Will Graham promotes Rock Thurrock at Wembley Stadium
 Three members of the Rock Thurrock core team attended Carry The Torch, an event for 1000 leaders from across the nation, on Saturday (17 September).
Colin Baker, Frank Gaisie and Tim Harrold travelled at dawn to Wembley Stadium for the event (right), facilitated by Dr Jonathan Oloyede and the Global Day of Prayer London and National Day of Prayer team.
The three of them were able to set up a stall to promote Rock Thurrock and throughout the day spoke to many interested people. Rock Thurrock was promoted in Carry The Torch's official programme.
The programme for the day involved a number of high-profile projects and people sharing vision and leading prayer for the nation. These included: Hugh Osgood (GDOP London), Ian Christensen (NLCC Wembley), Gerald Coates (PIoneer), Debra Green (Redeeming Our Communities), Jane Holloway (World Prayer Centre), Lyndon Bowring (Care) and Phil Hulks (Urban Saints).
 Jonathan Oloyede led prayer for the whole church in the UK by asking for representatives of every denomination present to come forward and hold hands (left). There must've been some 50 people along the front of the stage. Jonathan got everyone to declare their unity in unison by saying, "We are ONE!"
Repentance for division, argumentativeness and competitiveness was offered, and the desire expressed to intentionally look beyond doctrinal, traditional and and stylistic differences.
Jonathan - who spoke and led prayer at the Thurrock Day of Prayer in 2009 - said he hoped it would be said that "because we turned, the church turned, the nation turned," adding, "I long for the day when the difference between heaven and earth, the line disappears..."
Dave Willson of More Than Gold presented the vision of how the UK's church can interact with next year's Olympics and Paralympics through festivals, sporting events and other activities at a local community level. (It turns out that Dave is son of a former Captain at Grays Salvation  Army, also called Dave - they lived in the town in the 70s and Dave attended Grays School!)
Will Graham's arrival on the stage was greeted by a standing ovation, an appreciation of his grandfather's work over the past six decades or more. Will was interviewed by Stephen Gaukroger (right) about Billy Graham, Franklin Graham (Will's dad) and his own faith story. When he was asked what he was doing in the UK, Will explained that he had been speaking in Cardiff, Wolverhampton and Exeter, but his main reason for being here is for ROCK THURROCK!
 Everywhere he has spoken, the anointing that appears to be on Will has resulted in significant amounts of mainly young people responding to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His hope is that this will continue in Thurrock this coming weekend.
Jonathan then asked Will to pray over all the under-30s who were at Carry The Torch - they came to the front, and Will stood among them as he did so (left).
 At the lunch break, Will came over to the Rock Thurrock stall and briefly spoke with Colin, Frank and Tim, thanking them for their work and saying he was looking forward to the weekend (see right).
Towards the end of the day, well-known Bible teacher Colin Urquhart of Kingdom Faith told those gathered that a prophetic word over him was coming true by the very act of addressing the Carry The Torch conference. He explained that God had told him the long-awaited revival would come after he addressed an audience of many believers of all ages, all cultures, all church-streams and all colours. Colin added that he had not looked for this opportunity, but it had come to him. This was the day, he announced!
Colin then commissioned everyone there to be conduits for bringing revival to the UK.
David Hawkins, Bishop of Barking, closed the event with a prayer, the beginning of which went something like this:
Don't just carry the torch, be the torch
Don't just pray for revival, be revived
Don't just pray, be the prayer
Don't just go to church, be church.
 (Bishop David will be at the Rock Thurrock Encoruagers' Rehearsal at St Margaret's in Stanford this Thursday night at 7pm, as he will commission all present into the work of evangelists, and in particular Rob Groves, the Community Evangelist based in the east of the borough.)
As Jonathan closed the event, a rainbow could be seen from the Great Hall windows arching up into the sky, mirroring the stadium's own arch (see below).
As everything was being packed away, Jonathan - who had endorsed the Rock Thurrock project at the launch back in March - came over and said hi to Colin, Frank and Tim (left - taken by Tim).
Related events coming soon:
- GDOP London Night of Prayer, Emmanuel Centre, 9-23 Marsham Street, Westminster, London SW1P 3DW - 7pm, Tuesday 8 November
- National Day of Fasting & Supplication, wherever you are (Joel 2:14) - Saturday 30 November 2011
- National Day of Prayer, Wembley Stadium - 29 September 2012 (tickets already being sold on www.gdoplondon.com! Buy now - only 79,999 other tickets avaiable!)
from GDOP London...
September 19, 2011
PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
One Thousand Leaders To Carry The Torch For Wembley 2012
Over one thousand leaders, gathered in the Great Hall at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 17th September , took up the challenge to 'Be The Torch' for UK revival by helping mobilise Christians across the British Isles to fill the stadium for a national day of prayer on 29th September 2012.
 At the GDOP London hosted Prayer Summit, leaders from all denominations, streams, networks and ethnic backgrounds responded with arms raised and widespread applause when convener Jonathan Oloyede commissioned them to come back to Wembley in 2012 bringing tens of thousands of praying believers.
This memorable time of commissioning was the climax of an historic day when key national and international leaders shared from the platform including Gerald Coates, Colin Urquhart, evangelist Will Graham, grandson of Billy Graham and many others. Facilitators included Bishop Eric Brown, Ian Christensen, Hush Osgood, Ade Omooba, Debra Green, Shirley Brownhill, Stephen Gaukroger, Jane Holloway, Dave Wilson, Celia Collins, Lyndon Bowring, Bishop David Hawkins and Phil Hulks.
Delegates from Africa, Australia, Europe and USA stood in prayer with teams from the Isles, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Anglia, Birmingham, Newcastle, Nottingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds. There were leaders from  many regions within Yorkshire, the Northeast, Northwest, East/West Midlands, South West, South East and London. Over 2000 others watched the gathering LIVE via the GDOP London website.
There was a tangible spirit of unity and hunger for national transformation as leaders joined hands together to pray for the nation. Many remarked that it was a sign of God's favour as the sun shone all day over Wembley, while other parts of the capital were covered in rain. They all marvelled as a mighty bright rainbow arched right over the stadium just as the event ended.
Throughout the Carry The Torch summit a wide variety of national and international leaders took to the stage to pray and challenge leaders to be a part of national transformation, prepare for the Olympics and unite everywhere for prayer and mission. Many key leaders came away fired u p to come back for a national day of prayer at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 29th September 2012.
"The important thing from today is that all the leaders go away with that determination to come to a new place in God themselves, to impact those they lead, so that when we come back in a year's time people have already met with God," said Colin Urquhart founder of Kingdom Faith.
He added: "They won't just be carrying the torch but they'll become the torch and from a great prayer gathering here revival fire can go out all over the nation."
Eric Brown, Administrative Bishop of the New Testament Church of God for England & Wales said: "I think it will be a marvellous thing if the whole church community will come together and bow before the presence of God and invite His divine intervention in the affairs of this nation. I would like to invite everyone to join us in filling Wembley stadium and lift up a symphony of praise to almighty God."
Lyndon Bowring, Founder of CARE said: "Leaders are a stepping stone to congregations to the wider  church in the UK. So if the leaders are on board their congregations will be led by them to bring tens of thousands I pray to Wembley Stadium in September 2012, the culmination of the Olympics to be the final word of thanksgiving and prayer for the nation."
The whole day ended with joyful celebration as Noel Robinson, Graham Kendrick, Lara Martin and Marilyn Figueroa led the freshly inspired leaders in rapturous praise and worship.
Following Carry The Torch, GDOP London is urging leaders who came to the summit and all leaders across the Isles to pick up some or all of the following action points:
- Wear the event wristband as a reminder to Be the Torch and champion Wembley 2012
- Set Mobile phones to 12noon for the Lord’s Prayer and pray for the nation.
- Target 100, 200 to 1000 people by getting them to register now at www.gdoplondon.com
- Partner by setting up a standing order to make Wembley 2012 happen
- Register now and get your tickets by texting GDOP12 £10 70070
- Become a GDOP Champion for your group, network, region, town or City
See also http://www.christiantoday.co.uk/article/prayer.for.nation.draws.1000.christians.to.wembley/28646.htm
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