The first One River prayer room is on the map!!
About five months ago, we had a pivotal moment as Tim and I were praying for One River. We had two projects we were praying into at that time – a community prayer wall and prayer stations in an outdoor garden. Both of these projects are on the horizon. But, Tim received a word from the Lord that before we did either of these things, we needed a prayer room on the map. To me, this sounded impossible. I thought we were doing things out of order. I could imagine making a prayer wall – but a prayer room? Where? How would we afford it? How would we manage it?
Well, in this beginning time, we have been focusing on networking in order to get to know other leaders in the Tulsa area who are working towards similar goals as us, so that we could work together and support one another. We met with Justin Pickard, the Executive Director of Crossover Community Impact, at She Brews Coffee House in Kendall-Whittier. As we shared with him our vision and mission, he asked us whether we knew anything about She Brews. He explained that they are a nonprofit cafe that is a part of His House Ministries–employing, housing, and discipling women and men who have come out of incarceration. He said that he felt they may be interested in the services we offered.
He introduced us that day to Tisha Boyd, the manager of this She Brews location. She was instantly excited. She said that she had been praying into having a prayer room for months, and that this seemed to be a divine appointment. We set up a meeting, and the rest has flowed from there!
We have been so blessed to work together with an amazing artistic team – Laurelyn Rubidoux, Jana Strom, and Matthew Dean – as well as partnering with the staff as She Brews in creating this space. Our community also came through in bountiful donations of prayer room supplies. Together, and with God’s help and very distinct direction, this space became a reality!!
We started off our time creating the space by having a week of prayer in the empty room. It was incredible to watch as people heard from God both practical and specific directions for the space, as well as His intent and heart for the room. The next two weeks we worked hard on following those instructions and building it together. Then, on Saturday October 24th, we held a commissioning event at She Brews!! We had three different sets of musical worship. We laid hands and prayed over the space, as well as praying over both Tisha as she stewards the space on a day to day basis and over One River’s work as we move forward in what God is doing. It was a beautiful night, full of His Presence and awesome fellowship together! We so look forward to continuing in partnering with She Brews and both praying into and witnessing the fruit of the space that was created there!
Here are some words that were prayed over the space during our first week of prayer before creating the space.
- “My heart is abandonment for this space. To be seen and known as a place where everything else can be abandoned at the door. A place of escape from the unimportant, and a refocusing on Me and My heart for Justice, Mercy, repentance, joy and rest. A place of peaceful clarity on kingdom matters. Abandon your cares, place them on Me and find rest for your soul.”
- “It is to be a warm space, a comfy space, a cozy space…a safe place to come to get away and get with the Father…a retreat center, a healing atmosphere…a “cup of coffee for the soul”
- “I believe God has amazing plans for this prayer room! I see it revealing to people that prayer and communing with God can be fun, exciting, relaxing, etc…I see healing happening in this room! I see deliverance and transformation happening in this room!”
If you would like to sign up for a time to pray or learn more about the specific prayer stations in the prayer room, visit this link: https://oneriver.community/she-brews-prayer-room/