World Prayer Center Holds Week of Focused Prayer for Revival

A special prayer initiative titled “Re-digging the Wells of Revival” was held April 29—May 2, 2024, inside the World Prayer Center, a small yet influential building across the street from the Assemblies of God National Office in Springfield, Missouri.

Multiple pastors from around 20 states across the nation attended, bringing with them key intercessors from their congregations to intercede for revival and awakening in the United States. A total of 200 people are estimated to have been present. The opening session was held at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 29, with two sessions on each ensuing day, at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.

Joseph (Joe) H. Oden, 47, is an Assemblies of God U.S. missionary with U.S. Specialized, serving as director of the World Prayer Center and as the AG’s national prayer and evangelism director.

“I feel that the Assemblies of God’s embryonic birth was on Azusa Street,” he says. “In Deuteronomy, when Moses had not yet taken the Israelites into the Promised Land, he tells them to remember. They had forgotten the wonders of the Lord and how He brought them out of the wilderness, and the manna, and the parting of the Red Sea. Their children didn’t even know. They didn’t recall what they were, so they didn’t know what they needed to be. We must remember our birth for God to get us where He wants us.”

Inside the sanctuary of the World Prayer Center, images of key historical leaders such as William Seymour greeted attendees, speaking to heritage and memory. Oden and other speakers presented compelling messages before leading in several hours of prayer each day of the event. Many demographics were represented in the small yet crowded room — even newborn twins were nestled in one corner.

Along with Oden, speakers and prayer leaders included John Ashcroft, former United States attorney general, Doug Clay, general superintendent of the Assemblies of God USA and vice chairman of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship (WAGF), Pastor Kim Owens of Fresh Life AG in Phoenix, Az, and Joseph Gordon, AG World Missions Eurasia regional director.

“It was great to see that the AG is still committed to prayer,” says Gordon, who is a veteran missionary with experience in both the Buddhist and Hindu worlds. “The AG was founded with committing itself to ‘the greatest evangelism that the world has ever seen’ But they understood that would not happen without prayer. They wrote, ‘We pledge our hearty cooperation, prayers, and help to this end.’ The commitment to reaching our world must be rooted in a commitment to pray.”

Oden agrees. “If well-to-do events and charismatic preaching were going to stir the U.S. to revival, it would have happened a long time ago.”

He believes that to shift the ideology becoming deeply entrenched in the U.S., people need not legalistic preaching, but conviction.

“We need compassion and love and mercy like we’ve never had, yet also backbones of steel and simplistic convictions set by the plumbline of the Word of God. The Church must clear her voice and push back the ambiguity of unprecedented confusion and lawlessness, remembering that we are not political. We are biblical.”

On an ongoing basis, the World Prayer Center is committed to training and mobilizing churches to better reach their communities through increased prayer and evangelism. The ministry offer 1–3-day prayer retreats to equip churches for intercessory prayer, 10-day “Prayer Sieges” led by a team of prayer missionaries (appointed through AG U.S. Missions), and guided prayer experiences and trainings in prayer and intercession at the center.

The World Prayer Center also offers School of the Spirit, another training event which can be hosted by AG district councils/ministry networks to help believers deepen their understanding of the Holy Spirit and His giftings.

“At the end of the week I was encouraged and humbled by the number of senior leaders that testified the week changed their lives," Oden says. “God met us in a powerful way. This was an indicator that we are on the right track and the grace to pray for an awakening was palatable. I would encourage every leader to find the intercessors within your church hungry for revival and create additional prayer meetings to pray with them specifically for revival and awakening. Let’s all pick up our shovels and begin to re-dig the well of revival.”

Those interested in learning more are invited to email [email protected]

Kristel Zelaya

Kristel Zelaya is a freelance writer and editor with global experience. She served as marketing manager for Assemblies of God U.S. Missions and as a writer and editor for Assemblies of God World Missions. These experiences have led her to numerous countries and cultures — far from beaten paths — on behalf of many who did not know how deeply their stories matter. Zelaya is also a licensed Assemblies of God minister. She and her husband Rudy share one daughter.