Greetings!

This Thursday is National Day of Prayer. Prayer events will be held all across America, but here in West Michigan we have a very special event that your CityFest Prayer Team is helping to organize.
The theme for this year's National Day of Prayer is UNITY. What is so exciting is that West Michigan Christians have recently experienced a degree of unity among diverse denominations and ethnicities that, not too many years ago, would have been unthinkable.
As just one sign of our growing unity is the fact that 370+ churches are joining together to promote CityFest (the Luis and Andrew Palau festival) in our region this year. We also have nearly 1500 people who are pledging to pray daily for revival and spiritual awakening in West Michigan. And that number continues to grow daily! We still have the goal of raising 10,000 folks to be part of our CityFest Prayer Team. Feel free to help us recruit others by going to this address .
Folks, come and celebrate this God-inspired unity with us at our National Day of Prayer event this Thursday evening (May 3rd) at 7:00 pm. We are gathering at New Hope Baptist Church , 130 Delaware SW, Grand Rapids .
Some highlights from this year's event will include the following:
  • Welcome by New Hope Baptist Church Pastor Howard Earl
  • Inspiring worship music by the Unity Fellowship Choir interspersed throughout the evening
  • Prayer for unity in each of the centers of cultural influence, including prominent leaders from each of these areas:
  • Government: (including Mayor Rosalynn Bliss of Grand Rapids and Mayor Stephen Kepley of Kentwood, Sheriff Larry Stelma, Judge Benjamin Logan and many others)
  • Church (including pastors and church leaders from a wide variety of churches in town)
  • Family (representatives from various aspects of family)
  • Education (including Dr. Curt Johnson (Asst. Superintendent of Grand Rapids Schools and others)
  • Media/Arts (including media leaders like Tim Feagan, Market President of iHeart Media and others)
  • Business (including Johnny Brann, Tom Koster, Kevin Cusack and others.)

We will conclude the evening by praying together what has been called the “National Prayer”  .
Hope to see you there!!

Randy Hekman and Mary Sterenberg
Co-Chairs of the Prayer Team
Prayer Opportunities
  1. Latino Prayer Gatherings -- All are welcome to join in prayer with and for our Latino community every Friday at Lee Street CRC, from 8 pm – 12 am. Contact Pastor Raul Fermin for more information. EMAIL
  2. Prayer Walking -- To learn more about our Prayer Walking initiative, contact Tom Howard EMAIL
  3. Prayer Cards -- People all over West Michigan are praying for their friends and family. To join them in praying for the 5 names they wrote down, contact Cindy Jacobson EMAIL
  4. If you are interested in having your church participate in this CityFest prayer initiative, contact Pastor Marcus Little at marcus@bereangr.org or (616) 307-1233. 
Prayer Requests:

  1. Pray for Luis Palau, his family, and his health. For more information, click HERE.
  2. Pray for the Youth Gathering being planned for May 17 at GR First. Pray for wisdom for those planning this event, and for a huge impact upon the youth of our region.
  3. Pray for the National Day of Prayer service for May 3.
  4. Pray for the CityFest staff: Levi Park, Duffy Johnson, Melissa Banek, Austin Presnell, Dan Clark, Sarah Brittan, Rachel Kono and Sylvia Murphy. Pray for a receptionist and volunteer coordinator who need to be hired in the next couple months.
  5. Pray for churches to be considering how they might train and prepare now for CityFest follow up this Fall.
  6. Pray for those churches where Alpha would be a good fit to clearly see how using their gifts of hospitality, encouragement and intercession are exactly what are needed to create fruitful environments where people can explore Jesus and come to know Him.
  7. Pray that God would continue to do a work in church leaders' hearts to long for how to lead their churches in reaching this lost generation.
CALENDAR OF EVENTS.

  • May 3 -- State of CityFest Meeting at Kuyper College | 8:00 am RSVP
  • May 3 -- National Day of Prayer at New Hope Baptist Church | 7:00 pm DIRECTIONS
  • May 15 -- Prayer Equipping Evening at Gold Avenue Church. DIRECTIONS
  • May 14 -- Latino Pastors Gathering at Casa Del Rey | 7:00 pm DIRECTIONS
  • May 17 -- The Movement (Youth Gathering) at Grand Rapids First. INFORMATION
  • June 7 -- CityFest West Michigan Prayer Gathering at Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church. DIRECTIONS
  • June 19 -- CityFest Prayer Equipping Evening at Gold Avenue Church. DIRECTIONS
  • July 5 -- CityFest West Michigan Prayer Gathering at Mission De Fe Church. DIRECTIONS
  • July 17 -- CityFest Prayer Equipping Evening at Gold Avenue Church. DIRECTIONS
  • August 2 -- CityFest West Michigan Prayer Gathering at From The Heart Church. DIRECTIONS
  • August 21 -- CityFest Prayer Equipping Evening at Gold Avenue Church. DIRECTIONS