Steve Gartland, Regional Director, Alpha USA/Twin Cities,
and Betsy Lee, President, Prayer Ventures.

PV Partners with
Alpha to
Pray for the City

On a clear day you can see forever! In 2009, Prayer Ventures and Alpha USA/Twin Cities teamed up monthly to hold a prayer meeting in an office building overlooking the city to pray for the needs of the community.

As Betsy Lee, president of Prayer Ventures, led these “Transform the City” prayer gatherings, she was surprised that her own heart was transformed. This is her story:

“I have always had a heart for hurting people. My call from God has been primarily to minister to individuals: to encourage them in their faith, to help them grow spiritually, and bring healing and wholeness. The city has always seemed impersonal and abstract to me, too big for me to get my arms around.

“But something amazing happened when we met for prayer on the 37th floor of the Campbell Mithun building in downtown Mpls. First, like all of us, I was in awe the first time I walked into the law office surrounded by large glass windows. The view was breathtaking. But as we prayed in this office high above the city, it I realized this was the perfect place for intercession—to touch heaven and change earth.

“'The God-ordained purpose of prayer,' says Dutch Sheets, 'is the connecting of heaven and earth, allowing Him to marry the two, making His plans, purposes and destinies a reality in the hearts of people.'

“In that place of intercession in the clouds I felt close to God’s heart. I believe as we saw the city from His point of view, He revealed His plans and purposes for people. We saw the lakes that dotted the landscape and prayed for people to find the “living water” of Jesus presence in their lives. We saw office buildings and prayed for Christians to share their faith with coworkers. We prayed for peace in the troubled north side of Minneapolis and strengthening for families. We stretched out our hands toward the state capitol in St. Paul and prayed for wisdom for legislators who were dealing with the financial crisis. Looking over the city, we saw a mosaic of different entities: hospitals, churches, companies, low income housing. In prayer we asked God to create networks to join these for His kingdom purposes to bless the city.

“One Saturday after we prayed over the city, I found myself headed to the southwest suburbs. Prayer Ventures was going to do a prayer training in Waconia. This was in partnership with Westwood Church in Chanhassen and Trinity Church in Waconia. In preparation for the workshop, we decided to hold a prayer gathering to bless the communities around Westwood and Trinity. We couldn’t do a prayer walk because this was in January and the temperature was below zero. So we did a prayer drive. We met at Westwood Church and prayed blessing there, then hopped in vans and drove down Highway 5, praying blessing as we went. We stopped in Victoria and prayed there, then continued on to Waconia where we finished at Trinity. We ended with a hot chocolate and popcorn party.

“We discovered that a Latino congregation meets every Sunday afternoon at Westwood Church, IMR (La Iglesia Evangelica Ministerios Renacer). We became aware that there is a large population of Latinos in this area of town. In our effort to reach out to the community, we invited IMR to our prayer training. We found translation help and held our first bilingual workshop. It was a rich experience. This led to three bilingual events in spring, 2009: two at Trinity and one at Eden Prairie Presbyterian Church.

Betsy Lee of Prayer Ventures (center). Pastor Phil Wagner of Trinity Lutheran Church
on her right and Pastor Edras Perez on left with IMR, his Hispanic congregation.

“The Transform the City prayer gatherings have had a huge effect on me and my ministry. They broadened and intensified my Kingdom vision and gave me a new heart’s desire to reach our communities outside churches. Our communities are changing: they are more ethnically diverse and have more unchurched people in them who are not familiar with traditional Christianity.

“It is more important than ever for ministries and churches to work together to accomplish God’s Kingdom purposes. Our PV-Alpha partnership is a great example of this. Alpha benefited, PV benefited and so did the communities we serve.”