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By David Carson
METRO Vancouver will soon be the focus of a tidal wave of prayer from the nations of the world, as those nations come here
for the Winter Games.
Because our God is a prayer hearing and a prayer answering God, I am believing
that this abundance of prayer will result in breakthroughs for the church at
large – and transformation in every area of society.
From the start, the Prayer Working Group of More Than Gold (MTG) saw our goal as
not so much praying for the Olympics, but praying about God’s purposes for the Olympics.
We have prayed for the ongoing work of MTG, and the numerous working groups
focusing on witness, service and social justice issues.
Since August 2008, there have been monthly prayer walks around all the Olympic
sites in the Whistler and Vancouver areas. We have prayed for our city, our nation and for the hundreds of thousands who
will arrive soon. We have prayed for peace and safety for all, and especially
for the athletes and their families. We have prayed against the destructive
influence of disease, organized crime and the evil of sex trafficking.
We have also networked with and encouraged other exciting prayer initiatives
like The Cry in Stanley Park, and the One Voice conference. A new nationwide
prayer initiative, Unite Canada 2010,’ has been mobilizing prayer 24-7 since January 1, with Vancouver/Whistler as a focus – along with addressing Canada’s 12 most wanted answers to prayer.
This initiative is supported by some 20 national prayer ministries. A team in
Whistler has also been praying faithfully for months, for God to move in that
area.
We have also been blessed with a pocket-sized prayer guide written by Dr. Tom
Blackaby. It is a daily devotion and prayer guide that covers the 27 days of
the Olympic and Paralympic Games. It is available through MTG.
The Torch Relay will come through Hope into the Lower Mainland February 7, on
its way to the Opening Ceremony on February 12. Many have been using this as an
opportunity to pray for all the cities featured daily on the VANOC web site. The Stand on Guard ministry has been linking intercessors daily to pray through
nationwide phone calls.
On Keats Island, Keats Camp and Barnabas Family Ministries have joined together
with the National House of Prayer in Ottawa. They have provided a very
strategic International Prayer Centre, where intercessors can worship and pray
continuously during the Olympics – and also keep up to date through technology and feedback from the MTG office.
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CaPA, which is MTG’s Creative And Performing Arts group, will be leading worship and prayer times
on many evenings during the Olympics, in a variety of churches in the city.
YWAM have a team of about 150 coming from around the world, who will serve at
the warming station at Broadway and Commercial every day. They will also form
small teams around the city, that will offer ‘Free Prayer’ to passersby.
Cityscape Prayer are hosting The Burn, February 17 – 18. This will offer non-stop, pure, vertical worship in the midst of the
Olympics. This will be at Cariboo Christian Fellowship, and will attract a lot
of youth – and the young of heart.
Finally, the Prayer Working Group in the UK, preparing for the 2012 London
Olympics, have let us know that they are praying for us. Let us rejoice and be
glad – because God is for us!
David Carson is the associate pastor of Central Christian Assembly in Burnaby and vice chair of Hope Vancouver.
Information about many of the preceding initiatives is available on the Prayer
Pages, at: morethangold.ca.
We also recommend:
VANOC Torch Relay: vancouver2010.com
Unite Canada: unitecanada2010.com
The Burn: burn24-7.com & cityscapeprayer.org
YWAM: ywamvancouver.com
February 2010
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