If you have been engaged in the prayer ministry for more than ten years, you might remember that prior to Prayer Connect, there was another magazine called Pray!. Many of you subscribed to it. I was the founding editor of the publication, and Bridget, our current designer, was the founding designer. Pray! ceased publishing in 2009, five years after I left to minister more directly into churches through the Church Prayer Leaders Network.
When Pray! folded, we sensed God leading us to launch a new magazine on prayer to fill that void. We tried to buy the rights to Pray! but were not able to do so. We went ahead with our plans to launch the new magazine, using the name Prayer Connect.
In March of this year, the National Day of Prayer (NDP) acquired Prayer Connect. Plans were made for a significant “relaunch” with the January 2019 issue. We always liked the name Pray!. It is emphatic. Both a command and a challenge, it motivates the reader in a more dynamic way.
Because many years have passed, and there is now new leadership at NavPress (the owners of the Pray! trademark), we tried again to get permission to use the name Pray!. NavPress was extremely gracious, and they said they felt blessed to give the name to us and give new life to the magazine!
So here we are. Prayer Connect is now PRAY magazine.
New Features
The other thing changing, besides the look, is that each issue of PRAY will now contain a four-page section that has important information and communication from the National Day of Prayer Task Force. It is designed for two audiences: 1) NDP volunteers who put on NDP events in their church, community, county, and 2) state or local church prayer leaders who should consider doing so.
This section will contain practical help, designed to equip you to lead effective NDP events. Also, each year, the April–June issue will focus almost entirely on the theme of the upcoming National Day of Prayer, fleshing out all angles and nuances of that theme. We do this so we can rally as many people as possible to unified public prayer for America!
We hope you like the changes.
Rest assured that those of you who have subscribed to Prayer Connect will keep your subscription under the new name PRAY. While it will take time to change the name in every online location and on printed material, you can be sure that if you see either Prayer Connect or PRAY, it is the same magazine! We pray these changes will help the magazine to grow in circulation and financial stability so that we can minister to people in the prayer movement for years to come!
JONATHAN GRAF is the publisher of PRAY magazine, and a popular speaker in churches and at conferences on the subject of prayer. Contact hi at jon.graf@nationaldayofprayer.org.
