Jack Begins Weekly Prayer Meeting in His Home
See Come Back, Barbara, page 35
In November, Rose Marie and I organized a weekly prayer meeting in our home. We met on Wednesday evenings for at least two hours. Our intention was to seek God's wisdom in discerning whether he wanted us to begin a new church in our area. We asked him to reveal his will by showing us “a token for good.” We wanted to see God bring about conversions and raise up church leaders as a confirmation that it was his work alone that would establish such a church. The prayer meetings centered on praise and claiming the promises of God. Through the study of Scripture I came to the view that truly biblical corporate prayer must focus on two things: (1) praise for the greatness of Christ's work on the cross and his resurrection and (2) claiming Jesus' promise to send the Spirit to revive us as we pray with one mind for his presence (Luke 11:13; Acts 1:13–14).
During the first month rarely more than eight people attended. By the end of three months, in January 1973, two of the people who said they were not believers had made commitments to Christ, and by that time nearly twenty-five people were attending. Location: Before First NLC Prayer Meeting