Last night I got a chance to see one of the 24-7 “shorts” again. In this mini film (which is excellent), Brian Heasley talks about Ibiza and the 24-7 work there. The statement from the film that stuck with me was:

“Nothing will change this island but prayer.”

It’s interesting because just before I left Massachusetts I had a long talk with my pastor and he said he was finally realizing the same about that area. The ground is so hard and the spiritual issues are so deep that showing up to just “do church” will have no impact at all. The breakthrough has to be sown in prayer and then mission flows out of it.

It’s not really a novel idea, but it still revolutionary. To have the humility to realize that all the programs and good ideas in the world won’t make a dent. It’s only with prayer that the breakthrough will come. In Ibiza that means prayer on the streets – praying with the people, often at their most vulnerable moments. In other places that might look different. The Boystown “short” talks about prayer as justice – the importance of communicating God’s love to unloved people through prayer.

Prayer and breakthrough. In that order.