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Leslie Oliver had prayed for her husband for years. He didn't object when she took their children to church on Sundays, but he stayed home. And he didn't object when she became active in the church's prayer ministry, but he didn't expect to be the subject of their prayer. Or the answer.

At the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, the annual prayer vigil grew to a twice-yearly event, then more as the congregation swelled. Founding pastor Adam Hamilton insisted that prayer be "the center point" of all the ministry of COR (as members call their church). "Our aim is to know Christ, to be transformed by his power, to be open to his work, and to be used by him to accomplish his purposes," Hamilton says. "Prayer is the essential avenue for pursuing these aims."

COR's first prayer vigil was on Good Friday in 1992, when the church was young and small. The prayer events have grown in size and importance through the years. More than 1,000 people attended a recent Thanksgiving vigil.

The concept is simple: open the sanctuary, provide printed prayer guides, and enlist volunteers to welcome people when they enter the building. "Pray-ers" may stay as long as they want.

"The vigils are so exciting because it's personal prayer, many people praying about many things, but it's also corporate prayer, the whole congregation praying about a few things," says Oliver, who recently became COR's director of prayer ministries. "I think that's why it has struck a chord with our people and continues to grow with each event."

The church has two main vigils each year: The "Thankful Day of Prayer," on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, draws families. "We see lots of parents and children coming together to express their gratitude for God's blessing," Oliver says. And the Good Friday vigil is a time of meditation on Christ's sacrifice on the cross.

Church members also gather specially to pray for students, parents, and teachers at back-to-school time, for the church's children's ministries and workers, for building projects, for church leaders from across the country who attend COR's ministry conferences, and this year, for police and firefighters at a special observance of the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

At most of the vigils, the church facilities are open from 6:00 a.m. to midnight. "We have a men's group that meets us at the door when we open up. They want to be the first to pray during the vigil," Oliver laughs. "Sometimes they're here before we are." The pray-ers sit in the sanctuary, kneel in the prayer chapel, or, if the weather is good, meditate to the gurgling waters of the outdoor baptistery in the small prayer garden. "The vigils are an introduction for some people who want a deeper prayer life. God is there, wanting us there. As soon as we're there, he does the rest and pulls us along. If we offer the tools for that, people really respond."

The prayer ministry team provides printed Scripture readings and written prayers, which Oliver says is especially helpful to first-timers. Attendees each receive a sheet of the church directory: "Our church family knows they are prayed for by name," she says. And they solicit requests.

Oliver herself turned in a request four years ago for her husband, Pat. "He was not a believer. I asked that the Lord keep knocking and knocking."

After the vigil, her next-door neighbor Kathy called. "She was so excited. She said, 'I can't believe, of all the cards, I picked up yours!' And Kathy began interceding for Pat.

"Two weeks later, when we were getting ready for church," Oliver says, "Pat got up, got dressed, and came with us. And he has ever since."

God answers vigilant prayer.

For more information, visit www.cor.org.

Copyright © 2002 by the author or Christianity Today International/Today's Christian magazine (formerly Christian Reader).
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