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Report from the Regional Prayer Conference

"Seeking God Together for Revival & Spiritual Awakening"

By Lynn Nikkel

    What is the measure of success in the work of the Kingdom of God?  Can we judge success of an effort or event by dollars and cents?  Should we judge the success of something done by the number of people who attend and/or participate?  Surely there is a need to evaluate such things as a matter of stewardship of Kingdom resources.  But can they be the sole measure of success, or is there something more?

    We have now concluded our regional prayer conference, “Seeking God Together for Revival and Spiritual Awakening”.  It was a glorious event and in my mind and heart a tremendous success.  We had hoped, prayed and initially planned that 1,000 to 1,200 people might gather for this experience.  I had hoped that 500 Wyoming Southern Baptists might be part of such a gathering.  While we don’t have a final full report on such matters, here is what we do know…  on Friday we can account for 649 people in attendance, and believe we had up to just under 700 there;  we were told by Events Center personnel who do parking lot surveys that we had a larger percentage of license plates from more states than any event in some time held there, and a broader number of plates from across Wyoming than usual at events there.  We saw many lives touched deeply, many making public decisions in prayer in the two evening services. 

    Reports continue to come into our office about what God is doing in people’s lives and in churches following this experience, and believed to be a result of their experience there.  For instance:

• One Pastor when hearing James Walker’s testimony on how that church was built on the power of prayer realized that he was praying very little for his church and community.  He spent time in prayer on Saturday and spent an hour praying before he went to the pulpit – at the invitation people came forward,  some for salvation, others to join the church and one person stood before the congregation asked forgiveness and reconciliation with the other members and then from God.
• From Montana – “I have never felt the presence of God surround that arena as I did during the Prayer Conference.”
• From Idaho – “we returned to our church and home – not the same person as when we left.”
• Salt Lake City – “God began to do a marvelous thing – truly, the flame of revival was lit and I pray that we can carry that flame back to our families, churches and communities.”
• South Dakota – “God revealed areas of our lives that we needed to make right and we did.  We traveled back feeling a freedom we had not experienced in a long time.”
• Casper – “thank you for the Prayer conference – God convicted me of areas in my life that I needed to make right with God.”
• A pastor indicated he was convicted to pray more evangelistically and that the Lord laid two men on his heart – one in jail, the other in another health facility – both that had been closed to any witness.  He began praying for them on Friday and on Saturday he heard from both of them that they wanted him to come visit them.

    There are many other reports that keep coming in day after day.  We may not have reached our hoped for attendance, and there are certainly other quantitative benchmarks that were not as outwardly achieved as we would have liked.  But, in the broader scheme of things these results are hard to ignore when it comes to success. 

(to see pictures from the event - Click Here)