THE EDGEWOOD PRAYER INITIATIVE

On Saturday September the 5th, a small band of prayer warriors convened for a humble, but significant beginning: The Edgewood Prayer Initiative in Atlanta.

It had been several months in the making. God orchestrated a connection between me, Pastor Will Francis, and Pastors Denard and D’Andre Ash – all Black brothers sharing a common interest in micro churches – a new movement taking the church into the community with worship, welcoming togetherness and mission. COVID prevented us from pursuing the micro church vision in our area, but we reconnected out of a shared distress over the emerging racial unrest and what COVID was doing to the left-out, the left-behind and left-over in our society.

We met, prayed, sought the Lord together and sensed a united desire for a move of the Holy Spirit in Atlanta – something that seemed to be happening in other cities hit by unrest and violence, but not in Atlanta. We prayed for the “dry bones” to come to life: the networks of unity, prayer, evangelism and community ministry that once existed but had fallen apart.

Then God gave us a vision for a monthly prayer gather right where we were meeting – in the Edgewood neighborhood, a block away from Ebenezer Baptist Church, the birthplace of Dr. Martin Luther King’s civil rights movement, some six decades ago.

We picked the first Saturday of each month, starting in September, and got the word out. The Holy Spirit spoke into our unity of mind and spirit and gave us a set of Scriptural guidelines to follow – which I will share in a separate post.

And so it was that a handful of us met and prayer walked the area, with several dozen committed to pray with us at home, in different parts of the US, and even as far away as Peru.

A number of things happened that morning that were very, very significant.

First – we were a perfect mix of Black, White, Asian, Male and Female. Pastor Will Francis, our prayer-walk leader, noticed how many were watching us because people from different races praying and walking together in unity was an uncommon site and a powerful statement!

Secondly – we prayed by the eternal flame and the reflection wall at the Martin Luther King Center, where his six principles of non-violence are etched in stone. Dormant, and all but forgotten in the violent expressions of protest against racial injustice currently taking place. We prayed for a remembrance, a re-embracing and a revival of those principles to still the tide of violence, for a holy disgust with racism and other forms of inequality to grip the nation and lead to Americans nationwide to be united in the pursuit of liberty and justice for all.

Third, we prayed for the Lord to visit Atlanta with spiritual revival – for unity, prayerfulness and reconciliation in the Body of Christ till we know we are One Church, saved by One Savior, filled with One Spirit, worshiping One Father in many different ways and in many different locations – and for this to overflow into healing and restoration of the community, in particular the left behind, the left over and left out.

We stretched our hands out and prayed over the homeless sleeping in the doorways of blighted businesses, over the trash, the discarded needles, clothes and alcohol containers. We prayed with one man who spends his days on the streets. We called upon the Lord to renew and restore the city, and for the churches in the area to have the courage and the love to remove their walls and barbed wire fences and love their community to Christ.

We returned to our starting point, keenly aware that we had made a “beachhead.” A small inroad, a beginning that will grow. God responds to the urgent prayers flowing from the thirsty hearts of a few. Pray with us that He will call forth a groundswell of prayer in our city to join the groundswells in Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland. San Diego, Austin, Chicago, Kenosha and Philadelphia – till revival comes!