USA: Welcome to the Whisper Room

Published: January 14th, 2009

It read more like a text message than a prayer, but Derrick’s sincerity spoke for itself when he scrawled out a plea to the God of the Universe in a Virginia prayer room journal. “Yo wut it do God? I was shown Romans 11 and began to read about the grafting and pruning of branches. To You God I pray graft me into your tree of life, show me the way!! Hit Me back, later Dude.”

 For Derrick, the meeting with God had been building since he was a child. He grew up next door to Mike Osborn, Director of Student Ministries at Harvest Assembly in Chesapeake, Virginia. That’s about the closest he ever got to church, until court-ordered community service became the first step in a transformation of heart.

“He was facing jail time if he did not get his hours in,” Osborn said of the youth he had been building a bridge to for years. “I told him I didn’t have anything at the church, but I could use him at our concert venue Club Relevant. Derrick did his hours with us, but never left.”

Derrick was astonished that Christians even listened to metal and hardcore music, let alone played it. The magnetism was enough to pull him into relationships with several leaders at the church-connected venue. As his relationship with the ministry grew, so did Derrick’s interest in the Lord at the heart of the club.

So when Relevant Ministries, the youth-group associated with Club Relevant, launched a 24-7 prayer room, Derrick became one of the regulars. A talk with Osborn, some reading advice, and some time alone with God prompted a text message to the Creator of the Universe. A life was changed that night in Chesapeake.

And Derrick’s not been the only miraculous occurrence at Relevant’s prayer room, officially named The Whisper Room.  The Whisper Room has now seen weeks of unbroken 24-7 prayer, with no known end in sight. The shifts that aren’t being filled by the unchurched are being picked up by other churches in the area. According to Osborn, only about 25 percent of The Whisper Room’s hours are occupied by church kids. Pretty good for a double-wide trailer home that used to be practice space for metal bands.

“We didn’t map it out. We didn’t say we’re gonna pray a month or six months or anything,” Osborn reflected. “We were just gonna do one week and the kids didn’t want to stop.”

So The Whisper Room moves on with constant prayer to the Creator. The buzz has gotten so strong that now tours often interrupt prayer, so strong that the number praying in The Whisper Room at a given time can be up to twenty five. Local universities and worship events are tapping into Relevant for help in spreading the vision. Students have been so affected that their parents are beginning to reconnect with God themselves. Mike Osborn has noticed.

“The thing that’s impressed me the most is just the hunger and motivation of a generation that wants to cry out,” he said.

And cry out they have. There’s been journaling on Bulimia, self-harm, parents and pills. Osborn has concluded that just as there’s no end to the brokenness in this generation, there’s no end to the healing God can provide. He hopes The Whisper Room has been a part of what God is doing.

“They open up and they just let it fall out,” he said.

There’s also been no shortage of the diverse forms of expression seen in The Whisper Room. Joyous dancing. Fevered writing. Painting. Sketching. Impromptu worship jams. Visions. Dreams. Derrick’s even going to work with some glass to make a decorative wall where visitors can list the names of those they want to see touched like he was.

And if God, the community, and Osborn have much to say about it, The Whisper Room will only be producing more like Derrick. Relevant’s future plans include more concerts, a coffee shop, and a homeless outreach that has already started to blossom within the double-wide walls of The Whisper Room.

“We pray and it’s the heartbeat of what we do to fuel our passion for ministry,” Osborn said, connecting faith with works. “Right now, we don’t want to quit.”

Ryan Milner is a graduate student at the University of Kansas and a part of the Kansas City Boiler Room community. He has been writing personally, professionally, and academically since high school. He enjoys film, reading anything by C.S. Lewis, and any X-Men comic. He splits his time between his wife Sarah, his Xbox, and his pug named Pug.

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