Aurora: Motorcycle Sunday + Prayer Walk & Prayer Tents

hey everybody,

What an awesome day Motorcycle Sunday was! Thanks for being a part of it. Huge turnout. God's love was definitely shown to people who like motorcycles. People got prayed for. New friendships were begun, and others were deepened. It was great!

I want you to know about some things happening on Thursday, which is the National Day of Prayer. Believers in Jesus all over the USA will be praying for God's kingdom to come in the cities where we live. I've been working with other Aurora pastors and other church leaders to plan a few different opportunities for people to be involved. Each one of us should be actively praying for those around us.

There is a prayer walk planned that will go from the far west side of Aurora, all the way to Aurora's east boundary at Rt. 59. I did the whole walk last year - was I ever worn out! But it was good to pray at spiritually significant places along the way. Below I've included a list of the stops, and when we'll be there. If at all possible, stop by one of the locations to pray with us and other from the body of Christ in Aurora. Maybe you can be at prayer time in downtown Aurora, on the Water St. mall, just outside of city hall at 12:10pm. The mayor and his staff will be joing us to seek God for the city. At 1:30pm we'll be at Lincoln & Galena (right outside of our building) praying for the homeless, poverty issues, etc.

There will be prayer tents set up from 10am-6pm, one on the west side of town, at Galena & Edgelawn at Westminster Pres church. The other prayer tent will be on the near east side, at Galena & Fourth St at Serenity Park (the small park just south of McCarty Park) It you can help staff a prayer tent for an hour or more, please call the church office at 630-859-0600 or reply to this email. It's going to be cool to see who God draws in to be prayed for! We want God's love to be shown & known to everyone, especially those who aren't yet connected to a local church.

Here one that ALL of us can - and should - do. We're encouraging individuals and families to prayer walk around the block where you live - at either 7am, noon, or 7pm on Thursday. Keep your eyes open, walk around, and pray for your neighbors as the Holy Spirit leads. Ask for God's blessing on everyone who lives in each home, and ask God to help you care about them more. Pray for their health, for their employment, for their relatonships. Most of all, pray for them to come to know Jesus' love and forgiveness - and pray that if it's His will, that God will use you to help make it happen.

All good stuff. We want to live in a prayed-for city!

all for Jesus and those He loves,

Randy

ps - here's an article that was in yesterday's Aurora Beacon News, it's got the other stops listed for the prayer walk through town

National Day of Prayer events planned

April 30, 2007

Beacon News Staff

Aurora area residents are invited to participate in various prayer efforts in observation of the National Day of Prayer on Thursday.

There will be a 10-mile prayer walk from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. starting at the southwest corner of Orchard Road and Galena Boulevard. Along the route, participants will pray for a variety of people and issues:

• 10:10 a.m., Countryside Nursing Home, 2330 W. Galena Blvd.; pray for seniors, elderly, infirm and health care
• 10:45 a.m., West Aurora High School, 1201 W. New York St.; pray for high school students
• 11:30 a.m., 205 N. Lake St., Pregnancy Information Center; pray for the sanctity of life
• 12:10 p.m., Water Street Mall; pray for the mayor; aldermen; city, township, county and state employees; the president and Congress
• 1:30 p.m., northeast corner Lincoln Avenue and Galena Boulevard; pray for the homeless, poverty, repentance and blessing
• 2 p.m., northeast corner of Root Street and Galena Boulevard; pray for unity among local churches
• 2:45 p.m., Quad County Urban League office, 808 E. Galena Boulevard; pray for racial reconciliation, neighborhood development
• 3:10 p.m., Beaupre Elementary, 954 E. Benton St.; pray for grade school students
• 4:15 p.m., Steck Elementary, 460 Inverness Drive; pray for middle school students
• 5:15 p.m., fire station, Gregory Street and McCoy Drive; pray for the safety of police and firefighters
• 6 p.m., McCoy Drive and Route 59; pray for business, jobs and economic development

There also will be prayer tents from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at two locations -- Serenity Park at Galena Boulevard and Fourth Street; and at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 10 N. Edgelawn Drive.

The third event is a neighborhood walk at 7 a.m. or 7 p.m. Individuals are encouraged to walk around their own block, praying for their neighbors.

Since the first call to prayer in 1775, when the Continental Congress asked the colonies to pray for wisdom in forming a nation, the call to prayer has continued through the country's history, including President Lincoln's proclamation of a day of "humiliation, fasting and prayer" in 1863.

In 1952, a joint resolution by Congress, signed by President Truman, declared an annual national day of prayer. In 1988, the law was amended and signed by President Reagan, permanently setting the day as the first Thursday of every May.

Visit www.acmn.org or call (630) 859-8010. The Aurora Christian Ministry Network and Aurora area churches are sponsoring this community appeal for prayer.

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