Pause and Pray, Today.
Will you add two minutes to however long it takes you to read this and simply pray?
Whether you live in the Tucson area, in Arizona, in some other state in the US, or elsewhere around the world, this invitation includes you.
Sacred assemblies
All throughout the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, we see sacred assemblies, holy convocations where the Body gathered together in corporate, unified worship and prayer. One of the most quoted verses in the Old Testament (and certainly from 2 Chronicles!) is 2 Chronicles 7:14, and reflects just such an invitation: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray…” We’re always desperate… but we don’t always realize it and we don’t always act like it. I can’t imagine a more desperate or dangerous position than to act and function like, “We’re good. No help needed here. We can clearly handle everything in front of us.”
November 20, 2025 is one such sacred assembly here in the Tucson area. If you haven’t taken a moment to ask God yet if you should be there, will you do that now? And regardless, will you pray now for that gathering? A gathering of Christian leaders in our community – from every denomination, ethnicity, generation, profession, socio economic and geographic background… That’s the vision, and it is an annual gathering every November. Pray that we come closer to that vision than ever before.
If you aren’t in the Tucson area, what shape do sacred assemblies take in your community? I’d love to hear your response.
Learning from chicken people
Several (five) of our J17 Ministries leaders are currently participating in a global year-long leadership training institute. Several of the leaders we’re learning from have been trained and developed through Chick-Fil-A’s leadership development and philanthropic arm. Wow. I just told my wife at dinner that their six-month training course based on the acronym SERVE would have taken me much further than my four years of seminary did. (All comments welcome!)
The Global Leadership Summit proclaims every year, “Armed with enough humility, business leaders can learn from pastors, and pastors from business leaders.” That’s true in every profession. Different leadership strengths and different professional perspectives are just one more layer of the parts of the Body of Christ that are called to submit to one another.
Not the same-old same-old
I’ve been attending prayer summits annually since 2009, and a few times a year since 2012. The old models aren’t broken. Corporate prayer creates unity like few other activities can. Hearing from God together… praying someone else’s prayers… in an extended period of time (more than an hour or two)... most of us in America don’t get to experience that very often.
Even so, while those elements will be present, I believe you’ll notice the difference (if you’ve been to a Tucson prayer summit previously) when you walk in the room. Several of us are more aware of our desperateness. Many of us see the needs and the brokenness and can’t take it any longer. One of my motivators is that 100,000 or so Tucsonans worshipped Jesus this last Easter… and 900,000 didn’t. The 2000th anniversary of Jesus’ resurrection is less than 7.5 years away, and it would simply be criminal for people to wake up on April 17, 2033, meander through the day, fall asleep, and not have a single clue what they missed. That. Simply. Isn’t. Right.
Are you a leader?
Answer a different question, and you’ll know: do you influence anyone in your life? If so, you’re a leader. And you’re invited.
If you didn’t stop before to pray, please do it now. That time is far more important than reading this article.
Hope to see you on the 20th if that’s possible.
Dave Drum, J17 Ministries Founder
