Prayer Timeline of Austin, TX

The mission was later moved to San Antonio.

His son, Stephen F. Austin handpicked 300 men to settle the territory. A condition set by the Mexican government was that the settlers had to be Roman Catholic. Protestants were not allowed in Texas at that time.

They founded the village of Waterloo in 1837, along the banks of the Colorado River. After the republic purchased several hundred acres to establish the city, Lamar renamed it in honor of Stephen F. Austin in March of 1839.

The first protestant church service was held on October 13, 1839, at Bullock's hotel, called by a Presbyterian minister, the Reverend William Y. Allen. That was two and a half months before the city of Austin was chartered on December 27, 1839. The would-be congregation was dispersed by fear of Indian raids, which caused many citizens to flee to Washington on the Brazos.

President Lamar approved the act passed by the 4th Congress, creating the County of Travis and naming Austin as the capital of Texas.

The Texas Annexation of 1845 was the annexation of the Republic of Texas to the United States of America as the 28th state.

Early Methodist circuit riders traveled into remote areas to bring the gospel to the west. Before this building, worship in Austin was held in a log house built by the men of the community and located south of what is now Wooldridge Park and west of the Austin History Center.

Baptists were known for their evangelistic fervor and the study materials they develoed.

The early Episcopal Church in Austin was organized, reorganized, split and rejoined during the turbulant years before and during the Civil War. St. David's Episcopal Church is the coming back together of The Church of the Epiphany and Christ Church.

Mayor Rip Ford and a group of vigilantes forced most of Austin's Hispanic residents to leave the city. They felt the presence of the Hispanics gave slaves "false notions of freedom."

Jocob Fountaine, a slave at the time he first started preaching, founded First Baptist Church (colored) after emancipation. He was ordained on the first Juneteenth, in 1865, and went on to found five more churches in Austin and help start the St. John Missionary Baptist Association. Interesting side note: this man's influence swung the black vote to locate the University of Texas in Austin.

Twenty-seven Jim Crow laws were passed in the Lone Star state. The state enacted one anti-segregation law in 1871 barring separation of the races on public carriers. This law was repealed in 1889.

In the election Austin beat out Houston and Waco.

The Texas capitol was built after the design of, but several feet taller than the Washington Capitol. Sitting atop it is the "Goddess of Liberty," taken from the emblem on the Texas flag when independence was gained at the Battle of San Jacinto. The picture on the flag was based on a French painting "Liberty Leading the People", which became an icon of the French overthrow of the Bourbon monarchy in 1830. To the Texans of 1836, the Goddess of Liberty represented the transcendence of the secular, independent Spirit of their age. She is clutching the Texas Lone Star in her left hand. The Texans became the most "liberty" minded people on earth. (from Barbara Bucklin's "History of Austin")

One of the first African-American weekly newspapers in the South. Jennifer Sharpe observed in 1982, "The Reverend published the Gold Dollar as a celebration of reunion with his sister and as a communication netword for ex-slaves to contact their lost families."

The city won a statewide election as the new site for the University of Texas.

Tillotson Collegiate and Normal Institute was founded and the Austin Public School System was started.

This is the current sight of Highland Mall. African Americans came in from many miles around every August and camped for month long revival meetings.

It may have been the beginnings of penticostalism in Austin. It lasted around 20 years.

White director of NAACP was beaten and driven from town. County Judge, Dave Pickle, a county constable and others assaulted John Shilladay, the white executive director of the NAACP, who was advocating doing away with Jim Crow laws. Shilladay was given police protection until he boarded a train out of town. Judge Pickle said they had "given him a good thrashing on general principles. Governor Hobby publicly exonerated Judge Pickle.

While residences of blacks had been widely scattered across the city in 1880, by 1930 they were heavily concentrated on the east side of town, a process encouraged by the 1928 city plan which recommended that East Austin be designated a Negro district. Municipal services, like schools, sewers and parks, were made available to blacks in East Austin only. Waller Creek and then 1-35 have been dividing lines in the city.

Austin's Hispanic residents, who in 1900 composed just 1.5 % of the population, rose to 11% by 1940. Most lived in E. Austin, and though they encountered widespread discrimination, it was by no means practiced as rigidly as it was for African-Americans.

Raymond T. Richie held healing services in Austin. Janine Parrish, co-pastor at Hope in the City, tells of her father being healed during those services. At the time he weighed 80 pounds and had been given only 6 months to live. Central Assembly of God was birthed out of those services.

In the 1950's and before, the public sector was the main driver behind Austin's economy. In the 1960's companies like IBM, Texas Instruments, Motorola, and Advanced Micro Devices saw the value of Austin's highly educated workforce. In 1980's Michael Dell led the way to Austin being a high tech force. Austin looks more and more like the center of commerce and trade that Moses Austin envisioned.

The motto - "In union, strength".

The convent was located in Tarrytown, and the nuns wore pink habits.

UT became first major southern university to admit blacks as undergraduates

The Armadillo World Headquarters opens featuring, among others, Willie Nelson, Michael Martin Murphy, and Jerry Jeff Walker. Walker was quoted, "I don't live in Texas. I live in Austin."

In the 1960s several movements were crisscrossing the nation. The Ecumenical Movement, the Charismatic Movement, and the Jesus People phenomenon were all working to tear down the denominational lines that kept the Body of Christ fractured. In Austin in 1964, Nancy Pickens, a Presbyterian, was attending a Bible study at Saint David's Episcopal Church. The St. David's pastor, Charles Sumners, prayed a simple prayer for a friend of Nancy's who had been fighting a staff infection for weeks, and she was instantly healed. That reality of God's presence and personal involvement started Dick and Nancy Pickens on a journey that touched a lot of what God was doing in the nation at that time. While remaining in the Presbyterian Church, they became involved in the Charismatic movement, were touched by Full Gospel Businessmen, and found themselves drawing together what had always been separate. After being ordained by the Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Dick worked with Teen Challenge, under the auspices of the Assemblies of God, to help start an off campus ministry called The Well. The Well was a real breakthrough ministry in Austin. Located in an old fraternity house at the corner of 26th and Nueces, The Well was staffed by a diverse group that included a Catholic priest and a variety of Protestants, all with the aim of showing God's love to anyone who needed it. They were one of the first groups to minister to the homeless. The house was open 24/7 to help people high on drugs or down on life. They had live music at their coffee house on Fridays and Saturdays, and a time of worship and teaching on Sundays that didn't conflict with worship in the local churches. So far as we can tell, they were the first live worship music venue in Austin. So through the 70's the Holy Spirit made cracks in the walls that separated parts of His Body, and opened doors to new alliances and to new forms of ministry and worship. Although no one realized what God was doing, not even the people involved, the shift, from the lone warrior and isolated congregations, toward a unified thrust had begun.

This word seems to be God's sending forth HIS word in response to the American Atheists.

The group prayer walked the city and prepared a notebook containing their findings.

Three students - Justin Christoper, Scott Young, and Shane Crosby - started to pray at UT for revival. Campus Renewal Ministries was birthed from this group.

See You at the Pole (SYATP) is an annual gathering of Christian students of all ages at a flagpole in front of their local school for prayer, scripture-reading and hymn-singing, during the early morning before school starts. The American SYATP events occur on every fourth Wednesday of September[1]. This annual gathering began in 1990. It has grown by word of mouth, announcements at youth rallies and churches, and the Internet; SYATP meetings now occur internationally.

In the mid-nineties Ed Silvoso from Argentina said Austin would be one of four cities where transformation will begin. In 2002 Chuck Pierce repeated this word, but he said it was prophesied from Argentina and that Austin would be first city of true transformation in the nation.

Laura Rarity gathered a group of Hispanic ladies to pray for the Hispanic churches in Austin. While visiting pastors, she found Estevan Solis, pastor of Iglesia de Dios Unida, who told her he had been praying for Austin for forty years and the Lord had promised not to take him home before he met someone to take his place.

"As the days of Noah and the waters cover the earth, so will be glory of God cover the region."

A racially diverse group of city pastors (Joseph Parker, Gino Hildabrand, Rick Randall, and Ashton Cumberbatch) and their spouses drafted a covenant for reconciliation which recognized and addressed the racism issues in the city. It was signed by between 65-70 pastors in the city.

More than twenty campus ministers met together to discuss what it meant to work together for transformation at UT. As the campus ministers prayed together each week, their relationships grew, and so did their desire to work together. Additionally, their vision for the campus grew beyond the scope of their individual ministries.

June Criner called a Solemn Assembly for 7 days straight with other citywide intercessors, worshipping, fasting, praying for transformation. They felt the Lord was saying that 24/7 Praise and Prayer would set the enemies of the city to flight.

Primary organizers are Daniel Geraci and Cheryl Maxwell of St. Thomas More, other leaders participating include Steve Hawthorne and Dana Carson, pastor of Praise Tabernacle. Thousands gather in spite of a torrential downpour that evening.

The event was held at Hope Chapel. Multiple churches sign up for one or two hours of prayer. Organizer: Thomas Cogdell. The event was also held on New Years Eve of 2000-2001, this time in two locations - Hope Chapel and Cristo del Rey.

Daniel Geraci called citywide prayer, which met monthly for 14 months, gathering over 3,000 Christians to unite in prayer. They asked God to transform our city. Each monthly prayer meeting was held at a different church. The largest prayer meeting had over 600 people in attendance at Templo Sinai in East Austin. See attached story

Daniel Geraci, Steven Kretchmier, and Mark Hess called the site AustinforJesus.com. The calendar was put together so Christians could post citywide events, concerts, outreaches, etc

The "Commitment to Racial Reconciliation" document made some important strides to racial reconciliation.

The first $1,000 gift came from an immigrant church.

First prayer sessions are Thursdays at noon at Hope Chapel. Participants include Thomas Cogdell, Daniel Geraci, Phillip Owens, and Jack & Deb Dorman.

A tent, set up on Greg Gym Plaza, was filled night & day for a week by students plus volunteers from AHOP and churches around the city. A team from Kansas City IHOP comes to help lead, which includes Seth Parks and Corey Russell. Seth and his wife got engaged on the UT campus on this trip.

Abba was created to fill the need for a neutral entity to facilitate cooperation between churches and ministries in the city. See Dan Davis' story of the beginnings of ABBA.

On June 20 Chuck Pierce gave a prophecy that hail would signify a change in Austin's spiritual atmosphere. After recalling that the Argentines had said that Austin would be the first city of true transformation, Pierce prophesied concerning a coming change.

Atheists move out of Austin, claiming spiritual climate is better in New England.

Benjamin Anyacho, Barbara Bucklin, and others began praying every month for revival.

Pastors in Covenant (PIC) joined pastors in small groups for the sake of community and support. These groups have proved one of the most valuable ways to break down the barriers that separage cultures, denominations, and movements.

Ed Silvoso came to Austin for Anointed for Business and City reaching meetings 300 attended. A breakthrough occurred with reconciliation between pastors and intercessors.

Pray Austin formed an multi-denominational team of intercessors to pray for the city. Vicky Porterfield, with the Pray Austin team, built prayer as an essential tool of revival in the Austin area, with a focus on prayer strategy, networking and encouraging unified prayer.

Barbara Bucklin's influence can be found in many aspects of prayer, ministry, and unity building in the city. Luke 4:18 is a ministry of prayer and unity.

Pastors, marketplace ministers and everyone with a city-sized and kingdom-centered vision from cities across Texas met in Austin each year to pray and discuss together how "the whole Church can work together in showing and telling the whole Gospel to the whole City and beyond."

Daniel Geraci: The vision was given to me by the Lord in October 2005. It was originally written on a napkin, and then I went around the city talking to leaders about the idea. It was unanimous that the leaders felt it was from God. Unfortunately, it was not the right timing so I laid it down - waiting.

Global Day of Prayer brought all the streams of Christianity together to pray. 2008 was the last year that everyone gathered in one location for the service. Lyndon Rogers, pastor of Principe de Paz told the story of that event: He said it was raining the day they carried a torch around the city and claimed territory. The rain let up wherever the torch was being carried. When they finished at the hilltop, rain clouds where coming up. They prayed, and it stopped until they finished. The next day pastors were leading their congregations to meet at the Delco Center. Just as Pastor Rogers, with his Hispanic group, met Pastor Ray Chen, with his Chinese congregation, they saw a rainbow form a circle over the Delco Center. Pastor Ray Chen had seen the phenomenon before over a secret house church in China where they were holding a baptism service. Pastor Rogers commented, "When we pastors put aside our differences and those differences become secondary, there's a visitation of Jesus. He approves of that because we are living out John 17 that we may be one so the world will believe. It's so humbling that our divisions and comfort come between us. And that causes so many not to believe."

In 2005 AHOP established its first location at the corner of MLK and Chicon in east Austin. As part of Global Day of Prayer (GDOP) AHOP hosted 10 days of 24/7 prayer, with people from churches all over the city participating. AHOP continued to host 24/7 prayer in conjunction with GDOP up through 2010. In 2006 AHOP moved further east on MLK to the Seabrook Center, named for JJ Seabrook. The prayer room is established in the middle of the space, to represent the first commandment being in first place. In November 2009, the AHOP team worked with youth pastors in the city to organize a youth prayer and praise rally at the In the City for the City event.

Allen and Julie Weeks did missional living before it became a by word. Allen has lived in the St. Johns area since 2000, taking leadership in the neighborhood association and in battles to keep neighborhood schools from closing. Their heart to help the helpless was behind the first HopeFest and grew into a family resource center at Webb Middle School. That led to other resource centers in that part of the city.

Local pastors invited Francis Frangipane to speak at Burger Center. Around 700 attend. This event provided significant impact for unity.

Coordinating worship teams from various churches and small groups, The Burn provides 24 hours of continuous worship in many parts of the city.

Trey Kent called churches to coordinate prayer so the city was covered in prayer 24/7. Pastor Kent says: Our church had adopted 24 hours of prayer leading up to Easter. In February, my wife and I were kicking off the day of prayer by prayer walking through our neighborhood. Unexpectedly God dropped the idea in my heartHow easy it would be to see our city covered in unceasing prayer if one church adopted 1 day of prayer each month! That moment not only started this pursuit, but started a transformation within my heart related to prayer, passion for God and a growing desire to city our city transformed!

From a vision written on a napkin, Daniel Geraci, with the help of many people, began to build the Austin Disaster Relief Network. Leaders from around the nation now say Austin is the best preparedof city in the nation to meet disaster. ADRN's relief work in local disasters has gained respect with both city leaders and the man on the street.

Several worship and prayer events took place in various parts of the city. A training event called Encounter involved a mix of ethnic groups, streams of Christianity, and ages. People from 59 churches and ministries participated.