On May 1, more than 500 believers gathered for Momentum—a powerful night of prayer and worship in anticipation of the Look Up Celebration with Will Graham happening June 12-13 at the Brandt Centre.
“I am here today because someone shared the Gospel with me,” local heavy-duty mechanic Paul Waldner encouraged the audience. “I challenge you to go out and to share the Gospel with your neighbors, your friends, your coworkers … If we make time, people will come into the Kingdom. People are hungry!”
While Momentum was a landmark moment, God has been building spiritual momentum in Regina for many years. When Pastor Nico Deschner of Celebration Church moved to Saskatchewan’s capital over a decade ago, he sensed the Lord saying, “Come to Regina to help prepare, for the King is coming to the Queen City.”
The avid cyclist began biking the streets of Regina, praying for neighborhoods and churches. He said in the last two years, there’s been a “reawakening” of local pastors. Around 50 of them gather each month for fellowship and prayer. And they are all on the same page: Regina is poised for the Good News of Jesus Christ to be proclaimed.
“Not only did Jesus place the highest bid for you, but He did that for the people in your life that are far from Him,” said Billy Graham Evangelistic Association presenter Mark Miller, referencing 1 Corinthians 6:20, which says, “you were bought at a price.” He added, “So how do we join this bidding war for the lives and the souls of men and women? We pray, and we invite.”
Rattan and his wife Ranjit attended our Christian Life and Witness Course class in April, Momentum in May, and plan to volunteer at the Look Up Celebration in June.
Rattan commented that right now, many people in Regina are going about life as usual; they don’t realize that in just a few weeks, they might be sitting at the Brandt Centre listening to Will Graham share the Word of God.
“Their lives are going to be radically revolutionized,” he said. “Right now, they don’t know it. But the Holy Spirit knows it.”
Rattan remembers volunteering on the BGEA prayer team over 30 years ago. The Franklin Graham Festival that took place in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in October 1995—which included a rare special appearance by Billy Graham—was simulcast at the Brandt Centre in Regina as well. There, Rattan not only prayed with new believers during the invitation to receive Christ, but also spent weeks beforehand walking in and around the arena praying for God to move mightily.
Fast forward to today, and every Jan. 1, Rattan and Ranjit compile a new list of people to pray over. This year, the names of several family members are on their lips—specifically that these loved ones would come to the Look Up Celebration and find new life in Jesus Christ.
“The harvest is ready,” said Rattan. “That’s what we’ve been praying for.”
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