“Lukewarm faith was inspired.  Traditional religion was reawakened.  [And] Children were encouraged to use their talents to praise God…”

Here is a story of just 15 people in Ancona, Italy who, despite their small numbers, took on the extreme challenge of praying 24-2…

“Well, we’ve had three days or more now to debrief and reflect on the prayer room experience.” Writes Jason Casey.  “I wanted to wait until now to spend some time processing, see how people would respond, how God continued to work and to hear testimonies from those who participated.  I’m glad I waited.
 
"For those of you catching up, we just hosted our first 24-7 Prayer Room.  A creative space to encourage prayer in lots of different forms: painting, drawing, writing, meditating, kneeling, standing, sitting, pacing, dancing, singing, playing instruments and any other way we could think of.  We took our little office space (about 15’x15’) and emptied it, storing everything in the backroom.  Heather took our team’s ideas and using her God-given creative talents crafted a beautiful prayer refuge.  She painted the room and with a little help from her friends mounted a large frame on the wall and lined it with paper creating a large, blank canvas.  I built a rugged cross in one corner, two maps were mounted in another and a veil of lights was hung over a couch.  There was a small refreshment section as well as a musical station and on a large wooden plank were the words, ‘Dio è…’ or ‘God is…’ for people to respond to as they would.  

"I counted 29 individuals who each spent at least an hour in the prayer room.  Some were alone; others came in pairs or small groups.  There were 15 from our church, 5 from the Apostolic Church, 5 from the Catholic Church and 4 who really don’t fit any of these categories.  48 hours of continuous prayer in at least four different languages with people representing the U.S., Italy, Romania, Holland, and Argentina.  What was once a grey and dingy office was transformed into a beautiful haven of prayer.  

"The blank paper, canvas and walls were filled with praise, poems, drawings, paintings, songs and cries for mercy, thanksgiving and forgiveness.  Our little community of believers rallied around the simple vision of spending time with Jesus.

What were the results?  Almost without exception, people came out of the prayer room with two comments:

1.       "Time flies in there!"
2.       "When is the next one?"

Lukewarm faith was inspired.  Traditional religion was reawakened.  Children were encouraged to use their talents to praise God.  And Trust was established and grown.  

One young mom came out and wrote us this note:
“The prayer room was an extremely touching experience for me. Entering the prayer room was like entering into a separate world. My hour went by very fast and the time between God and myself was very meaningful… [I] sat down on the sofa and kept weeping. I felt I wasn't worthy enough to be in there where everybody had humbly opened their hearts to God, put their pain and worries in His hands and stuck their prayers on the wall...”
 
Someone wrote a note and stuck it to the cross saying,
“Lord Jesus…thanks to them (our team) it has been possible for me to be here today to spend time with you in this way…”
 
My 4 favorite aspects were:
100% participation: this doesn’t happen often here – but everyone on our team and in our church participated
Unity: not only between ourselves and the Apostolic church, but also between the leaders of the ecumenical group and several key priests of the region
Not ‘us and them’ just ‘us’: so often I believe we err in sharing the Good News by assuming that we have it all figured out – it was really refreshing to not focus on ‘winning’ anyone to Christ but to merely invite them to spend time in communion with God – what the lawyer lay-leader wrote on the wall was equally valued and honored as what the six-year old drew.
Mission: this one I didn’t really expect – you see, I’m already a missionary…but as I prayed in the early morning hours, somewhere between the loud, bass beats of the club downstairs I believe I detected the call of Christ to get to know the club-goers better

It was exciting, emotional, tiring, frustrating, refreshing and just, plain crazy.  No one was healed. God didn’t speak audibly.  There were no miracles except the miracle of prayer itself.”