It was as if all of Minnesota—perhaps the world—was holding its breath as the judge in the courtroom opened an envelope and read the jury’s verdicts on three charges… guilty … guilty … guilty.
At Shiloh Temple in North Minneapolis, a group of church leaders and prayer warriors were gathered, as they have been in various places and times since the start of the trial that had the attention of the world . Bishop Richard Howell ’80, Lead Pastor at Shiloh, and Rob Ketterling, Lead Pastor of River Valley Church and member of the NCU Board of Regents, were instrumental in the effort, dubbed Pray for MN, to bring churches of all denominations from across the Twin Cities together to cover the trial in prayer. Being together when the verdict was read was powerful.
The Pray for MN movement started several months ago. Although the dramatic and devastating violence that marked the days following the death of George Floyd had subsided, the city seemed to be in a tenuous peace. However, pastoral leaders knew that the start of the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who was charged (now convicted) in the murder of Floyd, would release new tension and open wounds that had not yet healed.
‘What are we going to do?’
Howell recounted the genesis of the prayer effort: “Pastor Rob Ketterling called me. He thought someone should do something and asked me, ‘What are we going to do with the trials coming up? What is the faith community going to do?’” The cities were still reeling from George Floyd’s death and the aftermath of grief and violence, and the pastors agreed churches need to step up. Ketterling suggested a prayer meeting. “He said, ‘Let’s have a prayer meeting, and let’s go to downtown Minneapolis and bring together people from all of our congregations to be a part of this gathering.’ And I said that’s a great idea!”
Howell suggested holding a prayer meeting before the trial, during the trial, and after the trial, and Ketterling agreed. Now it was time to mobilize. The two pastors got their point networks together for a second conversation by Zoom. They talked about their vision for the prayer effort and received initial support. “Everybody agreed we needed to pray,” Howell said. “Yes. Prayers are necessary, prayers are good. But then there was a big, “but” that followed that.
Howell, a Minneapolis native, graduated from North Central in 1980 with a degree in Pastoral Studies. Rather than the traditional seminary route, he chose to get a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from the University of St. Thomas. “I felt like psychology would be a better fit for pastoring, and it was a great choice,” Howell said. “As a pastor you have to know your people. In light of what’s happening in our country and our city, it’s nice to know who you’re talking to and understand their behaviors and thought processes.” Both his pastoral and psychology skills served him well in what was to come in the prayer initiative.
“I thought it was an easy matter of all of us coming together to pray,” Howell explained, but on that Zoom screen that was beautifully diverse with pastors representing churches from all over the Metro area, the “but” became the need to talk about the race issue. “It became a hard period of conversation because nobody wanted us to forget the race issue. We couldn’t just pray for peace and protection for the city.”
The group of pastors who all acknowledged the need to pray became stuck on the question, “What are we going to pray for?” There was clear tension and working through it was a stressful time for Howell. He knew this effort would have the power to heal, but it was evident that even the Body of Christ, many people felt hurt and wounded and distrustful of one another.
Vision brings burden
“So Pastor Rob and I had a great vision for prayer,” Howell said, “but little did we know that the vision would bring a burden of this magnitude.”
Ketterling and Howell became guides, working with the large group and in small groups to bring the issues to the table and work through them. “It was very wonderful in the end,” Howell said, “but I have to say it was like climbing a ladder. Every rung was going higher and higher in dealing with this matter of racism, white supremacy, and prayer.” There was healing and an affirmation of wanting to work together, and the leaders knew that the church needed to model that this could be done.
Bringing a large group of people together for prayer requires a fair amount of organization. The Pray for MN team wanted to unite not only the people who would come down to the Government Center to pray the day before the trial started but also anyone interested in the effort through their Facebook group where they could access the same prayer requests that the group would be lifting up to the Lord in the heart of the city.
Determining the specific prayer requests was the last big hurdle. Howell said the team delegated the task of pulling the prayer requests to a sub-group that embraced the challenge of wading through the complex factors—and emotions—that were at play.
“It was obvious we needed to pray for safety and security, protection, and so forth,” Howell said. “But the big issue was, how were we going to pray for the judicial system? What are we praying for? Are we praying for the cops to be set free or are we going to pray for the justice of George Floyd? Well, you know, we have policemen that are members of some of our suburban churches, so the pastor has to be careful—what do I say to them if I’m praying for the justice of George Floyd? How are my police members going to look at me? Because they’re still doing their jobs.
Wonderful design of God
“So you can imagine the back and forth ups and downs, the ins and outs. But we finally came together, before March seventh, we finally anchored in our prayer requests with our plenary. And after the suggested draft was given, I put it together with the points that we would pray for, and one of those points was to pray for the justice of George Floyd. And no one refuted [the list]; everyone was in total agreement with that. Praise God!”
Due to physical barricades and restrictions put in place for security around the Hennepin County Government Center, the original vision of thousands coming together to pray in person could not be realized. But on March 7, the day before the trial began, several hundred people gathered for prayer. Howell was thrilled to see how people came together. “All of us came together,” he said. “Young people prayed, older people prayed, leaders, women, men. It just became just a beautiful color, looking-from-heaven kind of thing, like Revelation Chapter five—it just seemed to be the appropriate time to have this wonderful prayer gathering in the name of Jesus. What a wonderful design of God on March seventh, thanks to Pastor Ketterling’s vision.”
New tensions
Prayer efforts heightened following the shooting of Daunte Wright on April 11, stirring fresh anguish and leading local and state leaders to call for calm and curfews. The leaders of Pray for MN continued to gather regularly and encourage others to pray by posting prayer prompts on social media.
Many involved with Pray for MN were together the afternoon of April 20 when the verdict was announced. “We had decided on Monday [April 19], not yet knowing when the verdict would come down, to have a Pray for MN meeting at Shiloh Temple and be together when the verdict would be read,” Howell said. He was praying with members of the Minnesota National Guard when he heard that the verdict would be delivered within the next two hours. Howell quickly drove to his church to be with the pastors and others who had become so close through this process.
“When the three ‘guilty’ verdicts were given, you should have seen these men crying,” Howell said. It was an emotional time. Many in the room were pastors who have been bearing burdens—not just their own but of their congregations and their communities—for months. “God gave us grace, power, and wisdom,” Howell reflected. “We owe it all to Him to see us through. We made it; we thank God.”
Howell is hopeful the Pray for MN effort will continue. “I think that we felt like we were sighing a breath of release when that the verdict was announced,” he said. “The city doesn’t seem to be in demonstration mode, and I hope there will be major efforts to continue the prayer gathering.”
He is also a little tired. After the verdict in the Chauvin trial on April 20, his church also hosted Daunte Wright’s funeral on April 22. Howell believes the Church’s role in continuing to move forward is vital.
A call to worship
Bishop Richard Howell believes in the power of prayer and thanks God for His answers to the prayers prayed through the Pray for MN initiative. When asked what he thinks every believer could to to effect change and bring the peace of Christ to our culture, Howell answered with one word: “Worship.”
“We’re worshiping God, you know; let us not forget why we’re here. He called us to be worshipers. God is Spirit. They that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Can we come and worship together as heaven will be? And in worship in spirit and truth, the truth will be told, the spirit will be given, and there will be a fellowship and a tear-down of racism, supremacy, and all the other bigotry and discrimination and prejudice and all those things that have been known. But can we just come and worship God, the Redeemer? Christ is not divided. So why should the body of Christ be divided? And so, if there’s one thing to answer the question, let us come and worship him. Let us come and behold him, Christ the Lord. Hallelujah! The wise still seek Him, let us seek the Lord. So that is my answer.”
May 6 is the National Day of Prayer. The leaders of Pray for MN encourage people to participate in the Prayer Walk and Outdoor Worship Rally sponsored by Pulse Ministries. The event begins with a prayer walk at 6 p.m. in North Central University’s Parking Lot A (one block from Elliot Park) and ending at River City Church (formerly First Baptist), 1021 Hennepin Avenue.
