INTRODUCTION
The Church of Pentecost, like many classical Pentecostal institutions, places a premium on many activities and practices. These practices are documented and captured in our core values underpinning and undergirding her activities.
Predominant in her liturgy is the importance the Church places on prayer. Historical narrative notes that the founder of the Church, Rev. James Mckeown, retorted, “The work is prayer, and prayer is the work”, to wit that the role that prayer plays in the church cannot be overemphasised and belaboured.
Following the unveiling of Vision 2028, the Chairman has made a strong appeal through an exhortation from James 3:4 for the vision to be pushed by fierce winds.
As I reflect on the many factors for pushing the implementation of the vision, the Virtual Prayer Night (VPN), a global intercession army called by our revered Chairman some two years ago, comes to mind strongly.
In this article, attempts will be made to make a case for the impact of this highest form of Christian service as one of the fierce winds powering Vision 2028
THE ROLE OF THE CHAIRMAN ON THE VPN PLATFORM
To begin with, let me briefly touch on the Chairman’s general disposition toward the VPN platform – what I will describe as Chairman Nyamekye’s admirable response.
Being part of the backend production team facilitating the Tuesday Virtual Prayer Night, one cannot help but watch with endearing admiration how our revered Chairman responds to this call.
Bearing his office – THE VIRTUAL PRAYER NIGHT WITH THE CHAIRMAN, it is clear that the spirit and soul of the programme rest on his loins and the Chairman has provided the right kind of leadership to sustain this prayer venture all through the years.
Clearly, the Chairman’s eyes and ears are on the ground, seeing the nitty-gritty details of the programme layout without leaving anything to chance. From those scheduled to lead to those mobilised in-person team members, the technical architecture, and set up even to the aggregated statistics of participants, the Chairman is into every aspect.
Another significant observation is his consistency and frequent participation in the intercessory service. Driven by the axiom that leadership is the cause and everything else is the effect, the Chairman is seen almost always online every Tuesday with his video turned on, fully engaged and into the service praying and exuding positive energy as a participant.
With his numerous schedules, one would understand if genuinely he would not be able to participate frequently, but that is not the case with our revered Chairman, whose actions perfectly describe the terminology – Leadership by example.
My reflections for powering Vision 2028 with fierce winds through the VPN would hover around four thematic areas of Burden Sharing, Boarding, Building, Bidding, & Blossoming.
BURDEN SHARING
T. A. Webb has noted that a shared burden is halved, which means that the load one carries is lessened, provided avenues are created for others to bear aspects of the load. This is vividly revealed in the Virtual Prayer Night as the intercessory platform so created has allowed the burden of leadership, including Vision 2028, to be shared broadly by the church populace. One day, God chose to share the burden of Moses with seventy elders of Israel so the man of God would be eased of the weight of leading such a vast mass of people (Num. 11:16-30). The same can be gleaned from the VPN, which allows ministers, officers and the rank and file of the church to feel the heartbeat of leadership, interpret the dreams and visions in the mind of leadership and bear the spiritual load of gestation to delivery.
BOARDING
Another key reflection on the Virtual Prayer Night is what I call BOARDING. The term “boarding,” as used in this context, relates to the mobilisation of efforts and the rallying round approaches that have been put in place and are continually reviewed and enhanced over the period. The VPN is one of the fierce winds for advancing Vision 2028 because this platform has become a unique spiritual hub that has drawn the majority of the church family to awaken awareness of intercession, cry day and night, and continue steadfastly in prayer. Today, through the VPN, we cannot excuse ourselves that people are too busy to pray because of the numerous church-based activities; no wonder there is a strong clarion call to raise a million intercessors – a seed which is flourishing to become an endearing oak tree.
BUILDING
The Virtual Prayer Night has also become a bedrock for the building up and spiritual edification of the global church. With a consistent time set coupled with a well-structured programme schedule, patrons in person and virtually can look forward to an intense spiritual experience that allows their humanity to interact with divinity for an outpouring of divine grace. Moreover, the nature of the topics dealt with at the VPN demonstrates a deliberate intention of raising a certain calibre of transformed believers who are to be salt and light to their world. This is the spirit and soul of Vision 2028; a people unleashed to transform their world with the values and principles of the kingdom of God.
BIDDING & BLOSSOMING
A closer examination of the many successes chalked by the church over the last few years provides a clear understanding that fierce winds are powering the success equation. This is what I describe as the BIDDING and BLOSSOMING praxis of the VPN. The bidding is the process, and the BLOSSOMING is the outcome. Even without the backing of empirical data, the writings are clear on the wall that through the VPN platform, various bids have been made to the divine auctioneer, who has responded positively by providing strong winds to power the achievement of Vision 2023, the expansion of the missions enterprise, the forging of stronger fronts through church nation dialogues, massive soul winning and church planting and an unprecedented financial growth not forgetting the testimonies of healing, divine intervention and mind-boggling breakthroughs. With the understanding that we do not change a winning working formula, there is a much stronger call for a fiercer wind to push the new vision, and I believe the role of the VPN is strategic.
CONCLUSION
The purpose of this article is to shed light on the Virtual Prayer Night with the Chairman as a strategic tool for pushing Vision 2028 and its contribution to advancing the cause of The Church of Pentecost and her prophetic mandate within the global ministry space. With the understanding that through intercession, the impotence of man meets the omnipotence of God, there is a need to continue to rally more intercessors to push for the execution of Vision 2028. The army of the Lord, the Church, must tactfully and aggressively intercede to ensure that God’s power prevails over the evil threatening to overrun our world. So, it will be a joy to have you enlisted as part of this global conscripts into the army of intercessors every Tuesday….welcome aboard!
Written by Pastor Kwasi Asante Annor (General Manager, PENT TV)