To kick off the year in prayer, pastors, church staff and prayer leaders are invited to gather Jan. 10-11 at the Lifeway Ridgecrest Conference Center in Ridgecrest for the Empowered: North Carolina Pastor/Staff Prayer Retreat.
The theme for this year’s prayer retreat, “Empowered,” is based on Acts 4:31. “When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak God’s message with boldness.”
Chris Schofield, director of the Office of Prayer at the Baptist State Convention (BSC), described the event as a combination of speaking, dialogue and prayer with a “two-pronged approach toward missional prayer and prayer for revival and spiritual awakening. This is an opportunity for leaders to gather to be refreshed and renewed and reenergized and their focus [to be] dependence on the Lord. We do these conferences for awareness and training … and equipping people in Kingdom prayer that focuses on praying toward revival and praying toward the great commission.”
The prayer retreat will take place the same month the Southern Baptist Convention will call Baptists to prayer and spiritual awakening and focus on praying missionally. To learn more about planning your church’s Call to Prayer, visit namb.net/sbccalltoprayer.
Praying for revival in N.C. and across the nation is critical, Schofield said. “We’ve got to get away from temporal praying and even reactionary praying,” he said. “We’ve got to [look] toward intentional, proactive, kingdom-focused praying that seeks to move the kingdom forward. That’s what we’re encouraging, challenging.”
The speakers at the prayer retreat include: John Franklin of John Franklin Ministries; Richard Owens Roberts, president of International Awakening Ministries; James Walker, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Alpharetta, Ga.; Chad Pollard, worship pastor at Parkwood Baptist Church in Gastonia and Schofield.
Other BSC prayer events will include Pray2Go: A Kingdom Focused Prayer Gathering, March 6-7 in Hendersonville. Morning sessions will be held at Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute, and evening sessions will be held at Mud Creek Baptist Church. On April 27-28, a regional prayer conference, Renew: A Northeastern North Carolina Prayer and Spiritual Life Summit, will be held at Corinth Baptist Church in Elizabeth City in the Chowan Baptist Association. In partnership with N.C. Baptist Aging Ministry, BSC will also offer Connection for Life: 2012 Senior Adult Prayer Retreat Oct. 22-24 at Ridgecrest.
For more information, go to praync.org. To register for the upcoming Empowered prayer retreat contact the LifeWay Ridgecrest Conference Center at (800) 588-7222. Or, contact Betsy Roland at the Office of Prayer; [email protected] or (800) 395-5102, ext. 5513.