Praying Church Conference – Great Success
The Praying Pastor: Praying Church Conference drew over 650 people to the Prayer Celebration service on Thursday evening. Officially, the registrant count approached 500. Conferees awoke on Friday morning to find the conference on the front page of The Daily Tribune newspaper. Pastor Joe Edwards, who hosted the conference at the Church at Liberty Square, noted “We were extremely honored to bring such a gathering of so diverse a group … we’re so excited to have people like this come.” Pastor Edwards called the conference “beyond anything we could have expected.” Having the conference in Cartersville was an expression of the on-going interdenominational effort of the churches there to serve the community together.
The more than thirty workshops were crowded, often with overflowing crowds spilling into the hallways due to interest in various prayer ministry topics. “We had some outstanding and nationally known authors and speakers here – and the feedback back has been about the conference excellence and content, not to mention inspirational moments,” noted Doug Small.
On Thursday evening, Dr. Jamie Work of the Candies Creek Baptist Church, the oldest continuing church in Bradley County, shared with the congregation how his church was visited by God in a deep call to repentance, not only of personal sins but also those of a corporate nature. Now pastors across the city of Cleveland, TN are meeting together for prayer! Claude King, co-author of Experiencing God, led the congregation in prayer for revival and unity. At the end of the service, the congregation viewed a video that highlighted the children’s prayer movement around the world, and out marched some twenty children, who stood and prayed for the nations, for the healing of bodies, for spiritual needs, including the salvation of souls. “It was a wonderful and yet tearful moment for the whole house,” noted Jacob King, the South Georgia State Prayer Leader.
Dr. Mark Williams addressed Church of God Leaders via video. Dr. J. David Stephens, Assistant General Overseer, led the evening with Administrative Bishops and Prayer Teams representing more than some twenty states. Altogether, delegates came to the conference from at least thirty states, Europe, South America and Canada.
Doug Small, denominational Prayer Coordinator observed, “We expect the conference to catapult us to another level. For example, a new ‘Prayer Trainer’ program was introduced for our churches, as was a companion tool to the Praying Church Resource Guide called, the Praying Church Made Simple.”
