A recent History of Prayer in NYC

New York City is famous for many things, but few would ever suspect that prayer revival was once its most powerful export. In 1857, in the midst of political unrest, spiritual disillusionment, and economic disaster, a missionary named Jeremiah Lamphier rented a hall on Fulton Street in NYC for noontime prayer meetings. At the first prayer meeting, only six people had come; a few weeks later after banks had failed and the stock market collapsed, the meetings exploded.

Within six months 10,000 people were gathering daily for prayer in New York City alone, but it didn't stop there. People gathered to pray, in the thousands, all across the United States and even the world - in Scotland, England, Wales, Australia, Ireland, Europe and the Islands of the South Pacific. “The Great Prayer Meeting Revival” was released from lower Manhattan and one million people were swept into the Kingdom of God because of it.

There have been many churches, ministries, and leaders who have followed in the footsteps of Jeremiah Lamphier, depositing a rich legacy of prayer for the city of New York. Churches with a heart and tradition for prayer have faithfully modeled the lifestyle of intercession. One example is Bethel Gospel Tabernacle, who has kept their doors open 365 days a year, for over 45 years, for a 6 a.m. prayer meeting; they pray not only for the needs of their church and their pastors, Roderick Caesar Jr. & Sr., but also for the needs of the community, the city, the state and the nation.

Staff members of Intervarsity Fellowship in NYC and prayer ministries like “Here's Life,” also spent years laying the necessary ground work for an explosion of prayer that started in the late 80's. By 1988, David Bryant founded Concerts of Prayer International as a multi-racial and multi-denominational prayer movement for NYC. Within a year he had assembled 375 pastors at the Brooklyn Tabernacle to pray for spiritual awakening in New York; this later became the nucleus for the yearly Pastors Prayer Summit, which is still meeting and growing in numbers.  Rev. McKenzie "Mac" Pier joined COPI and by 1995, the Lord's Watch, an ongoing 24-hour a day prayer vigil for revival, reconciliation, reformation, and reaching the lost, was embraced by over 120 NYC/NJ churches.

CityNet Intercessors led by Nina Lemnah and Jody Wood, Metropolitan Prayer Network with Aida Force, and the Harlem Prayer Watch, have all created unique and strategic streams of intercession to meet the needs of the city. Starting in 1996, Eagles' Wings Ministries led by Robert Stearns, introduced weekly Friday night gatherings of worship and intercession for the Greater New York area. During much of that time, these multi-denominational, multi-racial, and multi-generational “nights of regional unity” were coupled with simultaneous radio broadcasts over the NYC/NJ airwaves, filled with "live worship and prayer" for the Metro NYC area.

Many local and national leaders and intercessors strongly believe that The Call NYC of June 2002, with its emphasis on consecration to God, was marked by extravagant worship, radical obedience, and a lifestyle of fasting and prayer, is a moment of divine focusing for honoring existing prayer initiatives, and releasing a prayer of commissioning for the Metro New York House of Prayer. We believe that the vision and values of the MNYHOP continues the work of The Call NYC.

Space does not allow us to name all of the hidden heroes who have taught and modeled that prayer is the primary function of the House of the Lord, yet we know that we have come to this place on the shoulders of many faithful saints. The “baton of intercession” has been passed to the present Metro New York regional Church by the many teams who have run, and are still running their lap well. We pray that those of us called to join them in this strategic hour will run the stretch before us with the same degree of excellence and diligence.

If there has ever been a time in history for prayer, the time is now. Everything we know about God tells us that He responds to the cry of those who will persevere in prayer by asking, seeking, and knocking (Matthew 7:7). Everything around us in our culture tells us that this is an hour of great unrest and urgency, and that most likely, there will be a much greater shaking in the days ahead.

All of us in the Body of Christ know that we need to pray, we feel the urgency to pray. Yet often, very little prayer actually takes place. This is because the only model of prayer we have had is the prayer of petition for specific requests. We have not yet cultivated the individual or corporate ability to wait on the Lord, meditate on the Lord, declare His word, and minister to Him. Instead we have come to know prayer as a means to supply our needs, but not as a joy or a lifestyle.

Consider the “specialists” in the Church world. There are music pastors, youth pastors, counseling pastors, family-life pastors, etc. We have specialists to train us and assist us in many vital and necessary areas, yet we almost never hear of a “Pastor of Prayer.” The Body of Christ needs in-depth and balanced training in this most vital of areas. The Metro New York House of Prayer seeks to fill that need by providing trained “prayer specialists” who know how to pray in biblical ways, and how to encourage others to pray in cooperation with the Holy Spirit and with the leadership of the Body of Christ.