The Holy Spirit Moved ‘Like Wind’ at Summit

Andrew Van Benthem and Henry Van Ramhorst stood across the street from the trailer park in Sunland, Calif., on the second day of the Christian Reformed Church’s 2013 Prayer Summit. (A seven-minute video featuring highlights of the 2013 Christian Reformed Church Prayer Summit at All Nations Church in Lake View Terrace, Calif. is now available for viewing.)

Van Benthem and Van Ramhorst were taking part in a prayer walk that led them through the small community of modest homes and businesses in the foothills near All Nations Church, the church in Lake View Terrace where the Prayer Summit was occurring.

About 20 people were participating in this prayer walk. It was only one of several events and activities that occurred as part of Summit.

The Summit drew some 500 people from all over North America for times of intense prayer, plenary speeches and presentations as well as seminars such as the one on prayer walking.

“Lord, we pray for the people who live in this trailer park and we want to bring whatever concerns are on their minds and in their lives before you God," said Van Benthem, an elder at Good News Fellowship CRC in Winnipeg, Canada.

The trailer park was a mixture of permanent trailers and vacation homes. The neon sign in front of the park was broken. But flowers bloomed on the grounds of the trailer park; the streets were landscaped and well swept, and people were bustling about.

"Lord, we ask for your spirit to be with these people today. We ask especially that those who don't know you will come to know you,” said Van Ramhorst, who attends Hope CRC in Thunder Bay, Canada.

The prayer walk reflected the many types of prayer that were explained and promoted as part of a three-day Summit. Other than the prayer walk, all of the presentations and activities took place on the campus of the nearby church.

Types of prayer that were discussed and practiced as part of the Summit's theme, "Your Kingdom Come," included intercessory prayer, early-morning Korean-style prayer, silent prayer, prayers of petition and lament, and specifically prayer calling forth the kingdom of God.

This was the second year for the CRC's Prayer Summit, the first of which also took place last April at the church in Lake View Terrace.

As part of this year's Summit, more than 40 locations across North America and abroad took joined in Watch and Pray events, which involved people watching videos of things that took place at the Summit and then spending time in prayer themselves.

As they left the site across from the trailer park, Van Benthem and Van Ramhorst said that they were glad they had come to the Summit, since it was providing added incentive to continue praying once they returned home, as well as inspirational ideas how to better pray, both in their own lives and corporately in their churches.

“I like this idea of prayer walking, too. This is something that we can do in the neighborhood right around our church," said Van Ramhorst.

Rev. Tom Swierenga, a Wyoming, Mich., pastor, who organized the prayer walk, waited as everyone returned from praying on the streets.

Standing next to the bus that had brought them there, he asked them to discuss how things went. Everyone agreed that it had gone fine. Some people had prayed with people on the streets, and in one case at a bus stop, while others simply prayed in front of residences and businesses.

Swierenga said he hoped that those who went on the prayer walk realized that prayer walking need not take place in an outside location.

"We hope to take this practice into our own lives. And when we are prayer walking, even in our own lives, it is wise to keep our eyes open to all of the opportunities that are right there in front of us," he said.

Swierenga also spoke about the significance and special qualities of this type of prayer.

"When we engage in prayer walking, we are entering into a relationship — with people we encounter or even simply the neighborhoods in the areas with which we walk," he said.

"When we walk, we envision Jesus walking with us and we walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. Prayer is first a conversation in which we asked the Holy Spirit to show us how to pray."

The next day, on the final day of the summit, Rev. Moses Chung also spoke about the Holy Spirit as the event was coming to a close.

"It is clear that the Holy Spirit has been moving like a wind and maybe he has been moving in your lives like a fire," said Chung, one of the organizers of the Summit.

"Whatever the case, we have been here like a family. We have been able to open our hearts and wounds, to the church and of ourselves, to whatever's broken in the world and to pray for others and ourselves as well."

For all of the news from the Prayer Summit, visit: News