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OC Leadership Conference prayer guide

Thank you to those who joined us in prayer for the 40 days leading up to the 2022 OC Leadership Conference in Colorado, October 9-15, 2022, and to those who continued praying during the conference. We have shared news and prayer requests from each day here on this web page. You can also read conference news on our social media, using the icons at the top of the web page.

Day 5: Friday’s News & Prayer Requests

Friday was the final full day of the conference. We have had an amazing week together, listening to the Lord and discerning what He has for OC in the future. We went to work to “Determine Our First Achievements” to write down action steps about what we’ve learned this week.

We made it on Friday to the last journey to identify what we must achieve in the remainder of this year and the next to see God’s vision come true. Thanks to the prayers of so many, energy remained good, and we finished the trail with joy. We rejoice in what we heard from God about the OC of the future.

Closing Session

In the closing session on Friday evening, we reviewed the summary statements from the conference:

Determining Our First ACHIEVEMENTS

First steps for all of the areas include:

  • Pray, Learn, Equip, Communicate

To see First Steps become reality, we must:

  • Prioritize, Find Champions, Connect Needs and Resources

As one of our closing activities, we took out our phones and typed a special word about what God is inviting us to do (or be) in this next season. The results from everyone adding words created this special word cloud image:

Prayer Requests

  • Praise God for sustaining us through the Leadership Conference. God was present and spoke in significant ways.
  • Pray for the ongoing synthesis of the data that was generated each day. Lift up the Global Research Team and various OC Leaders as they continue to sift through and understand what more can be learned from it.
  • Pray for the participants as they travel to other commitments and locations and eventually back to their respective fields. May God grant strength and safety for each journey.
  • Thank God with us for all who invested time and effort and support to this meeting that is having a major impact on our organizational future.
  • Praise God, too, for the significant celebrations that happened on both Thursday night and the final session on Friday night.  

Day 4: Thursday’s News & Prayer Requests

On Thursday, we spent the day praying and interacting in small groups, discussing questions related to the theme “Setting Our Direction.”

On this fourth full day of the conference, we were asking God to show us the pathways we needed to take to get to His destination revealed yesterday. God challenged us through Scripture and one of the participants, to focus on the “one thing” that we must do. The result was the identification of 5 major areas that we will be addressing the years to come. 

Here are the resulting summary statements at the end of the day:

Setting our DIRECTION

God’s pathways:

  • Culture of Prayer
  • Financial Stability and Health
  • Global Ministry Collaboration
  • Ethnic and Generational Diversity including both Men and Women
  • U.S. Church Partner Relationship

Prayer Requests

  • Pray that God would protect us from thinking in terms of activities as we identify how far we need to get in the first year.
  • Pray for our ability to translate organizational plans to plans on the individual level.
  • Pray for good energy and endurance and that all would remain fully engaged as we move through our last full day on Friday.
  • Praise God for the resonance among all the participants on the central things that we are hearing from God.
  • Thank the Lord that the surprising turn that our conversation took on Wednesday has strengthened our conviction that we are hearing clearly from God. 

Day 3: Wednesday’s News & Prayer Requests

On Wednesday at the 2022 OC Leadership Conference, our eyes and hearts shifted to the future, seeking God to show us His desired future for OC five years from now. In a surprising twist, God challenged us through one of our Global Alliance partners to first enter into a time of repentance and reconciliation. This opened our hearts to truly hear from the heart of God.

Then, we prayed and interacted in small groups, discussing questions related to the theme “Discerning our DESTINATION.” 

Here are the resulting summary statements at the end of the day:

Elements of God’s revealed future:

  • MULTI – Diversity in who we are and how we function
  • PRAYER – Dependence, obedience, and spiritual health
  • RELATIONSHIP – Collaborate, partner, unity for discipleship and multiplication
  • GROWTH – Spiritual and practical equipping and mentoring
  • COURAGE – Acknowledge the past; embrace the future

Prayer Requests

  • Pray that we will hear clearly from God about our path forward and not rely on human logic.
  • Praise God for so much transparency and vulnerability in our meetings and conversations. Ask for wisdom as to how to fold in this vulnerability.
  • Pray for wisdom as the need to grow as a multi-generational, multi-ethnic, and multi-cultural entity was a significant theme today.
  • Praise God for the evening’s concert of prayer and wonderful worship.

Day 2: Tuesday’s News & Prayer Requests

Tuesday was another busy day at the 2022 OC Leadership Conference. We interacted again in small groups in various interactive exercises related to “Finding our BEARINGS.”

One key element of looking forward whether hiking or in life is to have a clear understanding of where we are. Today, we entered a prayerful time to identify the elements of our current reality, both individually and organizationally. Having identified them, we looked then into what God may be saying to us through them.

Here are the resulting summary statements at the end of the day:

God calls us to be aware of …

  • Our posture before Him – prayerful, teachable, humble
  • Our lives are being watched as our words are listened to
  • Lovingly engaging current realities with the truth of the Gospel
  • His work in ALL generations, ethnicities, and cultures
  • The impact of instability on almost everything

In the evening session, OC celebrated 70 years as an organization with laughter, fellowship, memories, worship, and gratitude.

Prayer Requests

  • Pray for continued discernment of what God is saying, particularly in light of the quantity of information coming from our sessions.
  • Pray that we will continue in this process without fear. That we would have a spirit of boldness and courage as we wrestle with the reality of our current world.
  • Thank you God for the way people are engaging, praying, and wrestling with these things!
  • Praise God for OC’s 70th anniversary. We pray Ephesians 3:20-21: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

Day 1: Monday’s News & Prayer Requests

Monday October 10 was our first full day at the 2022 OC Leadership Conference. The day’s main objective was CONNECTING: “By the end of the day, we will have connected with God and each other.” 

We experienced worship together, learning about one another, and brainstorming for the future. 

We interacted in small groups to consider three types of leadership development: IDENTIFY potential leaders, DEVELOP them, and DEPLOY/support them. Our summary of this rich time of interaction is that CONNECTING in the context of a Leadership Mission involves:

  • Whole person
  • Lifelong learning
  • Relationship based
  • Passion
  • Engaged

Prayer Requests

  • Pray for discernment and the refining process as information from each day is crystallized.
  • Pray for mental energy for the later parts of each day and ask God for stamina and sustained engagement as we engage with activities and learning.
  • Pray that the facilitators would learn from each day’s process to sharpen and refine the next day’s process.
  • Praise God for today’s excellent engagement and connection!

Opening Session: Sunday’s News & Prayer Requests

The 2022 OC Leadership Conference kicked off with a special opening session after dinner on October 9. In his opening remarks, Dean Carlson (OC U.S. President) said: “It’s exciting to be together in this place! Thank you for all you’ve invested to be here. We come from different continents and cultures and represent a dynamic spectrum of ministries. Every one of you brings a unique perspective shaped by your gifting, training and experience.”

Our conference verse is “He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” Psalm 23:3 ESV

The purpose of this Leadership Conference is to bring together our global family of leaders to shape a culture in which our people can thrive and align with God’s global purposes, into 2023 and beyond.

Over the next five days, we will seek to identify our five-year destinations and clarify the first steps we need to take to get there.

Prayer Requests

  • Praise God for the launch of the 2022 Leadership Conference and the safe arrival of nearly 100 participants.
  • Pray for deep personal connections as small groups form and begin to seek God’s direction united together.
  • Pray that the conference purpose would come to fruition: the shaping of a culture in which our people can thrive and align with God’s global purposes in 2023 and beyond.

Thank you for joining us in 40 days of prayer for the OC Leadership Conference in Colorado, coming up October 9-15, 2022!

The 40 days began on Wednesday, August 31, 2022 and will culminate on October 9, 2022 (the day of arrival to the Leadership Conference). We are trusting the Lord that our concerted, mission-wide prayer will have an impact on the Leadership Conference, the pre- and post-conference processes, and ministry outcomes. Would you join us for these 40 Days of Prayer?

We will be sending emails each Wednesday with a prayer guide activity, specific prayer points for the conference, and a place to submit your own requests. 

Below is the link to the 40 Days of Prayer Guide that leads through the five conference themes. This will guide you in praying for those who are serving and for those participating. Each day will focus on one topic and includes space to track along and fill in your insights.

Download 40 Days of Prayer Guide
View Intro Video

40 Days of Prayer, August 31 – October 9, 2022

Pre-Conference Week 1:

  • As more people and teams are involved in planning the conference, pray for coordination and communication. Both are becoming more complex as more detailed work is happening in the planning process.
  • Pray for people that are involved in designing specific elements of the conference program: Steve G, Sarah, Steve A, Bob, Rahn, Etta, Dick, Dave, Tammy, Jeff, Dean, Russ, Ray, and David. Pray for clarity of thought, creativity, focus on objectives, and effective coordination.
  • September 1 marks 39 days before the conference – the exact number of days before the 2020 conference when we postponed it due to COVID. Therefore, the planning team is now headed into all new territory! Pray for quick learning and adjustments with new issues in the coming weeks.

Pre-Conference Week 2:

  • Pray that our Leadership Conference planning momentum will be sustained amid much activity in preparation for the meetings of the OC Board of Directors, September 15-17.
  • Pray for the preparations of conference plenary speakers Clarence & Brenda, Cassiano & Craig – that the Lord would guide them to share what He knows we need to receive and respond to.
  • Pray for effective coordination with Glen Eyrie Conference Center as planning specifics continue to develop.

Pre-Conference Week 3:

  • Please pray for current efforts to recruit individuals to serve with logistical items at the conference – set-up and tear-down, registration on arrival day, etc.
  • Please pray for conference participants as they, in the coming weeks, continue preparation for the conference while wrapping up life and work for the week in sessions.
  • Please pray for the logistics and administrative backbone of the conference – Keith, Deb and Lydia – as they work on plans big and small and coordinate with others in the process.

Pre-Conference Week 4:

  • Please pray for critical coordinating efforts taking place this week, bringing together disparate programmatic and logistical pieces that have been developed by different people and teams – for as seamless an integration as possible.
  • Please pray for final pre-conference discussions taking place within teams and departments, surfacing fresh input that will feed into the conference via the conference participants.
  • Please pray for continued grace and a good relationship with Glen Eyrie Conference Center as specific items are surfacing, requiring flexibility with the terms of our contract.

Pre-Conference Week 5:

  • Please pray for a growing sense of anticipation across all our family of ministries, not solely among those who will attend and participate in the conference.
  • Please pray that God would provide physical, spiritual, and emotional rest to conference participants in the coming weeks, to arrive refreshed and ready to engage.
  • Please pray for efforts tied to final programmatic refinement, to optimize the prayer and dialogue within conference sessions.

Pre-Conference Week 6:

  • Please pray for no travel complications for those coming to Colorado Springs from other states and countries (airline issues, COVID restrictions, etc.). 
  • Also, thank the Lord for answered prayers regarding travel issues resolved within the last week.
  • Please pray for last-minute logistical items and final preparations of those involved in programmatic elements, including plenary talks.

40 Days of Prayer Email Updates

We sent emails each Wednesday (six in total) with a prayer guide activity, specific prayer points for the conference, and a place to submit your own requests. 

Over the next 40 days, please pray through the prayer requests daily (at the bottom of each email) and to also do the listening prayer exercise each day. We will be doing three different listening prayer exercises, and each one will be done twice during the six weeks.

Here is an archive of the weekly email bulletins, published every Wednesday, August 31 through October 5: