24/7 

Mesa:  

Gilbert:

Glendale: 

Queen Creek: 

11/10-11/11

Ahwatukee: 

11/10-11/11

Teens, Life Groups, Individuals, Couples 

Join Creative Team For 24-7 This Year

Each year, the design team for the 24-7 Live Prayer Room expands in diversity and scope!

Last year, for the first time, a Life Group designed one of the 10 stations in the 24-7 Live Prayer Room.  They enjoyed it so much, they are back again this year  --  along with several more Life Groups, several individuals and couples design teams, and a group of teens joining forces with two adults to design a station.

"We know the kids are the future of the church," said Rick Safriet, who with his wife, Linda, also designed a station for last year's prayer room.  "When we asked the kids who come to serve at Central's ACTS (homeless) Ministry, they were eager to help and get involved. And they wanted to learn more about prayer, too."

Rick and Linda let the kids take the lead, and the station they claimed as theirs out of the 10 possibilities taken from 1 Peter, not surprisingly, already had been titled, "Serve Others." It is from 1 Peter 4:10-11a.

As all station designers do, they read the passage, bounced ideas around about what they could do to help lead people into prayer about the passage and make it interactive, interesting, and memorable.

This year's 24-7 Live Prayer Room will move to all five campuses at one time or another between Saturday, Nov. 2, and Monday, Nov. 11. Check out Central's web site for exact times and places and follow this link to register for one hour to pray www.CentralAZ.com/247 . Read More Here.

Innovator Mark Batterson

Returns to Central to Speak at the

Elevate Prayer Conference in February 2014

Mark Batterson has become one of the most innovative American writers on the subject of prayer. He will return to Central Christian Church to speak at the Elevate Prayer Conference.

His books have inspired many to have a more intimate and deeper prayer life. If you go on Facebook, you'll find 18,794 likes for Batterson's book The Circle Maker, and if you go on Twitter, he has 76,595 followers that follow what he tweets. It wasn't always this way for Mark Batterson though. Before becoming the Lead Pastor of National Community Church in Washington D.C. and authoring multiple best-selling books that include The Circle Maker, Batterson was raised in Naperville, Illinois, an affluent suburb of Chicago that has remnants of a once quaint farming town. He attended the University of Chicago on a scholarship he earned playing basketball and had his sights set on majoring in pre-law. That was of course until 1989, when Batterson's life would turn in a completely different direction.

He wasn't knocked off a horse with a bolt of lightning like the Apostle Paul, and he didn't hear a gentle whisper like the Prophet Elijah. On the contrary, Batterson was on a prayer walk through a cow pasture when he felt the call to enter into full time ministry. After earning a Bachelor's degree from Central Bible College in Springfield, Missouri and two Master Degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago, Illinois, Batterson would settle down with his wife Lora and three children on Capitol Hill in 1994. He went on to pastor at National Community Church in 1996, one of the most visible churches in the Washington D.C. Metro Area. 

Since then he has written several books like In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, Wild Goose Chase, Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity and his most recent book, The Circle Maker, a New York Times Bestseller.

Don't miss this incredible speaker at the Elevate Prayer Conference on February 7, 2014. Registration is coming soon!

  Threshold: Transformational Prayer,

Transformational Prayer Ministry

Is Now a Reality

It's taken two years of hard work, but Paul Covert's book is finally finished.  Read what people who have had a chance to preview it are already saying about Threshold: Transformational Prayer, Transformational Prayer Leadership:

"What is the biggest component missing from the church these days? Vision? Passion? Commitment? Nope! What's missing most is "Prayer"!  Prayer is something most of us believe in far beyond our practice. For the past ten years, Paul Covert has led our church to become passionate about praying. Not talking about praying, but praying. On this subject, Paul is both an expert and a champion. If you want your prayer life to light up and to ignite your church in prayer, this book is a must-read. Far more than mere theory, this book will give you the practical steps that will lead to genuine transformation."

-Cal Jernigan, Senior Pastor, Central Christian Church of Arizona.

"What would happen if the church became the prayer force that God designed it to be? We would see explosive changes as the power of heaven invades the circumstances of earth. Paul Covert offers us a guide that is both practical and reverent. Everything in it flows from his years of experience. I hear it all the time: 'How can I get my congregation, or Sunday School class, or small group to understand and practice prayer?' This is what you have been asking for."

- Jennifer Kennedy Dean, Executive Director of the Praying Life Foundation and Author of "A Praying Life."

Paul's book will be available soon at Central Gear, Amazon, and Kindle. Please pray that God uses it for His kingdom.

If you're feeling a little clueless about what or who Ironman is, you're not alone.  For months I'd heard about this opportunity to get involved with this ministry at Central but wasn't exactly sure what to expect.  So I began to research it and uncovered this potent Bible verse along the way, "As Iron sharpens Iron, so one man sharpens another" (Proverbs 27:17). From what I read, Ironman brings together men from life groups to study the Bible and encourages each of them to challenge one another to fulfill the mission of the church.  I conjured up images in my head about the kind of men that would be considered "Ironmen".  No disrespect, but the guys I've seen walking into church every Sunday look just like me and not what I envisioned Ironmen to be. I thought Ironmen would be more like Conan the Barbarian, Maximus from Gladiator, or William Wallace of Braveheart.  So I decided I needed to actually "see" these Ironmen for myself.

Who Attends?  Simply put, MEN!  They are husbands, fathers, grandfathers; single, married, or in a relationship. They're just GUYS!

When Do They Meet?   6:30 a.m. on Wednesdays in Gilbert and 6:30 a.m. Thursdays in Mesa. It might be easier to go off to work that early, but you will know you've found the right place when you scan the parking lot and see 75 to 100 vehicles, mostly trucks and SUV's.  Just do it. Read More Here.