I loved a story told by Jane Hagenau about how she got sucked into the “Prayer Vortex” when she went to Hawaii the first time.  This term was so funny to me because I’ve been feeling a bit like the “Prayer Vortex” has gotten me, too!  How else does a private prayer girl get herself involved in an Evangelical Christian conference with a prayer ministry team?  At least now I know about the Prayer Vortex and how it can happen to others as well! 

At the end of the conference, I was so glad to go to lunch with the some of the team where we all tried to talk a bit about our lives back home.  Poor Bill was there with 5 women all talking about their children and I think he felt a little like the odd man out (so to speak!).  I know he barely got a chance to say anything!  But he took it in stride and even laughed when he tried to participate and I teased him about not ever even owning his own dog!  At least he enjoyed the sushi!

Turns out, the “prayers” on the team are just regular people who love God so much that this is what they’ve chosen to do for Him.  I respect them so much and feel like they’ve been called to something that I’m still not sure I can do, but I loved chatting with them and learning more about them and their lives “outside” of prayer ministry.  Thanks so much to Diane, Jane, Cindy, Kim and Bill for understanding my need for “regular.”

I don’t know if this was usual or not, but this year at HIM they focused a lot on the teen track.  The concert was really designed to be for those teens and each teen who attended the conference got into the concert for free.  As we walked up and down the giant lines of people waiting to go into the concert, there were many middle aged people also in attendance in addition to many other teens that must have purchased tickets. I was relieved to see that Bill and I wouldn’t stand out too badly! 

Filling the “Grand Ballroom,” there must have been 3000 people, mostly kids, enjoying the concert.  At one point, as David Crowder sang “Foreverandever etc. . . ”, the crowd all moved together with arms around each other and jumped up and down at once!  I don’t know how anyone could resist such joy being expressed through that worshipful moment.  I know I couldn’t – but why would I?

At the beginning of the session, we used a game to get the teens engaged.  We put two cell phone numbers up at the front of the room (one of which was mine) and had the kids all put them into their cell phones.  I was happy to play with them and felt that this game was right up my alley, a place where I felt engaged and comfortable, too. At the time that Christy said to, the kids were to send text messages of the sentence she gave them as quickly as they could and whichever text I received first would win a prize.  I think the kids really liked the game as well as what Christy had to say.  And I never received so many text messages in my life!   A couple of the texts I got were not the messages that Christy had told them to send, but the most memorable one that proved the value of the session came later in the afternoon.  It said, “THANK YOU for such a great session.  GOD BLESS!”

On Thursday night, Christy’s session was about inner healing, which apparently is not the talk she normally gives.  Usually, she speaks on physical healing and then uses an example in her talk to show people how it works, but that’s not so easy when the pain is emotional, deep and usually private.  As expected, at the end of the session, she told the crowd that her prayer team would be at the front praying, and we had all prepared before hand so that everyone knew who would be teamed up with whom and where each would be in the room relative to the other teams.  I was to do private intercession, which Cynthia had coached me on well before hand and also control the crowds at the front of the room. 

At one point, as lines of people still waited for prayer, Christy came over to me and asked if I could help her with prayer in her line because she was beat.  She said that I could pray silently, so that’s exactly what I did.  I realized that Christy really just needed the Holy Spirit to bolster her strength so my interceding prayers were for that.  Each time she and Cindy would begin a new prayer for a new person, I prayed for Christy’s resolve and healing, strength and conviction, but I never said a word.  I was glad to experience what it was like to be a part of a prayer team, but was also relieved that I didn’t have to stretch beyond what I felt comfortable doing.

The official prayer team meeting was finally Sunday afternoon before service at New Hope Peninsula although not all of us could attend.  I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but thought we’d go over the “plan”, assuming there would be a plan.  It seemed a bit unusual to me to wait until the Sunday before the conference as the first time we would meet as a full group.  My involvement at conferences always meant many meetings in preparation for the conference itself usually for months prior to the event.  But I expect this conference to be unlike any I’ve attended before.

Christy is SUCH a tease!  First thing when I sit down at the table, she pushes right at my buttons, saying, “So, I’ve teamed you up with me.”  Of course I overreact, and point right back at her and tell her, “Oh no you don’t!”  Everyone at the table laughed, but this was the perfect thing for her to do.  I come from a family of teasers myself, so the best way she could make me feel welcome is to prod at the very thing that would make me feel uncomfortable.  To some, it might feel like torture, but to me, it felt like love. 

The business of this meeting was to go over the agenda and to make sure we all knew what was expected at each session.  Cynthia had already written up a full information sheet, so we had all the logistics right in front of us.  All the people on the prayer team are teamed up in pairs, and I’m not quite sure how this will work.  Who speaks first?  How do you know what the other person will do?  This is all new to me, so we’ll see!

I was glad that both Cynthia and Christy offered for me to come close and silently intercede as they’re praying for those seeking healing.  Part of the reason I’m going is to see how this all works and this was quite a gift from both of them.  I may take Cynthia up on this offer, so I can hear how the healing prayer works.  Besides, I’ve heard that Christy is notorious about involving her team members in unexpected ways, so I might want to avoid her just in case!

On the plane as I write this, I still feel a bit apprehensive about this whole thing, but I’m more prepared than when I started, so that’s something.  Besides, I just can’t wait for God to show up. I can’t imagine what He might do!

An email from Christy helped actually calm me a bit.  She suggested that Cindy Schwaab and I should meet for sit down “training” with Cynthia Bosworth.  Now Cindy is just as new to this experience as I am, so Christy knew it would help both of us to hear from an “expert” how the prayer team works and what to expect.  I think when Cindy volunteered for Hawaii, she thought she would be doing administrative tasks for the team with me, but somehow, by the time we met for training, Christy had convinced Cindy that she could and should be on the prayer team itself.  When I heard about the training, I was just grateful that I would get more understanding.  I still didn’t know who these “pray-ers” were nor even why they pray? My only out loud prayers have been for thankfulness at dinner and a few Holy Rosaries as a child!

Cynthia has been the organizational force behind the prayer team for this trip, so I felt that training with her might answer some of my questions. This training is intended for the “pray-ers” to help them understand the experience and give them practical advice of how to do the job of praying for another person. It was quite informative and even came with a reference handout! One of the best parts of this training was Cynthia’s story about how she got involved in prayer ministry in the first place.  She told a story about a conference she went to a while back (I’m not sure if it was HIM or a different one).  At one point, she notices that random feathers are falling from the ceiling and people are catching them and attaching them to their name badges and keeping them with them as signs that God was at that conference with them.  At one point, Cynthia saw a feather come down and she so badly wanted the feather, but for some reason she was too afraid to walk over to the feather and pick it up.  She left that conference so sad that she had missed an opportunity to have a small manifestation of God with her! Later that night she prayed to God and told Him she would never again miss an opportunity to meet Him and do His work because of her own fear.  She prayed over and over that He would give her another opportunity and send her feathers again! 

Although Cynthia told many other reasons why she continues to do this work, I loved the feather story and hope I’ve represented it here accurately.  It was so meaningful to me because in some ways it matches my own story of wanting to meet God’s will and show up where He wants me to be.  Like Cynthia, I’ve also had to put aside my fears to enter into this journey, but I trust God and believe this is what He wants for me as I learn about community and move toward it.

Another part of the training that was significant to me was the reminder that Jesus is the one doing all the work in prayer ministry.  I laughed when I heard Cynthia describe herself as the “dumb pipe” who just acts as a conduit for the Holy Spirit to act through her.  Along with an actual quote of a simple prayer that is given in the handout, the “dumb pipe” description makes it seem that anyone can do this work even if you’re brand new to prayer ministry.  Although I don’t feel ready to use these tools, I know it was very helpful for Cindy to have these items as part of her “toolkit” to take with her.  Cynthia even gave me a prayer that I can use silently at the back of the room while the teams are working at the front.  She suggested that I can just invite Him to the room and ask Him to help the people there seeking His healing, just as I invite Him into my life in my normal silent prayers to Him.  Thanks, Cynthia, because this type of silent prayer is VERY familiar and I’m happy to do it.

With this training, I was expecting a complicated explanation of what it’s like and what people will ask of you and what you have to be careful of when talking to them.  Instead, the knowledge to use in this work is so easy to remember, it seems anyone can be a “dumb pipe.”  Even if I’m not ready for “out loud” prayer ministry, it’s nice to know that the tools to do this work are so down-to-earth. 

I believe I started listening to the “Built to Last” series. I don’t remember my first sermon (although it might have been “Losing the last 20 lbs” since it had a catchy title!).  Listening to that series was ground breaking for me.  I never understood or believed that a pastor could be inspirational!  But both Ben and Christy were and I kept listening.  I’ve ended up listening to all the sermons that are online (yep, all 5 years’ worth!).  I’ve listened more than once to each of them and each time I get something new from them.  In many, I heard the message that a church community can help to heal you and that message was momentous to me.   I truly believe that God has spoken to me through these sermons and encouraged me to search for a faith community.  He has asked me to begin saying yes where I might have made up excuses or said no before.  And when the Big Guy tells you something, I think it’s a good idea to listen.

Now, when Bill Weir told me that I might like to go to this conference in Hawaii, it wasn’t too hard to imagine saying yes.  However, I wasn’t sure about how I could be involved.  I’ve wanted to help New Hope in some way, since the messages that this community has sent out to the world have helped me, so I tried to think about the skills that I could bring to the table.  Bill’s involved in prayer ministry, and I was clear that was not going to be my thing.  However, I wondered if I could help by just assisting the team.  I’m not a huge sports fan, but I liken myself to the waterboy.  How can the team survive without someone to fetch the water?

Christy was very enthusiastic about my coming, but I haven’t always been so sure that there was something I could do.  Last night, I sat with Cynthia Bosworth as she explained what the pray sessions will be like.  It was a bit weird for me, but mostly because I’m afraid that doing things other than what the team is doing will make me feel like an outsider.  I just keep reminding myself that God wants me to say yes, but that He also wants me to involve myself in ways that work for me.  It helps that the prayer team is so loving and kind about my boundaries.  Thanks Cynthia and Christy and Bill!

It sounds like the Hawaiian Island Ministries conference is an ideal way to experience a large community coming together for a common cause.  Cynthia tells me that the vision of this conference for 25 years has been to support and equip the small local churches and leaders of Hawaii’s Christian communities.  Dan and Pam Chun had a vision that the HIM conference could bring them together, no matter what faith model they practiced individually.  It seems that the vision has become a reality since the conference now hosts about 5000 people!

If nothing else, just seeing that many people come together in worship will be an amazing experience for me.  I really can’t wait.  Plus, it’s Hawaii!  Who can say no to that?  Not me!