AG Summit Issues Prayer Challenge

The Assemblies of God (AG), concluded a prayer summit March 7 that drew 1,400 people to Central Assembly of God in Springfield, Mo. On opening night, Rev. Jim Cymbala, senior pastor of Brooklyn Tabernacle in New York City, challenged attendees to “cry out” for the fire of the Holy Spirit in their churches and their personal prayer lives. “How sad to travel around the country and world and see churches trying to have a Christianity that represents the New Testament without an understanding and an emphasis on the ministry of the Holy Spirit,” he told attendees. AG leaders said the summit was held to encourage believers to become knowledgeable about prayer and to allow the Holy Spirit to invigorate their prayer lives. “The devil does not care how much we talk about prayer, how much we preach about prayer,” General Superintendent Thomas E. Trask admonished. “We didn’t call a prayer summit just to preach about prayer. We are going to pray.”