CONWAY — Patty Long of Conway, a pastor’s wife, had a strong feeling that God was telling her to do something.
Her answer was Women Who Pray.
“I was in a service, and we were having a mighty move of the Lord, and I felt impressed that God said, ‘I want you to open up a citywide, or even regional, prayer meeting for women and cross denominational lines.’”
She said The Church Alive on Skyline Drive, U.S. 65 North, will be a neutral site where women are invited to pray between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. the last Wednesday of every month.
The first gathering will begin at noon this Wednesday.
“At straight-up noon, we will pray together over particular matters, but it will be a very short prayer,” Long said.
“As women, we all have very influential power through prayer and can accomplish a lot,” she said.
“Something supernatural happens when women come together in agreement.”
Long said she wants women of all denominations to feel welcome at The Church Alive, and even women who don’t go to church regularly.
“It’s really not about our church; it’s about women and the body of Christ coming together,” she said.
Long’s husband, Randy, is pastor of The Church Alive.
Long said a Communion area will be set up for anyone who wants private Communion time.
Prayer stations will be designated with posters, and women will be able to pray alone or ask for someone to pray with them, she said.
“If they want to kneel there, they can, or put a sticky note on that poster — ‘My name is, and here’s my need’ — or if they want to be private, there will be a way to put it in a container,” she said.
“It’s my goal that those boards just be plastered with those prayer requests,” she said.
Long said she envisions people leaving notes for when prayers are answered, too.
She said a kick-off brunch, with about 150 people present, was held on the heels of an annual church conference.
“It was really neat. We had people from all over,” Long said. “Everybody seems to be on board.
“I met some Baptist ladies, met with some other denominations, just crossing every line that I can,” she said.
Long also said she is building a leadership team as she goes.
Angela Ansel, children’s pastor at The Church Alive, helped organize the kick-off brunch.
She said that when Long told her about the idea, she was very excited about it.
“I thought it was a great ministry to launch — just excited to see women coming together, united in prayer,” Ansel said.
“I think that in the times that we’re in, that people are wanting to come together, unified, really be the Body of Christ, the church as a whole,” she said.
Yard signs have been placed throughout Conway with the words Women Who Pray printed on them and the website, www.womenwhopray.com.
Long said texts are being sent out to people who want the prayer-list requests.
“I would like to get to the point where people can go to our website for urgent prayer requests,” she said.
For example, a church member’s mother had a house fire, and a request for prayer is on the website.
Ansel said a woman left a message last week on the church answering machine identifying herself as part of the Women of Prayer ministry, asking what she could do to help the family.
Long said she has been knocking on doors telling people about the monthly prayer event and asking them to tell 10 other people.
“So far, I’ve had nothing but great, great response,” she said.
“The Lord didn’t ask me to get the people to come in there; he just asked me to say yes to it.”
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.