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Prayer walkers - in Yakima
Published on 9 July 2007 in PrayerSource: Yakima - Herald.com
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The prayer warrior pauses.
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Turning down an alley off East A Street, she walks purposefully toward the spray-painted streaks that mar a Dumpster. Stopping directly in front of it, she implores: "Would you tag the taggers, Lord?"
"That tagger needs you. That tagger needs purpose in life."
She prays -- out loud -- that the graffiti artist would come to know him. Then, she thanks God for a nearby building, where a sign in a window of a dress shop advertises: "Help Wanted." She prays the business finds the right person.
And then she moves on, through the sunlight and shadows of a recent Yakima summer afternoon. She continues praying and walking, or prayer walking.
Passers-by who don't recognize what she's doing might think she's talking to herself. They might cast an inquisitive look her way. They might hurry past her.
Bev Breitenfeldt, a retired teacher and a Christian, seems like a 71-year-old out for exercise. She walks briskly -- claiming this city street for God is serious spiritual work.
That work, she says, is based on Scripture, God's charge in Joshua 1:3, which reads: "Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses."
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It's from that biblical story that Yakima's Jericho Project takes its name and inspiration.
Step by step, block by block, a small but growing army of prayer warriors are moving out of churches, sanctuaries and homes, and into the community, onto the streets.
Their aim: Cover the city of Yakima in prayer.
They're fighting social evils -- gang violence and activity, graffiti, robberies, burglaries, drugs, pornography, poverty -- with prayer, every place they tread.
Two dozen areas, from downtown -- North First, Second and Third streets -- to West Valley -- 72nd Avenue and Nob Hill Boulevard -- are covered so far. But the 24 organizers and participants of the Jericho Project, which started about a year ago, would like to see every block of the city spoken for.
"We will see people's lives improve for the better," says Breitenfeldt, who attends Yakima Christian Center and is one of the leaders of Pray Yakima, a group of believers that meets once a month to pray for the city and its leaders.
"I believe what the Bible says;
I believe God will do what he says he will do. That's why I do this," she says. "When you prayer walk, you never know how God will answer. He is going to answer in his way."
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Then there are visible improvements.
Prayer walker Dan Jennings cites the rehabilitation of old buildings near his block. Sonny Gunvaldson points to upgraded downtown sidewalks and new businesses in his area.
Prayer walking is considered a spiritual work session, not evangelizing. Prayer walkers systemically pace around their designated areas, praying for buildings, businesses, homes and the people who live and work in them. They don't try to draw attention to themselves; usually, their prayers are quiet and unobtrusive. Even those who pray out loud outside use indoor voices. Some whisper.
"Sometimes, when you're prayer walking, you look like a tourist," Breitenfeldt says.
This is not a seven-day or even a 40-day commitment. They commit to prayer walking a specific area once a week for much longer than that -- as long as it takes for them to see transformation, which could be indefinitely, possibly forever.
"This is not a frivolous thing, and it should not be approached as a frivolous thing or a lark," Breitenfeldt says. "It should not be a one-time thing. You continue prayer walking because there's maintenance involved. It's like growing a garden. If there is no maintenance, you get no fruit, as it is with prayer walking; it has to be continued."
In bad weather -- rain, sleet, snow -- they pray drive from their vehicles, systemically driving around their designated areas.
Before they set out, they put on their spiritual armor; they pray for their own safety as well as the safety of their families. They also pray for guidance.
Breitenfeldt prays on the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and North Third Street, before a recent prayer walk: "As I stand here, Lord, I ask for your direction today. I visualize this block. What is it that you want today to pray?"
Prayer warriors walk, praying as they go, around the Yakima County Courthouse, Yakima County Jail, Yakima City Hall and police station, Davis and Eisenhower high schools, the Union Gospel Mission, Larson Building, Noel Building and the YMCA.
Some, like Breitenfeldt, pray out loud. Others, like Jennings, pray quietly to themselves.
After his shift ends, Jennings, a 54-year-old corrections officer, prayer walks the block around the jail once a week. He changes out of his uniform and into his regular clothes; on a recent Wednesday, it's black jeans and a white, button-down shirt.
He starts his prayer walk by reciting Joshua 1:3.
"I claim that," he says. "I claim that in God's Word as I walk."
He looks around as he prays, noting an "Apartments for Rent" sign at a building across the street, watching an inmate, cuffed and accompanied by an officer, pass him on the sidewalk, listening to the traffic charging by.
"I just thank the Lord," says Jennings, who attends Open Bible Christian Center in Yakima. "If I see someone at a window, I ask the Lord to bless them."
He prays for the tenants of the apartments near the jail. He prays for the inmates, guards, grounds and administrators who run the place. He prays for people he sees on the sidewalks, empty commercial space, whatever he feels moved to pray for.
"I believe Yakima is a special place," he says. "That's why I do this."
The Jericho Project is an offshoot of Pray Yakima, which grew out of local National Day of Prayer activities. Founder John Van Belle is involved with both groups.
"It started out pretty small," says the 75-year-old member of East Valley Reformed Church. "But more people are starting to sign up as the word gets out."
"It's low-key," he says, "but it's really working."
And it's "not a church deal. It's just Christians," of different denominations, uniting in prayer.
Van Belle tracks the areas already claimed; they're blocked out on a map of the city. Prayer warriors choose the streets they want to walk. Most key downtown blocks -- those with government buildings or big businesses -- are already claimed.
"We're looking for people who are willing to walk in more residential areas," says Van Belle, adding that similar prayer-walking projects are taking place in other cities and towns across the country. But those prayer walks typically last a day or a week.
What makes Yakima's Jericho Project different, Van Belle says, is that it's meant to happen on regular intervals and last indefinitely.
"We are going to be praying and walking until the Lord provides a breakthrough," he says. "There's power in prayer."
"(Prayer walking) gets us out of the pews on Sunday morning and out there where the people are," Van Belle says. "We don't go out there in condemnation; we go out there with love and compassion for people."
Some walks take 10 or 15 minutes. Some -- like Gunvaldson's -- take half an hour. Following in the footsteps of Jennings, Gunvaldson also walks by the jail. But he extends his walk to a three-block area, down First Street to East Chestnut Avenue and back on North Front Street.
The 65-year-old who attends Gateway Fellowship of Yakima wears sneakers and a polo shirt as he prayer walks on a recent Wednesday afternoon.
He pauses at an empty restaurant, praying for "a good business to come in." He passes an adult video store, praying "that these types of business would not prosper, Father. All they do is drag us into the mud."
He waits at a traffic light in front of a bank: "Father, I thank you for the honesty and integrity of the banking system."
He walks down sidewalks that were redone last summer, thanking the Lord for them.
"Keep our economy on a good, sound foundation," he prays, asking that Yakima "would be a city of refuge, a city that's holy unto you."
"Restoration, that's what we want," he says. "What we're setting down is a foundation."