Six a.m., seven days a week, a fellowship of worship and prayer is just a phone call away. For one hour each morning, a growing number of people are taking God at His word, "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them" (Matt. 18:20).
Prayer Line, a growing and powerful ministry, connects people for worship and prayer. Michael Blue, first elder, Wanda Flowers and Joseph Jones, pastor of the Fresno Westside church, facilitate the Fresno Westside church ministry. It’s easy to get connected – joiners don’t have to be church members or even believers. They can live anywhere in the country and join in. Residents from Texas, Florida and Louisiana are regular participants.
“Everything we do for God is empowered by prayer. The place we start is not with the work but with prayer,” says Jones.
The West Coast Prayer Line number is 641-497-7200, access code 149857#. (This is not a toll-free number). After dailing in, callers can become involved in conversational prayer or just listen. (At 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, the West Coast Prayer Line is facilitated by Bakersfield Southside members.)
Fresno Westside got involved in the West Coast Prayer Line in February. "It was birthed from a sense of urgency of our need of the outpouring of God’s Spirit following a youth week of prayer," says Flowers. The week of prayer was led by Bakersfield Southside member Ray Patrick who helps facilitate his church’s Prayer Line ministry. The petitions are as different as the people who make them. There are requests for spiritual strength, guidance for witnessing to the community, health issues, debt issues, bereavement, grief and loss issues, joblessness, children, missing church members and many other family concerns.
“This is causing people to be convicted, converted and making quite a few changes in [their] lives,” says Jones. “We’ve even had people from the nearby Second Baptist Church join us in worship. Several have begun to attend prayer meeting on Wednesday night.”
Ministering across barriers of age, gender, denomination and culture, the rapid growth is by word of mouth as participants spread the word. "What really has us excited is that men, women and young adults call in on the line and have been healed and delivered from depression, joblessness, spiritual apathy and others," says Flowers. "We are just ordinary people serving an extraordinary God."
