Prayer is focus for church celebrating second anniversary

Prayer. David Brinson, pastor of Eighth Day Church, said it’s all about prayer.

Nearing the congregation’s second anniversary on Sept. 8, Eighth Day Church has canceled its Wednesday services through September and instead are meeting Sunday nights at 7 for prayer.

Brinson also said that now through September, he and his wife, April, are teaching a series about prayer and fasting on Sunday mornings.

Sunday evenings, he said, are prayer laboratories.

“The series teaches principles of prayer and how important prayer is,” he said. “We’re talking about different types of prayer like the model prayer Jesus gave, salvation prayer, healing prayer, intercessory prayer and what fasting is and why we should do it. We’re covering a lot of topics then Sunday nights we do it: we pray.”

Brinson said hour-long evening sessions include personal prayer time then prayer together.

He said the prayer focus arose after a communitywide prayer meeting in July following racially-charged shootings and deaths on the national scene.

“I was in a prayer meeting for our community and the country, and God spoke to my heart to host ongoing community prayer for all of July,” he said. “That kind of prayer is vital, but what I want to point out is that prayer isn’t just about us speaking to God. It’s about God speaking to us, too, directing us. I wasn’t surprised that in the atmosphere of prayer God gave me direction — in this case to keep on praying and teach on prayer.”

How did it happen? How does God speak to Brinson? To others? He said it’s a learning process.

“It’s practical,” he said. “Mostly God speaks through a verse or passage of scripture he seems to highlight or impress on us. Or through a sort of inner voice. Not necessarily audible, but that still, small voice you hear about. You come to recognize it as God speaking to you, nudging you. It can come other ways — through other people or all kinds of ways, but the thing is, like any relationship, it takes time to learn his voice and promptings. It takes time getting to know his word. We might make mistakes in guidance along the way because we’re not perfect. But it’s worth the effort. It comes through trust and waiting on him; through worshiping him privately.”

Brinson said such prayer and guidance isn’t just for a few.

“Lots of believers pray but I’ve begun to notice not all communicate,” he said. “If it’s just one sided, it’s not communication. We have to wait on God, listen for him and expect him to play his part.”

Brinson said such praying, listening and acting is important to him personally and is what brought him to Warner Robins to start Eighth Day.

Brinson and his wife originally came to Warner Robins when both were stationed at Robins Air Force Base. He also served part-time as associate pastor and worship pastor at Hope Church until becoming full time when he separated from the Air Force.

In 2010, Brinson and family returned to his home state of Florida to minister. After much prayer, he said he believed God prompted them to return to Middle Georgia and start the church in 2014.

He said confirmation came through his family’s desire to return and through the leadership of the Florida church he served.

But, he said he didn’t take returning lightly. He said once here he spent even more time fasting and praying for direction. He said he knows there have been eternal results but said there’ve been visible results as well.

“We were blessed that Christ Chapel Warner Robins graciously let us spend our first nine months here using their sanctuary on Sunday nights,” he said. “We moved for a while to a storefront, but now God has put us in our new facility since March. He provided funds in advance to lease it for a year and do all the fixing up. It’s in a great location and just right for us.”

The new location is a former auto dealership west of Houston County Galleria mall.

“You know,” he said, “we can miss a lot of good things from God when we sit at a table and think up all our own good ideas. There’s a time to plan and strategize, sure, but I believe if we start out just seeking God, letting him lead, then we can avoid a lot of pitfalls, feel a lot more secure and get better results. To me, the first order is prayer. For our community, our lives our churches — prayer is first. Not the ‘God, please bless what we’re going to do anyway prayer’ but humbling ourselves and asking, ‘God, what do you want?’ ”

On Sept. 8, Eighth Day will have an anniversary celebration at 7 p.m.

On Sept. 11 the church will have special services at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. featuring prophetic minister Gideon Danso.

Brinson said Eighth Day’s unique name reflects that in Hebrew the root word for eight carries the meaning to super-abound, and the number eight carries the idea of new birth, resurrection and salvation.