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Tuscaloosa, AL
Home of the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa (population 160,000) is a key city of economic and intellectual influence in the Southeast. It’s the city where Governor Wallace once stood in a schoolroom door and declared, “This city will not integrate.” It was a major slave-trading city and the center of the Ku Klux Klan, and today racial issues are still very much at the center of things. Spiritual leaders, black and white, young and old, have just recently had a prayer summit where they experienced a major breakthrough and uniting of pastors and leaders. Inspired by the Little Rock city model, Tuscaloosa has for four years successfully mobilized large numbers of churches and money for “Reach Out Tuscaloosa,” meeting practical needs of schools and social institutions. The critical need here is to call every individual believer in the churches to Pray-Care-Share for every nonbeliever. I’m hoping to be able to return to Tuscaloosa, to talk to the pastors about how to make Pray-Care-Share a part of their culture.
Tuscaloosa Prayer Network
Located on the banks of the Black Warrior River in
West Alabama, home to the
University of
Alabama, the city typifies all things related to Southern football. The Tuscaloosa Prayer Network (TPN) has a long history of prayer summits and good relationships and favor with local media and city government officials. The mayor has invited prayer and sought out TPN to help target neighborhoods of need in the city with his Hope Initiative. Through this, TPN has open opportunities for prayer-care-share activities to serve the community. In addition, the mayor’s Hope Initiative has led to African-American and white congregations coming together to worship and pray and the Holy Spirit has moved powerfully. God is breaking down long-standing racial animosity and building up His Church in
Tuscaloosa.
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