Update on 24-7 Prayer in Pitt County, NC
July 2025 Newsletter
I want to focus this month’s newsletter on what God is doing at The Greenhouse here in Pitt County, North Carolina. My wife, Shepard, and I planted the Greenhouse at the beginning of 2025 (as part of the Presence Pioneers’ mission to “connect, equip, and plant presence-centered communities” ), and God has been moving!
In May of last year, God spoke to me: “prayer room, living room, classroom.” This has been the Greenhouse DNA since the beginning. Here’s what that looks like at the moment:
Prayer Room - We have a vision and plan to grow our Worship Room to 20+ hours per week of live worship and prayer (currently at 2 hours), and we want to help catalyze expressions of 24/7 prayer across eastern North Carolina. We currently have 11 people committed to helping us grow the Worship Room, and we plan to expand our hours this fall. Here’s a snippet of worship from this past Tuesday night at the Worship Room:
Living Room - We have a simple expression of the local church in our home in Farmville, NC, with a desire to cultivate a thriving spiritual family around God’s presence! In recent months, we have been studying the Sermon on the Mount.
Classroom - We launched the School of Prayer here on Tuesday nights in June, and we will begin our second year of the Rooted homeschool co-op this fall. We want to equip and train believers and the next generation!
This is a lot for us to steward as a small community, but we are committed to building what God has given us, especially after our recent conference (see below). Please keep us in your prayers, and give to Presence Pioneers as the Lord leads you, to help us during this pioneering phase of The Greenhouse.
Thank you!
Matthew Lilley
President, Presence Pioneers
Culture of Prayer Conference 🙏
This month, we hosted the Culture of Prayer conference, with special guest Brad Stroup. We had an amazing time! Some people were introduced to the concept of 24/7 prayer for the first time. Others were freshly stirred about it after the times of worship, stories, and Bible teaching from Brad. The week after our conference, our Greenhouse Worship Room gatherings experienced a notable increase in attendance, as people were eager to engage in corporate prayer like never before!
Part of the purpose of Brad’s visit was also to provide private consultation to my wife, Shepard, and me in our leadership of the Greenhouse. Our private meetings provided us with a wealth of encouragement, clarity, insights, and courage to pursue the vision God has placed in our hearts.
NEW From Presence Pioneers Media in July🎙️
The Tent of David is Now Open [article by Matthew Lilley]
God Healed My Son Through Communion [article by Marcus Windle]
The Value of Spontaneous and Creative Worship [podcast with David Vallier]
Should Christians Bless Israel To Receive God's Blessing? [article by Jonathan Friz]
Raising Up The Next Generation of Worshipers [podcast with Kelanie Webb]
Family Update👨🏻👩🏻👧🏻👦🏻
