywhere. Church groups, youth groups, children, families, small and large groups, vans and buses, cars, etc. – all praying across the nation, all pleading for a spiritual awakening, anywhere, everywhere. All ambassadors of the kingdom of heaven, inviting, imploring the Lord, to take action regarding a land once dedicated to Him.

HOW: 1. Determine – God is calling me to Lebanon for the National Prayer Congress. 2. Establish a prayer route. 3. Recruit prayer leaders. 4. Develop prayer points. 5. Timeline your prayer stops (local churches, historical sites, state-local-national governmental facilities,

etc.). 6. Give the gift of prayer as you go – bless, do not curse! Invite God to the city, with jurisdictional

support, where possible, and the careful use of spiritual authority in the absence of jurisdictional support or relational influence.

7. Get an invitation from the city – from someone in the city, a pastor, a business owner, a mayor, a town council member, a sheriff or police chief, a judge. Look for the man of peace in the city who not only welcomes you but one who resonates with this national effort. (Use or adapt the simple prayer guide on page 31 and 115. Check out the prayer guide section of this manual or online at www.americasprayermeeting.org. Use the proclamation on page 119. Also downloadable.

8. Ensure you have built an intercessory support team at home – 3-5 individuals praying for you, for each team member. (Each team should have an intercessory support team of two to three times its size). Keep in mind the Moravian principle taken from the book of Nehemiah, “No one works (serves) unless someone prays. An intercessor for every worker, and every worker an intercessor.” Connect with your intercessory team daily – or more. Connect with national simultaneous intercessors on call at 518-318-7117.

9. As you go, gather names and pictures of family, friends, individuals who need Christ. Remember the names of the towns and cities where you stopped.

10. Plan to present these names – of loved ones and cities - on the altar in Lebanon. We will pray, at Lebanon, for those who need Jesus – and for whole cities to come under the pervasive hand of God in a great awakening. For a harvest of 30 million souls in a spiritual awakening!

11. Collect the declarations of governors, county commissioners and mayors. A simple form can be found for use and adaptation on page 119

12. Invite those along the way to call our prayer lines – one for on-going prayer for the nation; and the other, for personal prayer and salvations. And encourage them to either join you on your journey, gather in their city on July 23, and participate remotely in the National Prayer Congress, and then, to pray at the heart of their city/county/state, and then to its edges.

SYMBOLIC ACTIONS:

1. Get permission – authority is important. Seek jurisdictional authority and/or relational influence Relational influence secures secondary permissions, with the blessing, but often the absence of the presiding authorities. Also, seek residential spiritual authority from pastors and intercessors in the city. Join with them in prayer. They pray from inside out. They belong to the city – they are residents, citizens, tax payers. They have deeds to property, voting rights, a voice in the city. This is important. Use the strength of their insiders position to appeal to heaven with them and for them.

2. Develop a prayer and consecration service – approximately 30 minutes in length, using the enclosed materials. Include the historic declarations, specifically, the prayer of Robert Hunt. See page 42.

http://www.americasprayermeeting.org/



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3. Bless the city – the mayor, civic leaders, political leaders, those who represent the marketplace and the Christian community.

4. Seek, as much as possible, a representation from these centers of cultural influence – arts and entertainment (including hospitality), business and banking, communications and media, education, family and social services (health and medical), government (judicial, law enforcement and military, legislative-representative, executive-administrative), the church. Recognize them. Pray for them. You want to involve several of them in the prayers.

5. Include symbolic actions. Examples:

• Pouring forth of wine (grape juice) – is a symbol of the redemptive claim of Christ. • Pouring out of water – a symbol of the desire for God to pour out His Spirit on dry ground, that

of the city or its churches or its citizens. • Pouring out of salt – is a symbol of purification, as Elisha poured salt into the bitter waters of

Jericho and healed its water and land (2 Kings 2:18-22). Salt represents the desire for bitterness and strife to end. When ‘salt covenants’ form, enemies are transformed into friends.

• Pouring out of oil – is a symbol of anointing, and the consecration of the land. It is a plea for God’s purposes to be revealed. Every city has a divine call – a purpose.

It is especially powerful if residents of the cities perform the symbolic acts if you choose to use them. Suggested language is found in the service script below.

A SIMPLE CITY CONSECRATION SERVICE (See Page 115 for more detail) Invocation: Local Pastor Scripture: Exodus 19:10, “Go the people and consecrate them…”

Exodus 19:22, “Also let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves…” Romans 12:1, “Therefore I urge you, by the mercies of God, to present yourselves a living and holy sacrifice,

acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” Proverbs 23:26, “Give me your heart… And let your eyes delight in my ways.” 2 Tim. 2:21, “Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified,

useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.” Romans 16:6, “You are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience

resulting in righteousness?” Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will

not despise.” (Examples for use)

Song: God Bless America My Country ‘tis of Thee Rock of Ages Take My Life (Examples)

Recognitions: Of Community Leaders, Pastors, etc. Of Members of the Team

Greeting: Brief Explanation of the “Pray America – Pray!” effort.



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“Why we have come …” To pray for God’s blessing on this city, the state, and the nation!

Explanation: These are four movements of the July effort. (July 4, Pray America – Pray; Pray Everywhere; Pray at the Heart, July 23, (National Prayer Congress), and Pray to the Edge.

The Grand Purpose – A Spiritual Awakening.

Gratitude: Expression of gratitude from the team to the city for welcome arms. Expression of gratitude from the city to the team for the gift of prayer.

Presentation: To the representative of the city! An Appeal to Heaven Flag or some other memento.

Prayers: By Persons in the City and the Team

Father, reaching back to the first consecration of the land we know as America, the United States, we again consecrate this place, dedicating it to a higher purpose.

We pray for the peace of our city, for its prosperity, joy, righteousness, and justice for all.

We pray for harmony and accord, and we confess the shortcomings of our lives that prevent such harmony with you and others. We repent and ask for the grace to change.

We pray for a holy, healthy community. Where there is darkness, bring light. Strife, bring unity. Pride and division, bring grace and humility. Grant us patience and love.

May we not enable evil by our sin. Turn our hearts to You. Forgive us for our past sins, as individuals, and as a community, and grant us Your favor for our future.

ALL:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from Evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Leader: Father, heal us.

People: Father, heal us indeed.

Leader: We invite you to heal our land.

People: Come Lord, and heal our land.

Symbolic Actions and Prayers: • Pouring forth of wine (grape juice) – is a symbol of the redemptive claim of Christ. • Pouring out of water – is a symbol of the desire for God to pour out His Spirit on dry ground,

that of the city or its churches or its citizens. • Pouring out of salt – is a symbol of purification, as Elisha poured salt into the bitter waters of

Jericho and healed its water and land (2 Kings 2:18-22). Salt represents the desire for bitterness and strife to end. When ‘salt covenants’ form, enemies are transformed into friends.

• Pouring out of oil – is a symbol of anointing, and the consecration of the land. It is a plea for God’s purposes to be revealed. Every city has a divine call – a noble and righteous purpose.



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It is especially powerful if residents of the cities perform the symbolic acts if you choose to use them. Here is some language you may suggest: • Lord, we pour out this wine, we remember that you came, in Jesus, the Christ, and gave your life

for us. We acknowledge your redemptive claim on our lives, our families and churches, and on our city. And we invite you to dwell among us in a redemptive and healing manner.

• As we pour out the water, we pray for spiritual rain. We pray for a refreshing from heaven on our city and all who live in it. Pour out your Spirit on the spiritually dry soil of the nation, your Holy Spirit. Start here – with us, in this place. Come, Holy Spirit. You are welcome here.

• We pour out this salt and ask for the healing of relationships in our city, for friendship covenants to form, for the bitter waters of strife to be healed. Make us one, Lord. Bind us together. May our feet be shod with the good news of peace (Eph. 6:15) – and may we be peacemakers (Mt. 5:9).

• Lord, we pour out the oil, representing the Holy Spirit, and we ask, “Heal us. Heal our land. Unite our hearts. Help us to love one another. To bind up the other’s wounds and not add to their hurt and harm. Anoint us. We consecrate ourselves to You and to noble causes for our city. We invite your Holy Spirit to work in our midst.”

Spontaneous Prayers for the City (by the city and the team). Final Song (Optional) and Benediction: Blessing over the City.

“Inasmuch as you have received us, according the words of Jesus, ‘Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me (the Father).’”

So, we pray, “The Lord bless you and keep (or guard) you. The LORD make his face shine upon you, (May He smile on you) and be gracious to you: The LORD lift up his countenance upon you (and this city), and give thee peace (shalom).”

Amen. Pray for us – and the National Prayer Congress! For more resources on consecration, see Claude King’s Consecrate the People. Order from LifeWay: https://www.lifeway.com/en/product/consecrate-the-people-P005617917

Claude King Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/13367310. Call2Fall video: https://vimeo.com/69194215

https://www.lifeway.com/en/product/consecrate-the-people-P005617917





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PRAYING THE 8 COMPASS POINT

CITIES During the “Pray, America, Pray” call to prayer July 4-31, The Rooftop will be leading 8 Rooftop Encounters in 8 Compass Point Cities across the US:

• Grand Forks ND (N), • Corpus Christi TX (S), • San Francisco CA (W), • Virginia Beach VA (E), • Seattle WA (NW), • Bangor ME (NE), Miami FL (SE), and • San Diego CA (SW).

The Rooftop Encounter is a prayer moment based on Peter’s Rooftop Encounter in Acts 10. During a Rooftop Encounter, we pray over the city and nation from a high location (i.e., a rooftop, hillside, etc.), asking God to give us a fresh vision of His heart for the lost, forgive us for our apathy in engaging our land with the Gospel and unite us as His Church behind the mission of Jesus.

This is a time to pray for revival in the Church and awakening across our land. We are seeking God to raise up 8 Compass Point City Coordinators to oversee site selection and promotion in each city. Some cities need a coordinator-mobilizer. In some, a site is yet to be decided. You may want to be involved in such a prayer experience over your city? For more information, contact John Whaley at [email protected]. www.rooftop.org

mailto:[email protected].



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THE ROOFTOP ENCOUNTER PERSONAL JOURNAL

A FRESH VISION OF GOD’S HEART FOR THE LOST The purpose of this time together is to seek a fresh vision of God’s heart for the lost.

We want to allow time and space for listening both to God and to one another during this Encounter. We have discovered that periods of silence may be a very good thing as you open your heart and mind to God’s presence among you and seek His heart.

PRIOR TO THE ENCOUNTER • Choose a place for your Encounter. It could be a literal rooftop or a hillside; any high place where you

can look out over your city. If there is not a high place in your area, find a place where you can observe your city; downtown, a city park, a street corner. Any place where you can watch, pray, and listen to God.

• Read the story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10:1 – 11:18.

THE ENCOUNTER • Begin your time on the ‘rooftop’ by asking God to meet with and guide you. To awaken you to His heart

for the lost (Acts 10:28). To awaken you to your heart attitudes that may be standing in the way of His plans and purposes. (Acts 11:17).

• Having read the Scripture, take some time to quietly look across your city/community. • Ask God to help you see what He sees. • Take time to listen. • As He speaks to you, write down what He is impressing on you in the ‘WHILE YOU ARE ON

THE ROOFTOP’ space. • As you look across your city/community, consider the following questions:

What do you see as you look across the city, what kinds of people are there? What do you think God sees as He looks at the city? What do you see Jesus doing in your city? What are some of our attitudes and customs that may prevent us from joining Jesus in His mission? What do we need to do to join Jesus in HIS mission to ‘seek and save what is lost’?



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WHILE YOU ARE ON THE ROOFTOP Use the space below to write down some things that you feel God has impressed upon you as you have been on the ‘rooftop’.

AFTER YOU HAVE LEFT THE ROOFTOP As you have spent time seeking a fresh vision of God’s heart for the lost, He may have spoken to you in a very personal and specific way or He may have deepened your passion for lost people. It often takes a little time for us to ‘hear’ what God has been saying to us. Use the space below to write down anything that you may feel God has impressed upon you as a result of having been on the ‘rooftop’.



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COME TO LEBANON, KANSAS THE GEOGRAPHIC CENTER OF THE

CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES

ebanon, a small town in North Central Kansas, is the community nearest the geographic center of the continental USA. It is a part of Smith County, founded in 1876. As of 2010, 218 souls called Lebanon home. That population, according to local residents, is now slightly more than 250. A recent census

notes 118 households and 60 families. Its peak population was 822 residents a century ago, in 1920. On October 2, 2006, a New York Times story featured Lebanon, telling the story of rural flight from such communities. Lebanon has been featured in several movies, particularly the series Supernatural.

Lebanon’s namesake is a sister city by the same name in Kentucky.

It was not until 1918 that a scientific survey determined that the geographic center of the continental USA, the lower 48, was 2.6 miles (4.2 km) to the northwest of the small town. Local residents erected a monument to mark the spot. This is no small thing, for, from this spot, surveyors take their measurements and order the nation, from state and county lines to subdivision plots and the boundaries between our neighbors and us.

In Belle Fourche, South Dakota, another market denotes the geographic center of the fifty states, including Alaska and Hawaii.

Lebanon can be scorching hot in the summer – in the low ‘90s. In the winter, the town averages 22 inches of snow and annually a bit more rain. On average, 205 days are sunny. On February 13, 1905, Lebanon had the lowest temperature ever recorded in the state of Kansas - minus 40 degrees.

The small town is 95.9% White, 0.5% Native American and the same number of Asians. Hispanics number 3.2% of the population. The average household is just under two people (1.85), and the average family size is 2.62, with a median age of 51.3 years. Lebanon is 48.2% male and 51.8% female. The median household income is about $23,000. For a family, income is pegged just shy of $29,000. Approximately 13.2% of Lebanon’s families and 22.1% of its total population live below

L

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_County,_Kansas

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_exodus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_exodus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_center_of_the_contiguous_United_States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_center_of_the_contiguous_United_States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_(U.S._Census)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_(U.S._Census)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_(U.S._Census)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:May_27,_2013,_Lebanon,_Kansas,_tornado_damage.jpg



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the poverty line. One in three teens or children in the city tastes the impact of poverty, as do one in twenty of the town’s seniors.

In 2013, a tornado did considerable damage to the town.

For a town its size, Lebanon ends up in the news or the notice of pop culture more than other little hamlet. In the TV series House of Cards, the plot brought the character playing the President of the United States to Lebanon for a speech.

In the TV series American Gods, Lebanon was the ground on which a contest between old and new gods was fought. That might be prophetic. During the most recent Superbowl, Jeep aired a commercial filmed at the small park near Lebanon marking the center of the US. In the commercial, Bruce Springsteen lit a candle in the small chapel on the site, sat down inside, and suggested the place as one where the nation might come together. He had no idea such plans had been in the making for decades. Lebanon is denoted, in the book American Gods, as a ‘place of power.’

Very important reminders:

• There are no hotels or restaurants in Lebanon

• No Walmart. • Cell signals are characteristically weak.

Don’t expect internet. • Hardy walking shoes are suggested – we

will be in what was last year a field or pasture next to the small park.

Do your shopping before you come to the prayer site.

• Currently, no food is planned at the site. • Bring water. Stay hydrated. • We have invited paramedics to be onsite. • A sunshade and lawn chair are also recommended, as is sunscreen.

If you are flying, the nearest airports are Omaha, Nebraska to the northeast (3.5 hours), Wichita, KS (3 hours) to the south, and Topeka to the east (3.5 hours). Every person present will be making a sacrifice, and God loves and honors sacrifice.

Lebanon is on US 281 North. The Geographic Center of the United States (google it) is at the intersection of 191, Aa Road, and 130 Road. Parking will be somewhat remote, along roadsides, but we are working to provide shuttles to assist in transporting people to and from the prayer site.

The Livestream event begins at 2 PM CST and concludes at 8 PM.

Bring a flag representing your state or a flag of a nation, and plant it in our garden of the nations as we symbolically prayerwalk the nation at the site.

While national leaders are being invited to the event and will be honored if they attend, the gathering is not driven by personalities. It is characterized as a gathering of the unknowns, a one-name event – desperate men and women gathering around Jesus to invite him to take a walk across America.

Youth and children are invited to the event. Indeed, we must make youth and children a vital part of the event.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_line



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We recommend that you organize a group from your church and come together – to pray for the nation, at the heart of the nation. Pray with others at the heart of the nation, appealing to the heart of God, to save the nation, to send a great awakening.

The most important reason to come is not for the event, per se, or for a speaker, the program – but to pray!

“Come seek the Lord …” (Isaiah 55:6-7).

“Who knows, perhaps, He will turn, and relent of Judgment and leave behind gift” (Joel. 2:14).

Join thousands of voices in united, fervent prayer for the nation. That is the great value of the event, the reason to make the trip. This will be the people’s congress – a national prayer congress of ordinary believer-citizens, and we will appeal to heaven in behalf of the nation.

• Travel the backroads. • Stop along the way. Pray. • Pour out oil and wine, salt, and water. (See page 117-118). • Plant ‘Appeal to Heaven’ flags everywhere along the way.1 • Pray at monuments – leave a flag. • Pray at town squares. • Reach out to those you know along your route and have them join you in prayer. • Bless the cities through which you pass. • Stop at city/county/state-line signs – pray, plant a flag, pour out the salt and water, the oil and the

wine. 1 Order 12 for $20 at www.miniatureflagshop.com. Best deal: https://www.flagsimporter.com/liberty-tree-4x6in-stick-flag/ 24 4x6” flags with sticks - $1.50 each. 120 or more for 99 cents. 300 or more for 60 cents.

http://www.miniatureflagshop.com/

https://www.flagsimporter.com/liberty-tree-4x6in-stick-flag/

https://www.flagsimporter.com/liberty-tree-4x6in-stick-flag/



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• Tell those you meet that you are on your way to join thousands more at the center of the nation to consecrate it to God.

• Collect a proclamation, a written prayer from the governor, mayors, those from a given city who are inviting God to their province. This is a national prayer congress, and we want their voices to be heard at the national altar we establish before God.

• Leave them a flyer with the information about americasprayermeeting.org and prayerattheheart.com.

Pray! Such a trip will be unforgettable. And such an event will never happen again.

You will be a part in a swirl of national prayer activity from coast-to-coast, border-to-border, corner-to-corner, with no state untouched, no boundary unsecured in prayer.

Come to Lebanon – and pray.

Friday, July 23, 2021.

Untitled - America's Prayer Meeting Movement

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