Prayer meeting at Covenant Presbyterian Church

One of the things I believe the Lord has put on my heart is to visit churches in the City during their prayer meetings and/or worship services. I’m not sure what He will do with that, but as I have prayed for many years for the Church in the city (whatever city I’ve been in) for pastors to come together I’ve also begun praying for intercessors to unite. Our web-page for prayer is one effort along those lines and blogging my visiting experiences is another. For me to effectively pray for unity, I probably need to come out of my comfortable “prayer box” and pray with others who converse with their Father differently than I. This blog is about the prayer meeting at 5:00 on Saturday for Covenant Presbyterian Church on 3rd Street in downtown Long Beach.
I first met Pastor Rob Langworthy at our morning City Pulse 2008 meeting. I fell in love with him first because at our 8:00 am meeting he was asking where the chocolate was since it’s one of the major food groups. I quickly brought it out and the chocoholics gathered…
As we spoke further I discovered him to be “the real deal” – sold out for oue Lord. He stood and “watched” as City Pulse went on and his presence was an open invitation to experience the love of Jesus. His church is a giving, vital presence in that corner of God’s world. Once instance of that is their tutoring program every afternoon M-Th for the neighborhood kids and the figure I heard was 250 kids in the program. About half of them attend Sunday School and most of them come without their parents (a point for prayer). On the other end of the age scale, they have a senior apartment complex next door where the residents are not only ministered to by Pastors Rob and Adele, but encouraged to minister outward themselves. I met one of the residents, who is a substitute tutor, at the prayer meeting I attended Saturday. That prayer meeting has been going for many years and the testimonies of ministry, healing and provision were inspiring. Praying with people of all different streams is a wonderful experience. It shatters my “right” way to pray and let’s me discover God’s magnificent creativity and diversity. We sat around a table with a wide mix of cultures, ages and walks of life, with a prayer list (I don’t do lists) and began to beseech the Father of Light in His heavenly courtrooms for “our daily bread.” I heard petitions for sons and daughters, for kids in their middle school program, for people they’re ministering to in their neighborhood, for missionaries in Africa as well as petitions for their local body among many other things. Pastor Rob led the meeting, but I heard that if he isn’t there, it continues under the capable direction of one of the women in the congregation. She is a seasoned intercessor and has been praying for unity among pastors of her denomination for many years. I came away blessed and encouraged at this living testimony to God presencing Himself in a life-giving way in the heart of our City. Personal note: I am so grateful for the prayer list because I can bring it with me to remember some of what we prayed for……
Their website is www.covenantlb.org. I encourage you to visit.