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“I heard a lot of really exciting comments from people who were really blessed,” says Doug McHenry, senior pastor of First Covenant Church in Salina, Kansas, which held a prayer room last fall.<\/p>\nCHICAGO, IL (March 22, 2006) – Several churches that have developed week-long “24-7” prayer rooms to pray for CHIC have decided to make the rooms permanent, because church members have found them helpful to their devotional lives.<\/p>\n
The CHIC planning team has encouraged churches to sign up for a week round the clock prayer, divided into one-hour segments. The rooms are modeled after similar “24-7” prayer rooms (www.24-7prayer.com) around the world, and are used to pray for the Covenant’s national youth event as well as other concerns. At least 28 Covenant churches have signed up for CHIC prayer rooms. Artists and other creative members of the congregation decorate the room with devotional art, prayer request walls, crosses, art stations, and other prayer helps.<\/p>\n
“I heard a lot of really exciting comments from people who were really blessed,” says Doug McHenry, senior pastor of First Covenant Church in Salina, Kansas, which held a prayer room last fall.<\/p>\n
At Grace Covenant Church in Iron River, Michigan, a woman showed up for her prayer time, despite a snowstorm that forced the closing of schools in late February. “I just felt like I was supposed to be there,” she told the congregation’s CHIC coordinator, Lynn Fish.<\/p>\n
A woman from a local halfway house for alcoholics showed up at Turlock Covenant Church’s prayer room last October, says Linda Weiss, who coordinated the prayer room. The woman was working her 12-step program and used the room to do the fifth step: “Admit to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.”<\/p>\n
“She was so blessed by being there, that she’s brought her son back, and brought other people,” says Weiss.<\/p>\n
First Covenant filled every slot for the entire week last October, McHenry says, adding that some people signed up for several sessions.<\/p>\n
Some churches have not been able to fill a full week of round-the-clock praying, says Kjersten Jennings, who coordinates prayer activities for CHIC. But Jennings says even a partial week of prayers is important. “Whatever churches are able to do,” she said, “we are so appreciative of. We know the logistics of 24\/7 can be difficult.”<\/p>\n
The churches, themselves, have benefited from the prayer rooms. Two of the churches \u2013 First Covenant and Turlock \u2013 both were going through times of major transition.<\/p>\n
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“We really felt like we needed to be seeking God’s will through that,” McHenry says.”It seemed to bring the church together. I sensed a greater sense of unity and humility before the Lord.”<\/p>\n
Weiss says the needs and tastes of all ages had to be considered when designing the room. “We were trying to merge between the funky look so that the teenagers can appreciate it and what the older people would want,” she says.<\/p>\n
The First Covenant Church room included an art station, a cross in the center of the room where people could kneel, and a wall where people could pin their prayer requests. Other walls were filled, as well.<\/p>\n
“We had photos of everybody in church so people could pray for them,” McHenry says. The wall also included pictures of missionaries and political leaders at all levels of government. Banners were placed in the hallway leading to the room.<\/p>\n
Fish says her church had six stations in the room, which was lit with lamps. A wall was filled with framed verses.<\/p>\n
People at all three churches continued to use the prayer room after the designated week was over. “It was pretty special,” McHenry says. “We left it intact for several months.”<\/p>\n
Weiss set a goal of 100 hours for her congregation, which was nearly met, she says. Even shut-ins signed up to participate by praying at home.<\/p>\n
Jennings says she encourages churches to sign up for taking a week or other length of time they prefer. They may contact her at 773-583-0220.<\/p>\n