August, 6, 2011 – Spanish Town, Jamaica… Nigel Coke/IAD Staff
Numerous lives were touched via mass media, as the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Central Jamaica recently held its first-ever 24-hour prayerthon covering three-fourth of the island. The prayerthon was an activity that climaxed 160 days of prayer, which was part of the Inter-American Division’s (IAD) Constant in Prayer initiative that calls the church to a spiritual revival and reformation and the prayer for conferences, mission and individuals in the IAD territory.
The program took place at the conference headquarters in Brunswick, Spanish Town, on July 22. Prayer coordinators from throughout dozens of churches in Central Jamaica, gathered to pray, tend to hundreds of calls through the prayer line, and to offer hope.
According to Pastor Levi Johnson, president of the church in Central Jamaica, more than 250 calls were received from five lines during the 24-hour prayer line. Requests ranged from domestic and family concerns to financial problems to despair, and came in from rural Jamaica and as far away as Florida and England.
The prayerthon was broadcast live through NCU Radio and TV, Bless TV, and on the internet.
“We are happy with the prayer atmosphere that this prayerathon has caused,” said Pastor Johnson. “This activity was conceptualized to encourage our churches to embrace the prayer initiative deeper in order to impact our members and those in need of prayer.”
The activity was organized to involve 60 prayer coordinators to pray rotating every two hours.
The prayerthon was timed as the island was concluding its annual seven-day Reggae Sumfest Festival, said Johnson. “While they were having fun with the devil, we spent a full day of prayer with Jesus.” Prayers were offered for the nation and church leaders took 30-minute periods to pray for prayer requests that were coming in one after another.
“Most of the calls were from females and related to marital and health problems,” said Claudia Bailey, prayer ministry coordinator of the Central Jamaican Conference (CJC). “We are very happy that we could have provided this avenue of prayer, so that persons could have exercised their faith in a prayer-answering God.”
Bailey added that outside of prayer, “they wanted someone to talk to and we praise God for the opportunity to be there for them.”
According to Bailey, callers who needed professional counseling were referred to the counselors from the conference.
“The program is very good,” said Sayda McGhan who called for prayer from Lawrence Tavern. “I am listening from last night. I called in for prayer for the pain in my leg because I have arthritis. It was a blessing to my soul because about an hour after I was able to get out of bed and walk better.” She too was tuned to NCU Radio.
Pastor Johnson is happy with the response to the prayerthon program and vows to continue forward with the prayer initiative. The next focus will be promoting the reading of the Scriptures that the church in Inter-America launched two weeks ago.
“We are excited and will continue to inspire our church leaders to get on board with the initiative,” Johnson added.
The church in Central Jamaica is recommitting itself to the use of mass media in spreading the gospel through programs like the prayerthon. The Central Jamaica Conference has committed thousands of dollars to BLESS TV, so it will be able to join the Flow cable network, which broadcasts to more than 50 percent of Jamaica.
For more information on the Adventist Church in Central Jamaica, visit www.centralja.com
