Welcome to the Victory Blog

Last summer, a group of people from Victory dedicated themselves to making a difference in our community through prayer…and it worked - big time! It started near the end of the 2007/2008 school year when Gladys Torres, a VWC staff member (Marketing) whose daughter was finishing her senior year at Meadowcreek High School, began to feel a tremendous burden to pray for that school during our weekly prayer meeting.

Meadowcreek had come to have a very negative reputation, with many people referring to it as “Ghettocreek.” In recent years, the school had experienced an unusually high decline in overall support, tremendous pregnancy rates, high numbers of violent acts, gang and drug activity and an overwhelming number of suicides. Large numbers of families began to move out of the district in order to avoid having their children in the school.

At the same time, however, Meadowcreek had come to play an integral role in our (Victory’s) basketball program for kids, serving as our “homecourt” - a real blessing! Additionally, we have been blessed with the support of the school staff.

Coming on the heels of R.E.A.L., a series in which Pastor Dennis challenged us to be Real, Engaged, Authentic and Living, it became obvious that God was moving us to reach out and do some serious work in the spiritual realm on behalf of the students and staff of Meadowcreek.

With this burden pressing heavily on her heart, Gladys went to Amanda Dance, another VWC staff member (Children’s Ministry) and prayer warrior. Together, they launched two teams of dedicated intercessors that would pray around the school every week throughout the summer. Beginning on June 10th, they prayed for at least an hour every Tuesday and Thursday evening, walking the grounds and, eventually, with the blessing of the school administration, throughout the common areas inside the school itself.

Among many other things, they prayed:

• Against the “Ghettocreek” stereotype and all that it encompassed.
• That the students would come out of the school with more vision and purpose.
• That God would send godly teachers who would speak life into the student’s lives.
• To break the power of addictions, fatherlessness, perversion, witchcraft, rebellion and other such strongholds evident in the school.
• That the students would succeed and not fail.
• That God would bring joy, peace and hope into every teen’s life.

With summer’s end, the teams stopped meeting. BUT THAT’S NOT THE END OF THE STORY!

On June 7th, almost exactly one year after the launch of the summer of intercession for the school, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published this article, entitled “Meadowcreek High Revamps Reputation.” The article speaks of a turnaround for the school, with higher test scores, a graduating class with high levels of college scholarships including multiple full-rides and increased pride in the level of cultural diversity represented in the student body.

Truly, this is a direct answer to the prayers that were prayed. And, it is a challenge to all of us to make a difference in our world through the power of concerted prayer. We look forward with great anticipation to many more such reports!