(Ne. 2:17b)
Vision Sharing
The first phase of the "Do This" Million-Hour All Nations Prayer Movement was completed at the end of November in 2002 in a 20-month period. The Central Decision Committee has therefore scheduled to hold a prayer conference on the evening of 16 January 2003 (Thursday). On the one hand thanksgiving was to be offered to God; and on the other hand more intercessors could be recruited to participate in the new phase of the prayer movement. Initially we planned to use "Revival in the City" as the name of the meeting since the Central Decision Committee wanted to introduce the concept of "prayer" into the media. But after some discussion, we felt that this name was too religious and might be censored by the government. It was suggested that we come up with a new name. We therefore prayed and sought the Lord for His will.
In early November 2002, we published a women's prayer handbook, which targeted women who were in hardships. As I was about to prepare for the introductory section of the handbook, I was touched by some of the words - "We want not only healing, but rebuilding." God was good to us, not only has He forgiven our sins, He has also led us to Himself; not only has He forgiven us, He has also bestowed mercy upon us. Today, not only does He want to heal us, He also wants to rebuild us. The word "rebuilding" moved me to tears. Who are we that we can find such favor before Him? In this way, "rebuilding our city" appeared in our minds. But I prayed to the Lord in my heart: "The name for our prayer movement is already very lengthy, may the Lord grant us a simpler name." "Rebuilding our City" amazingly appeared in our hearts, thank you Lord.
Now that the name was given, we trust that the Lord would grant us a theme verse. We therefore prayed again and sought the Lord for His help. On the early morning of November 24, the Lord moved me and enabled me to know that both the theme verse and the format of the meeting were to be found in the book of Nehemiah. I immediately opened the Bible and began looking for it from chapter one. It was like looking for pearls. I finally stopped at Nehemiah 2:17: "Come, let us rebuild the wall of Hong Kong (Jerusalem), and we will no longer be in disgrace." Lord! Our city is truly in disgrace as the city faces great humiliation as critics outside Hong Kong continue to belittle the city. The leaders in our city continue to face severe criticism; the industrial and commercial sectors have gone into recession; the unemployment rate remains high, and bankruptcy cases continue to rise... Lord, You are truly in the midst of us and understand our situation. Lord, may you bestow grace and mercy and save us.
The theme verse was finally found. Chapter three of Nehemiah talks about how the builders repaired the wall according to its procedures. For those in different positions under the wall, they were to repair the section where they were situated. These images led me to think about the economy in South Korea. During their economic recession, the government encouraged the factory owners to concentrate on only one type of production, and they worked hard to develop new research. Today their high-tech production, clothing and even their soap operas have been recognized for their excellence in quality.
I would like to thank God as He led me to recall the prayers for different professions. About three to four years ago, one of our staff had a revelation - that there are prayer handbooks for every profession. We immediately prayed and asked the Lord to prepare brothers and sisters from every profession to rise up and respond. They are welcome to provide information or participate in the writing of prayers. Dear brothers and sisters, this is exciting for many people. May the Lord lead us to move forward and open our eyes. Thank you Lord!
On the evening of the meeting we would invite 12 representatives to pray for their profession. We pleaded the Lord to move His people who were called by His name, to humble, pray and repent on behalf of their own professions. They were to commit every need, remove loopholes and bring forth the word of God. May God be sovereign in their hearts. In addition, a map of Hong Kong made up of 12 wooden blocks would be placed on the stage that evening. When the representative from each profession finished praying, a wooden block would be placed until a complete Hong Kong map was put together. In this way, the message concerning "rebuilding" was communicated.
In addition, we hope to collect the people of Hong Kong their thoughts toward rebuilding the city, including any words of commitments, encouragements and blessings. These writings would be compiled into a booklet and presented as a gift to the Chief Executive - Mr. Tung Chee-hua, who would be the special guest of honor that evening. May the brothers and sisters remember the needs of the preparation work in their prayers. We cordially invite brothers and sisters to arrive before 6:45pm that evening. Admission is free. For tickets please call 2503 0102 (Jireh Fund) or 2753 8887 (Hong Kong Campus Crusade for Christ).
2. Highlights of "Rebuilding the City" Prayer Conference (evening of 16 January 2003)
The phase one of the "Do This" Million-Hour Prayer Movement was successfully completed at the end of November 2002, which lasted for 20 months. Jireh Fund and Hong Kong Campus Crusade for Christ held a prayer conference called "Rebuilding the City" at the Grand Hall of Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre at 6:45pm on 16 January 2003. The theme verse for the meeting was Nehemiah 2:17: "Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace." Thank God that He is truly living in our city! He knows that our city is in disgrace. The city faces great humiliation as critics outside Hong Kong continue to belittle the city. The leaders in our city continue to face severe criticism; the industrial and commercial sectors have gone into recession, the unemployment rate remains high, and bankruptcy cases continue to rise... Lord, You are truly in the midst of us and understand our situation. Lord, may you bestow grace and mercy and save us
Our meeting was based on chapter three from Nehemiah. Everyone was repairing the wall of the city in their various locations. The purpose of the meeting was to complete the 20 months of prayer movement and offer it as a thanksgiving to God. We hope to recruit more intercessors to enter into the new 14-month phase of the prayer movement. On the other hand, we hope to recruit representatives from different professions and collect thoughts from about 1,000 Hong Kong citizens who are willing to take up the commission to rebuild in their positions. At the same time, we published a set of 12 prayer handbooks that prays for the church, family and various professions. We hope that brothers and sisters could continue to pray and keep watch for their respective professions even after the meeting ended.
During the evening, we invited Rev. S. H. Lau to begin with an opening prayer. And Dr. Angela Tam was the choir conductor with Mrs. Wong leading the congregation in praise and proclamation of Psalms 118.
1 Timothy 2:1-2 says, "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." One of the elements of the prayer movement involves praying for those in authority. On the evening of the meeting, we were very honored to invite Mr. Tung Chee-hua, the Chief Executive to be our special guest of honor. When the Chief Executive stepped into the meeting hall, Mrs. Wong led the congregation to welcome Mr. Tung with a song. Brothers and sisters seated near the aisle shook hands with the Chief Executive. Afterwards Dr. Angela Tam led the choir to sing a hymn on "Praise the Heavenly Father".
Next, "My Passion for Life" campaign video was shown, bringing out the importance of "Pause and Think" in the midst of the wave of unrest in our city. Mrs. Fan Chan, General Secretary of Jireh Fund, shared about the vision of the "My Passion for Life" campaign and brought forth the vision concerning "Taking up the Commission, Rebuilding the City". Next, Dr. Philemon Choi, General Secretary of Breakthrough, shared about the message about "Taking up the Commission". We also invited eight representatives from different professions to share their willingness in taking up the mission of rebuilding in their respective positions. There were representatives from the finance, education, judiciary, civil servants, real estates, medical and social services sectors, as well as from the Christian church. They won the applause of the congregation for their responses in taking up the commission.
Next Dr. Rosanna Yick-ming Wong, General Secretary of Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups shared her thoughts concerning the particular campaign. Later on, Mrs. Chan, General Secretary of Jireh Fund, presented Mr. Tung Chee-hua with a special booklet containing words of commitments and blessings toward rebuilding Hong Kong from about 1,000 citizens. Dr. Wong invited the Chief Executive to share and Mr. Tung said he was very touched when he saw brothers and sisters willing to take up the 
commission of rebuilding Hong Kong. The congregation responded with many rounds of applause. As the meeting came to an end, the Chief Executive left the meeting hall accompanied by the song called "Blessing".
Later Mr. Thomas Fok and the Worshipers led the congregation in worshiping God and proclaiming His name. What followed was sharing from pastors and church members in Hong Kong, San Francisco (U.S.) and Lancaster (U.K.) regarding their participation in the All Nations Prayer Movement. Mrs. Fan Chan introduced the "Do This" Million-Hour All Nations Prayer Movement. We sought to recruit 60 million Christians worldwide and pursue the vision of accomplishing one million hours of prayer in a minute. In the past God used the "My Passion for Life" campaign and the completion of one million hours of prayer to enable us to experience the One who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. Although our offering to the Heavenly Father was only minimal, perhaps even less than "Five Loaves and Two Fish", our willingness to offer could be made more than a thousand fold in the hands of God. May the Lord continue to use us and grant us grace to finish what the Lord has committed to us.
During the evening, we were very honored to invite Rev. Gordon Sau-wah Siu to share a message, who is currently the pastor-in-charge at North Point Alliance Church. We also invited Dr. Philemon Choi to share his response. Next, the General Secretary of Jireh Fund and the chairperson of the Hong Kong Campus Crusade for Christ urged brothers and sisters to offer their support. The form of support included taking up prayer hours for the next phase of the prayer movement as well as taking offering pledges for the support of printing the prayer handbooks.
Later on in the part on "Rebuilding the City", we invited churches, families and representatives from various professions to come up to the stage and take turns to place a part of the Hong Kong map until a full map of Hong Kong was pieced together. An invitation was also extended to the brothers and sisters from different professions to stand up and pray at their seats. Mrs. Fan Chan led a concluding prayer followed by Mr. Thomas Fok and the Worshipers who led the congregation in singing the theme song.