Vital Prayer Summit, held Oct. 3–5, 2025, marked Upper Columbia Conference’s third prayer summit. In the beautiful outdoors at Camp MiVoden, attendees experienced a change in their spiritual lives with God by learning about and practicing prayer.
“I saw God move in powerful ways in my life and in others this weekend,” said Kathy Marson, a volunteer who organized the event. “Praying together as a group led by the Holy Spirit makes a lasting impact on each individual and the world around us.”
From the moment attendees set foot at Camp MiVoden, they were met with an offer of prayer. Two or three people prayed over each person as they came in and then gave them directions to registration.
Guest speakers for the weekend included Randy Maxwell, Washington Conference vice president for administration and prayer ministries director; Kevin Wilfley, recently-retired Upper Columbia Academy pastor; and David Jamieson, UCC president.
More than 120 gathered for the retreat, not counting all the prayer groups across UCC who prayed months in advance for the summit, as well as prayer leaders from all across North American Division.
God’s presence was clearly felt by the event’s organizers and those in attendance. At meetings, there was dedicated time for prayer groups to pray for God’s Holy Spirit.
“When God’s Holy Spirit is present, it's noticeable,” said Marson. “We often found God leading our time; whenever something went off schedule, we could see that God was in the details, turning our problems into blessings.”
Vital Prayer Summit was made possible by many volunteers. Local prayer leaders helped lead the early morning prayer “Power Hour.” Members of the Prayer Action Committee and volunteers were busy helping with registration, praying with people, offering blessings and prayers at meetings, and hosting seminars. Many came early to help with setup and stayed late to help pack up.
Feedback forms from the weekend were received by event organizers and were very positive.
One attendee gave thanks, saying, “This was an immeasurable blessing. Everything was spot on perfect. All I have is incredible gratitude for all of the amazing effort put into this summit.”
“This was a life-changing weekend for me; I will never be the same. Praise God!” said another participant.
The next annual prayer summit will be held Oct. 2–4, 2026. For the latest updates from UCC prayer ministries, see uccsda.org/prayer.
