Claiming Effingham County for Christ
The Effingham Campus body of believers comes together twice a year for a special Wednesday night praise service, but the gathering on Wednesday, Feb. 20, will feature a particular urgency as the result of a Spirit-inspired burden laid on the hearts of the staff and several prayer warriors.
“We realize that there are a lot of people in this county who don’t know the Lord, and it’s very obvious,” said Campus Pastor Lyle Wood. “There’s been a lot of loss and death” in the county, observed Campus Operations Director Kathryn Johnson, noting record-breaking drug busts and the death of more than a dozen high school students over the past few years. “The Enemy is fighting for his territory,” she added.
Kathryn has participated in a Monday night prayer group that has interceded for Effingham County in an unusual way for the past three years. “We have been impressed upon that God wants to do great things in Effingham County to bring Himself glory,” she said. Several months ago as she noticed tonight’s scheduled service on the church calendar, she approached Lyle and his staff about turning the event into an exceptional call to prayer and fasting for the area.
The result will be a Spirit power-packed service following the theme of light shining in the darkness. “We want people to experience Christ in a new and different way,” Lyle said, citing the multiple elements of the service that will include praise, Scripture reading, Communion and a time of reflection and repentance from anything that would dim the light of the believers in the Effingham family. “We’re going to be very intentional,” Lyle said. “We want to get people out of their comfort zone.”
In addition, Kathryn will give a special presentation on fasting, challenging everyone to fast for 40 days leading up to Easter. “Fasting is a discipline that connects us to God in a way that other things don’t. If I’m serious about something I’m asking for, why wouldn’t I fast?” she asked.
“Fasting pulls Christ back to the center of our lives,” Lyle added, noting that fasts can be done from food, media, particular habits, even sleep, whatever enables a Christian to draw closer to the Lord. “It doesn’t have to be extreme. It just has to be purposeful,” he said.
Both Lyle and Kathryn see tonight’s emphasis on fasting and determined prayer as the proper response to recent events. “As Christians we aren’t meant to cower. We are called to put on our armor and take the authority that Jesus has given to us,” Kathryn said.
Lyle agreed: “We are the light of the world now—that’s us! We have to shine and attract people to Christ. We have to push back the darkness.”
That pushback continues tonight.
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