Rosalynd Martinez, General Manager of a Jamba Juice store, knew she wanted to impact people on the job.  After attending a conference where she heard of an “ice cream lady” who began to pray daily from her ice cream cart in front of the Governor’s palace in Thailand, which then led to a process that ended in the Provincial Governor coming to Christ!

The “boost” Rosalynd started offering her customers all began with prayer.  She started praying during her 30 minute commute to work, and pretty soon her quiet store became a “hot zone” as all sorts of things started to surface in her employees, from cash-handling discrepancies to insubordination issues.  She kept praying.

God then began to open doors, with many of Rosalyn’s employees coming for counsel about everyday life situations, and she responded by talking to them naturally, but with kingdom-oriented advice.  Very soon, her whole team and the entire spiritual climate of the store shifted.  Before long, she spoke to her district manager, other managers, and even owners, about God’s role in management and what it means to welcome in Jesus personally…and corporately!

Rosalynd’s store became more profitable, she received bonuses every quarter, and the morale of her team was exceptionally high.  And…her store was in the process of becoming a training center for other manager hires to come to learn how to run a successful Jamba Juice!

Rosalynd states she is just a “regular person” who loves God and loves people, one who embraces a lifestyle of prayer evangelism.  It’s amazing what the prayer of one can do.  Imagine what the prayers of a city will do!

“What starts here changes the world.”  This has become a powerful branding statement for The University of Texas at Austin.  According to UT’s website, “The people of The University of Texas at Austin have had and continue to have a major impact around the world in all walks of life.”  Although these statements officially refer to the academic and professional achievements of the global UT community, they should be true of all Christ followers.  They are definitely true of a small subset of people within the on-campus UT community.

This is the second story in our series about the houses of prayer in the Greater Austin area.  This time the focus is on the Campus House of Prayer (CHOP) near the heart of the UT campus.  CHOP is part of Campus Renewal Ministries, a national campus ministry on six campuses in the US.  But CHOP is really much bigger than just one ministry.  According to Justin Christopher, Director of the UT Campus Renewal Ministry, CHOP is part of a large campus-wide movement.  “The Body of Christ at UT is working together in a united missions movement to plant missional communities in every UT people group and in a united prayer movement.  It’s part of a campus-wide strategy to reach the campus together.”  With about 300 students from 30 different churches and ministries participating in prayer gatherings each week, CHOP offers a place for all campus ministries to unite in prayer for the UT campus and the world.  “We’d like CHOP to be full of missional communities praying for their people group one after another from 6:00am to midnight Monday-Friday. We want these students to see themselves as missionaries to their part of the campus (dorm, academic major, club, sports team, fraternity, etc),” Christopher said.  “We are not trying to develop our own praying community, but to create a place for all campus ministries to unite in prayer.”

Since 2006 CHOP has been the main prayer mobilization strategy for the Christian community at UT. After five years of unsuccessful planning and strategizing about how to start a CHOP, Christopher said God asked him to prayer walk the campus every day for the 40 days of Lent 2006 and to simply ask Him to establish a CHOP.  At the end of the 40 days God provided a building perfectly located at 2421 San Antonio, right off UT’s main drag; a unanimous agreement of campus ministers that the time was right to start CHOP; and a core group of students who were committed to pray for an hour every week at their chosen time.  Now, in 2012, many of the 60 campus ministries at UT have their weekly prayer time in the CHOP, but most of the 5:00am-midnight prayer slots are filled by student missional communities praying for the groups where God has placed them to live out and share their faith.

“What excites us most is that CHOP is not just a random place of prayer but a strategic place that builds unity and fuels the united mission,” Christopher said. “Prayer is always the place to start. It is the place where God changes us, the place where the spiritual battle is won, and the place where vision is birthed so that strategies are not man-made.”

For more information, click here. http://texasunited.org/

Many churches are beginning to address this current job situation in our city by developing training, networking, and encouragement groups for people with work-related issues.  The leaders of free job search groups in Central Texas have a website that shows names and locations of free job search groups on a Google map http://www.centraltexasjobclubs.org.   Pastors are invited to include this link in their church bulletins to help job seekers find what they need, a group that is convenient in both time and place.

One particular group, sponsored by Hill Country Bible NW, is called Job Seekers Network www.hcbc.com/jobseekers and meets on Mondays 9:00a – 11:00a.  Over 100 job seekers each week are showing up!  There are often guest speakers, a devotion, and time for these job seekers to obtain help with resumes, interviewing, LinkedIn, and Networking.  There are also classes held for those looking for a change in careers…or a calling.

There are all kinds of “seekers” in our city, and seeking a job is a real need that the Church can fulfill.  Loving our neighbor might just mean leading them to a connection in the workplace, establishing their home with a good income, and showing them the love of Christ by doing so.

Want to know more?
www.centraltexasjobclubs.org/
www.hcbc.com/job-seekers/

What if youth pastors and workers from all over churches in the Austin area were invited to meet together for prayer, collaboration, and equipping of one another?  The Austin Student Pastors Coalition provides a meeting place for just that purpose, with the intent of reaching this generation in our city.

Joe Elliott, Youth Pastor at Northwest Fellowship, states that four years ago he felt God wanted him to tithe a significant portion of his time to the city.  He started reaching out beyond his own church walls and asking fellow student pastors to meet together, to share with them this vision of reaching Austin youth.

Each meeting starts with testimonies of what God is saying and doing in their lives, and they also share ideas on working together in areas that will benefit the students.  After that, a roundtable discussion takes place on a specific critical topic.  Special guests are invited in who are strong in areas such as fundraising, outreach, teaching, counseling, etc., and then equipping, sharing, and more takes place.  Joe says, “This is a great time for veteran youth workers to encourage those newer to the ministry and also inspire one another with new ideas.  It’s like going to a mini youth ministry conference every month except more tailored to our local ministries. It’s awesome!”

Elliott says that these gatherings are slowly “shifting the culture of youth ministry in our

Joe Elliott

city in a very powerful way.”  There are about 200 youth pastors and 120,000 teens in the Austin area. If pastors can come alongside one other and complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses, plan together and reach students by sharing resources and experiences, and inspire each other, Elliott declares, “To me that sounds like a gathering of pastors that Hell should be afraid of!”

Convincing pastors to make this gathering a priority is challenging, for sure.  However, Elliott states those who gather have experienced much fruit and are realizing they cannot afford NOT to get together. God is raising up a small (but growing) group of student pastors from Central Baptist in Round Rock, Milwood Baptist, Greater Mount Zion , and other churches who are making the time to reach out and build relationships, realizing that our city gains by them doing so.  They see the opportunity to focus on the benefits of relationship and the potential for expanded reach as each person/ministry brings their strength to the table.

“If we keep doing what we’ve always done…we will have failed this generation,” states Elliott.  The importance of this shift in thinking is to transition from building student ministries to reaching the next generation of leaders.  Elliott encourages pastors of all tenure to commit to serving other youth ministers in the city. “Your experience, gifts and passions will compliment and strengthen the rest of us!”

The Austin Student Pastors Coalition meets every first Thursday at Christ Community Church at 11:30.  If that time and/or location doesn’t work, Elliott encourages other student pastors to start up their own gathering in their area.

We all want the same thing: connections with others that strengthen relationships.  Once it happens with local student pastors, the branches that extend will be heavy with fruit, ripe and ready to be picked!

For more information, email youthpastor@abbaconnect.net or call Joe at 512-736-7059.

Did you know that “The two bookends of our demographic growth trends are a large and fast‐growing Hispanic child population and the fastest growing pre‐senior (45 – 64 year old) population in the nation?”  Did you know that the Asian population is the fastest growing population in Travis County? Did you know that for the first time, the low-income population in Austin exceeds that of Travis County and the state of Texas?

This information and more is available from the Community Action Network’s (CAN) Dashboard Report.   CAN is a collaboration of organizations and individuals in Central Texas who are working together to build a community of equity and opportunity.   The CAN Community Dashboard is an annual report that provides an overview of the social health and well-being of Austin and Travis County.  To see the entire report, visit CANCommunityDashboard.org

We are a network of churches who want to show God’s love by serving the needs of Greater Austin. This is the heart of City Serve. Showing God’s love through serving sounds just like what Jesus did, and it’s just what we are supposed to do, as well.  Jesus built relationships with people by showing up where they lived.  On May 19, the city of Austin will be invaded with love through acts of serving, and you are invited to come…

“City Serve is all about bringing the church together to serve our community. We want to show Gods love by meeting needs and sharing the Gospel. We will hold quarterly events which will focus on a different area of Austin each time. We want to partner with and elevate the churches in those neighborhoods as places of hope, help and refuge,” states Chris King, Missions Pastor at Bannockburn Baptist Church.

The founding churches for this awesome happening are Bannockburn Baptist, Greater Mount Zion, Olivet Baptist, GT Austin, and Southwest Hills Community. Chris states, “Each time we drive the community we want to engage more churches to join with us. Our prayer is that this day and future events will create momentum in a movement that changes our culture and unites the body of Christ to engage the city in service and love.”  Momentum, by definition, is “impetus gained by a moving object.” Five churches move this time.  What if 20 move in the next event?

Cool stories, or God stories, are happening daily, according to Chris. He says the best thing he’s experienced so far is getting to work with an amazing group of people that God has assembled to reach the city. “He has bound our hearts together under His vision.”

This first CITY SERVE will target the East 12^th Street area, one of the many underserved areas in the city. Chris says there is a deep connection between the residents, and they want to “take back” their neighborhood. “The crime rate is high, school dropouts are high and morale suffers. In talking to many of our neighbors in this area, they feel like they have been abandoned and forgotten,” states Chris. There will be prayer walks, yard cleaning, clothes and food distribution, beautification projects, renovations of homes, block parties, and more.  All you have to do is find what you enjoy doing and come do it, alongside others, and see what happens.  And those who serve are being encouraged to have lunch at one of the businesses in the area, so that the business reaps a blessing too!  As Jeremiah 29:7 states, as we seek the prosperity of our city, we too will prosper.

It is the end hope that all believers will be stirred to partner together across racial and denominational lines, as well as sacred and secular lines, to reach our city with the good news of the gospel. “God is doing amazing work in Austin and He has invited us to join Him. This is a great opportunity to do so.”

Churches are encouraged to post their City Serve opportunities on the site so they can provide more chances for the Church to work together.  This might include mowing grass, trimming bushes, cleaning up trash, providing games for children, or simply walking around engaging with others.

Anyone can serve. There are many opportunities and literally something for every age and skill level. But the spots available are limited. To register, visit www.cityservetogether.com.

We are at a pivotal time in history.  We are at a time when fatherless children have grown in number from 1 in 13 to 1 in 4.  We are at a time when 41% of new births are out of wedlock.  We are at a time when homelessness abounds because of the catastrophic loss of family.  Unemployment and rising healthcare costs are causing the welfare lines to grow longer.  We are getting more and more crowded, but people are lonelier than they’ve ever been.  They are filled with hopelessness and despair and are starving for someone to give them answers…a hope…a cause that lifts up their heads and rekindles the notion that they are not alone, but have purpose and destiny.

We are that hope!  Because we have Christ, the hope of glory, in us!   We are God’s replacement on this earth – His body, His hands, His feet – the gospel with skin on.  We, the Church, have the opportunity to be “the family of God in our neighborhoods.”

Dr. John Perkins visited Greater Mount Zion this past weekend sharing this message. He also was a featured guest at the Verge Conference earlier this year. He is a civil rights activist, author, teacher, and president of the John M. Perkins Foundation for

Dr. John Perkins

Reconciliation and Development in Jackson, Mississippi.  Growing up, he saw no relevance of the church to the issues of his day until He heard about the personal love Christ had for him.  That changed his perspective, and for the last 50 years he has been an advocate for the Church engaging in helping usher in mercy, justice, and freedom to communities where division, injustice, and oppression prevail.

His biggest challenge to those who will listen is that if we really want to see change in our communities, we must be willing to be the solution.  We must consider placing ourselves in the proximity of those problems that afflict our society.  Dr. Perkins says, “People need more than our used clothes…they need our presence.”

We are a migrant society.  We work in one area of town; we worship in another, live in yet another area of town, and do discipleship in another.  “We must decide where we are going to stay in order to build community,” Dr. Perkins says.  “God gave Himself for us that He may purchase to himself a people zealous to do good works here on this earth.  There is no separation between the social environment and our loving God.”

In Austin, the Mayor recently gave his “State of the City” address.  In it he talked about the things that are of concern to him, as a leader in the community.  He stated efforts that address education, jobs, and caring for the aging as key to our city’s continued success.  It was an invitation to be part of the solution. “What,” we must ask ourselves, “is the issue in my area of town?  How can I be a part of the solution?  What would be the critical next step?”

Pray.  Not the type of prayer that consists of telling God about all of our wants and needs, but the type of prayer that involves quietly waiting for God to speak.  As we listen to what God is telling us, we turn that into passion and courage of conviction, and we set out on the course He has given us.  Because of the price Christ paid, we, out of gratitude, become zealous for doing good works in Austin so that every man, woman, and child will have an opportunity to be set among families as they hear the simple message that God loves them and is concerned for their well-being.

In the City For the City. It’s a great, catchy phrase.  But what does it look like in the Greater Austin Metro Area?  Many Christians would say that it means doing acts of service for people who have various needs — like homelessness, hunger, and health issues.  But maybe it’s really more than that.  What if it also means that the Body of Christ is aggressively and holistically really FOR all people and their welfare and wants to extravagantly shower them with the love of Christ through relationship, prayer and service?

That is really the heart behind the recent HIV/AIDS Initiative in Austin which was spear-headed by Pastor Gaylon Clark of Greater Mt. Zion Baptist Church, and Minister Joseph Collins of the Black Faith-based Health Initiative, along with Paul Scott of the AIDS Services of Austin and Roger Temme of The Care Communities.  “This was a creative

Pastor Gaylon Clark

partnership to raise awareness of the need for HIV/AIDS testing in the Black community, and it wouldn’t have happened if Pastor Clark hadn’t stepped up as the leader and allowed open dialogue to happen and unfold,” Scott said.

Calling HIV/AIDS the leprosy of the modern world, Pastor Clark cited some very disturbing statistics:  1 out of 22 African-Americans will be diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in their lifetime; 72% of women diagnosed with HIV/AIDS are African-American; and in 2006 African-Americans accounted for 45% of new infections in the US and District of Columbia. “Last year I had a whole service devoted to preaching about HIV/AIDS and afterwards AIDS Services of Austin tested 83 people at the church. But then I began to pray about how to mobilize the city to fight this battle,” Pastor Clark said. “This year on March 7, the pastors of 15 churches committed to preach about HIV/AIDS, to give information about it using a creative element, and to encourage people in their church service to get tested for HIV/AIDS that very day at one of nine sites set up by AIDS Services of Austin. “  As a result 345 people were tested, which was the most people AIDS Services had ever tested in one day. The churches mobilized doctors and nurses from their congregations so that as many people as possible could be tested.

Looking to the future, Pastor Clark and others are planning to connect HIV/AIDS testing to a large-scale community event so more people outside the church population can be tested.  “We really want to see a Church-City-Kingdom Ecosystem for good in the Austin area,” he explained.  Included in that ecosystem vision is a prayer goal to expand the Austin initiative to seven more local churches and to find seven or eight church partners in Dallas next year. “We need to really think and pray about how we can address the raw and real realities of the city and take Jesus to places where Christians have been reluctant to go.”

Asked about his evaluation of the HIV/AIDS Initiative, Paul Scott said he was “blown away” last year when the Body of Christ gave over $31,000 for HIV/AIDS needs at the Good Friday worship service in the Long Center.  “The faith community’s involvement is both positive and critical. There are incredible benefits of this group coming forward because it helps to normalize conversations about HIV/AIDS in the city so we can more effectively eliminate barriers of prejudice, fear, and shame.”

Will you be part of the solution to this urgent need in our city? For information check out: www.thecarecommunities.org; www.asaustin.org

The Street Youth Ministry offers support to the young homeless men women, typically ages 17 – 25, on the streets of Austin.  They also provide education for community and church groups on how to understand the homeless.  Often these youth experienced conflicts at home, with many being abused.

The Street Youth Ministry is out on the streets of Austin every weekday except Tuesday, and monthly volunteer events take place one Sunday afternoon per month.  They need volunteers to make food, to participate in service projects, to organize a sock drive, and to simply become educated so that more groups can help these homeless youth.

If your church or group would like to learn more or become involved in ministering to the street teens in our city, visit www.StreetYouthblogspot.com and click “Volunteer,” or contact Terry Cole at terry.cole@gmail.com.

Click here to watch a short video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GNlgxqvreU

[1] http://austin.ynn.com/content/living/smart_living/234559/number-of-homeless-teens-increasing-in-sinking-economy

About 2400 people from the Greater Austin area and even outside the Central Texas area filled the worship center of Great Hills Baptist Church a couple of weeks ago, to join in an evening of fellowship with God through praise and prayer.  Led by Jim Cymbala, Pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York, it was a powerful time of worshipping God together in the unifying presence of the Holy Spirit.

A few leaders had these comments to say about this prayer event:

Dan Davis, Founder of ABBA, stated, “I have been praying for this for 30 years…”

Rob Harrell, Senior Pastor at First Evangelical Free Church , said,  “What we are seeing is historic.  For the first time our congregations are feeling that the pastors are together.”

Will Davis, Pastor of Austin Christian Fellowship, shared:  ”We had about 10% of area churches involved in these conferences.  We really are near the tipping point.”

Pastor Cymbala, who was invited to Austin to speak to pastors and church leaders from many denominations, graciously agreed to also offer this worship opportunity to all who wanted to come.  Speaking from Genesis 18 and 19 about the family of Lot being saved from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah through the prayers of Abraham, Cymbala reminded the audience how very important it is for Christ-followers to intercede with God for others who don’t yet have a relationship with God through Christ. At his invitation many people left their seats and moved toward the front of the church to take a stand in prayer on behalf of friends and family members who don’t yet know the love and healing power of Jesus. Quoting Genesis 18:20, which says, “And the LORD said, ‘The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave,’” he then asked the audience the question, “What kind of cry is going up from Austin to God?”

Next week is the National Day of Prayer, and there are events of prayer happening in our city to coincide with the nationwide cry http://ndpaustin.org/.  The NDP Austin website says “Prayer…America’s Hope.” The vision behind the National Day of Prayer is that Christians will mobilize to pray for “personal repentance and righteousness” in our culture.  In the book of James, it says the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.  Those who know Jesus fall under the category of “righteous people” because of His work on the cross.  If we pray for our city, for every man, woman, boy, and girl to know Christ, and we exhibit the love and kindness of Christ through our actions, we can show our neighbors something that is better than life itself!  (Psalm 63:3)

Trey Kent, Pastor of Northwest Fellowship, says our city is called to pray.  “The thing that excites me most is that pastors seem to be wrestling with DNA issues.” In other words, Kent says pastors are asking, “How does this prayer calling impact the way I pastor and the way I lead the church and change the very culture of the church?”

The needs in Austin are great.  But so is our God.  As our leaders stated above, prayer brings about fulfillment, historic events, and tipping points of something huge.  Austin…here’s your call…Pray.

Kat Cannon, Director of Women’s Ministries at First Evangelical Free Church in Austin, states she and the ladies she serves had a vision of opening their doors to other women in South Austin. As Kat began communicating with other women, it was clear that this vision was shared by many women leaders in Austin, and the Brave Conference emerged with open doors to everyone across the city.  “To heck with denominations, race, or sides of I-35,” Kat says.  The goal is to “develop unity” among brave women.

At the conference, there will be breakout sessions taught by women leaders across Austin, and keynote speaker Angela Thomas.  Women will be encouraged to host neighborhood bible studies, to connect with other women in mentoring relationships, to receive God even in our “cracks in life,” to experience living on mission in the city, and more.

In addition to hearing from, and connecting with, other women, all who attend will have the opportunity to participate in a mission project, called Project Care Case.  Suitcases filled with linens, pajamas, toiletries, and a Bible will be given to the children in foster care across the Central Texas area.  There will also be an In the City Gallery set up, where those who attend can find out about other churches, events for women around the city, bible studies available, etc.  This will set up strong connections and build unity.

To register on line, and to read more about the Brave Conference, visit www.bravewomen.org.

“God doesn’t want an echo; he wants a voice.”

This was the challenging call that Pastor Jim Cymbala of Brooklyn Tabernacle declared last week to 382 pastors and church leaders from 113 different churches in the Greater Austin Area.  For too many years we have heard the echoes of denominational walls being built from this country’s pulpits.  But now the time has come for pastors and church leaders to speak out with the unique voice God has given each of them, proclaiming one Lord, one faith, one Church, and warning that God does not like it when people try to

Jim Cymbala

divide the Body of Christ.  Reminding his audience that the Church did not meet in buildings for the first 300 years of its existence, Cymbala implored them to rediscover and get back to basics.  “The goal is not to get people in a building, but to save souls and see lives changed by the gospel.  Be radical!  Say to God, ‘If you did it for them (early Church leaders), do it for me!’”

Daniel Henderson, whom God called to use his voice to alert pastors to the significance of prayer, emphasized the necessity of having a vital culture of prayer in every church as the foundation for all ministry.  This dynamic and supernatural cooperation between believers and the Holy Spirit is truly the power source from which every aspect of ministry must flow.  He also pointed out that in Acts 6:1-7 the leaders of the early Church devoted their time to prayer and Bible study, and they empowered the Body for the work of loving and serving people. Click here to download Henderson’s “7 Truths about a Culture of Prayer.”

But how should pastors and church leaders respond to this rediscovery of their voice and mission?  John Burke, pastor of the Gateway church in Austin, encouraged them to “let go of forms of church that create barriers for unbelievers to come to Christ,” and to be in the world but not of the world just as Jesus always was.  Describing Jesus’ mission in Luke

John Burke

4:16-19, he explained that God is not against unbelievers; he is FOR them, because now is the time of grace, not judgment. He explained that the culture (environment) in a church is either its greatest ally or enemy, and he suggested that churches need to create a culture of grace-giving acceptance by 1) drawing near to and accepting unbelievers as they are to lead them to Jesus; 2) remembering that sanctification is a life-long process; 3) welcoming doubters into a culture of dialogue. “We need to see lost people reached, transformed, and becoming leaders in the church; if not, the church will die,” Burke explained. What does it take for someone come to Christ today and become a leader of the church?  “It takes one Jesus-like person who listens, serves, loves, and share his/her faith; a tribe of Christians (4-5 friends) he/she feels they can belong to; and a come-as-you-are learning space of about 6-18 months.”

God is doing something we haven’t seen before in our generation. Will you be an echo of the status quo, or will you lift your voice? Will you be willing to live on mission 24/7 to touch the lives of those in your sphere of influence?

God has solutions, and men & women are joining God in what He wants to do in the earth and here in our city.  One topic will be “What does the biblical model for healthcare look like?” with Tony Dale. Another is “The Nuts and Bolts of a Kingdom Banking System – How does it Work?” with Fulton Sheen and Carolita Oliveros.  They invite you to come and “pick their brains!”

Add in a dose of worship and ministry, and this conference will be just the “tipping point,” or that critical juncture, that defining moment, when “momentous and irreversible reactions occur.”  It’s a given that our society needs solutions, and it’s imperative that we pray for God solutions.

Here’s a few things to look forward to at the conference: fine-tuning yourself to hear God’s voice for your city, seeing what’s coming this year economically and socially, getting up to speed on issues that affect your family and employees, and experiencing favor and breakthrough in your life so that you can share that with others.  Besides all that, you will build relationships, experience awesome worship, gain spiritual strategies for success in your own sphere of influence, and open up your spiritual senses to the times and seasons in which we live.

A heavenly perspective – a fresh wind – a tipping point.  Will you go? Will you take what you receive and share it with your neighbor?

We often talk about the need to go outside our church’s physical walls to show the love of God by serving those who don’t know Him.  But what about the walls within the Church that keep the Body of Christ from being united in Him and showing love to one another?  What about walls of personal preferences in styles of praise and worship, or walls of prejudice/suspicion/discomfort arising from the different ways that other denominations or ethnicities pray because we think they are too formal, too casual, or too charismatic?

In response to these kinds of divisions within the Church, God has raised up a variety of people to begin several inter-denominational houses of prayer in the Greater Austin Area. Throughout this year Abbaconnect will introduce our readers to each of these ministries and explore the vision God has given the leadership of each one of them.  In this edition we would like to introduce you to the Austin House of Prayer (AHOP) located in northeast Austin.

The vision for AHOP came to Thomas Cogdell, AHOP’s director, in 1999 when he was

Thomas Cogdell

walking by a power plant near Town Lake. Realizing that someone had to ensure that power for the city was constantly being generated, he began to ponder how much power was missing in the Church due to a lack of consistent prayer. As a result he then committed himself to seek God’s heart for the city of Austin and its transformation.  With much encouragement and support from Hope Chapel and Dan Davis, the first AHOP leadership team and prayer meetings went into action in 2001, becoming the first house of prayer in Austin.  However AHOP readily acknowledges that there has been a long history of 24/7 prayer being held in Austin churches.  In fact, there was an order of nuns here in Austin that gave adoration and prayer for 30 years, 24 hours a day.  Interestingly, that ended just about the time AHOP was starting.   When asked how he has seen the prayer climate in Austin change since God gave him the vision for AHOP, Thomas replied, “13 years ago, mentioning the idea of united 24/7 prayer would make people’s eyes glaze over. ‘Impossible! Why would we even want to do that?’ they might respond. Now, through the work of the Holy Spirit through many, many people, pastors, and organizations, it seems that the goal of united 24/7 prayer is taken for granted as a good thing. This is a huge victory, and a monumental shift in the prayer climate in Austin.”

Describing the specific mission that God has given AHOP, staff member Joelene Michel said, “We feel called to reconciliation and unity in the Body of Christ and this has led us to desire to serve the local church in raising the level of prayer here and in pulling together the different ministries in the city to accomplish the goals of 24/7 prayer and of evangelism. We desire to learn from and to unite Christians from many streams who preach Christ crucified and member of the Trinity. We find prayer and worship the most conducive to this, as we take our eyes off of ourselves for a moment and focus on the beauty and majesty of God.”

Those interested in experiencing AHOP’s prayer times with a community of believers from various churches are welcome to attend the staff-led prayer time from 1:00-3:00pm Wednesdays or the Friday evening prayer time from 7:30-9:30pm, which combines a worship team and a prayer leader. (www.austinhouseofprayer.org)

What about you? Do you have any walls in your own heart that separate you from your brothers and sisters in Christ?  If so, perhaps coming together in prayer for the transformation of Austin could bring those walls tumbling down!

The campaign is to change 2,000 kids’ lives through child sponsorships, by raising awareness about global poverty, and by empowering folks to create a “life-changing experience” for our city.  As an individual or group, you can host a movie party with friends, showing Jamaa – an inspirational film about two Ugandan children who lose it all – yet find hope in God’s amazing love.  The goal of these movie nights is to connect people who care with children in need. You choose the date and World Vision sends you a free kit.  Sign up before May 15^th!  As a church, you can participate in Hope Sunday, where a short 10-15 minute presentation is made about child sponsorship.

Through a series of these events, an increased presence of local businesses, media reports,  and more, The Austin Campaign for Children will take place through June 1.  We have the chance to become informed and to inform others, about children living in poverty around the world, and to see how sponsorship works to change their lives by providing the basic, life-giving necessities.

While this is a moment in time opportunity, we have an ongoing opportunity to be engaged locally helping meet the needs of our local population. Whether it’s helping a kid through mentoring, feeding the homeless, or helping train people in basic job skills, the opportunities abound. We encourage you to consider how you might serve in your own backyard. If you are looking for a way to get involved, please email us at info@abbaconnect.net, and we’ll help get you connected with your passion.

Visit http://austincampaignforchildren.org/sponsorship/ to learn more about how you, your friends, and your church body can help transform our city. As it states on the website, “Austin and World Vision – together, we can change children’s lives.”