Encouraging Multiplication By Emily Gaertner

“Friendship ... is born at the moment when one man says to another "What! You too? I thought that no one but myself . . .”

― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

I ran into a good friend at a football game this past week and we were so overjoyed in seeing each other that we hugged and laughed and caught up a bit.  We had both received a very kind email from a mutual friend and it made us think of the quote from C.S. Lewis about friendship being born in the moments of commonality - when you realize you are not alone.  Friendship can begin with a simple “me too!”  How sweet of the Lord to design us for intimate community.  We need each other and we build our daily faith walk through community life - our families, our churches, our social circles, our friends. Friendship and community are foundational to our sense of belonging; sadly, many in our community, and even in our young people’s community, are struggling to find that sense of belonging.

Psalm 89:1 Ministries has played a huge role in my life since its inception 5 years ago.  I am lucky enough to have been friends with Ellen for over 20 years now and when she approached me to serve on her board I had no idea the adventure I was signing up for!  I have watched Ellen step out in faith to disciple young women and older women alike.  I have seen college girls come to faith and professional women return to church. She has connected my own daughter with a wonderful woman who meets with her weekly and challenges her and loves her and points her to Jesus and I am forever grateful for it.  I have seen the Lord move in so many lives through the work of this ministry. But it was always through Ellen’s community life, not mine.  Until recently.

I was on the phone with a friend who told me about her daughter, Lexi and her roommate Emmaline’s prayer group on the campus of University of Tennessee in Knoxville. The girls had been meeting on the campus lawn at 7AM on Thursday mornings and doing devotionals and praying together.  The first week they had 11 of their friends come!  They were providing iced coffee and offering friendly faces and prayer.  Well, by the time my friend told me about it there were over 25 girls coming weekly! 

And then I knew - this was what Ellen got to see all the time…young women stepping out in faith and allowing the Lord to use them. 

Ellen and I reached out to the girls to see how we could support and encourage them.  We met this past week in person and on zoom and heard their hearts.  And let me tell you, it was beautiful.  We wanted to know why they decided to start the prayer group and what the struggles had been. Their answers were humble and wise; Emmaline said she remembered being a freshman girl and longing to be seen; Lexi said they were overwhelmed by the response but God was at work and they were “just along for the ride.”  They talked about how most attendees were freshmen and many of them had already made new friends through the study.  At their heart of hearts, Lexi and Emmaline want to share the gospel of Jesus Christ because they love the Lord.  And the other girls come and say “me too” and meet new friends and a whole new community of believers is being built on the UTK campus.  Amen.

Lexi and Emmaline now have almost 60 girls coming weekly to prayer time. 

Our encouragement to the girls was not to focus on numbers (but wow that’s a lot of girls coming at 7AM!) and focus on what the Holy Spirit is doing.  We told them to call when they feel stuck or discouraged or want to think through logistics.  We also told them the ministry would like to help them financially by helping with the costs of coffee and supplies.

Lexi and Emmaline post the time and location of the prayer group on Instagram which has led to girls from campuses all over the country reaching out to ask how to start a similar group on their campus.  Where God will take this and how many people will come to know Jesus through it is beyond my ability to predict. But I am so grateful that I have gotten to see the Lord’s goodness to Emmaline and Lexi through it and grateful to Psalm 89:1 Ministries for being a place that can offer support and encouragement to them as they walk out in faith.
 

If you would like to bless their prayer group with a gift card to Publix to help pay for iced coffee or other morning treats, click here. 

If you would like to bless the prayer group with Amazon gift cards to help with the cost of notecards and markers and possibly new devotional books for the group, click here.

Please make gift cards out to Emmaline Bartlett - emmalinebartlett@gmail.com.

Please be in prayer for Lexi and Emmaline and all the girls attending their EighteenTwentyKnox prayer group.

Pray that the girls attending would feel seen, loved and known and would draw in closer to our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

Please pray that the Lord would continue to bring girls to Psalm 89:1 Ministries so that we could encourage them and support them as they walk out in what the Lord calls them to in discipleship.

5 Stories from Ryan at IF: 2023

During load-in I served alongside women God placed in my section that day for a purpose. These women were joyful, kind, open hearted, and that day I saw God’s thread in each connection and conversation shared.

Saturday morning I was able to reconnect with a lady (and now friend) that I prayed with as an attendee last year. She came again this year, and brought a friend! During our time reconnecting she asked me if I would be willing to pray with her friend.  I was so thankful when her friend said yes and she opened space for me to pray with her! See, much like her friend was last year, she was hurting and grieving; but the Lord saw her in her time of sorrow and pain, and through her friend and I, we were able to lift her up to Him in prayer-TWICE THAT DAY!

In the prayer room, a woman I prayed with started sharing with me pieces of her life. During our conversation she mentioned she recently moved to the area and she desired a place to serve and disciple women. I shared with her about a local crisis pregnancy center I volunteer with, and gave her their contact information. Since IF:2023 she has contacted the pregnancy, expressed interest in serving with their ministry, met with the Director of Patient Services, and is currently on-boarding as a volunteer with the center. We will have the blessing of serving and discipline women in our local community TOGETHER!

The prayer team spent time praying over a young, newly married couple. During the prayer, a similar prayer that I’d prayed over my broken, failing marriage just 4.5 years earlier began pouring off my heart and out of my lips. I felt the Spirit sweep through the prayer chapel the exact same way I did when I prayed the prayer in my home. He was faithful to come and regenerate my marriage for His glory & I know He will do the same for the young couple we prayed over at IF:2023.

I have partnered with IF: in many capacities; from being an IF:Local attendee, to a ‘solo online attendee’, to an IF:Local Leader, to an IF:Dallas attendee, and now an IF:Volunteer. Hands down, serving as a volunteer-THE BEST! Don’t get me wrong, they’re all amazing, and God has surely used each of those spaces to transform my heart; but serving other women who are passionately hungry for more of Jesus-it doesn’t get any better than that!

A Prayer Testimony

Having the opportunity to serve at IF 2023 on the prayer chapel team is something I will never forget. It was my first year attending IF and, since it was being held at my home church, I knew I should offer to serve. I was actually supposed to be working that weekend, but due to events out of my control they canceled me. Spo when the last minute opportunity opened up to serve, I seized it. At the beginning of 2023 I knew I wanted to be focused on being a woman of prayer. When they started dividing up volunteers, I was reminded of what I wanted to be focused on and went out on a limb and volunteered to help in the prayer chapel. 

The first night before the conference there was a small worship service in the chapel that I was able to sit in on. During that time of worship, I remember feeling as if the presence of God was surrounding that chapel and, in that moment, I knew that there was something special God wanted to do there. The two days that followed were filled with women coming into that chapel and laying themselves before God, palms open. They came with the type of guttural cries and hurt from deep in their souls that God alone could answer. Each and every woman I had the privilege of talking to and praying with had something hard they were struggling with. A circumstance where there was no real answer or solution, other than to surrender it to God. It is hard to explain, but ever since that worship service before the conference (and throughout the whole event) it continued to feel as if the presence of God was choosing to dwell in our midst. I don’t know how to describe it other than God just choose to make Himself know in a very tangible way to those who walked into that chapel. There were several women who walked in that just sat in the pew and gazed around-a look of awe on their faces-as they also reported feeling the reverence of what they had just walked into. 

I only got to see maybe thirty minutes of the actual conference. I just didn’t want to leave that room. I didn’t want to miss a moment of what God was doing in the hearts of those who walked in and humbled themselves before him. Chains were being broken and lives were being renewed. I even had the opportunity to see one of the women I prayed with go forward and rededicate her life to Christ. It was also amazing to see God working so powerfully in those who I served on the team with. It was like He had handpicked each of us for different reasons to be there. He did something in each of our hearts. I know that personally I walked away with a renewed peace and trust in the leading of the Holy Spirit in my life. It has inspired me to be on the prayer team at various other events. I am so grateful God allowed me to see some of what He was doing in hearts around me, and I cannot wait to serve again next year.