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SF NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER REPORT
Click here to see slideshow compliments of SF's Indonesian Churches
On May 5th, 400 Christians from dozens of churches gathered at the historic San Francisco Christian Center to join in the annual National Day of Prayer. This was the 4th SF City-Wide National Day of Prayer Gathering convened by SFHOPFAN.
We were welcomed by San Francisco Christian Center's Sr Pastor Roderick Gittens, and Pastor Bill Betts read aloud President Obama's Presidential Proclamation marking the 60th annual NDP observance, in which he acknowledged that "Throughout our history, Americans have turned to prayer for strength, inspiration, and solidarity. "
2011 National Day of Prayer has special significance due to a recent court ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals which affirmed the constitutionality of the law requiring the President to proclaim a National Day of Prayer each year. The 3-0 decision ruled that the Freedom From Religion Foundation and its plaintiffs do not have standing to continue to challenge the 1952 Congressional Act declaring an annual National Day of Prayer.
As millions of people across our nation answered the call to gather and pray for America, San Francisco was no exception. Representing Black, Anglo, Indonesian, Chinese, Korean, Hispanic, Russian, & Jewish people groups, congregations and ministries came together to pray. The worship team was made up of believers from 5 different congregations, including pastors from Greater Life and The Homeless Church.
 
We again celebrated the large turnout of Asian Americans bringing their rich supply of Christ. Among these were dozens from Fremont's Forerunner Church with their Senior Pastor Grace Chang. This large praying church of Chinese Americans across the Bay has devoted itself to support the church of San Francisco (all of us!) with ardent prayer.
  
SFHOPFAN's Michael Dowling served again as San Francisco City & County Coordinator. Other sponsors & participating ministries included:
- Aglow International,
- Christian City Church (C3),
- City Harvest International,
- Comunidad Cristiana Servadores de Jesus,
- Fraternite Notre Dame: Mary of Nazareth House,
- Full Gospel Church San Francisco,
- Genesis Worship Center,
- Greater Life Church,
- International Students Inc.,
- Jews for Jesus,
- Living Waters Fellowship,
- Nuevo Pacto,
- Promised Land Fellowship,
- Providence Baptist Church,
- Russian Gospel Temple,
- San Francisco Christian Center,
- SF Korean American Presbyterian Church,
- San Francisco House of Prayer For All Nations
- The Homeless Church,
- True Hope Church of God in Christ,
- Urban Missions,
- United States National Prayer Council,
- Voice of Christ Full Gospel Church,
- Youth With A Mission.
Note: If you are a pastor or ministry leader that attended but do not see your church or ministry on this list, forgive us. We may have missed a few of you! Please email us so we can correct our oversight. annetrumbo@sfhouseofprayer.org
Different ministers took turns leading the gathering in praying for the Unity of the Church & a Great Harvest of Souls, our Government and Leaders, an End to the Drug Wars in Mexico. (It was noted that Cinco de Mayo, celebrated the same day, commemorates the Mexican victory over Napoleon III.
Mexico's army, against 2 to 1 odds, forced Napoleon to redirect weapons destined for the Confederate Army to his own troops. Partly because of the Mexican's victory, America remained undivided, and slavery was abolished!)
 We also focused prayer on our crumbling Educational System with an exhortation to pastors & parents to teach & equip children how to establish Bible clubs in their schools. We still have the freedom to do just that!  
Ted Rose, who leads the United States National Prayer Council, the largest network of prayer ministry leaders in America, prodded church leaders to make prayer a priority in every service. Ted Hahs of Harvest Evangelism & Pastor Mark Smallcombe of Christian City Church (C3) exhorted everyone to Adopt Your Street in prayer to see the breakthrough come. As we joined hands to pray in circles across the sanctuary, cries for God to move echoed in many languages.We ended the evening praying for the Peace of Jerusalem with Rob Wertheim of Jews for Jesus. 
We are planning to gather again in 6 months time. Be sure to join us and encourage others to do the same. If you are interested in helping, please let us know. Let's join forces to see our city transformed! If you haven't yet seen the SLIDESHOW of SF's Nat'l Day of Prayer compliments of San Francisco's Indonesian churches, CLICK HERE TO VIEW |
