The Nehemiah Team is a team of 23 passionate Vancouverites sent out by the Vancouver Pastors Fellowship to pray for our newly elected government at the National House of Prayer in Ottawa. Paying their own way, and braving both spiritual warfare and the sub-zero Ottawa weather these intercessors came from 12 different churches, various ethnic groups and spanned 4 generations!

They truly were a ?slice of the Church? of Vancouver, and were supernaturally bonded together in unity that was a tremendous testimony to the grace of God.

Their days were full of prayer, worship and on-site prayer on Parliament Hill. Every day they heard from God their ?marching orders? and under the excellent leadership of Rob and Fran Parker,(directors of NHOP) as well as the Vancouver leaders, obeyed God?s directions. The main goal was to pray for a cleansing of the seats of power in our nation as the government transitioned, so that no spiritual residue left behind would be able to impact or impede the new government.

In the months of preparation leading up to the trip the Nehemiah team felt the Lord spoke to come as a family. This meant they brought even small children with them as active team members. One such child was a young boy of eight, who loves to pray. While standing in the House of Commons he began to pray for the government to return to the ways of the Lord and seek righteousness. In that moment the team realized that this was a prophetic sign of a Josiah anointing being given our nation. It is very likely that there has never been, in the history of the nation, an eight year old boy stand in this place of government and call out for righteousness!! (King Josiah was eight when he began to reign and restore Israel.)

The next day this same lad was invited through surprising favour and divine connections to be seated and robed at the judge?s bench, of the Federal Court in the Supreme Court building. Although some would look at this as merely entertaining a child in the midst of a tour, they wouldn?t realize that this child knew he was there on a divine assignment.

Later outside the Supreme Court, he was able to blow a shofar as decrees and prayers for truth and justice were made by the team!!

There is so much more that God did in the midst of this time, the team came back overwhelmed with a sense of God?s greatness and the tremendous honour to walk with him through this assignment. The team also came home with a deep conviction of the need to support our government in prayer and a burden to share this with others. It is their prayer that Vancouver will send teams on a regular basis, and that we will, like in Nehemiah?s day do our bit to build the wall.

Sara Maynard
Nehemiah Team Leader

1. The timing of another vote on the definition of marriage is critical. Numerous pro-family groups are hoping that they will have more time to prepare for another campaign. Please pray for wisdom to know the right season and the right strategy for this issue to re-emerge in Parliament.

2. A new motto is being considered for our nation. "from sea to sea to sea" is the leading suggestion. Pray that our Inuit citizens in the North will feel that this initiative takes them seriously. Pray also that southern Canadians will begin to receive the spiritual influence that could be a wonderful blessing in the rest of the nation.

3. Pray for the organizers of "The Cry 2" as they put things in place for another major youth rally on Parliament Hill on July 15th, 2006. Thousands came in August of 2002, and more are expected this summer. Specifically pray for Faytene Kryskow as she leads the team that is working on this significant event.