Acts 1:8 (NIV)
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
CONSIDER THIS
Today’s Holy Spirit story comes to us from Sarah Dorrance of Frederick, Maryland. I met Sarah a few years back at a New Room Conference as she came asking for anointing and prayer for the next season unfolding in her life in ministry. Let’s just say the prayer was answered! I have had the privilege of a front-row seat as this story has unfolded ever since. It is the story of the birthing of a house of prayer. It is beautiful and powerful and has created a veritable seedbed for the sowing and growing of many more seeds. Below you will read Sarah’s story in her own words and if you listen, you will hear it in her own voice.
The backstory. I am a second (or third) career pastor. My doctorate of ministry project was “Sharing Your God Story” a seven-part sermon series teaching people how to share their faith. I continued to be passionate for Jesus, but I knew something needed to change.
The story: It was July of 2019. I had just stepped aside from lead pastor at a very active United Methodist congregation, with four services every weekend, and I was exhausted. The catalyst for my departure was that my fifth grandchild had just been born. When my adult girls would ask if I could come help, my answer was always no, because I had no white space in my life. I knew my answer had to change, and I knew that God was calling me to something different. I just had no clue what that something different was going to be. I had wanted to attend the New Room conference, but life had been too crazy. That September was finally my time.
During that conference three significant things happened: I heard Pete Grieg and Jon Tyson speak for the first time; I met J. D. Walt and had him anoint me for whatever was next in serving Jesus; and I met like-minded people who cared about advancing the gospel. After the conference, I began praying with a few others in my conference who had attended New Room. We were praying into another great awakening. The Spirit revealed to me that this needed to be my lifelong activity.
I also began praying with some non-denominational believing pastors in my area. One November morning, during our prayer time, out of my mouth came, “Lord, if you are calling me to be part of a prayer room here in Frederick please let me know.” We continued praying, and one of the other pastors had a word of knowledge for me saying, “Sarah, I think the Lord is calling you to a prayer room, and calling you to lead that.” There was silence in the room. We were all wondering what had just happened.
There were several pastors in the room whom I had never met. One of them, unbeknownst to me, led a prayer canopy over our city. I was invited to their leadership meeting which happened to be the next day. There I met other like-minded pastors. We told our story, and one of them said, “Our messianic church has a townhouse in downtown and the renter is moving out in January. Maybe you can use that; we always thought it would be a prayer house.”
The new year of 2020 arrived and we began hearing stories of COVID in the world. At the same time, God was opening wide doors to allow this townhouse to become a house of prayer. I didn’t really know what a prayer house looked like in the style of 24-7 prayer rooms, so I googled 24-7 Prayer Room USA and landed on a Facebook page, where I asked the person at the other end how to put together a prayer house. It turned out, that I landed on the then-director of 24-7 Prayer USA, Lisa Koons. Who does that but God?
I made plans to fly to Charlotte, NC, where she was located to check out their space. I invited a friend to come along, and she said yes. We flew to Charlotte in March of 2020. The airports were beginning to become ghost towns, but we went anyway. We were amazed at the prayer space, filled with hands-on prayer stations. Afterward, Lisa asked if we wanted her to fly up and help create our space. We said yes, despite having no funding for such a project.
Our calendars all cleared up that week due to COVID, and monies rolled in unexpectedly to help fund Lisa’s flight. She had told us what color to paint the three little rooms of the townhouse. When she arrived there was nothing in the place except four boxed tables which she had told us to purchase.
COVID was now a big scare, places were closing down. Still, the Salvation Army store was open. I whispered to the guy behind the counter that we were making a prayer house, and he whispered back, everything on the front porch is free. I left Lisa there with my personal credit card. Leslie went to pick her up. When they arrived the truck was laden with furniture from the porch and from the inside of the store. They were laughing. Bob had rung up the purchase and said, five dollars please, they gave my credit card, and he said, “I am sorry, we do not take credit cards for purchases under $5.” He put in his own money and gave them a penny change.
By the end of the weekend, we had all the basic things in place for the prayer house. Lisa flew home, no one got COVID, and the governor shut down the state of Maryland the next day. Lockdown allowed me to “catch up” to what God was doing, so I could create websites, invite people one at a time to see, and do general marketing.
We are now going on our fourth year at the prayer house, which is aligned with Pete Grieg’s prayer rooms. There are amazing Holy Spirit stories from our 24-7 Prayer Room Frederick all the time. In the month of January, we are participating in the year of unbroken prayer, we will have unbroken day and night prayer for the week of January 22, and we are so excited to see what God does with this in Frederick and beyond. And it all started with a Holy Spirit nudge telling me to go to the New Room Conference in September of 2019.
THE PRAYER
Father, how we thank you that your house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations. Indeed, whether we align our houses or not, your house is the house of prayer. Thank you for this beautiful story of the Frederick House of Prayer. We pray blessing over this house and we pray in Sarah’s telling of this story you might give a thousand nudges to others to create houses of prayer in their hearts, homes, churches, and cities. Teach us to pray, Jesus. We love you, and we pray in your name, amen.
THE QUESTION
Have you ever seen a house of prayer? Helped start one? Participated in helping one grow? How about a prayer room in your home? Interested? Check out resources here.
THE HYMN
Today we will sing our Saturday song—”Sanctuary.”
For the Awakening,
J.D. Walt
Sower-in-Chief
seedbed.com
P.S. Holy Spirit Stories Welcome
I would love it if you would send a story of faith from your life we might use on a Saturday in the future. We will be glad to attach your name or a pseudonym or anonymity—it’s up to you. It can be a story of coming to faith, a story of transformation, a story of healing, deliverance, suffering and sufficient grace, family reconciliation, prodigal returns, answered prayer, and so forth. A word count of 500–800 words works well. We can’t guarantee publication, but we assure you of our prayerful discernment. You can reply to this email with your story and it will come to me.
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One Response
Thank you, Sarah and JD, for this inspiring story about how God moves behind the scenes to facilitate His will on earth, the kingdom of heaven. All our part requires is to have our spiritual eyes and ears opened to hear and see what Jesus says and shows, and then do what He says. Very convicting.