LIFE GROUP IMPACT
David Peddie is the founder and president of a major commercial roofing company in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The company services clients throughout Western Canada.
In the late 1990s David and his wife Heather attended a small church that had recently been planted and were meeting in a school. They joined a church life group that met in homes to study the Bible and pray together.
Each participating couple in the group had children about the same age. As they got to know each other, they openly shared common concerns about their sons, daughters, and extended family members. As a logical extension, as the couples shared their burdens, prayer segments grew until they became the major component of each life group session.
For two years, the group slowly grew to 10 couples as they continued to meet in homes. As word spread of the growing prayer focus, the Holy Spirit prompted the group to move from homes to the church ministry centre in order to accommodate others who were invited to join the group each Sunday night.
BROOKLYN TABERNACLE MINISTRY
The timing of the life group startup paralleled the impact another ministry was having on the lives of Heather and David. Prior to joining the life group, David had experienced difficult challenges that affected his personal and business life. A friend, who knew of the challenges Peddie was facing, recommended a CD by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.
David’s life was dramatically changed. He listened to each song over and over and allowed the Holy Spirit to minister to his brokenness. He allowed the Holy Spirit to fill his heart and mind with words of praise, worship, and teaching through music.
Peddie was so moved that he purchased every CD recorded by the Choir up to that time. He was on a spiritual journey, and The Holy Spirit continued to use the Tabernacle Choir music to accomplish the kind of heart surgery that only He can perform. David experienced release from guilt, bitterness and anger that had hardened his heart. The ministry of the Choir and Life Group converged in David and Heather’s life.
SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION
In October 2002, Heather and David made time during a business trip to New York to attend a Sunday morning service at the Brooklyn Tabernacle where the music and teaching spoke to David at a deep spiritual level.
He decided to attend a second service that featured the Choir leading a celebration of praise. After the message, the pastor extended an invitation to those seeking forgiveness for anything in their lives that was separating them from God. David responded. As he surrendered his life in a fresh, new way, he knew Christ had transformed his life and given him a new purpose.
When they returned to Calgary, David’s pastor asked him to share about his experience at a men’s breakfast that was scheduled three days later. David challenged each man when he stated that he felt their church was “lukewarm” and needed to apply 2 Chronicles 7:14 to their lives in a radical way. Many wept as they were convicted by the Holy Spirit of their need for personal and corporate revival. They were convinced they needed to come together in unity and make prayer a priority in the ministry of their church.
PRAYER BECOMES CENTRAL
The pastor asked if the Sunday night life group could be expanded to become the prayer focus in the church. The group moved to a hotel meeting room and in three months had swelled from 20 to 50 people.
In January of 2003 Heather and David attended a weekend prayer summit in Calgary, hosted by Dr. TV Thomas of the Centre for Evangelism and World Mission. Christ spoke into both of their lives and challenged them to encourage pastors, church leaders and others to pray in unity for the Holy Spirit to raise up His people in Calgary and throughout Canada.
Back in Calgary, the two shared their passion for prayer at the following Sunday night prayer group. They watch a Transformation Video which showed God at work in the streets of Calais, Columbia and other world cities.
Key members of the group wondered aloud why the Holy Spirit could move in those centers, but not Calgary. Why couldn’t they bring together people of all denominations to pray and ask God’s blessing on their community?
A VISION FOR CITYWIDE PRAYER
God began to crystallize a vision for a larger ministry. The group believed Pastors and leaders of all denominations would come together every three months to pray in a City Wide Rally.
As a lay leader, David invited other key leaders from his and other churches to meet at a local restaurant. They became an organizing committee and the first City Wide Prayer Rally was scheduled for April 2003 at Grace Baptist Church in Calgary.
The first City Wide Prayer Rally was a celebration and praise as approximately three hundred people prayed in unity and worshiped together. People prayed for our world, our country, our city and individual needs. They were invited to receive Christ or to bring prayer requests to the front of the church.
In preparation for the second Prayer Rally, the committee was challenged to make a greater effort to invite even more denominations, cultural groups, ethnic groups, and age groups. The subsequent July rally grew in numbers.
GDOP: THE VISION EXPANDS
Shortly after the seventh rally in October 2004, the committee received an invitation from the Transformation Africa movement to join other countries, led by the nation of South Africa, to participate in a world-wide celebration of prayer and unity during the Global Day of Prayer on Pentecost Sunday in May 2005. The movement had been started in 2001 in Capetown under the leadership of another lay leader, Graham Power.
Five City Wide committee members agreed to form the nucleus of a Global Day of Prayer Committee. The structure and network created by City Wide Prayer Rally provided a logical extension to a global ministry.
The result was a gathering of 11,000 people who came together in unity to pray at the Olympic Saddledome. Praise bands, flaggers, dancers and visual artists led in a celebration of worship. The Calgary attendance was the second largest in North America, the first being in Dallas, TX.
CITY WIDE MOVES FORWARD
Many of worship elements from GDOP 2005 were also melded into GDOP 2006 and subsequent City Wide Prayer Rally’s. The City Wide ministry has been expanded to include an intercessory prayer team that meets weekly. It is challenged to fast and pray for seven days before each rally asking God to pour out His Spirit on the City of Calgary. A website has been developed as a primary communications tool that also provides opportunity to submit prayer requests that are passed to the intercessory team on a daily basis.
A PLACE OF PRAYER
The focused prayer ministries of City Wide Prayer Rally’s and GDOP have given Calgary a very special place in the heart of God. There is a sense of connection with prayer warriors who have gone before who sought the heart of God and took the needs of successive generations to Him as they asked for an outpouring of His Holy Spirit on a city that is truly connected to the world. Every historical revival occurred following a period of fervent prayer, fasting, and seeking the heart of God. There is a sense that Calgary is well poised to witness a revival in answer to the prayers of His people.
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