By Daina Doucet
It’s not a concert. It’s not a conference. It’s a cry for God to manifest his presence in answer to prayer and affect the destinies of nations.
Ten years after the first successful Canadian event, Faytene Grasseschi (formerly Kriskow), and her team are launching their first international gathering. TheCRY Hollywood will be held on March 15, 2012, at Universal Studios, California.
Grasseschi believes that prayer effects change. She and her team have conducted eight similar gatherings in Canada that appeared to reap remarkable answers to prayer such as shifts in national political polls, the advancement of morally based legislation, a drop in drug abuse, and a fresh outpouring of the Spirit in many churches.
“I had been praying where we go with the CRYs,” says Grasseschi in a video message to Canadians, “and [my friend] said, ‘God’s actually given you two CRYs. He’s given you a CRY for Canada – for your own nation, and he’s given you a CRY for Hollywood.’”
The friend’s prophetic word resonated with her spirit. “Media,” she says, “speaks messages over our generation and influences it. When that word came about the TheCRY Hollywood, I thought, Oh, man, this makes sense!”
Statistics support the need. The average American spends 28 hours a week watching TV (NationMaster.com), but according to stats obtained by The CRY’s staff, only 28 hours a year in church. A child watches 4,000 hours of TV before kindergarten (Kaiser Family Foundation), and by age 18 has seen 16,000 simulated murders and 200,000 acts of violence (National Institute on Media and Family).
Similar to Lou Engel’s The Call events in the United States, TheCRY summons believers from every denomination, ethnic background and generation for a day of prayer, fasting and worship. Yet unlike The Call, the prayer focus at The CRY Hollywood will be the entertainment media, rather than a region or city.
“Early on the Lord impressed on our hearts the power of loosing life, love and God’s glory through our prayers,” explains Grasseschi. She wants to see God move with His love and power in the media to impact viewers through inspired movies, bless those in the entertainment industry and move in their lives, rescue those enslaved in the sex trade, and bring an increased move of the Holy Spirit in this generation. “Like Ezekiel did, we want to speak life to dry bones.”
Grisseschi is confident that TheCRY Hollywood will extend Canada’s prophetic mantle to the nations and bring healing in the sphere of media. She encourages her “Canuk friends” to attend. “I feel that as we pray for media this is a way … there is going to be a ripple effect that will not only impact Canada … but will impact the world.”
Speakers who will lead prayer and worship at the event are coming at their own expense. They include Lou Engle, TheCall; Gabe Ahn, Project Light; James Goll, Encounters Network; Patricia King, XP Media; Stacey Campbell, Revival Now; and Ted Baher, Movie Guide.
Tickets are available as of mid January. TheCRY Hollywood will be held at the Gibson Amphitheatre, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, CA, 91608. For more information, visit www.thecryhollywood.com.
A revival conference will follow TheCRY event on March 16 and 17. For more information visit http://www.thecryhollywood.com/ThisIsThat.html.
Daina Doucet is senior editor for the Acts News Network.
Copyright © Acts News Network, 2012.