January 26, 2009 at 5:36 pm (Uncategorized)
1/25. Today I got the call. The one you dread. “L, there’s been a break in. The place has been robbed & ransacked… and it’s bad. Prepare yourself”.
When I got there the deadbolt for the cracked front door was laying on the sidewalk outside. Inside, the walls to the stations were down, & anything of value was taken that could be taken, well almost everything. The community room was trashed, the site was a mess. Knowing the cost of some of the items stolen, I knew we simply would not be replacing them.
But that’s just the 1st paragraph of this story.
When I got to that unsightly site, I was surrounded by community. When I left the site to be in the pulpit that morning, community filled 24-7 to put up her walls & clean up her isles, taking on the worst of the cleanup process. While at church, my ministry partner took pity on me, took my part in the church service that morning…and informed the community, wrapping hope around this tragedy. During worship, with face to the floor I cried but could not despair. Couldn’t shake the sense that the God I prayed to for protection of 24-7 must have something up his sleeve in all this. Before leaving church that morning to face the break in details, I was surrounded by community offering to help. When I got to the site, community met me there & worked from morning late into the night. Those who had been long time members of Renovatus, those who had been recently coming but still weren’t sure about staying at Renovatus, & those who that day had visited Renovatus for the 1st time, they were all there, getting dirty to make this place clean.
And there in those long hours, there was laughter. There were also tears & hugs, there were brainstorming sessions, & there was good coffee & rich community shared among we spent souls.
Clusters of community working well into the wee hours in tiny corners of 24-7 would occasionally be spotted taking a break & just holding each other in brief prayer. At night’s end, we all stood dog-tired around the prayer labrynth at the center of 24-7, praying & crying tears of, well… joy. Somehow God had made sense out of the chaos, & we all knew it. We all knew we had gained something that coudn’t be stolen, & something you couldn’t buy. Something we each had long been searching for & that day had been given. While we’d been working to transform the site, God was working a transformation in us. And we all knew it. When I walked into 24-7 that morning, I was cut. When I walked out of 24-7 that night, I was “my cup runneth over”.
There are still things to be done to get ready for the hundreds of people coming through the 24-7 because our Area 15 warehouse is hosting Shane Claiborne for a talk Monday night & for conversation Tuesday afternoon. But the hardest dirtiest parts are done. Whew!
Cost of motion sensor security lights, cable, & padlocks: $100
Cost of adding a security system: $500
Cost to replace personal DVD players: $250
Cost to replace personal Cd players: $100
Cost to add Gate-style storm door: $500
Cost to replace computer: $750
Cost to replace mixing board & amps: $1500
Cost of rent-a-cop to stand outside at night during upcoming 24-7prayer week:???
Cost of the amazing things that occurred that day at 24-7: Priceless.
Theme songs for the day; ’Let Go’ by Garden State.
’Let Go Now’ by Kelanie Gloeckler. And, ‘Creed’ by Rich Mulins.
To make donations of any amount Cick Here, then click on ‘Help fund 24-7′ button.
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November 20, 2008 at 5:05 pm (Uncategorized)
I am sending you the “blog” that you suggested I write. I’m not sure how this works. Do I need to leave a copy at the prayer room? I’m not sure that this is exactly what the blog is looking for. But it was good for me to write it down. It’ll help me to remember. I love you! Here ya go: I’ll be honest. Sometimes I love my volunteer time at 24/7 because it is time that I am forced to be still. Time that I am to be quiet and pensive and to reflect – which are things that are very difficult for me to do. Last Thursday night, while being one of my favorite 24/7 nights ever, was an exception to the “be still and quiet” that generally takes over for those few hours. There was more traffic then I expected on the first Thursday of the month. The last fellow to come in was with AA. He apologized for being early and asked if I’d join him in a cup of coffee. Within a few minutes we were discussing the beauty of the sacred space and how perfectly it suited AA’s needs. He added, in what seemed a defensive maneuver, that he was not a Christian and that he was gay. I felt like he wanted me to know that there were going to be boundaries in our conversation and that he didn’t want me going all religious on him. But despite our best efforts, the Lord just opened our hearts toward one another. We talked for about 30 minutes and my new friend shared the struggles he’d faced with rejection from the Christian community. He has been abused and unloved by a people that are called to heal and to love. He has had Jesus shoved down his throat by people who neither knew him, nor did they love him. He spoke these things without bitterness. He wasn’t tattling on Christians, he just didn’t want Jesus pushed on him. The Lord did not push. What He did was show up and ooze love and compassion. I wept for my new friend. I wept for God’s children and their misdirection. Father God, allowed me to speak not only for Him – but also on behalf of His sons and daughters. I was allowed the opportunity to apologize for us all – for the times we are not compassionate; for the times that we walk in judgment and condemnation; for the times that we forget that our God is Love and so should we be. When the time came for me to go and for him to set up for his meeting, we both cried. He hugged me, no not hugged – he snuggled me and told me that this was perhaps the most unexpected conversation of his life. Mine, too. But also one of the most precious. Please pray for our brothers and sisters who are using 24/7 to further their recovery. My prayer is that they recognize the “higher power” that lives in that sacred space and that we all can love their guts out.
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October 29, 2008 at 11:32 am (Uncategorized)
There’s a guy that keeps coming to 24-7 regularly in the evening. When he 1st came he unloaded his story on the person staffing that night. Rough story of a life of bad choices & tough brakes & of redempti
on & desire to rise above his past. Some staff members are uncomfortable with him, others not so much. He stops in after work & before bible study to read & meditate, he says. Sometimes if the song hits him in the right way, he stands &just sways to the music with his arms wrapped around himself. Most don’t get to see that side of him. Most see the tall dark ominous man with the face of a thousand tough stories. From the community room where I comfortably situate myself, I’ve seen him cry… & I’ve seen him laugh. Tonight we briefly talk about which translation of the Bible is better & which has the best annotations. Do Itrust him? Trust is not the question on the table. What is our role in nurturing his faith & friendship with God? That’s the only question on the table right now for this the guy. Yeah, a song is making its way in… You can hear him simultaneously crying & worshiping. Yeah, that guy. The one most people fear. 24-7 is a safe place for him too.
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October 29, 2008 at 11:26 am (Uncategorized)
Last week as I hosted the Sacred Space of 24-7, the door slowly opened and a tentative face peered in. I beckoned her to come in. She was requesting help for the many repairs that needed to be made on her home.
“What is this place?” was her inquiry.
As I explained to her that the prayer room was for everyone, for herself and all her family and friends, she asked about the cost of using the space. When I told her it was free she turned to me incredulous. You could physically see a sense of ownership come over her as she relaxed and entered further into the room with a new boldness. Her gaze first fell on our wall of God-graffiti near the door. She read each one aloud which sent gooseflesh running up and down my arms. Will I ever get used to what the Presence of God does in this Place? I hope and pray not.
As we toured the room, I explained each station but was struck by her reaction to the place set aside for our outreach to the Villa Heights neighborhood.
“That’s me! That’s my neighborhood. We need so much help. We have a drug house. That needs to be shut down. It’s not safe. The park needs to be cleaned up.”
On and on she went. The needs are so great that one feels so helpless. I felt like taking up hammer and nails and marching up to her house myself, knowing that I could not. Arthritis is taking its toll. If I could I would take these dear, sweet people under my wing and care for each and every one. But the charge given to me has been, “One at a time, Karen. One at a time. Let me love them through you.”
We move on to the “Lost and Found” wall where I help her post the names of her children and her grands. I ask her if I can pray for her. We sit down together under the names of her loved ones and join two sets of hands, one African in descent, the other European, connected by our common bond in the Savior. What beautiful things our God creates through His Son!
She promises that she will return to spend time here. I can only hope that it is true. It is difficult to let these souls placed in my charge for such a short time go back out into a world from which this special place provides small respites of peace and shelter. What a privilege to be a part of the amazing things God is doing to bring healing and wholeness to our city.
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October 29, 2008 at 11:24 am (Uncategorized)
Shawn came into the Space today. He was here when I arrived. It didn’t take too long to figure out that he was looking for someone to talk to. He is obviously homeless, unkempt and strung out. After praying together and trying to infuse him with some hope for the future, all I could do was keep the lemonade coming to quench his physical thirst and provide tissues for the tears. I point him to the One who can take his thirst away forever. It’s up to Shawn to take the needed steps out of the darkness. He has been offered life. But sometimes things look so black and bleak it doesn’t seem like there is any way out of the hole. I know. I’ve been there. Sometimes it takes a hand to reach down and yank us out into the light. I pray God provides that person. Glad today that it was me. Thank you, Jesus, for having allowed me to descend into my own personal darkness so that I might understand the reality of Shawn’s pain and despair. Rescue him as only you can. I love this job.
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October 29, 2008 at 11:23 am (Uncategorized)
Yesterday as I came out from the study station I noticed an older man sitting in “The Journey Begins”. A woman sat intent two stations away listening to the Gethsemane message on CD. They both smiled at me as I walked past, looking to see if they had any need of me.
After awhile it became apparent that the man was sleeping…was he a homeless person looking for a place to sleep one off? Do I wake him? What do I say?
I peruse his appearance: unshaven, tennis shoes without laces, the rust-colored cardigan from the station draped over himself.
The woman approaches. We share together about the Space, about her church and our apparent homeless man who just so happens to be her husband who simply fell asleep while praying in the peace of the prayer room. Oops! You know that old adage about not judging a book by its cover? I failed this one.
They speak of Haiti, their burden for the wounded island nation which remains under a relentless cloud of suffering and oppression, where our Ben and Alexis have gone to pour out their young lives on behalf of the souls that have been waiting for them there.
They hoist me up to an unadorned brick high up on the wall to memorialize their burden.
We must all pray for God to liberate this place from the darkness which holds it captive and for the workers whom he has sent into this environment of desolation, both physical and spiritual, that they will not be overpowered by what they have been sent to conquer, for our enemy does not let go so easily. His fingers must be pried off one digit at a time, one prayer at a time, one life at a time.
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October 29, 2008 at 11:21 am (Uncategorized)
Yesterday God brought Faida into the prayer room with the fall breeze. I first met her on a steamy summer day which brought her into the Sacred Space that she might escape the sweltering heat. An artist by trade, she works out of the house next door. She has a passion not only for creating beauty with her hands but with her heart as well as she seeks to bring hope and relief to our city’s homeless.
She shares with me on this day how she is up against a battle with the powers that be who stand in the way of her providing transitional housing that will assist the homeless in getting back on their feet. The facility that she is working on is not ‘up to code.’
Is a cardboard box up to code? A park bench? Under the buttresses of a bridge? Ah, but our city fathers have determined that these are too good for society’s outcasts. Human beings.
I am infuriated over a news story last night that spoke of how we can rid our city of the homeless. Wouldn’t Jesus be proud (sarcasm intended)? How many of those powers that be personages who lead our ‘fine’ city attend their antiseptic churches each Sunday and listen to the words of the Savior and yet for the sake of appearances seek to cast off our own ‘least of these?’ Just sweep them away with the messes that their living makes. They make our city look less pretty. Let’s just pretend that the pain and suffering of broken lives is not there. And that will make us all feel better. After all, then we will not have to do anything about it. Just ignore it, and maybe it will all go away. Heaven help us.
Bless you, sister Faida. God smiles on you and your work. May he work his magnificent power on your behalf
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October 29, 2008 at 11:19 am (Uncategorized)
Insanely busy day yesterday with all the God-traffic coming into the prayer room. Very satisfying. Saw some old friends and made some new ones. A young woman from the AA group took the tour and spent some time in a couple of the stations. She is hungering for God and what he has for her. It’s good to see a real live human face representing what goes on here nightly. I will no longer grumble. Eating a slice of humble pie. Tried to read my Bible but found my thoughts running all over the place. Skimming Acts 13-16, I couldn’t help but be struck by feeling as if I have stepped into the very pages before me. The stories of those who have gone before me are my story. Way cool.
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October 29, 2008 at 11:15 am (Uncategorized)
Had to make a quick run up to open 24-7 this morning. Staff did not have their key. A line of people were waiting out front to get in when I arrived. People waiting in line… I love that.
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October 29, 2008 at 11:13 am (Uncategorized)
CULTURE: Interesting day. 24-7 sacred space hosted the pentecostal intercessors. Well, actually hosting them includes hosting their culture too. And it was thick with culture. Early in the day they pretty much scared away most of the post-moderns on the other side of the wall stopping in for some down time with God. I myself had some uncomfortable moments with em, but pushed past it to see the gems in the thick of it all. 
Ya know, moving past the cultural distractions to see through to the heart of the messages. It’s interesting to see oneself & one’s city through the eyes of another culture. Today I saw some gleaming true perspectives communicated, & some glaring erroneous ones. Also gleaned some interesting things about the strengths & inherent weaknesses in only being with those most like ourselves. There have been many detailed scientific studies about how familial inbreeding often creates deformities that grow more pronounced with each new inbreeding partnership. I find that to be true in Christian culture as well. And the less connected one tribe is with other decidedly & diversely different tribes, the less likely they are to be influenced by the wider counsel of God, & the less likely they are to escape spiritual, doctrinal, & cultural deformities. As a result, that particular spiritual culture can easily & often does become less & less assessable to the ordinary Jane’s & Joes it was originally meant to help mentor & feed. The other side of the coin is a penchant to reject a vastly different spiritual culture simply because it is so much unlike our own. It is often worth it to wade through the mannerisms, style, & language barriers to apprehend the truths at the center. If we don’t, we could easily end up providing fewer & fewer on-ramps for our own tribe’s janes & joes to fully mature, to go deeper, & learn to dance comfortably out on the spiritual egdes God may wish to take them to. The main goal is Christ formed in his people. The sub-strategy is to follow where the Lord is taking your crew, stay with the focus & mandates given to your tribe, but also to be intentional about actively pursuing Godly influence from other tribes; & most importantly to maintain assessable on-ramps for ordinary janes & joes to participate, understand, & be able to practically assimilate the truths purported. The fewer the on-ramps, the greater the likelihood of deformity. The fewer the godly ecclesiastical influences, the greater the likelihood of deformity. The greater the language & spiritual-culture barriers, the fewer those able to hear & understand…The more the seed is sown… the more falls by the wayside amoung all except for the few already in the tribe.
By the wayside is no place for the truths of God.
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October 29, 2008 at 11:11 am (Uncategorized)
Good day at church. Edge of my seat listening. Afterwords, time spent with 24-7 leaders. Late afternoon time spent searching for pumpkins with my kid. Fun letting him pick out the best ones from among hundreds. He looked like Charlie Brown in the pumpkin patch. Great time carving in the funny faces, scooping out the slime, & putting in candles. Spent part of the night at 24-7 getting it ready for a group of skateboarders that came into town just to hit 24-7 & get some God-time in the sacred space. Setting up the communal confessional for them was a blast. They are gonna have a great time praying into the evening. Was glad I got to pray with them too.
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September 24, 2008 at 8:36 pm (Uncategorized)
Talked with the leader of the most prominent marketplace ministry in Charlotte. I Invited him to meet me at 24-7. He was so well spoken & carried himself so professionally & communicated his mission so splendidly. Before too long though the Presence in the prayer room began to impact him & he simply stood gripped & in tears… unable to speak. Our meeting eventually resumed & ended. But he returned to 24-7 just hours later. 24-7, born to instigate soul tsunamis between God & the objects of His passion. Stop in & get drenchedhere.
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September 24, 2008 at 8:34 pm (Uncategorized)
24-7 is closed on Sundays, but this fact fails to stop people from coming by & knocking on the door…despite the note I stick on the door saying “please Do NOT Disturb”. Sundays are the only days I can get down there & actually get some work done. Admin work. Creative work. Prayer work. About an hour into this Sunday someone walks right in. Thought I locked the front door. A Pastor & his sister drove in from Alabama & wanted to see the place. They promptly ignored the “Go Away” signals I was sending out & solicited conversation that culminated in a request for help from 24-7 for the specific type of ministry they do down in Mobile Alabama. I agreed to take a closer look & see if we could help that visionary Pastor bring some of his justice-bent dreams to fruition. He was a man’s man type, but I watched him bend to ask for help in a very authentic & humble way. It was hard to say no. Alabama, Raleigh, Rock Hill, Athens, Haiti, Luxembourg, Birmingham, Camden. As I watch God stretch this 24-7 into the nation & internations request by request, & partnership by relationship, I sit astonished in wonder at the doors that have opened before us in just a few short months. But no door has filled me with such raw uncensored joy as the door opened to me personally by the local Renovatus. With a simple offered “yes” thrown their way, my long-pioneering sober brow gives way to laughter lines. P.S. Just called & said yes to the AA group that asked if they could meet at 24-7 nightly. When I said yes to them, their leader started an inpromtu worship set over the phone. I can see that he carries his group the way I carry 24-7 & Renovatus. So with less than enough money in the bank to cover 24-7 rent, we take another leap of faith. Only this one catches us already limber & happily stretching across the distance with a well tested God-trust untroubled by the need. A giggle ensues.
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September 24, 2008 at 8:34 pm (Uncategorized)
spent part of the day sitting in the hot sun with a friend of mine who is a homeless guy just outta jail. as we sit outside 24-7, people drive by & give him a dirty or suspicious look. he returns their disdain with a cold stare. i give him some water & comment that the shoes we gave him look good on his feet. he commences to talk to me about his time inside & outside. we talked like friends do. he gives me a window into life on charlotte streets & explained how he got his black eye. the whole time he’s talking i’m distracted by glimpses into his calling. it’s a thing of beauty even though his lifestyle is presently a thing of ugliness. his hair is matted & he wears his shirt unbuttoned, but he washed before he came to hang out with me. he, an atheist, came to ask for a word from God from me… and i’ve got one. our talk in the heat of the day was one of the highlights of my day. it fits my definition of mission & meaning & quality of life. that he shares his life with me, this, this i find fulfilling. it increases my own life in some way
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September 24, 2008 at 8:33 pm (Uncategorized)
Tonight 24-7 is hosting a college aged & young adult group called “Dust”. Facilitated by Teddy & Krystle, the group’s fearless leaders, there will be live worship by Sarah Deshields, prayer, & a time of prophetic ministry by 24-7 leaders. Starts at 7:30pm. It’s gonna be…good. Dust will meet 7pm every Tuesday evening at 24-7. Put it on your calenders. It’s gonna be a wild, fun, apprenticing, crazy Christ-forming ride!
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September 24, 2008 at 8:32 pm (Uncategorized)
Where this 24-7 is taking prayer next
as we experiment with creativity in & as prayer.
Your personal code is: ab2c47
Wanna come too?
Lose the box & make contact.
charlotte24-7@hotmail.com
We’ll call it Rhythm City Prayer.
It will be a monthly prayer vigil with a wildly urban twist
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September 24, 2008 at 8:32 pm (Uncategorized)
Renovatus. Surrounded by her elders & Lead Pastor & some of my 24-7 Leaders, I & my family were prayed for & prophesied over & blessed.
After service, the 24-7 crew & the Athens crew that had driven down to hang with us all went to have lunch, & then headed over to 24-7 to talk & pray. It was a great time of community, storytelling, mission-meshing, prophetic ministry, & input. We came away as family & servant-partners. We came away with love for that Athens crew who are about to embark on a justice-journey & Boiler Room type plant in a poor area of Athens. There were tears & hugs & goodbyes that lingered. When I finally made it home, our chef roommate made dinner for us & we ate, talked, & made mmmmmm noises throughout. Afterwords, I spent a chunk of time with just my boy & I. Playing games, hanging out at the park, playing with markers, & laughing like pals.
Now I sit here at Starbucks writing out these thoughts, trying to decompress from the day’s events. Tomorrow… we hit the ground running. Leaving no stone unturned in due diligence to discover & do God’s will for Renovatus & for 24-7.
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September 24, 2008 at 8:30 pm (Uncategorized)
~Just left the prayer room. A couple of new people came in & God accosted them as soon as they 
arrived. Standing there in tears they just read the walls awhile & then sheepishly made there way deeper into the space. After awhile I walked over & offered to give them a tour. As I did they wept. After we shared some brief talk time together, throughout which they wept, I left them alone with God in the sacred space. They are the object of His passion, & I could see He was eager to be alone with them there.
Connected with the LifePoint Pastors again today. Fixed a late August time frame to take the next step of vision cast among all their small group leaders. Looking forward to it. Still thinking of Renovatus daily.Thinking & planning for her. Praying & pursuing God on her behalf. Feels as natural as breathing. Took note today that we’ve recently had new people joining some area of 24-7 every day, literally. What’s up with that? Had coffee with an acquaintance of mine this morning who is a professional consultant for many companies across the city. He’s coming on board at 24-7 to overview & help organize. Easy to be with. Easy to glean from. Looking forward to having his input at our weekly review meetings. I dig his 
stories of traveling through Haiti, France, & Canada being taken before kings & princes to deliver the word of the Lord. My kinda guy! P.S. I put the award Brian presented 24-7 with in a frame on my desk. Not sure why. Just wanted something to remind me of our last time in person together he, Grace, & I.
Stopped back by the prayer room around 9pm tonight. Wanted to make sure all was well. Walked in on a well worn sacred space. Purses on floors by chairs, bibles open here & there, cowboy boots in the middle of the floor, people coming in & out of stations …weeping. Some tears of joy. Some tears of repentance. I invited the new-staffers to stay late so 24-7 could facilitate what God was doing in the hearts of those individuals spread out over the site. OK by them, as they were being shifted & shaken by God’s moving same as others in the room. Great God. Good day.
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September 24, 2008 at 8:29 pm (Uncategorized)
To
listen,
click
Here
.
.
love it? hate it?
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September 24, 2008 at 8:29 pm (Uncategorized)
Got a crew coming in from The U.K. tonight to relationship build & dig further down into the mission, vision, & values dialog as they make plans to split their time between the two nations & help lead this 24-7. Will be a full house at 24-7 most nights this week with small groups, urban intersect meetings, Justice Project interns, & community time with the out of towners. Looking forward to the up time & the down time.
P.S. Been praying for Todd like it’s going outta style, & been working the details to make sure this next push with the NLC, The Gathering, & LifePointe small groups impacts big. It’s gonna be great! Just got confirmation that Shane Claiborne,the author of Irrisitable Revolution, is coming to 24-7 in January. Much to do to ready the Justice Project volunteers & help Carlos ready Area 15 for that.
One the 24-7 Staff members has just started a new Blog. Check it out Here
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September 24, 2008 at 8:27 pm (Uncategorized)
spent time this morning with a guy who tried to kill himself a few days prior. knew when i saw him that he was in trouble. listened to his stories of attempted suicide & about the people he wanted to gun down because they hurt him in some way. he was no murderer, but he was grieivng & broken. i prayed with him, but the real power was in the touch. i held him. and he held me back – tight – as if holding on for dear life.
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September 24, 2008 at 8:27 pm (Uncategorized)
It’s around 7am & I’m just back from 24-7 where about 40 people were waiting for me to open up the site. The entire street leading up to it was wall to wall cars & vans & cycles, as today marks the 1st day of filming. Hope all goes well as 24-7 makes her way onto the big screen as a part of a larger story of racial reconciliation & redemption. Meanwhile, I’m off to pack for a much needed vacation – just my boy & I. P.S. Odd Sunday. Wasn’t sure were to be.
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September 4, 2008 at 11:18 am (Uncategorized)
Journal entries from the 24-7Prayer week we just concluded: Here
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September 4, 2008 at 11:15 am (Uncategorized)
Really good day. Was in a room partying with a group of African-Americans this morning. Followed by time with the 24-7prayer team prepping to present 24-7prayer to a congregation on Sunday. Had a sweaty but fun time as we worked through the details & were joined by a group of Middle-Easterns who asked us to help them plant a 24-7Prayer room in Raleigh, & so graciously offered to help our team finish the 6 foot sign up sheet project we were working on when they came in. We were all sweaty & laughing, & worshipping, & joking about whether or not the O.T. preists whose job it was to kill & cut the sacrifice during holy weeks actually felt ‘holy’ during those sweaty, physically exacerbating, & strenuous times spent covered in blood & surrounded by the smell of disemboweled animals. The cool part of today… Jax alongside me the whole day. Eating cake. Playing with his train set. Coloring alongside the 24-7prayer team. Then just him & me grabbing dinner & coming home to hang out with pop. A good day. Will be up at dawn’s crack doing, well, ya know. Life pace will be insane next week… and then Prayer week begins.
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September 4, 2008 at 11:14 am (Uncategorized)
more than i want my life, i want Yours.
more than i want provision for my journey,
i want the Instigator of it.
more than i want Your solutions,
i want Your heart.
more than i want something f-r-o-m You,
i want something w-i-t-h You.
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September 4, 2008 at 11:14 am (Uncategorized)
Filled in for a staff member at 24-7 last night from 7-9. Good to hang out there knocking out work & prayer. Slow night. Just a handful of mostly 1st timers trickled in one at a time here & there. Each dived right in with God after walking sheepishly through the site & then landing each in their own perfect spot. Stayed open well past 9 to accommodate the two or three who lingered before God before heading home. Saw one of them at 24-7 again when I stopped by today. She was so happy to have found a place to hang out & get with God. Was also introduced to Naeem, who had settled into the most comfortable chair at 24-7 & looked like he was knocking out some sermon prep. After a brief chat, we agreed to connect & talk further about what it could look like if Mosaic, the church he Pastors, were to sign on with 24-7″s The Justice Project.
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September 4, 2008 at 11:12 am (Uncategorized)
It’s around 7am & I’m just back from 24-7 where about 40 people were waiting for me to open up the site. The entire street leading up to it was wall to wall cars & vans & cycles, as today marks the 1st day of filming. Hope all goes well as 24-7 makes her way onto the big screen as a part of a larger story of racial reconciliation & redemption.
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September 4, 2008 at 11:11 am (Uncategorized)
Soak
+ + +
Before God
for
One Hour
with
One Text
It’s Coming…Soak: 40 days saturating in God’s word@24-7+ each week learning & practicing intensely creative ancient & modern ways to meditate & immerse + Soak: Spiritual disciplines for people who live in the real world.
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September 4, 2008 at 11:11 am (Uncategorized)
The prayer room is starting to fill up with businessmen, & real estate developers, general contractors, specialized construction workers, & people of all kinds in between that have been summoned to a meeting about urban intersection & social justice. For many it’s the first time in the prayer room. The night could be a powerful one as vision is casted & reshaped to reflect the various passions of those in the room who came to see if they can make a positive difference in the transitional neighborhood of Villa Heights where The Justice Project is serving in. No certainty meetings like this will result in real impact, but the effort is worth the possible rewards that could come from it. Already in this pre-meeting banter men & women are asking each other questions about spirituality. The environment at 24-7 pulls conversation like that out of people. Very respectfully as they wait for the mtg to begin they talk about their irreligious or religious backgrounds… one thing they each have in common…they all speak about the peace or presence they feel in the space they are standing in. I chat with one gal who says she is not religious but feels something here she’d want to come back to experience regularly. During & after this urban intercect meeting, held in the corporate gathering space behind 24-7, the prayer room began to fill up with a small group connecting & praying, & stray individuals stopping by to duck into the surrender booth or hang out on the couches to getting some reading done. Man, I love this place what we get to do here.
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September 4, 2008 at 11:10 am (Uncategorized)
long day interviewing roommates; from an FBI agent, to college students, to a Lebanese chef, an accountant, & a texan. whew! Also spent a chunk of time working on justice stuff, working on the home-front, & swinging by the site to make sure all things were ready for the groups that will hang out there tonight. got a staff captain that just keeps impressing me with her heart. she meticulously tends to the staff calender, but more so she cares for the staff themselves. she looks after them, prays with them, cares for them. and they respond to her by happily going the second mile in staffing. i’ve never see the staff work so hard or be so happy about it. i too find myself hanging out longer at 24-7 sometimes, just to be with her. i enjoy her company just that much. check out her blog here
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August 11, 2008 at 7:41 pm (Uncategorized)
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went to bed at 6:30pm this evening. woke up at midnight. ready for the new day. the week leading up to 24-7prayer is grueling & requires a lot of myself & the whole team. Like with those priests who had to carry the ark from Obed-Edom’s house back to their’s, it’s a focused, detail oriented, sweaty, rigorous time body & soul. same goal though… seeking out & bringing together the God-symbols & insprired accoutrements, praying & worshiping & sacrificing along the way, so that God’s own manifested presence is powerfully hosted in one specific set apart place in ways that hugely impact the people we wish to see Him manifest himself to. Hosting the encounter between God & the objects of His passion…the amazing 24-7prayer team.
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August 11, 2008 at 7:40 pm (Uncategorized)
Really good day. Time with the 24-7prayer team prepping to present 24-7prayer to a congregation on Sunday. Had a sweaty but fun time as we worked through the details & were joined by a group of Middle-Easterns who asked us to help them plant a 24-7Prayer room in Raleigh, & so graciously offered to help our team finish the 6 foot sign up sheet project we were working on when they came in. We were all sweaty & laughing, & worshipping, & joking about whether or not the O.T. preists whose job it was to kill & cut the sacrifice during holy weeks actually felt ‘holy’ during those sweaty, physically exacerbating, & strenuous times spent covered in blood & surrounded by the smell of disemboweled animals. The cool part of today… Jax, my son, alongside me the whole day. Eating cake. Playing with his train set. Coloring alongside the 24-7prayer team. Then just him & me grabbing dinner & coming home to hang out with pop. A good day. Will be up at dawn’s crack doing, well, ya know. Life pace will be insane next week… and then Prayer week begins. And then Jaxon & I are headed to the beach, just the two of us for a whole week. Can hardly wait to spend my days feasting on seafood & McDonalds, losing at monopoly, & playing in the ocean, just my boy & I. P.S. Thanks for a racially integrated day. Really needed that Dad. Thanks so much.
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August 11, 2008 at 7:39 pm (Uncategorized)
Within a 7 day period we were officially asked to help plant 24-7prayer rooms in both Raleigh & Winston Salem. I’ve aways known I had about a dozen 24-7sacred spaces in me. Good to finally get news on the conception of baby 2 & 3.
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August 11, 2008 at 7:37 pm (Uncategorized)
Drinking from the well the water that makes men thirsty no more. And though still under renovation, my soul’s chief desire has been satisfied in You, my one thing. Now I drink & drink again not out of thirst but out of addiction for the taste of your heart mingled with mine.
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August 11, 2008 at 7:36 pm (Uncategorized)
Over 200 passed through 24-7 last weekend. Whew!
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August 11, 2008 at 7:35 pm (Uncategorized)
Incredibly grueling & good day. Turns out grueling & good are not mutually exclusive. Up with the fam most 
of the night due to a power outage around 10:30 resulting from a car crash up the street. Kid screaming out in the dark, calling out for me to come. Later that morning I met with a lot of different people. Mentored church leadership, assigned God-Cafe & Social Justice Film Night leadership to a 24-7 volunteer, vision casted with a new church partnering with 24-7, initiate conversation to hand off Justice Project’s Mini-Extreme Home Makeover Team to an able & amiable woman who would lead it well, if she accepts the position. Also had an altercation with a sexual predator & ended up calling the police. Felt a wide range of things today that my face did not reflect; courage, wisdom, excitement, and even moments of exasperation. My best moment? Listening to Karen confess that she prays for me everyday.. My worst moment? Realizing I had missed an opportunity to hang out with Tim. I think he may require groveling in order to give me another coffee date. For 24-7 the day was top-heavy with various Pastors hanging out at the site throughout the day & evening. Go figure. Here working at Caribou, finalizing details for a Justice Project, I had something really good & freeing happen. What a great end to a good day.
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August 11, 2008 at 7:34 pm (Uncategorized)
Recently, our Charlotte 24-7 Prayer room is filled with young people most every night now. Staff having to stay sometimes past 10pm so as not to interrupt what God is doing in those young hearts sprawled out in personal prayer. There’s no sermon, except the one God is preaching uniquely to each heart. There’s no worship band, except the best the world has to offer in worship music wafting out of the ipod hooked up to the stereo, which is helping to set the stage for the divine romance filling the spaces with the sound of faces on floor, & paces on the floor, & prayer ascending. Yeah, hosting the encounter between God & man,,, this is why we exist.
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June 18, 2008 at 2:38 pm (Uncategorized)
The
Lord
said,
“Seek My face.”
And
I
said,
“Thy face will I seek”.
-Psalms
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June 18, 2008 at 2:37 pm (Uncategorized)
Another busy night at the prayer room. When I walked in around 8ish tonight there were people praying, chilling on couches reading, filling almost every station, headphones on checking out the videos, pacing the paper prayer path, a worship band sitting in the back space interceding, their instruments all scattered at around their feet. Tomorrow is Friday & my in-box is spilling over with To-Do stuff. Saturday got people coming in from out of town to spend time at 24-7. Will try to make some time to connect with them while still managing the Justice Project teams that hit the streets every weekend. Busy next few days that will give way to a slower next week more focused on vision casting in the city.
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June 18, 2008 at 2:35 pm (Uncategorized)
Our Charotte 24-7 Prayer room is filled with young people most every night now. Staff having to stay sometimes past 10pm so as not to interrupt what God is doing in those young hearts sprawled out in personal prayer. There’s no sermon, except the one God is preaching uniquely to each heart. There’s no worship band, except the best the world has to offer in worship music wafting out of the ipod hooked up to the stereo, which is helping to set the stage for the divine romance filling the spaces with the sound of faces on floor, & paces on the floor, & prayer ascending. Yeah, hosting the encounter between God & man,,, this is why we exist.
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June 18, 2008 at 2:35 pm (Uncategorized)
Just back from the VH community org meeting. Gave their leaders the debrief of all the Justice Project has accomplished so far. Seemed like a lot looking at all listed on one sheet of paper. 157 hours of prayer. 125.7 man hours on the street, & we are only three months in. Whew! What a mad mission. What a wild ride so far. +Crazy busy in the prayer room tonight as 24-7 hosted various groups which filled every conceivable sit-space with bodies in community hatching ideas, making plans, sharing life-stories & even sharing struggles. Good use of the rooms tonight, small groups-o-rama
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May 30, 2008 at 5:58 pm (Uncategorized)
Had a really good time at the 24-7 prayer national gathering last weekend. God gave us great favor & one on one time with the National leadership of the prayer movement, and we now move forward in what God has called us to do, with their blessing. Also met some wonderful people there. Some of whom will likely be coming to intern at Charlotte24-7. Btw, big shout out to the weekend interns on loan to us from ZHOP. And big shout out to all those who participated in the impromptu prayer meeting in our cabin at the 24-7National gathering. 3 hours long, but every minute full. While at the 24-7 gathering, God spoke with great clarity about our next steps as a prayer room, as a growing lead team with a footprint in several nations, & on becoming a millennial monastery taking on national & international interns in the context of a community practicing the rhythms of prayer, mission & justice. I & others on the lead team are looking forward to helping equip urban missionaries/punk monks to adore God, walk in His life, & fulfill their callings. At the prayer room God is still accosting people & bringing them into His presence. That has been consistent & sure. The discipleships I have with city Pastors are all going well. And the only thing that’s low here presently is our bank account. We’ll get through it ok though. Somehow always do. Had a conversation with an acquaintance yesterday with connections in Haiti. Talked about birthing a 24-7prayer room in Haiti. One with an emphasis on prayer, justice, & equipping/maturing its young Pastors. It could be run by the local 20somethings, but eqquipping-resourced by some of the best teachers from acorss the nations. Crazy! We’ll see what God does among friends scheming & dreaming crazy dreams.
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May 30, 2008 at 5:55 pm (Uncategorized)
I’m at the prayer room. The garage door is open & it’s Saturday. Saturday’s are pretty busy here. People 
coming to check out 24-7 sacred space for the 1st time. Praying thru the stations. People coming in & out with 24-7 Justice Project teams serving in a nearby inner-city hood. Teens, adults, kids, it’s all here on Saturdays. There’s prayer & last minute info gathering. There’s telling them the story of the person or family a team is about to go serve. There’s getting ready for the afternoon teams, once the morning teams have hit the streets. Oh…and there’s good coffee. A team from Winston-Salem is riding up today to check out the prayer room & see how they can reproduce it where they live. There’s hustle & bustle followed by periods of quiet & stillness at 24-7 on Saturdays. Yeah, I love Saturdays at the site best.
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February 10, 2008 at 12:01 am (Uncategorized)
“You entered knowing your purpose like a thief in the night. Jimmied my lock. Set me free. Held me close. Forever north, crying freedom, I run unshackled.” -written on the wall of 24-7
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February 7, 2008 at 2:15 am (Uncategorized)
I’m here in the prayer room just back from an impromtu prayer meeting between myself & an individual that came in asking for prayer. It’s kinda amazing when someone, anyone, sits & unfolds their life in present storylines & talk of trials & lunges at righteousness. Sitting there listening to this person’s tales, I felt pretty lucky to be in that spot. Serving God with two listening ears & my longwinded prayers that invite God’s participation in untying the knots in this person’s life. Long after we’ve finished praying together, the person hangs out in the prayer room talking to God, listening, unwinding, thinking things through. It’s a beautiful, messy, stunning sight. And I’ve been honored to see it.
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January 30, 2008 at 11:51 pm (Uncategorized)
I’m sitting in a back corner of
the prayer room tonight. There’s a guy In the community room catching up on some emails. He likes to spend his down time here, even when he’s not specifically praying. A couple of teenagers come in, one showing the other what’s here. Another person stumbles in shortly after. Makes his way round the room. I check in with him briefly to let him know there’s coffee to be had & that I’m here if he had any questions or needed prayer. He pauses & begins to tell me his story. It’s the story of him & the church he helps lead. He talks of their hunger to pray & their lack of it in the now. The whole time looking at him I can feel his need & his burden to become a man of prayer. God’s been busy to make that hunger happen. It’s not really prayer he’s after. That’s just a means to an end. What his heart is really crying out for is more of God. God closer, much closer… and also more answers showing up when he makes the big ask for things he & his community needs from God. Intimacy & efficacy… Yeah…we can help with that. He hangs out a bit longer praying, then heads out to make it to his bible study on time. I head back to my desk, check my emails… Got a message from the Lead Pastor of that guy’s church. An email asking 24-7 for help cultivating prayer in their community. Yeah, we can help with that. God on the move….
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January 6, 2008 at 5:53 pm (Uncategorized)
Had a really good God-Cafe at 24-7 last night. The room filled with the sounds of people connecting & sharing stories. At the couches sat with a bunch of people talking about African/Sudan justice initiatives. At the big table a group gathered & expressed themselves through drawing & a lot of laughter. One drawing they created was of Christ. It was so stunningly piercing that I asked if it could be on loan to 24-7 for a month. Had to talk slow,as some at that table did not speak English well. A culturally diverse night. But the best part of the night for me was the guy playing the acoustic guitar. The songs & melodies under girded all the conversations. Thanx Jere! At the end of the night a group of us prayed for each other, for Africa, & for justice around the world. The couple that hung around afterwords, signed on to join this 24-7, helping to staff, administrate, & serve in the prayer room & with the stuff leading up to the EMC gathering we’re helping to host. They are headed to Hatti in a month as Mennonite missionaries. Yeah…There was alot of spiritual diversity there that night… from Seventh Day Adventist, Mennonites, Baptists, Emergents, Charismatics, to the spiritually curious…. I dig that. God-Cafe 1st Friday of every month 5:30-10pm. Stop by for the next one.
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November 23, 2007 at 4:13 pm (Uncategorized)
Thanks to a donation from here, I was able to put a dvd player in the Isaiah 58 prayer station with a dvd about the world’s statistics on poverty. The thing that caught my attention in 24-7 today was watching a homeless person watch that dvd. I’d never seen anyone that transfixed by a single video. Instead of coming out of it with a sense of entitlement of what others owe him in help & support, he came out wanting to do more for those far more poor than he himself. Today, that homeless guy encountered the word of the Lord in that I58 booth. But he himself was was the word of the Lord to me. At 24-7, the homless & businessman & anglican preist, & the artists, they all come with the same need to seek & hear from God. And God delivers.
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November 20, 2007 at 1:58 pm (Uncategorized)
okay, here goes:
it was my first experience in a 24-7 prayer room and i felt truly blessed to be there. I thought i might have trouble finding it, but it turned out not to be so difficult. i knocked on the door, but no one answered so i opened it and slipped inside. i was first struck by the darkness, it was almost eerie, but in a good way. i scanned the front desk and then made my way into the heart of the room. at the time i was reading velvet elvis and in the book he asked the question “have you ever been in a place where you felt you ought to remove your shoes because you sensed you were on holy ground?” i’d never had an experience of that sorts until this moment. i slipped off my sandals near the footprints on the cement. i turned circles for a minute and ended up in the lost and found. i wrote down the names that were in my head and glanced over at the help desk. what wonderful names! i walked over and stood on the couch, stared hard at the world map. i have felt a strong desire to go to london, and an even stronger desire to be of help to africa. i had been trying to figure out where God was leading me. i ran my hand over much of the world. “Lord, should i go to Africa?” i stumbled. i had meant to say london. i think visited most of the “stations” while i was there. i sat a chair at one point, put my feet up and felt this indescribable peace. i drew a fairly bad picture at the table. i scribbled a prayer into a notebook at one of the desks. i listened to the nooma video “rain,” and as it was ending i glanced over the the wall adjacent to the tv screen. in bold letters a question, “what’s you’re biggest fear?” without a breath it hit me. i read further. “take a slip of paper, jot down your fears and place them at the feet of Jesus.” i did. i sat down in front of the painting on the hard wooden chair, i let the paper slip out of my hand. at this point i was sobbing, and it felt so good. i sat there for a long time, then, slowly i made my way back to the lost and found, keeping the promise i made when i wrote down my own names. by now there was another body there and i felt it was time for me to go. i thought the light out side would jar my system but it wasn’t so bad. i felt energized and excited and contemplative and ready. well, i guess this a bit long, but this is how it was for me. thank you so much for all that you guys do!Brandy
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November 19, 2007 at 1:30 pm (Uncategorized)
Hey,
Just wanted to let you know that I visited the Prayer Room about 3 weeks ago and it has been on my mind since! I had been feeling over that last while that something was missing from my life, but I really didnt know what. I have several friends, a decent job, you know, things are going ok, but something was missing. I grew up in Church, attending off and on, but in the last 2-3 years had kinda gotten a little disillusioned with it. Anyway, without getting into all of that, I heard about this Prayer Room in Charlotte and checked out the website. I liked what I was reading and decided to stop by. I stopped by one Saturday afternoon around 3:00, no one was there except for Jere, tending the site. I was rather nervous as I didn’t know exactly what to expect, but as soon as I walked in, I felt comforted. Jere showed me around the Room and as he did this, in the most reverant place that I have ever been, I could feel the presence of Christ!! No more nervous, no more feeling wierd going into a new place, only the feeling of peace! We prayed just b4 I left and I felt comforted that I had connected with God and that I had a new purpose in life! Please let me know what it is that I can do to help you guys keep up this work, God’ work!! I am ready and willing! Thanks so much for what you are doing!! -B.
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November 18, 2007 at 8:37 pm (Uncategorized)
Just out of a Justice Project Team meeting prepping the teams that will be on the streets today serving the inner-city neighborhood we’ve adopted. The community room was packed. I talked through I58 & about serving with hands a-n-d- hearts. Some cried. Hope that was a good sign. Most had never been to the 24-7prayerroom, so there was some hang out time on the front end as well as casual conversation about 24-7, prayer, & ways to do mercy justice with the 300 volunteers from NLchurch small groups in addition to the other J.P.volunteers. A certain NL small group pre-commited Feb-April to meet at the site every weekend for justice related conversation & to tackle some smaller service projects weekly after each talk. Discuss then do; a great apprenticing model. There’s plenty for them to do. Oddly, a lot of stray people stopped in 24-7 seeing the door open. Seriously, about 15 individuals stopped in thinking we were open on Sundays now. Of course we’d love to be open more hours, but need more people to volunteer to staff so we can increase hours open. So….if anyone wants to offer to staff a few Saturdays between 4-9pm or especially any time on Sundays between 2 -6pm contact: www.charlotte24-7@hotmail.com
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November 15, 2007 at 10:25 pm (Uncategorized)
It was here when I opened the site this morning. It was still here when I got back to the prayer room early evening… The manifest presence of God turned up a notch. Tangible, oh yeah. When I came to open up the site for the evening someone had been waiting outside to get into the prayer room. They knew we re-open every evening at 5pm. Still they came early to be the first one in the space tonight. Hopped on a bus, headed on over & stood out in the cold for a bit. Guess they thought it worth the wait… Standing here in the space now, I think they are right. You, well, you just gotta come see it for yourself. If you can, get down here tonight Nov15th or Friday 16. God is clearly up to something. Yeah, get down here, find a spot off to yourself alone or sit in the middle of the room & see for yourself why everyone is praying.
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October 9, 2007 at 2:43 am (Uncategorized)
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October 9, 2007 at 2:32 am (Uncategorized)
after a great evening of God-Cafe with its subversive agenda to apprentice the ordinary joe in
the ways of social justice, i am now in bed tapping out these rhythms of words becoming sentences becoming thoughts. my mind is racing back to the stories of individuals i met tonight who spoke of how God touched & transformed them there in the prayer room. some that very night. while the crowds chatted filling the room with noise, somewhere in a back booths God’s Spirit was on the move in human hearts. God was also on the move in the chatty conversations too. the kind that, no matter the topic, makes you feel a part & a sense of belonging, as through the chatter the circle opens up to invite you into that elusive thing called community. also find myself thinking about the great shift at 24-7 & in myself concerning her. seeing her place in God’s destiny for the city. watching how others respond to this shift unfolding. unfolding in this place. a disconnected string of thoughts, i know. it’s around 2am. headed to sleep.
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October 7, 2007 at 2:24 pm (Uncategorized)
WE ARE ALL THIS… AND MORE.
we are sinners… we are not only sinners
we are weak… we are not only weak
we fail… we are not always failures
we have destroyed… also we have loved
you, God, do not limit us to the stories by which the world knows us. you see much more in us than the labels we give ourselves. give us courage to defy all expectations – especially our own – and in your love become all of who we are.
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October 7, 2007 at 2:08 pm (Uncategorized)
-The wonderful “disturbance” of the day - deep into my net research a woman came in to 24-7 & asked, “Are you guys the justice people?” “Yes”, I responded. She began to tell me of how her building was built in 1939 & how she loved the brick & all that the landlord had done to preserve the structure. She then asked if the JP could help with some landscaping – “Some things in this neighborhood can be bad & I just want some “umpf” around the building.” I told her I’d pass her info on to our JP captain who would contact her. She then began to inch her way inside the prayer room with her daughter saying, “I’ve got religious hang-ups, but I want a space to be with God…& this is a healing space, I can feel it.” Her daughter just kept saying, “It’s so pretty, Mommie.” “I’ll definately be back, this is my kinda space,” she closed with. -CG
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October 7, 2007 at 1:17 pm (Uncategorized)
When C
ortez landed at Vera Cruz in 1519
to begin his dramatic conquest of Mexico
with a pint-sized force of 700 men,
he purposely set fire to his fleet of eleven ships.
His men on the shore watched their only means of retreat
sinking to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.
With no means of retreat,
there was only one direction in which to move…Forward.
Wanna walk close with Christ on the narrow road?
Sometimes in order to go further than the shoreline
& get deep into the interior of this great adventure
You first must burn all your ships.
…Got a match?
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October 7, 2007 at 1:17 pm (Uncategorized)
The Call?
“Follow Me”
-Jesus
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October 7, 2007 at 1:16 pm (tales from the prayer room)
After my early morning liturgy, & helping out a friend just outta jail, I went to 24-7 this morning & asked a staff intercessor if she’d been hearing anything from God for 24-7 recently. Told her nothing of my present conundrum. She then sat down & began recounting tale after
tale of authentic God encounters by those who have visited the prayer room during her shift in just the last few weeks. Talked about those who kept returning & why they had been calling their out of town relatives and asking them to take a trip to this prayer room. I then told her about a puzzling prophetic word someone had recently given me. She was at no loss for a response. Still… I kept surrendering 24-7. Ya know, laying it down. Made it back to the site in the afternoon. Felt like I was getting reintroduced to what had been created. And it was good. I walked in saying, “Wow!, Hi Dad”. I confess, today has been a really interesting day. Acclimated the new staff administrator to her new job, went & spent some time with a friend of mine who is a Benedictine monk, & then stood at the bus stop eagerly awaiting my son’s return home from school. I’m at the back end of our play time & am now headed into some house cleaning. Yeah, I dig this life. It definatly keeps you on your toes
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October 7, 2007 at 1:15 pm (Uncategorized)
24-7 was abuzz this evening. almost like a good party. conversation, artists, friends, good coffee, & people talking to God. i only stopped in to bring everybody starbucks, but i confess, i wanted to stay longer than i did. i sat on the couch in the photo & was in great dialogue with someone asking to oversee God-Cafe, the friday night thing we’ve done at 24-7. God-Cafe is caffeine & mission: we turn 24-7 into a big coffeehouse filled with acoustic worship, justice poetry, friends hanging out together, & at the end of the night, some rapid fire prayer. we send the proceeds to an african orphanage.
wanna see more photos of the 24-7 prayer room? Click Here. they are on our new myspace page. no wide shots, though. so no sense of the size, scale, & number of stations in the space. we’re taking some wide shots this week
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October 7, 2007 at 1:15 pm (Uncategorized)
Just back from our Justice Project Back To School Event, which came at the end of a 24-2prayer weekend that began Friday at 9am & ended today at 9am. Justice Project, volunteers saw to it that every needy pre- K, elementary, middle, & high school kid in the marginalized inner-city neighborhood of Optimist Park, had all the required school supplies they needed, including some of the coolest looking back packs I’ve ever seen. We fed them, gave them cold drinks, & lots of water balloons & balls to keep em connecting out on Duncan Memorial’s lawn. Parents chatted. Youth ate. Kids played kickball. A little over a hundred all in all. My favorite part, besides the supply give away? Getting to pray for all of them. Check out our new 24-7 Justice video.
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October 7, 2007 at 1:14 pm (Uncategorized)
spent part of the day sitting in the hot sun with a friend of mine who is a homeless guy just outta jail. as we sit outside 24-7, people drive by & give him a dirty or suspicious look. he returns their disdain with a cold stare. i give him some water & comment that the shoes we gave him look good on his feet. he commences to talk to me about his time inside & outside. we talked like friends do. he gives me a window into life on charlotte streets & explained how he got his black eye. the whole time he’s talking i’m distracted by glimpses into his calling. it’s a thing of beauty even though his lifestyle is presently a thing of ugliness. his hair is matted & he wears his shirt unbuttoned, but he washed before he came to hang out with me. he, an atheist, came to ask for a word from God from me… and i’ve got one. our talk in the heat of the day was one of the highlights of my day. it fits my definition of mission & meaning & quality of life. that he shares his life with me, this, this i find fulfilling. it increases my own life in some way.
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October 7, 2007 at 1:13 pm (Uncategorized)
We called it The Justice Project Crime Prevention 
Weekend. Peepholes & deadbolts, & smoke alarms, & fire alarms installed, & newscrews, & firemen, & policemen & the Justice Project volunteers that came prepared to serve. I sit in 24-7 tonight, still exhuasted from a morning of serving justice & talking justice, & leaning in to listen & pray with ex-convicts & with the ex-apathetics now experiencing the awakening that comes from serving them… Also praying for my primal friend, whose journey though long ago started is in some ways just beginning. May God draw J. to His side that they may now run together. I’m looking ahead to a week preparing for a 24-2 weekend of nonstop prayer at the site, preparing for the new addition of 150 more volunteers to The Justice Project, & assembling the state of the union 24-7newsletter letting the community know about our upcoming year of instigating & facilitating 24-7prayer among the city’s churches & college campuses. God is on the move… and we are too
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October 7, 2007 at 1:11 pm (Uncategorized)
spent time this morning with a guy who tried to kill himself a few days prior. knew when i saw him that he was in trouble. listened to his stories of attempted suicide & about the people he wanted to gun down because they hurt him in some way. he was no murderer, but he was grieivng & broken. i prayed with him, but the real power was in the touch. i held him. and he held me back – tight – as if holding on for dear life.
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October 7, 2007 at 1:09 pm (Uncategorized)
Unite Us: A Prayer for Unity
I wonder what barriers we are being called to break through in our own situations right now? Maybe it’s our move … another image, this time to express the tension of unity: two groups, peering at each other – perhaps wanting to be one, perhaps being afraid of joining together, perhaps even being hostile, but finding there are barriers to cross first.
Sometimes we peer across the divides
In mutual incomprehension:
Lord, forgive us, and unite us.
Sometimes we will not cross barriers,
But prefer to guard our territory:
Lord, forgive us, and unite us
Sometimes the comfort of the known place
Overcomes our desire to explore new ground:
Lord, forgive us, and unite us.
Lord, you prayed that your disciples would be one
As you and your Father are one:
Lord, let your Kingdom come. -Crafty Curate
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October 7, 2007 at 1:09 pm (Uncategorized)
I’d not seen him before. No one at Poplar would know him. He didn’t look up. He just kept staring into the bag of groceries I’d just given him. He just kept looking down.
“My life didn’t used to be like this… where did it go wrong…” he said.
“There’s something else….I’ve done something awful… I’m so ashamed…” A story of wrong choices, wrong friends, a drinking spree getting out of control, arrest, DNA swabs, cells & a rape charge has me sighing at the brokeness of what I was hearing.
The story told – he looks up into my face looking for rejection. I say nothing…
“My life didn’t used to be like this… where did it go wrong…” I say nothing…
He half composes himself - “I’m in court next week… I’m scared…” I put my hand on his shoulder. “I’m sure you know if you are guilty” His shoulders shake as deep sobs interrupt the moment.
I look into his eye’s “What do you want me to pray?”
Through his sobs he barely whispers “that justice will be done…”
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October 7, 2007 at 1:08 pm (Uncategorized)
Had A-Pak in 24-7 last night. It started at 7pm with good & heartfelt encouragements & conversation. Then, in prayer before God together, the room filled with raw repentance & the sounds of absolute surrender followed by deliverances & the shouts of people in long deep belly laughs for the joy of their newfound freedoms. Around 10:30 we, with some reluctance, wrapped up & headed out, met by the kind of full moon that sparks the imagination of ten year olds. We just stood there & gazed at it with childlike wonder as we spoke of the smile on the man in the moon. I drove home, still somewhat inebriated, laughing intermittently the whole way.
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October 7, 2007 at 1:06 pm (Uncategorized)
While we long for living comfortable, You long for living sacrifices.
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October 7, 2007 at 1:06 pm (Uncategorized)
“Remember, even the smallest person can change the course of the future.” (Lady Galadriel to Frodo in “Fellowship of the Ring”
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October 7, 2007 at 1:05 pm (Uncategorized)
I’m in the throws of making an important decision to continue living in the upscale Dilworth neighborho
od or moving my family to Optimist Park, the inner-city neighborhood the 24-7 Justice Project is serving in. It would involve moving from a posh safe community to the more risky ‘hood. And for what? My only answer is Isaiah 58 & the millennial3 monastery / boiler room 24-7 is destined to become Btw, the house is two doors down from the 24-7 prayer room & has a spectacular city-scape view from the big porch roomy enough for many rocking chairs. Plenty of room for housing summer interns too. But what of my son growing up in such a crime-ridden place? What to do? What to do?
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October 7, 2007 at 1:04 pm (Uncategorized)
The prayer room was full from afternoon till night with people praying, learning, connecting deeply with God & making some needed paradigm shifts in order to walk more in sync with God. Grabbing hold of intimacy & justice like anchors.Coming one way – leaving another. Today we’ll facilitate the U.K. ministry school interns spending time out on the streets serving those in great need. They’ll hit the streets as they are – But return different. As we work to help their theology gets its street creed back.
As for me… it is well with my soul watching others come free – but my hearts bends low seeking upward to see His face in the contours & crevices of this day. Demons are subject to Jesus’ name on my lips – but the seducing whisper of His name in my heart as I work to woo God, And His subsequent response to my longing to see & compani
on Him this day…this, this fills me more deeply than all else. Perfection pants for me, waits for me, thinks of me in timeless ways. The mere thought of this great God turning to meet my gaze with His… It has the power to make me forget my imperfections & inadequacies. It makes me feel radiant & beautiful.
All this forward motion is our love story with God & His love story through us with the rest of the world. What a great & mysterious calling to know His heart, bear His likeness, & carry His message. What a great & mysterious calling.
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October 7, 2007 at 1:03 pm (Uncategorized)
Hey L,
How did the prayer time go this morning? Let me put it this way…. I am having a hard time expressing myself over what i experienced there this morning. I was totally blown away by the aesthetics and the entire mood of the whole thing. WOW!! Thank you for following Gods lead and doing this. Ashley is excited about it now too. Thanks again
Only by His Grace, Ryan Grammatico
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October 7, 2007 at 1:03 pm (Uncategorized)
I’m writing this sitting outside in front of 24-7. The prayer room is full tonight of people p
raying to God, while next door the art gallery is full of people working to get the space ready for the Gala, a fund raiser The Justice Project is putting on to benefit the inner-city neighborhood we’re serving in. Here comes a shameless plug: To give toward that, click here. These kind of nights I’m not sure where to be or what to do with myself. No room in 24-7, & I’m in the way next door as a small army of volunteers assemble a big collaborative art installation for the Gala. Have replaced one stolen portable dvd player, two to go. give toward the replacement fund here. I’m signing off now – headed to go get that army some cold drinks. -Chow!
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October 7, 2007 at 1:02 pm (Uncategorized)
What if every Apprentice of Christ actually lived this out?
Luke14: 12 Then He also said to him who invited Him, “When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. 14 And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid by God….”
What if I did? I will.
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October 7, 2007 at 1:01 pm (Uncategorized)
The prayer room was abuzz with people & conversations last night. a mother stopped in with her son to get some soul-refuge & bible reading done. It was discovered that she wanted to learn how to use a computer in order to serve her ministry to the homeless in more efficient ways. I told her about The Justice Project Tutoring team who could help with that. She tilted her head back, raised her hands & said it was an answer to prayer. A missionary who just moved into the neighborhood stooped in with his laptop. Several other Optimist Park residents dropped by. Some followers of Christ. Some not. There was conversation with God & conversation with each other about justice in action. Well after the prayer room closed individuals were praying & at one table sat a middle eastern, an African American, & a Hispanic, each talking about living out the core-value of justice. Conversation about the goodness revolution was as sacred as conversations people were having with God asking him to save their family & friends. I find it odd that some see prayer as sacred & the working out of justice as secular. I believe swinging hammers to patch up holes can be as sacred as tossing out words to patch up souls. Some believe that unless we are out proselytizing, our labors to serve others & improve their quality of life are merely pointless human inventions. As if talking to Christian-skittish people about giving their life to Jesus is of more spiritual subsequence than walking out the life of jesus before them. As if sending money to keep african babies alive is useless if they are not simultaneoulsly being told about the gospel …even though they are only 6months old & can not understand words yet. In reality I’ve never seen it as an ‘either’ ‘or’ deal, but simply a determination of which is best to lead with considering the people group being served. Sometimes ya lead by sending john the baptist & handing him a bullhorn. Sometimes you lead simply by sending the sun & the rain….& food. Not every good deed need be followed by a sermon on salvation. Sometimes the good deed is sermon enough.
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October 7, 2007 at 12:59 pm (Uncategorized)
.
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Jesus, I’m dying to know you.
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October 7, 2007 at 12:59 pm (Uncategorized)
24-7 had its 1st First Fridays Worship Gathering + exceeding even my highest expectations, it was one of the best worship sets i’d ever been involved in personally. …and there were moments wherein i lost myself & became quite undignified. i think not one person there went untouched. i think we, each & every one of us, entered in.
6th -extraordinarily busy day today – a morning discipleship mtg in which we further broached the subject of unleashing one’s affection on God & courting him with a patient longing, a late morning coffee date with a new friend whose a true intercessor, {she was my armor bearer today as she simply said “what do you need? what can i do to help you? you name it, i’ll do it”… and she did, the early afternoon 24-7 cook-out & vision cast - the late afternoon hosting of the grace covenant youth group in the prayer room, the early evening moving all the items from back loft to another storage facility to get that space empty for the expanding ministry of 24-7, & tonight’s celebrating my son’s 4th birthday… whew! in truth, i still have not fully recovered from last night’s worship set. all throughout the day my thoughts kept sneaking back to what happened inside me there. on a side note… the growing 24-7 community really pitched in to make today possible – especially the arts team who recently became members of 24-7 – but the blue ribbon goes to the captains of 24-7 Worship, john & mel hogan – in the past 48 hours they really shined.
7th -someone stopped me in the coffeehouse in the late evening – said they been at the first friday 24-7 worship gathering – said it was the first time they’d ever been so free in worship, ever. so… it wasn’t just me, i thought to myself. indeed God was up to something corporately that night, just as i had suspected.
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October 7, 2007 at 12:58 pm (Uncategorized)
On your knees or on your feet? There seem to me to be two camps. The camp that prays but never really invests themselves in a l-i-f-e-s-t-y-l-e which includes serving the marginalized, practically working for justice, & actively helping the poor. The other camp serves & labors in these fields zealously, but 
rarely invests themselves in a l-i-f-e-s-t-y-l-e which includes a vital & intimate prayer life. It is my hope & goal & labor to see the two sides partnered under the Spirit’s leadership. Then Christ’s body will be strong both in the prayer closet a-n-d on the gritty streets. Strong in God-intimacy & world-impact, bearing, on both fronts, fruit that remains. I sense God calling His servants into the closet more & his Brides onto the streets more. Instead what is presently taking place is that His Brides are going further into the closet & further away from the streets & His servants are going deeper into the streets & further away from the closet. In the narrative of Martha & Mary, I believe it was never an issue of ‘either’ ‘or’ regarding sitting & listening verses standing & serving. Rather it was a matter of which should come first. Some make the first thing the only thing, & while they are sitting & soaking, & self perfecting, people hungry & hurting are stumbling & falling & dying. Others make the second thing the first thing & it soon becomes the only thing. And while they are standing & serving to the exemption of sitting & soaking, they become more deaf to God’s voice, more numb to His guidance, & worse… estranged from intimacy with the One gave the word to serve the needy. The generation who will experience the epic kind of Isaiah 58 promises, will be those who grow strong in a lifestyle that as a rule has both each in it’s right place of priority. {Season’s of God’s Spirit shifting & bending this rule of thumb, notwithstanding}.
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October 7, 2007 at 12:56 pm (Uncategorized)
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October 7, 2007 at 12:55 pm (Uncategorized)
Keep back no part for yourself from Me
& all parts of yourself will reverberate with Me
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October 7, 2007 at 12:55 pm (Uncategorized)
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October 7, 2007 at 12:54 pm (Uncategorized)
In the 24-7 Prayer Room over the past few days people have begun coming from their uptown offices in the afternoon to grab some time with God in these sacred spaces. Yesterday a woman gave her life back to God here. Today she brought her friend who even as I write this is clearly doing the same thing as the music wafts over the sound of her tears & worship. As she rushes past me looking for tissue she simple says…”This place is amazing”. I know it’s God who she’s really talking about. She’s headed back into her encounter with God as I’m packing up to pick up my son from school. She doesn’t need to leave just because I do. She can take her time. No preacher will come to tell her the service is ending. She can track at her own pace. Walking out the door I say to myself…”Yeah, this is why 24-7 exists. Hosting the encounter between God & men. Yeah, that’s what we do”.
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October 7, 2007 at 12:54 pm (Uncategorized)
Get out of the chair…
& the wrestling will become a dance
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October 7, 2007 at 12:53 pm (Uncategorized)
saturating in sacred text, striving for transformation, mine is a God-dependent heart asking for wisdom & actively believing for provision while scattering a thousand sacrifices throughout the day, sacrifices set on fire by a passion to adore, draw near, & companion God well while i yet live.
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October 7, 2007 at 12:52 pm (Uncategorized)
____________let justice roll____________
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October 7, 2007 at 12:52 pm (Uncategorized)
My kid fell today. turned, looked, & saw my kid in full scream sprawled spread eagle on concrete. i dropped everything… and ran. i don’t run. anyone you meet who knows me will tell you this. but i ran. after the comforting hug, washing of the scrapes, & some neosporin, he was off on his next adventure. i got to thinking about the prodigal son’s dad running out to meet him. yeah, it makes total sense. my world stops at my sons urgent need… and to his urgent needy cry, i am captive to respond. i could do nothing else. it’s in my d.n.a. i wonder if God is like that too.
And if the grief stricken, impaled by tragedy, are too wounded or angry to cry out, can we cry out for them? is this then the definition of intercession. if a nation, a people, or a person, becomes too broken or bound to even think of heading home, can we cry out for them? is then this the definition of intercession?
Dad, Joe is too broken & angry to cry out so i cry out on his behalf. Dad run out to meet him… where he is. Dad the people of Joe are too grief stricken & shell shot to lift up their heads toward heaven & cry out to you in their grief. Dad hear my cry on their behalf. Meet them as you would have met me. And if they share blame – forgive & have mercy & hurl in solutions – for Your name’s sake
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October 7, 2007 at 12:51 pm (Uncategorized)
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October 7, 2007 at 12:48 pm (Uncategorized)
Started the morning recklessly abandoning myself to God & presenting my needs & inquiries to this lover of my soul. This took longer than normal as I kept interdispersing throughout each repentance, request, & inquiry, a repetitive theme of worship & a constant reiteration that if I had all the answers & all provision, it would mean little toward my deepest desire, which is to walk with God & to do so in intimate communion. Would that I could know the secrets of His heart & evoke jealousy in Enoch & David with the quality of companionship I covet & hope to attain to 
with the one who calls himself God – His pleasure is becoming my strongest hope & pursuit. It is fueling my desire for thourough obedience & great fruitfulness as I walk in this mortal coil on this dirt planet which groans for the Son of God to come. As do I.
The Justice Project team & I spent the better part of the night knocking on doors & meeting the residence of Optimist Park to inform them of the 24-7 goodness movement that’s about to explode in their marginalized community in a matter of weeks. With police escort at my side giving me backstory of the crime & gang issues, we walked & talked & invited & began the first stage of walking together in more ways than one. Though thoroughly engaging, my partner’s chatter grew faint as my mind kept wandering back to a homeless guy I know. Have known him for months now. Should I, as Isaiah 58 suggests, take this homeless guy into my own home? Have been putting this question before the Lord for a few weeks now – awaiting His answer still.
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October 7, 2007 at 12:46 pm (Uncategorized)
…Ours is hard core freedom, unprecedented & mysterious…
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October 7, 2007 at 12:45 pm (Uncategorized)
Spent the entire day in the prayer room yesterday. Busy with people in the morning, but quieter in the evening. Good thing too. Otherwise others would have seen me crying. Tears of joy & change. Tears nonetheless. Straddled thoughtfully the edge between faith & flesh. Each side surveying the path, & each offereing its own perspective. Though for me doubting God is not an option, trusting God is not always easy…. It’s not always easy, but it is always possible. Spent some of last night praying for my friends & flinging off the stray cares attempting to adhire themselves to my heart & work as weights against the faith journey I’m well into now.
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October 7, 2007 at 12:44 pm (Uncategorized)
It’s easier to talk about Christ than to surrender to Christ.
Books are easier to open up, read, & discuss than our hearts are.
And the one less costly than the other.
It’s always been easier to talk about God than to actually come near God.
And the one less costly than the other.
Excavating the principles of God by opening up His book has always been easier than experiencing the heart of God by coming into His presence.
And the one less costly than the other.
Both are desperately needed, but only one has been desperately lacking.
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October 7, 2007 at 12:43 pm (Uncategorized)
Right after the 24-7 Deliverance Team meeting on Saturday, I’ll be headed up to Moravian Falls to work on the Fullfillmentfest 24-7 prayer tent. I’m looking forward getting out of town & getting to spending time with my friend Elizabeth.The 21 days of worship & prayer that’s a part of the Fulfllmentfest Conference is going to be great. Throughout the 21 days, I’ve been asked to cast vision for 24-7, but I’m really excited about sitting in on some of the conference. Some of the most powerful prophetic voices & wisest of gifted & seasoned teachers of our times will be speaking.
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October 7, 2007 at 12:42 pm (Uncategorized)
Thanks to a donation from here, I was able to put a dvd player in the Isaiah 58 prayer station with a dvd about the world’s statistics on poverty. The thing that caught my attention in 24-7 today was watching a homeless person watch that dvd. I’d never seen anyone that transfixed by a single video. Instead of coming out of it with a sense of entitlement of what others owe him in help & support, he came out wanting to do more for those far more poor than he himself. Today, that homeless guy encountered the word of the Lord in that I58 booth. But he himself was was the word of the Lord to me. At 24-7, the homless & businessman & anglican preist, & the artists, they all come with the same need to seek & hear from God. And God delivers.
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October 7, 2007 at 12:40 pm (Uncategorized)
good day. lot’s of meetings – productive. talk of serving the poor better, leading better, & networking well. God through people threw $4000 worth of sound equipment at 24-7 & another $500 in new printer equipment. but the best meeting by far was a brief chance encounter in a coffeeshop. short & sweet. went down to the 24-7 prayer room tonight ’round 11ish after spending some home-time with my sweetheart & spawn. someone came in & relieved me at midnight, taking over the next shift of prayer. the person there before me left clear evidence of having encountered God. the person there after me will likely experience the same. yeah, i love what God is doing on site. on that note, it’s off to bed for me. got a 6:30am meeting I’m looking forward to with some anticipation.
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October 7, 2007 at 12:39 pm (Uncategorized)
Just outside that door lies an entire world & a specific someone in need. 
Just outside that door dark cries out for light – death cries out for life – sickness for healing – bondage for freedom & hopelessness cries out for hope - Whether in the big & wide obvious of someone’s outer life on display or in the quiet corner of a troubled heart in hiding, somewhere just outside that door broken cries out for whole. Just outside that door mission calls us out. Go… with the message & with the power. Freely you’ve received, freely give. When you’re done on your knees {…and not a moment before}, take your head out of the pews, & come out, come out, where ever you are… Come just outside that door. Mission awaits.
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October 7, 2007 at 12:37 pm (Uncategorized)
May 24th - had a horrendous 6 hours last night getting the urban prayer room ready for the week of 24-7 prayer, as almost everything that could go wrong – did. was supposed to work on upgrading the station content. worked mostly on problem-solving instead. thankfully, the collection of odd characters t
hat hang out at the art studios which surround our site heard of our technical difficulties & piled into the prayer room to help restring & rehang & restore. picture this… the site was filled with sweaty nonchristians helping get the prayer room ready & problems solved – and in between problems came conversations about God. we worked up until about 30 minutes before midnight, which is when 24-7 prayer week began. the person slated for the 1st time slot had no idea of the feverish pitch at which i/we worked to have all things ready by midnight – no idea of the struggles that came up or the occasional swear words that came out as a peculiar string of obstacles presented themselves one after the other in the hours leading up to midnight & the kick off of non-stop prayer. by 10pm the site smelled of sweaty deoderantless men, & i had a headache so bad that any movement seemed to make it worse. but at 11:15, the stench subsided & one of the artsist who had been helping asked to take my 1-2am prayer slot… he’s not a follower of Christ. wow! i’m not suggesting that all that late night drama was divinely orchestrated so that that one guy, who refers to himself as a ‘true pagan’ would end up talking to God between 1 & 2am, but i am a bit wowed at how God used the site trauma drama to get a date with that guy. i eventually made my way home around 11:30 & by 12 i laid in bed wondering how God was meeting the person now in the prayer room. mercifully, sleep came shortly thereafter.
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October 7, 2007 at 12:37 pm (Uncategorized)
spent part of the morning at 24-7 praying with friends who gathered to pray for someone most of us had never met. still, we prayed as fervently as if this stranger in trouble was our best friend. this fact made me incredibly proud to be friends with everyone gathered there. what a great group of people. afterwards, on my way to ‘i hadn’t decided where’, i made the acquaintance of a homeless guy. gave him a ride to where other homeless fellas congregate waiting for the delivery of a morning meal. of course he asked me for money. much the same way i asked him to tell me part of his story. it was a fair trade. you see right then i really needed some company. i had no agenda to save his soul – just to keep company with his soul. later on i’d post his name on the 24-7 lost & found & pray he’d encounter christ – but just right then, i wasn’t interested in telling him all about christ – just wanted to keep company, hear his story, & send him on his way a few bucks richer. now i find myself sitting in a fairly nondescript bar in uptown charlotte, drinking a beer, & working on whittling down the mountain of details that undergird the work i do. came here after a brief tiff with a good God about Him picking up more of the 24-7 tab & also sending someone to help with the administrative responsibilities that go with the daily realities of ministry & mission. now the waiting game begins. i have an appointment to meet with some drug dealers later today. just wanna keep company with em for a while – maybe hear their storyline if i earn the right to. i’ll be my normal goofy self & not attempt to hide how fascinated i am with who they are & why. will get their names & start the journey to pray relentlessly for these guys, just as i will for the homeless guy i met earlier. so here i sit uptown, tapping out this narrative of my day so far – a brief avoidance of the immanent whittle-fest that must occur if i’m ever to get caught up. wish someone would caught me. i want to be caught today. most don’t think i ever really need catching. and i don’t need it usually – but that doesn’t mean there aren’t days like today when although i don’t need it, i want it, just the same. my creed today isn’t, ‘catch me, i’m falling’. it’s ‘catch me, i’m standing’.
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October 7, 2007 at 12:35 pm (Uncategorized)
Past few days been a buzz at 24-7 with Optimist Park residents starting to straggle in & stay & hang out awhile too. Also connected with a film team that has offered to film the Justice Project as it extends into serving the O.P. marginalized community. Ran into one woman who stopped by to show her friend where to drop off the Justice Project participation card. Said she had been the night before for her first visit & ended up staying for an hour. Now she was showing the place to her friend. Long have I hoped that 24-7 would be a place of God-encounters for not only postmoderns, but for everyone. What’s more, I had hoped it to be a place of racial diversity. Unlike 98% of our city’s ministries & churches, I wanted Charlotte’s prayer room to be an unsegregated venue. I find that one has to work at being diverse. That it rarely happens without some intentionality. The past few days at the prayer room there have been blacks, whites, the very old & the very young, cops & construction workers, business owners, gays, a transvestite, an ex-minister, the architect & the homeless side by side & each on equal footing before God. Ran into many kinks regarding the wall that’s being built to create space for the 365Worship space, ‘The Altar’ space set aside for people ready to recklessly abandon themselves to God, & ‘The Tent’ that will stand between them. I’ve never had so many kinks regarding something so simple as building a wall to make these spaces available as a part of the 24-7 prayer room. Kinks within & without. Big kinks. Little kinks. Decision kinks & financial kinks. When it is done, I hope God’s presence will settle on those particular spaces in a distinctly unique way
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October 7, 2007 at 12:33 pm (Uncategorized)
Even when you can’t do everything, do something.
Because not having it all together
is not the same as not having it together at all.
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October 7, 2007 at 12:32 pm (Uncategorized)
Been wide awakened just a little after 4am the past 3 or 4 consecutive nights. Last night followed suit. So I followed the clues from that night’s dream, hopped in my car & headed over to the 24-7 Prayer Site. In that pre-dawn place I paced, knee deep meandering in the minutia of details calling for decisions. The sun eventually rose, & with its orange-white crest over the city hills also came God talking over the den of the detail noise in my head – God talking about 24-7…. And all I could say in response to His few short clarity-giving sentences was, “Oooooohhhh”.
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