Written by Bethany Jarmul

In the sanctuary of CityReach Church Pittsburgh, a young man who was once a drug addict leads worship on guitar, a middle-aged woman lays flat on her face before God, while a dozen others pray, journal, and even paint in the presence of God. Starting on Friday, January 29th and concluding on Sunday, January 31st, CityReach Pittsburgh staff, Hope Home residents, congregation and prayer warriors from across the Pittsburgh region joined together for 48 straight hours of worship and prayer.

“I wasn’t sure how it would be received, but everyone loved it. The Holy Spirit’s presence was heavy there. It was a great way to launch into 2016,” says Kate Gordon, executive pastor of CityReach Church Pittsburgh.

Event organizers set up five stations for participants. These included a journaling station, a declaration station with declarations from the Praying with Confidence series, and a prayer requests station with paper for participants to write down a prayer request and then thumbtack it to a wooden cross. The other stations were a communion station and a creative station with canvases, paint, markers, and colored pencils. “I thought people might laugh at the creative station, but everyone was really into it,” Kate says.

More than 300 people participated in the two-day prayer event. The church’s two Sunday morning services were a part of the 48 hours and entirely dedicated to prayer and worship.

In order to have live worship during the event, five worship teams from the church as well as eight worship teams from other churches signed up for shifts of two hours or more. Church staff also spent six-to-eight hour shifts praying. “We didn’t have sign ups for people in our congregation, rather we wanted people to be able to come and spend as much time in prayer as they wanted,” Kate says.

The prayer time was a part of the 31 Days of Prayer initiative in which many of the CityReach Network churches participated. CityReach Church Pittsburgh also held nightly services the week leading up to the 48-hour prayer. “I was skeptical about if it was worth all the preparation to have the services nightly, but we had a man whose life was really messed up dedicate his life to the Lord. That’s when I knew he was our ‘one,’” Kate says.

Many personal stories of lives changed have surfaced from the event. One lady spent around 30 hours in the prayer room seeking an answer for her job situation, and found an answer Monday morning. Another women had a vision to start a new ministry. Several of the men from the Hope Home were able to lead worship for the first time during the event. “It was so cool to watch the men and women from the Hope Homes flat on the floor. They’d never spend extended time in that type of environment before,” Kate says.