Small church has big vision: thousands 'Praying4Portland' Oct. 10

   
  BEAVERTON — A vision Pastor Kay Tolman has for the Portland area came, she believes, from God.
   But also from Texas.
   Tolman is pastor of Restoration Gateway Ministries, a small church in Beaverton. Last Sept. 19, she happened to be in Houston, Texas, and witnessed a major citywide Christian event that drew an estimated 10,000 people from many hundreds of churches to pray fervently for one hour for that city.
   Tolman returned to Oregon with a desire to see the same thing happen for Portland and vicinity. Months of preparation are now leading toward the culmination of that effort — Praying4Portland, scheduled from 7 to 8 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 10 throughout the city.
  “When I was (in Texas) I felt like God was saying, ‘I want you to bring this to the Northwest.’ ’’ she said.
   But while planning for the Houston event had gone on for about 15 years, the time frame for the first of what Tolman hopes will be a yearly Portland event is considerably shorter, she acknowledges. She is hoping to enlist representatives of at least 200 churches to not only fill Pioneer Courthouse Square downtown but also a wide range of other prayer venues throughout the city.
   All gatherings would utilize the same unified prayer text.
  “Word has been getting out since January,” she said. “Everyone we connect with we’ve been talking about it. We just need to get some traction and action and connect with some of the larger churches.”
   The Texas event was called Houston Loves Prayer. The many participating churches there rallied their members to form a massive collection of prayer groups along Interstate 610, which forms a loop around downtown Houston.
   Like that event, Praying4Portland is designed to break cultural and denominational barriers and see Christians in a unified call for spiritual revival in the city.
  “We are part of something that’s much greater than we are,” said Lynn Hare, secretary of the Praying4Portland board. “As we see God move in the Portland metro area, we are seeing not only this citywide prayer event but also seeing the walls coming down and seeing us pray in unity for one cause.”
   Tolman said a local Christian contemporary band, The Neverclaim, will perform at the Pioneer Courthouse Square event.
   As for other locations, she wants each participating church’s pastor to seek the Lord’s guidance on where the simultaneous gatherings should take place
   Hare said she was intrigued to find out that the annual Portland Marathon will take place not only the same day, but also start at the same hour — 7 a..m. She hopes to see prayer groups all along the marathon route for the thousands of marathon participants to see.
   “One of my visions is that we would have people running through this blessing,” she said.
   Tolman acknowledged that the task of organizing a citywide event is “big and daunting,” but that God is bringing along people to help.
  “He never gives us a vision for small things,” she said.
    For more information and to register a church or ministry’s participation, phone 1-877-361-7729, ext. 3, or go to www.praying4portland.org.