“He who sings prays twice,” says Gloria Knoll, who serves as the choir director at McCabe United Methodist Church in Bismarck, North Dakota. Knoll did not set out to start a Breakthrough Prayer movement, but that is what is happening. 

“God just lays it on your heart, and there it is,” says Knoll. “I didn’t set out to do a Breakthrough Prayer movement. It happened through God and the encouragement of others.”

Gloria posted on Facebook a photo illustration of 2 Chronicles 7:14 with the caption, “Our dry, thirsty land needs our sincere prayers.” Nearly all of North Dakotas  is in drought and at high fire risk.

A couple of McCabe members commented, suggesting, then affirming, a community-wide effort to pray for rain. So, Knoll met with the pastoral leaders at McCabe UMC, Rev. Karl Kroger and Rev. Jenny Hallenbeck Orr, to put some pieces in motion to invite other churches to join in praying for rain.

 “The first Sunday, after we were praying for rain, it rained about .010 of one inch,” says Knoll. “It was not a great amount of rain. It was a sign of encouragement from God.”

The U.S. Drought Monitor has identified every acre of land in the Dakotas as abnormally dry to a moisture level of extreme drought. Drought can devastate crops and forests, lead to shortages of food for livestock and wildlife, increase the risk of wildfires, and hurt local and regional economies. 

In North Dakota, Gov. Doug Burgum declared a statewide disaster. The State Water Commission reactivated the Drought Disaster Livestock Water Supply Project Assistance Program and dedicated more than half a million dollars to the rancher aid program. For more information, go to www.swc.nd.gov. 

Calli Hanson, who is on staff and is a member of the prayer team at Legacy United Methodist Church in Bismarck, North Dakota, coordinates the prayer efforts for the congregation. “When people are hurting, we pray,” says Hanson. “As Dakotans, we are all connected.” 

Legacy UMC and other United Methodist congregations in the Bismarck-Mandan area commit to pray for rain each Sunday. “The response has been positive and strong,” says Calli. “I have been surprised by how this call to pray is reaching beyond our church walls into the community,”

Knoll continues to pray for rain each day and invites all of us to join her. “I led a communal prayer in worship at McCabe. I invited everyone to continue to pray for rain and invite others to pray for rain.”

Here are some ways congregations can join the prayer movement: By adding a prayer for rain during the sermon or another part of the worship service each week, by encouraging people to pray a brief prayer for rain twice a day, and inviting prayer walks and prayer teams to pray for rain.

McCabe UMC shares this pray as a resource : “God, shower our thirsty land with rain and fill us with your Spirit that we might bless one another.”
Download a copy of the prayer
View KFYR news story
Read story in Bismarck Tribune