The 24-7 Cleveland Prayer Room, set to open early 2021, is in The Flats neighborhood in downtown Cleveland—a significant location where many diverse groups, businesses, churches, and welfare programs call home.
A new permanent 24-7 prayer room in the heart of downtown Cleveland is being birthed right now, and Casey Tobik the new Cleveland city coordinator is hard at work with her team to pull it together.
Casey just recently discovered 24-7 Prayer when she picked up the book Dirty Glory by Pete Greig this summer after participating in 24-7’s national COVID-19 prayer initiative. As Dirty Glory chronicles the story of the 24-7 Prayer movement over the last decade, Casey read it furiously against the backdrop of the racial unrest that was sweeping our nation in the summer.
Casey Tobik | 24-7 Prayer Cleveland City Coordinator
“It was the first time I had seen someone connect prayer, mission and justice seamlessly together…”
“It was the first time I had seen someone connect prayer, mission and justice seamlessly together—so clearly connecting how prayer and intimacy with Jesus flows into how you love others and live sacrificially. The further I got into the book, the more it felt like home...in terms of the way I live my life and experience God in my life.”
Casey’s heart is for the city of Cleveland and the people in it, and she sees the prayer room they are planning to launch at the end of January is a tool they will be able to use to facilitate unity in the church of the city and a place where individuals and groups can encounter Jesus.
The Flats neighborhood by day, where the Cleveland Prayer Room will be.
“The physical location of the prayer room…there are high-end condos and Section-8 housing, trendy restaurants and rehab facilities, strip clubs and hundred year-old catholic church buildings—all within a few blocks.”
“I see the prayer room as a neutral ground—a uniting place. Prayer is something that Christians can unilaterally unite around. The prayer room can serve that going forward. The physical location of the room plays a big part in that. Practically, it's in a section of the city that many socio-economic and ethnic groups converge. There are high-end condos and Section-8 housing, trendy restaurants and rehab facilities, strip clubs and hundred year-old catholic church buildings—all within a few blocks. I feel like even the physical location of the prayer room will play a huge role in providing a place anyone can feel comfortable coming to but experiencing God in a way they are familiar with.”
"God [is] building bridges between churches in Cleveland this year”
Progress on the Prayer Room project: The space consists of four rooms: 2 larger and 2 smaller with a corridor as well. Most work so far has been done on the renovation of the floors, walls and ceilings. Soon the creative work will be building out uniquely engaging prayer stations such as a missing and justice wall that will feature the work of different non-profits in the city.
Casey shared that they are witnessing God building bridges between churches in Cleveland this year like she hasn’t seen before. Black pastors in the city have been leading out and hosting events that are welcoming people from all backgrounds to grow in relationship and learn together around ideas like biblical justice. Local pastors are creating space for conversations where it hasn’t happened before.
This coming year, the prayer room team is planning to use The Prayer Course as a way to help people learn more about prayer and discover new ways to engage with God’s heart, both with opportunities to gather in online video chats, and hopefully in person as the winter subsides.
Casey with her husband Mark and children Eden and Asa
“When I think how I want the world to look when my children grow up, it includes a space where they can find refuge, peace, and the Presence of God…where this is the norm.”
Casey is a wife to her husband and they have two beautiful young children. When asked what motivates her to sacrifice her time and energy to mobilize prayer like this, she answered, “When I think how I want the world to look when my children grow up, it includes a space where they can find refuge, peace, and the Presence of God in a way that is not currently available. I want them to grow up in a world where this is the norm.”
by Tim Collier