HISTORY of the PRAYER CHAPEL ::
by Amy Davis

In the fall of 2005, Fo Sho, Zach, Bobby Lane, Spencer and I went to a conference in Nashville to promote Snowbird. We were to set up a booth and talk with youth workers about Snowbird when the exhibit hall was open. In additon to that we were allowed to attend training sessions and worship sessions which were offered to youth workers attending the conference. That week we came up with the idea of having an "extend worship time" following the evening services.

I attended a session on creative worship. At some point my mind began forming thoughts that snowballed into what we now call "The Prayer Chapel". As interesting as the class was, I could not pay attention to the whole presentation because I knew God was speaking me. I was so excited to sit and journal about this "extended worship time" that I left in the middle of the presentation to organize my thoughts.

I thought about gutting a Snowbird bus and building 4 prayer stations in it with the focus centered around missions. I thought we could build a small building, set up multiple prayer stations in it and give students an oportunity to come think and pray after the worship services. My thoughts were a mess of ideas, but I was so overwhelmend that it took a few weeks before they all came together.

I shared my ideas with the rest of the crew and they were excited about the possibility. As we thought about practical ways to make this happen, we took time to participate in a walk-through exhibit World Vision had set up at the conference. By the end of the exhibit, we were moved to incorporate prayer for Africa into our new project.

When we got home to Snowbird, I shared our vision with Big Kahuna and Brody who were super supportive and eger to share in ideas. "Why don't we do this in the prayer chapel at the top of the hill, we are not doing anything with it," Kahuna says. "If kids want to go to the prayer chapel, they will walk that hill!" And so they did...

Night after night during the summer students poured into The Prayer Chapel. They came to think, journal, pray, write letters to persecuted Christians and more. We raised over $9,000 to build a well in Zambia, Africa. We received word that 3 of the persecuted Christians we had written over the summer had been released. We have pages and pages of journal entries written by students who talk about their struggles, God's faithfulness and more. We are blown away by the way students have responded to this extended worship time in The Prayer Chapel.