Morning after morning I rise, go to my western window, and see the Minneapolis Auditorium. I pray, “Lord, fill it on September 18th with praying people!” Yes, imperfect, straying people … but still, people who want their lives to count for something great and eternal.

It takes 8,000 people to fill the Minneapolis Auditorium. That means 33 network leaders each finding ten section leaders who will see that 24 people come and sit in their sections. I am part of an interdenominational steering committee trusting God to make this happen.

The effort is called “Prayer ’87.” Many other churches and denominations are involved. I long to see Bethlehem engaged in this kind of city-wide prayer—prayer for spiritual awakening in our churches and our city.

We don’t want to go on with business as usual. We want to take some risks for the gospel. Our city has hundreds of thousands of unbelievers in it who are perishing. What can we do? What can you do? How can we care?

Surely, part of the answer is that we can gather for concerted prayer. We can say by our gathering and by our praying:

O God, this is wartime, not peacetime. Thousands are the casualties of sin and unbelief. We do not want to just go on with our daily routines as though all is well. We want to fight for the life of the lost. Show us, O God, how to fight against the evil one. Come and give us power! Come and give us a dream how to tell this city about the greatness of Christ!

David Bryant will be there to inspire us and help us in this time of prayer on September 18th. He has a great vision of spiritual awakening through prayer.

It has happened before. God has called a whole city to prayer—New York, for example. In 1858 ten thousand businessmen were gathering for prayer daily that summer. And the result was a nationwide revival and a million converts added to the American churches.

Might this not be the time for such a movement of the Spirit of God in Minneapolis? Should Bethlehem not be right in the thick of the battle as the standard is raised?

I am writing this now to give you time to get it on your calendars. Please write it there now, even if you are not sure you will come. Then begin to pray for Prayer ’87. God will lead you.

Praying earnestly for a great awakening, in our day and in our city,

Pastor John