Saturday morning dawned hot but cloudy. I woke up early with knots in my stomach. This was the big day, how would it all go? What if it rained? What if the workers didn´t s how? Or what if no kids came? I managed to eat my cereal, gather my things and head out the door. Sarah, the Baptist pastor, was waiting for me. Our first stop was to the park where the event would be held. No rain so far but the park was quite overgrown with lots of grass and weeds. The person in charge of cleaning parks was probably too busy with the upcoming local elections the next day to worry about cleaning a park!
The next stop was to pick up tables being loaned to us. On our way back to the park we noticed some of our people in another park. Pastor Armando quickly jumped out of the truck and steered them to the right place. By then those in charge of the different stands were arriving bringing with them children form their churches. We got everyone set up in their spot and registered the kids and leaders, dividing them into teams.
Still no rain thankfully and the sun was starting to shine.
We started with some praise songs about prayer, said an opening prayer and handed out the clues to each team. They´re off! Each team was given an envelope with a Scripture verse in it. Each verse had something to do with a body part such as the eye, the foot, hand etc. Each stand had a drawing of one of those parts and the teams had to figure out where to go by matching up the verse and the drawing.
Luis and Cintia were in charge of teaching the Bible verse, Ephesians 6:18 to each team that visited their table. They helped each group develop a drama to represent the verse as well as praying for the persecuted church.
Pastora Sarah and her church had fun activities with balls and baskets where the children prayed for friends and family members who don´t know Christ. Pastora Margarita, ever the teacher, used a poster and her pointer to lead the participants in prayer for "at risk" children . The next table was headed up by Dra. Elianeth. This stand had pictures of children in Mexico who have suffered because of their faith in Christ. After praying for them, our kids wrote letters which Elianeth sent to a contact who works with the persecuted church here in Mexico. At the next stop, Pastor Bisteni´s daughters led the prayer for Mexico, Veracruz and Tuxpan. They used a coloring page of praying hands to focus the prayer.
Each team had 20 minutes to spend at each stand and then three minutes to find their next table. At the end we call came together to sing our theme song, review our verse and see the dramas the kids had prepared. The skits were very creative, focusing on prayer in every day life and praying for those who suffer for their faith in Christ. They even showed that in an accident, before you call 911or an ambulance you should pray. That´s the quickest way to get help!
We wrapped up the morning praising God for the youngsters and the adults who took time on a Saturday morning to pray. Six different churches were represented, four of whom were in charge of one of the stands. I was impressed with the creativity, dedication and hard work of each group. And it never did rain! I know we are forming a generation of prayer warriors and only God knows the lasting impact that will have. Lord willing, June 2014 we´ll hold prayer rally number three, although it was suggested we "should do this more often." I don´t think any of us have the energy for that!
