Financial meltdown triggers prayer
sessions citywide.
Tony Carnes | posted 9/19/2008 11:53AM
Starting
early last Sunday morning, the turmoil in New York's
financial markets triggered a spiritual response among Christian leaders
reminiscent of the response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Cell phone text messages quickly
spread calls to prayer. "Barclay has pulled out of Lehman deal," one
announced. Wall Street giant Lehman Brothers was finalizing bankruptcy papers;
Merrill Lynch was clinching its deal to sell itself to Bank of America. Monday
would be devastating.
Many Wall Streeters realized that the
crisis could be earthshaking. A. J. Rice, well-respected CEO of the hedge-fund
firm Pomeroy Capital, says, "Most people think this is a
once-in-a-lifetime thing. In 1987 we had a dramatic shock, but the other shoe
didn't drop." This year, a whole lot of shoes have dropped. Wall Streeters
have lived with a constant sense of foreboding.
First there was the January sub-prime
market crash and its ongoing problems; then the collapses of Bear Stearns and,
most recently, Lehman Brothers; and now Merrill Lynch's loss of independence.
More than 350 banks are on a watch list circulating on the street. "I was
surprised and unsettled when Bear Stearns went under," says Rice. "I
worked for them at one time. I knew we were in untested waters."
How Christians respond to the crisis
will be a test of their wisdom, courage, integrity, and compassion for the
mighty as well as for the humble. One executive told CT, "Our response
will answer the question, 'Who is Jesus on Wall Street?' "
Bishop Roderick Caesar of New York City's Bethel Gospel Tabernacle, which has a number of members from
Wall Street, says that the crisis is so fundamental to our world that "the
church has to be poised for the moment and be prepared to work together."
Last Sunday night many Wall Streeters
could not get to sleep. After midnight, an executive at one of Wall Street's
leading investment banks, who requested that his name and his company's not be
used, lay in bed watching CNBC report that his competitors were going by the
wayside. "I was surprised how quickly it had come. By 8 P.M. we knew how Monday would open. I prayed, very selfishly, that my
company would not be on the list." He worried "about my family, the
economic environment, my church, and community."
His wife rolled over and asked,
"Are you really worried?"
"No," he told her. "I
am just interested in the news. I work for a really good company."
She asked again, "Are you
stressed?"
He weighed what was important to them
and answered, "Even if the worst happens, we will still be together as a
family and have Christ who loves and cares for us." Reassured, his wife
turned back over; 30 minutes later her husband turned off the television. He
needed to be at work very early the next morning.
On Monday, Christians on Wall Street
set up special prayer meetings for the week. First came the special prayer
conference calls on Monday and Tuesday nights. Then, starting Wednesday,
extraordinary prayer meetings were scheduled at Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs,
JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Deloitte, and elsewhere. Pastors
began planning to gather for a sidewalk prayer meeting outside of the stock
exchange.
Mac Pier of the New York Leadership Center started
getting calls from friends who were losing their jobs. "Of course, I
prayed with them that God would give them the spiritual and financial resources
they need." Pier says that the Wall Streeters who called him were stunned.
"It was unnerving to them because of the speed [at which] it
happened."
Rice received a lot of calls, several
from friends at Lehman who were distressed by the devastation of their
colleagues. One told him, "I have never seen grown men cry like that."
A consultant to several financial companies relates that one friend called to
say, "I need to see you to talk me off the ledge."
NYC-area pastors also began calling
their members who work on the street. Rice got a call from his pastor, Jeff
Ebert, of New Providence Presbyterian Church in New Jersey. Fred
Provencher at Cornerstone Christian Church, also in New Jersey, asked
his team to keep tabs on anyone who might need help. This Sunday he will preach
that "things get worse before they get better. Amid the people's
groanings, God will be revealed."
New York City is the center of the world for most members of the
financial community. One chief operating officer of a multinational firm that
services Wall Street banks told CT, "It's like the old Sinatra song: 'If
you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.' So you go around with a little
swagger."
Rice says the emotional impact of the
current crisis on Wall Streeters is amplified by attitudes like those described
by the chief operating officer. "There is an element of, 'I am master of
my fate. I put in 18-hour days and am making it.' Then, this crisis pulls the
rug out from under them. This may be the first dislocation of their lives.
Their savings have disappeared in 15 minutes."
Churches and ministries in NYC also
face tests as their funding may drop. Many ministries already report that the
year's funding has been flat. Over the summer, Shiloh Bible Camp in New Jersey received
cancellations of most of their reservations due to the cost of travel and economic
uncertainty, though they were able to find other campers to fill their
schedule.
Ministries in particular are facing
big gaps in funding. Wilson Goode, former mayor of Philadelphia, thinks that "in the longer term there will be less money
going to congregations, religious institutions, and social programs." One
ministry reported that one donor this week had to cancel his $150,000 gift.
Churches' funding is more stable because they rely more on weekly tithing than
year-end gifts. Cornerstone's Provencher says, "Our weekly giving is
steady. You might say our base is flat with no gravy."
Some Christians in NYC hope that God
can use the crisis for good. Pier says, "God can use this situation as he
did in the 1857 Layman's Prayer Revival that started on Wall Street to draw
people to a fresh recognition of our absolute dependence on his grace and
love."
Mike Faulkner, pastor of New Horizon Church, says,
"Honestly, I am praying God will bring healing and revival." He
recalls how during the 1930s Wall Street crash, Central Baptist Church on Manhattan housed
people who had lost their homes. "The church should be available in every
way for people on Wall Street who maybe didn't think much about God
before."
Bethel's Caesar hopes that "the two-hour-per-week Christians will
get faith in their bones" so that it will last. "When you are in a
fox hole, people make crazy promises. Afterward, they ask God, 'Can we
renegotiate?' " Harry Tucker, a longtime strategic adviser to Wall Street
executives, believes that God has put "us in crisis to grow our
courage."
Goode brought an optimism based on
his ministry to children of prisoners in NYC: "By faith we know that
tomorrow will always be better. One should be comforted that righteousness will
prevail. Those Christians on Wall Street can go back tomorrow and simply wait
on the Lord. I have investments and if these don't turn out the way I think
they should, it is still God's will."
Tucker says the tough times return
people to foundational principles: "On the street these principles don't
resonate when the gravy train is running." The vice chair of a Wall Street
investment firm observes the struggle within himself: "You come into this
environment and it sucks it out of you. You know, I am often repentant because
I realize, man, I just … I never say and do stuff like this outside this
environment on Wall Street." For him, the crisis is also a cleansing.
Other Christian money people also
refer to working on Wall Street as working on "the dark side," with
an environment that is "absurdly secular," "out of
balance," and "egoistic." One trader says, "Some of the
times when I get on the train, it's like I go to the dark side." Nowadays
the trips are especially bleak. One chief operating officer says that maybe
Christian faith can stand out as a light of compassion and truth. "We
should not be intimidated by the magnitude of the darkness of the times, but
[should] realize how quickly the light stands out in all that darkness. We need
to turn around and realize that one match lights up all of Shea Stadium when it
is pitch black. If Christians walk like Christians, we can do it. Prayer, first
of all. So before any general ledger closes, we should pray over the
books."
Tony Carnes, based in New York City, is a senior writer for Christianity
Today.
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