Chicago | Fifty church leaders gathered 99 stories up on Saturday, January 28, to pray over—the third-largest city in the U.S.
From atop the Willis Tower (better known as the Sears Tower), pastors and others mostly from the Chicago Metro Baptist Association got a “God’s-eye view” and captured a glimpse of his heart for the city, said participant Phil Miglioratti.
“I think God uses a setting like this to put the burdens of his heart into our hearts, and that’s really what prayer is meant to be,” said Miglioratti, IBSA’s prayer ministries coordinator. “You don’t have to be 99 stories up to get that, but places make a difference.”
The rooftop gathering was organized by Chicago Metro’s prayer coordinator Cheryl Dorsey as part of the Chicago Association’s annual prayer conference. The day started at Uptown Baptist Church with workshops on prayer and spiritual warfare. Then the group headed downtown for the prayer meeting led by John Whaley of The Rooftop U.S., a ministry that helps churches engage with God’s mission through prayer.
Meeting in the tower, Dorsey said, “was like being in church.” Reflecting on the event, one pastor wrote her to thank her for the “precious God moment” he experienced.
“Because it didn’t feel like we were in an office tower,” Dorsey said. “It really felt like we were in his presence.” Even tower staff felt it. Dorsey saw a security guard and an event coordinator who were stationed near the group hush another staff member when she got off the elevator. “They had caught on,” she said.
Looking out over the South Side of the city, Dorsey said she was reminded of the art of the Chicago skyline and dramatic clouds that she had chosen to promote the conference. “I began to weep because the clouds reminded me a of a heaviness coming over the city.” From the rooftop perspective, she said, “The Lord just had me praying for darkness to be lifted.”
Through their prayer time, many people at the meeting felt challenged to see the people of the city like God sees them, Dorsey said.
Doug Morrow, executive director of the Baptist Foundation of Illinois and a Rooftop board member, agreed. “We have an opportunity, but it will take surrender, it will take recognition to see with God’s eyes, and it will take, at the end of the day, a heart that emulates the compassion of God, where we’re far more interested in what he cares for, what his heart breaks for, than we are our own issues and our own agendas.”
But the prayer can’t end on the rooftop.
“Mountaintop experiences are only great if they’re translated into the marketplace,” Morrow said. “This kind of perspective is only helpful if it helps you also see across your street.”
– Photos and reporting by Joseph Dorsey