In the fall of 2022, I started prayer walking on a regular basis in Church Row Neighborhood. I was inspired by the example of Harvest Vineyard Church in Walnut Neighborhood, where resident and pastor Judy Marshall serves her neighborhood through praying over the places and people there on regular walks.

Neighborhood Revitalization (also known as "NR") work is often described by the phrase "boots on the ground". The point of it is to become close and personal with the places that are growing and changing. I couldn't think of a better way to get familiar and remain deeply engaged in Church Row than weekly walking the streets. I also hoped that some churches and residents in Church Row might be interested in joining to pray over the work that we are trying to accomplish in housing and other resident priorities, such as social connections, enhancing parks, and street safety.

During the first year of Church Row prayer walks in 2022-2023, I mostly walked with an AmeriCorps member who was a part of my team at the time. I also made the effort to invite every Iowa Heartland Habitat staff member one quarter. I noticed that a handful of Church Row church members had joined the effort, as well as one landlord who is a new investor in Church Row properties.

As the winter approached in November of 2023, I wondered if we could change the date, time, and meeting location to increase involvement. I emailed the small group of church members asking them if their church might be willing to host. I was very happy to hear back from First Congregational United Church of Christ. Two church members had a great interest in joining the prayer walks. We started meeting at their church weekly, at a date and time that worked for everyone interested.

Here are some pictures that highlight joyful moments on prayer walks in 2024.

Last February, we had some lovely weather for a prayer walk to Elks Memorial Park with Molly Shymansky, Diane Highnam, and Anne Hoekstra. We rejoiced over these new stop signs, which neighbors advocated to have added to this busy intersection to assist with traffic flow near the park.

In March, as the weather continued to improve, we added litter pick-up to the prayer walks in response to hearing homeowners express frustration over the litter problem. Here is a photo of Diane Highnam, Paul Greene, myself, and three large litter bags. We had only walked a couple of blocks from where we started to gather this volume of litter.

The litter pick-up was also originally inspired by Judy Marshall, who often gathers litter on the Walnut Prayer Walks.

In April, Bre Sadler with Americorps VISTA joined me going towards the 3rd Street houses under construction. We love to say hello to volunteers and friends on the build site, as well as pray for favorable progress.

In May, we walked to Sunnyside Ave to see the foundation of a new Women Build site. In this photo, you can see Diane and Paul exploring the progress, as well as some flags marking the location.

In June, the neighborhood suffered the loss of a property on Randall Street to a fire. We wanted to pray over the lot, asking for a new future filled with hope. We also prayed for the people who survived the fire, for their well-being.

New housing progress inspires hope. Church Row neighbors have told us this! Here Lenny Parker, Construction Site Supervisor with Iowa Heartland Habitat, pauses during his day as the prayer group stopped by this W 3rd Street property and prayed for its progress in July.

On the first Tuesday of August, many neighborhoods across our nation celebrate National Night Out. Church Row usually gathers at Washington Park to celebrate the occasion. Here is a picture of the gazebo at Washington Park, which was getting a fresh coat of paint prior to the party. We also picked up litter around the park in preparation for the party.

In September, some residents started joining the Church Row Prayer walks. Here I am excited to take a quick picture with Mark Stevenson, Lora Burt, and Diane Highnam in front of an active build site.

In October, Church Row prayer walkers did an analysis of housing properties with me. We did walk some more outdoors in November and December, but sometimes met inside the church during the cold winter months.

In December, here were some written prayer requests that we prayed over. I continue to revisit these, praying over these key areas of neighborhood progress.

I'm excited to share that Iowa Heartland Habitat was able to participate in over 60 prayer walks in both Church Row and Walnut Neighborhood in 2024. During that time, we also gathered over 125 bags of litter with other prayer walkers, and met over 10 new neighbors.

My hope is that prayer walks will continue to make a difference in Church Row in 2025. I will be interested to see what unfolds, who gets involved, and how we can best continue to serve Church Row through prayer walking. In 1 Peter 3:12, it says, "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their prayer." We believe that God hears us and is working to answer the prayers over Walnut and Church Row. In fact, I can already share stories of how the above requests for Church Row from December are being answered. If this is exciting to you, know that we are praying for more prayer walkers to join in the future in praying over this large neighborhood. Are you an answer to our prayers?