BLACKSHEAR, Ga. (BP) – Georgia resident Kim Strickland describes it as the hardest thing she’s ever done – maintaining a bipartisan focus in the year-long 365-Plus Prayer Project she birthed while simultaneously supporting individual political candidates.
“Probably my biggest challenge has been having a bipartisan prayer project, 100 percent completely bipartisan,” Strickland told Baptist Press, “and yet individually me having to, or choosing to, represent publicly the party of my choice and why. That has been extremely difficult for me to navigate through that, but I did it. I did it with backlash and I did it with support. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.”
Similarly, 95-year-old retired North Carolina pastor Fred Lunsford has his own favored candidates, but the founder of Praying on the Mountain admits that God might see things differently.
“We don’t need to put our political affiliation between us and God,” Lunsford said. “I’m not praying for a particular candidate; I’m praying for whoever’s elected. I’m praying that God will invade the White House, the halls of Congress and the Senate, and all of our other municipalities all over the nation, that God will invade their ranks, and by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
The two prayer initiatives are among many involving Southern Baptists that have focused on the election at times throughout the year.
The yearlong 365-Plus Prayer Project, supported by the Piedmont Okefenokee Baptist Association and Christians from other denominations, culminates today (Nov. 3) with numerous volunteers praying and fasting nationwide for the nation and all political candidates at every level of the electoral spectrum. Every day since Nov. 2, 2019, people in every state have voluntarily fasted and prayed in 24-hour segments for the 2020 elections, Strickland said.
“What we have on our calendar is a phenomenal response,” Strickland said of the 365-Plus Prayer Project. “But (what) I’m trying to actually get at is the response is so much greater than what we even know.” Today, she anticipates “a unified, final stretch just to invade the throne of our nation.”
Praying on the Mountain culminated Nov. 1 with nearly 650,000 registrants praying globally for spiritual awakening, with many also focusing on today’s U.S. elections. While registrations were tabulated at prayingonthemountain.org, Lunsford said he feels certain from spiritual discernment that a million were praying Sunday, including those in the U.S. and numerous foreign countries.
“I was praying about this the other day at the prayer garden, and God showed me that there would be a million or more praying by Nov. 1, not to worry about it,” Lunsford said. “We know that well over a million people prayed as a result of this around the world.”
Praying on the Mountain officially launched May 5 with nearly 270,000 registrants but has continued to expand, attracting petitioners globally from South Korea, Africa, Germany, Japan, Russia, South America and other locations, leaders said.
In addition to the launch event May 5, Lunsford has led monthly prayer meetings on “Light House Mountain,” a mountain he owns about 2 miles from his home in Marble, N.C., where he still goes daily to pray. As many as 35 have joined him on the mountain on the 5th of each month since May to pray.
Ronnie Floyd, Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee president, hosted a virtual prayer meeting with Praying on the Mountain organizers and other pastors in conjunction with the launch.
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Source: Baptist Press
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