Korean Prayer Teams Praying Across the Nation
Twenty-one teams of Korean prayer ambassadors will be in America, May 1 – May 19 to pray for the nation, traveling to various cities in the US to pray from the National Day of Prayer, May 2, to Pentecost Sunday, May 19. Cities included in the effort stretch from San Diego, CA to Haverhill, MA, from Tampa Bay, FL to Bellingham, WA.
Dr. Nam Soo Choi is the pastor of the Kwang Myong Presbyterian Church in the northern province of Seoul, Korea. His congregation sponsors the World School of Prayer which is sending the prayer teams to America for the third consecutive year. This year, 21 teams of approximately ten members each will be hosted by 21 different cities across America.
Almost a thousand Korean intercessors have traveled to the United States since 2021 simply to pray. Dr. Choi explained, “America has been so kind to Korea. It sent its military and as a result, we were liberated. It sent its preachers – Billy Graham and Bill Bright, and as a result we emerged as a Christian nation with some of the world’s largest churches. Our economy exploded with the blessing of God, rising from an impoverished, war-torn nation, to the tenth most robust economy in the world. God blessed America, and through America, God has blessed South Korea. We have a debt to pay America – and the greatest gift we can give is prayer!”
The teams come to America under the banner of the World School of Prayer as they have to more than 100 other nations. But each team member raises their own support. Each is a missionary of prayer.
“They do not come to preach or teach, to sight-see or vacation,” said Dr. P. Douglas Small, the USA coordinator of the prayer effort and the President of Project Pray and America’s Prayer Meeting Movement. “They come to pray, believing in the efficacy of prayer.”
Thirty days prior to their visit to U.S. cities, the Korean teams spend time in daily prayer for each city. When they arrive, they hold prayer services in the morning, afternoon, and evening. Their prayer style, called the Korean method, is bold and passionate.
Why do they come? Small said, “They have a different view of the world, and they see America as a global influence for good, for stability. Without America, Korea, for example, faces the unpredictable North Korea, China and Russia, and must do so alone. As they hear global news, they worry about the stability of America and what the world would be like without her goodness.”
“On the other hand,” Small noted, “the world is here. And a significant spiritual awakening here, in the USA, could impact the entire globe.”
This prayer effort is being coordinated through Project Pray in conjunction with their partnership with the World School of Prayer and many host churches/ministries throughout the nation who are hungry to see God revive us again! For more information and to find a host city near you, visit the Project Pray website at https://www.projectpray.org/americas-prayer-meeting-movement.
In recalling the history of the U.S. and Korea as it relates to prayer, Small explained that Billy Graham held his largest-ever crusade that reached over three million people, 1.3 million in one service alone. Local estimates say that almost 100,000 gave their lives to Christ as a result of the visit. The next year, Dr. Bill Bright went to Seoul, Korea and trained workers who again impacted the entire nation.
Impoverished, still living among the ruins of World War II and the Korean peninsula war, the Korea’s economy ranked near the bottom of the global economic spectrum. Democracy and liberty were still dreams. The nation had lived under Japanese occupation for so long, and in hopelessness, the despair was deep. But the infusion of a message of hope changed the trajectory of the nation.
“When the first wave of 21 prayer ambassadors came to the US in 2021, they had no idea that they were returning on the 49th anniversary of Dr. Graham’s crusade in that nation – almost to the exact date,” Small said. “The teams arrived in the U.S. on May 31 and prayed until Sunday, June 5. Forty-nine years, in Biblical time is significant. It represents seven Sabbath years, the 50th, being the Year of Jubilee. That these teams came, and have continued to come, many believe, is an indication of hope for the U.S. – that God can renew America spiritually, as he did Korea, five decades ago.
This is certainly the hope of the Koreans. Last year, and this year, leaders at the Billy Graham headquarters and Library in Charlotte welcomed the teams and greeted them, honoring them for their being the ‘bread on the waters,’ the grandchildren and children of those impact by the crusade ministry of Dr. Billy Graham.
To learn more, please contact P. Douglas Small, Project Pray at [email protected] or call 704-996-5091.
