Yesterday was a day of transitions. We finished our time of touring and preparation and began our time of ministry. We left our dorm rooms at Catholic University and moved into a church and pulled out our air mattresses. We said goodbye to Hannah who returned home early for her grandfather's funeral. We started the day with granola bars, chocolate milk and fruit and ended the day with a meal from Taste of India.

It was also a day of confirmation and opportunity. Annamarie prayerfully hunted down a body of believers that we should join for worship on Sunday. We chose to join National Community Church, a church with five locations in the city. We chose to attend the location of the theatre in Union Station and had the preaching brought to us via large screen - much like our own Regeneration service.

The guest speaker from Ethiopia seemed to have been prepared just for us. He preached a powerful message on the seen and unseen world, the visible and the invisible, weaving together most of the themes from our first week's devotional times. He called us to do battle in prayer for the city of DC.

Later that day, we began our ministry with CSM by taking a nightime prayer tour of DC. We began at the National Cathedral, praying for the churches of the nation, the churches of DC, for First United, and for our own roles in the Body of Christ. We moved through the power structures of the city praying over the House and Senate, the Supreme Court, the Department of Agriculture, various embassies and others. We stopped near the Washington monuement and prayed specifically for President Obama, VP Biden, the cabinet and for the freedoms this country enjoys.

Then we moved into prayer for areas such as Anacostia and Woodley Park, taking a tour of part of DC that most tourists never see - where the majority of the population is under 25, where the vast majority do not finish high school and where 50% go to bed hungry. We ended in the tradition of Dr. Halverson of praying over the city from high vantage point that showed us from the Pentagon and Air Force Memorial to the Capital Building and everthing inbetween. I was so grateful for the speaker the Lord had prepared for us that morning to help prepare our group's understanding of the vitality of prayer in ministry.

I know you are proud of your students. We are proud of them too and excited to be on this portion of their faith journey with them. Thanks for being faithful in prayer for us so that what is won in these students lives in the invisible is seen in the visible!