“Heather, what exactly do you DO?”

I get this question a lot, so I thought I would bring some clarity.

 

I know many of you are curious to how how I spend my days here at Two Rivers as a prayer missionary.  You may picture me sitting quietly in a small room, all by myself praying softly to the Lord.  Or perhaps you think of loud worship music blasting in a large room with many other sojourners seeking the Lord.  Whatever your ideas or perceptions are about a prayer missionary, I hope to give you a little insight to THIS prayer missionary’s journey.

Here is a typical schedule for Friday…

 

-8:00-10:00am Morning worship/prayer with the team (8 people).  We sit in a large room known as one of our “prayer rooms”, while some of our staff sit on the stage leading worship (Sara and Gary on guitar, Kristy playing the keyboard, sometimes Heather or I helping out with our voices).  The room is set up with couches and chairs, with room in the back for movement.  Sometimes there is dancing, other times study, and sometimes pacing back and forth.  A single microphone is set up in the front of the room for people to share prayer requests, scripture, dreams, visions, hopes…You might be thinking to yourself, “Why in the world to they have a worship team on a stage and a microphone for only 8 people?”  Yeah, we thought the same thing when we started, but feel as though the Lord is preparing us for a time when there will be others joining us.  The prayer room is not only for us Two Rivers Staff, it is for anyone in the community wanting a place to seek the Lord, no matter what church they belong to.

 

-10:00-11:30  This time is usually spent first in the office, taking care of random stuff – emailing, calling, Kingdom Fuel, Family to Family…to get a bit of a transition in before I go back to the prayer room for my own personal devotional time.  As far as my personal time in the prayer room, it varies.  It may be silent, contemplative, reflective, or perhaps take on a different approach.  I may pump up the Kirk Franklin gospel music and get my praise on.  Or, I may whip out my Strong’s Concordance to do some in depth study.

 

-11:30-1:00pm  I run over to the Kitchen Table (a soup kitchen) which our friends Sister Mary and Sister Jeanette founded about 12 years ago.  Gloria is their new cook, who has been around for about a year helping out as they get started in the morning.  Usually they serve about 130 plates to folks in the community.  It is considered the “best restaurant in town” by most.

 

-1:00-3:00pm Volunteer at Bennett Elementary school in Ms. G’s class.  Our friend Melissa G_________  (her last name is too difficult for the students to say, so they just call her Ms. G) recently moved back to Cairo, after being here for over a year supervising the summer Kid’s Club program.  She is now teaching 5^th grade and loving the new challenge.  A challenge it is as these children come from broken homes (usually with only one parent raising them) and many obstacles trying to tear them away from their destiny.  Melissa desires to see them grow physically, cognitively, socially, and spiritually.  She understands that God has strategically placed her in this community to minister to these little ones. 

 

-3:00-5:00pm  This week I hope to begin mentoring my 5^th grade friend Makayla.  We will spend some time visiting people at the Day Star Nursing Home in town – one block away from our center.  Makayla has such a desire to learn and serve.  This summer while I was supervising the Kids’ Café – free lunch program, she was always finding creative ways to help out.  After we spend time at Day Star, I hope to have some one-on-one time to talk about her life, school work, and spiritual journey.  This girl is hungry for Jesus!  One day she had come over telling us all about the first 5 chapters of Genesis, by memory!

 

-5:00-5:45pm After I drop Makalya off at home, I will help Heather with preparing our fellowship dinner.  On Friday nights we have a worship time with community friends, and now we have begun to fellowship beforehand with a meal.  This week we are making tacos.  Yummy!

 

-5:45-6:00  Time to pick up some friends for Uprising.  I will grab Jess to come with me as I pick up Earl (a man who frequents the Kitchen Table) and some of our younger community friends.  This last week we had four elementary aged boys join us for Uprising.  Surprisingly they did well.  Usually they are bouncing off the walls with excitement, but not that night.  Micah even read scripture (out of “his” book in the Bible) on the mic and Devin wrote a prophetic poem about Jesus’ love for us.  Increadible!  God is really growing these boys.  Our hope for Uprising is that it would be a place for people to grow in their faith, experience Jesus, and enjoy fellowship, BUT we are not a church. 

 

-6:00-6:45pm Fellowship dinner with a diverse group of “misfits” as I like to call ourselves.  You never know who will show up.

 

-6:45-9:30pm Uprising Worship time.  Similar to our morning worship style, people leading on stage with that mic in the front of the room.  At the end we always ask if anyone has any prayer needs to raise their hand and others will come around them to lift them up in prayer.  Such a blessing!

 

-9:30-?pm Fellowship time. 

 

So, this is a typical Friday for me.  Each day of the week looks a bit different.  Every morning is constant with our team worship time and personal time with the Lord. 

 Other ministries I am involved with, or desire to be involved with include:-Networking/connecting ministries-Kingdom Fuel (fundraising ministry) www.kingdomfuel.com-Entrepreneurial Adventures – Creating necklaces and t-shirts to raise funds for ministry-Learning how to play guitar for purposes of leading worship-Learning Spanish (once/week we have Spanish Club)-Start a Community Gospel Choir-Provide training for churches to utilize their spiritual gifts-After school program (once/week) at Elmwood housing projects-Prayer at the High School (one morning/week)-Prayer in City Council Chambers (one day/week)-Hosting volunteer groups-Praying with visitors-Supervising our Tech. Center (one day/week)-Volunteer at the Women’s Shelter (one day/week)-Evangelism/Random Acts of Kindness-Worship at Elmwood housing projects (One Uprising/Month)-Women’s prayer group-Conferences/Training/Connecting with regional ministries-Teaching dance (co-teaching one night/week)