It’s late Saturday night and we’re in the production booth wrapping Day #2 of GPG 2010, prepping for our final morning of worship and prayer. It has been an incredible weekend of gathering with prayer partners and IJM field staff from nearly every continent - the privilege of having these days together is simply beyond words…
There’s a constant buzz of conversation happening over on the GPG Online page - http://www.ijm.org/gpgonline—I hope you’ve been able to join. If you’ve missed any sessions, note that most of this weekend’s content was recorded and is available for download on-demand.
One of our staff members has been writing reflections on her experience at the GPG and we’d like to share those with you as well over the next few days. Alyson Quinn serves on our Donor Relations team, and here are her thoughts from the last night’s experience:
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For me, a four-year IJM staff member, the Global Prayer Gathering starts here: 5 o’clock on Friday night, shivering in the stiff breeze outside of the Sheraton Premiere. IJM staff from across North America, Europe and the developing world congregate in the sunken garden for a brief meeting. Dressed all alike in immaculate black suits, the IJM uniform, we are also united in some degree of exhaustion. Long, exacting hours of preparation for the GPG have brought us to this point: cold, tired, and standing on the brink of a weekend of yet more work.
But in defiance of the sobriety of our dress and the numbing tiredness of our bodies, the meeting is charged, surprisingly, with joy. Laughter ripples through the throng of us. We cheer, clap and smile at the leaders who lead us in the litany of final details. Why should such gladness infuse us today, when the hours of preparation have led only to this: a Friday, Saturday and Sunday on the job?
For one thing, the GPG is our family reunion. The staff, many of whom labor in distant countries or in lone-ranger outposts, come together again. Our community rejoices in the fulness of its numbers.
But there is another reason behind the lightness of our spirits.
The reason lies in the nature of the work that we undertake this weekend. Our work will be the labor of prayer.
Make no mistake. Prayer is work of the hardest kind.
