It’s finally time for the long awaited blog about the stadium march we did in Romania! While we were in Romania, the squad served with Hope Church in Craiova. This church has worked with World Race for a while now, and one of the things they have racers do is prayer walk around one of the local university campuses in town. They would walk 7 laps around the university and pray, like Joshua did with Jericho. But when my squad showed up, the pastor had a different idea for us.
Raul, the pastor of Hope Church, told the squad about a dream he had of hosting a major evangelist event in the local soccer stadium in 2025. For an event like this, he knew that starting with prayer was crucial. Some background on Craiova: it has been a place for large gatherings of witches and satanic conventions in the past/present, so the spiritual atmosphere is pretty heavy and it’s common to meet witches around town. The soccer stadium has been a place for these demonic meetings, but Raul wanted to reclaim the ground for the Lord. So he brought the idea to us, told us to pray about it, and asked for us to pray about confirmation from the Lord on whether he should move forward with the evangelistic event or not.
While the squad was praying about this, one of them had the Lord bring to mind the story of Joshua marching around Jericho. She continued to ask God for clarity and he continued to bring up that story. So she brought the idea of walking around the stadium 7 times a day for 7 days to Raul, and he agreed and gave us space in our ministry days to do it!
I wasn’t there at the beginning of our time in Romania, due to being in Germany, so I missed the initial talk about walking around the stadium, but I did get there in time to be a part of the first day. The goal was to walk around 7 times, the whole time praying and asking God what He had for Craiova, Hope Church, and this event. We would walk in silence, sometimes praying out loud or singing, then we would come together after the 7th lap to share what God had spoken to each of us.
The first day God brought a specific phrase to my mind: Behold, I am doing a new thing. I recognized that it was a Bible verse, and found it in Isaiah 43:19,
“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
I shared this with the group and people seemed shocked. It turns out that when Raul was first telling the squad about this idea, he shared that this was the verse God had given him and his team for this event. And one of the other racers had also heard this verse from the Lord for this. Thank you Lord for so much confirmation that He is doing a new thing in Craiova!
I wasn’t able to do the walk with the group for the whole 7 days, but I joined when I could. Each time, God spoke different things to me and to those walking. We felt His peace, heard Him speaking over the city and its people, and were reminded of scriptures and songs to proclaim as we marched. We could feel the spiritual atmosphere changing as the days went on, becoming lighter and more filled with peace and joy. And at the end of each round of 7 laps, the group would share what God had revealed to them, and it was CRAZY to hear the similarities and the confirmations He brought.
On the final day, Thanksgiving, Pastor Raul joined us for most of the 7 laps! We worshiped to prepare our hearts, then we prayed over and anointed each of the gates that lead into the stadium with a different person praying and anointing each lap. The final lap we walked in a line together to all finish at the same time.
As we finished our last lap we came around the building to see a man digging through people’s belongings that they had left on the ground near the main staircase. We were able to get a few things back from him, but he got away with some things we didn’t notice were gone at first. The enemy wanted to distract us from finishing well so he sent a man to rob us! No one was hurt and no major items were stolen, but it was shocking and it threw us off. So we redid lap 7 and finished with a shout, like Joshua and the Israelites, and then ended with more worship.
God spoke clearly to each of us in different ways during our stadium march. Hearing testimonies from each of the people involved built my faith! Here are some of the things God spoke or revealed to me:
-Be still. The Lord will fight your battles: Psalm 46:10, Exodus 14:14
-“Mine. This land, this country, is mine.”
-The presence of the Lord is expanding from the stadium where we were marching to the nearby apartment buildings and the Holy Spirit is breaking out there. God’s presence is radiating!
-Psalm 24
-Be expectant!
-Our prayers were helping to break down the enemy’s walls around the city.
And walking around the stadium quickly became a favorite ministry activity for many of us. There was something about walking and letting your mind wander with God, giving Him space to speak, quiet our minds, or reveal things to us. It was a sweet time with God that I am very thankful for, and it was a highlight from my time in Romania. God spoke to Pastor Raul, too, and showed him more details about the event coming up in the future, and about what He wants to do with His Church in Craiova. Raul is continuing to pray and seek the Lord, and move forward as he can with the event.
If you’d like another perspective on the stadium march, here is a blog from my friend and squad mate Elora: Walls Down, Veil Torn
