Prayers up! Coalition of clergy organizing round-the-clock prayers for Memphis in 2022

Micaela A Watts, Memphis Commercial Appeal
·2 min read
Ephie Johnson leads roughly 100 members of multiple congregations in a round of worship songs by the Mississippi River.
Ephie Johnson leads roughly 100 members of multiple congregations in a round of worship songs by the Mississippi River.

A group of Memphis churches and clergy are banking on a divine miracle to pull Memphis out of multiple seasons of violence and despair and into a season of peace and prosperity.

Pastors from several Memphis churches gathered on a stretch of the bluff between Bass Pro Shops and the Tennessee Visitor's Center Wednesday to announce a coordinated effort to make sure someone is praying for Memphis for every minute of the day in 2022.

Churches participating in "Memphis Prayer 365" will pick one day out of each month, and then assign hours in the day to one of their members.

"Memphis owes the world a revival," said Pastor Ricky Floyd of the Pursuit of God Transformation Center. Floyd described a similar 24-hour prayer initiative his church engaged in roughly three years ago in Frayser, and linked the concentrated prayer effort with a reduction for homicides in the community and an increase in property values over the next several months.

If Memphis is prayed over every minute of the day in 2022, Floyd reasoned, then miracles can be expected.

His congregation joins the Citadel of Deliverance Church of God in Christ, Bellevue Baptist Church, Central Church, and Brown Missionary Baptist Church in forming an initial group organizing their congregants for the initiative. The radio station 95.7 Hallelujah FM is partnering with the churches.

"For many years, pastors that I know have been talking about gathering the people of God and instead of talking about what we're against, talking about what we're for — and that is an outpouring of God's spirit upon our city," said Steve Gains, Senior Pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church.

Crime, poverty, and illness were among the categories that clergy say will be affected by the year of prayer.

Micaela Watts is a reporter for The Commercial Appeal and can be reached at micaela.watts@commercialappeal.com.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis churches organize prayers for city for every minute of 2022