What Radical Prayer Looks Like Ep 18

0:00 But the kingdom must be united in order for God to bring the revival that he must bring. Welcome to the Bennett Broadcast. I'm Matt Bennett. Thanks for joining me as we explore what it means to seek the Lord wholeheartedly, to grow strong in faith, and to be fully devoted to God in today's world. When we do, he will pour out his Spirit and bring revival like never before. All right, this is Matt Bennett with Bennett Broadcast, and I'm thrilled to have a friend with me, a pastor here in New York City, who models in an extraordinary way what it means to seek the Lord with his whole heart.

0:40 Hey, Archer, welcome. Hey, Matt, how are you doing? Thank you for having me. Such a pleasure to be with you. Doing a wonderful job, by the way. Hey, well, thanks so much. Now, right now I'm in Manhattan in Archers and Queens. We thought about doing this together, but my little studio here, which is a corner of my bedroom, it doesn't allow for more than just one of us here. So thanks so much for coming on and joining with us. I've been wanting to have Archer on because... I lead Christian Union and I also lead Heritage Pastors. And Heritage Pastors is a ministry to pastors. And Christian Union has two sides to it. We got the student side.

1:21 We also have the adult side, Christian Union America, we call it. And tonight we're actually going to have an all-night prayer for young professionals here in New York City. But talk about a man who models time and seeking God for himself and calls his church to it. This is what Archer is all about. And so tell us the name of your church and when y'all meet and things like that, Archer. Yeah, the name of the church is exactly as it sounds. The name Christ Culture. Not Christ Culture, but the name Christ Culture. We're in Queens, New York, located in St. Albans, 118-35 Farmers Boulevard.

2:05 We've been there for quite some time. We've been at that particular location for about... Two years and a half going to three years, but we have been in St. Albans for some time about, I would say, about nine years. Yeah, about eight to nine years. Well, actually, we went on and off, but in Queens, we've been in Queens for about nine years now. Yeah, and what time are your services? Yeah. Our service is on Sunday. Our service starts at 10 o'clock, 10 on Sunday. And Monday night, we have our prophetic war room. The prophetic war room is more like a prayer night session where we allow the Holy Spirit to move in.

2:50 However, the Holy Spirit moves with healing, deliverance, prayer. We moved in the gift of prophecy and other things. And on Friday night, we have our Bible study. We call it prophetic insight, where we come. People come for a word of encouragement. And that's when we delve so deep in the word of God. Right, right. Yeah, that's great. Well, I've said on this podcast before, but as I think about the spiritual need in the United States, we really need a radical increase in our culture of seeking God, taking a lot more time in prayer. and emphasis on repentance and holiness and obedience to God in every way that's so needed.

3:36 And I've noticed that a lot of the best people and ministers who have that heart in the U.S. are people who are born elsewhere. Now, you've been in the USA a long time. You came as 12 years old. You went to NYU and everything. But it's not lost on me that so many of the best and strongest we have in the United States, you know, we're raised in a different culture, but I'm really very, very thankful to have you here in the U.S. to help us to be strong. And I know you identify and are American in your mindset and outset, but you still have some cultural roots in Haiti, but I'm really, really grateful for you to be here.

4:16 Although you got really strong in the Lord, I guess it was after college, is that right? Um, actually I started getting strong in the Lord back in 2012. Well, you're right, right about after college. Um, and I got baptized in 2012, but I was still going to church, but I was going in and out, uh, though I was going to church. As a matter of fact, the church that I started going to back in 2005, it was my wife who introduced me to that church. And, uh, And since I was going there on and off until 2012, that's when I got baptized. And from there, I started a great prayer life.

4:59 And it was the Holy Spirit that led me into prayer and fasting. I didn't really know anything about prayer and fasting, but the Holy Spirit led me to go to the park. I would spend... the whole day in the park, praying and fasting. I would close myself in a room for the whole day and sometimes for days, seeking the face of God. Which park was that? Is that Prospect Park in Brooklyn? Actually, yeah, I would go to different parks. I would go to Prospect. Prospect Park is one of them. There's another one called Padigate Park. I would go there. There's another one called Highland Park.

5:41 So I would go to different parks. I would not go to one specific. It's like when I go to a park and I feel like, okay, I'm a bit bored. So I change locations. I move to a different place. So, yeah. So same thing. You're there all night sometimes. I'm sorry? Yeah. there all night sometimes. Oh yeah, sometimes I spend the night there. The only thing with those parks, you know, at a certain time, you have those security guards coming looking for you. So sometimes I would beg those guys to allow me to spend more time at the park because I wanted to really seek the face of God. And that has been I could say my routine and for the most part where I would go to the park and spend time.

6:30 I would go to the bush. I usually say that I'm a bushman because I like to stay in the bush to seek the face of God. Not that you can't find God anywhere. You can't find God anywhere. It doesn't matter if you're in your room, you're in your car, you pray to God. But, you know, for me, that's how we started. And I've been doing it since 2012. Yeah, yeah, that's beautiful and fantastic. And some of us other pastors kind of joke about Archer because he also spent time in Africa with friends seeking God. He'd go out into the wilderness. I don't know what you call it, kind of a way on your own. And of course, there's wild animals out there, but you'd be there for days taking time to draw close to God.

7:11 And so we kind of joke about your tolerance for high risk situations for the sake of drawing close to God. Yeah. So in Africa, it's interesting because when I travel to Africa, I would sometime spend weeks on the mountain. I would spend weeks, two weeks, three weeks. I would be on the mountain and sometime by myself. But during the day. I had a couple of people, they would come and spend a few hours with me, but during the night, I'm there by myself. And I remember when I first started going to the mountain by myself and I stayed overnight and I heard some Ayanus and it looks like the Ayanus was just like very, very close to me, but it was kind of Now it helps with the prayer life.

8:05 Yeah. So the first night, it was a bit very scary, the first night when I went there. And you know the interesting thing? The first night, besides the highness, there was something else that happened. There was a storm that came that night. And I was under a very small tent. And the wind was blowing so, so heavy. And I got afraid, and then I started to pray. But I heard... I heard the voice of the Lord very loud to me.

8:46 And then he says, are you still of little faith? Are you still of little faith? And that's when I felt emboldened. I felt something just came up on me at that time when I heard, are you still of little faith? I don't know if you remember the story when Jesus was in the boat with the disciples and then they said, you know, at that encounter, and then the wind was blowing, and then Jesus spoke to him. So that's the same thing that I've heard. So when that happened, I started to pray. As soon as I started to pray with a lot more faith, Then suddenly the wind stopped.

9:26 Suddenly the storm stopped. And I was on the mountain for about a week, a week and a half. Then when I got off the mountain after my times of consecration, I heard that same night... There was a storm that actually went to the north side of that country at the time. And the storm did a lot of damage in that territory. So I don't know what happened. But when that storm came and the storm, but after I prayed for about 15 something minutes and I heard that, you know, there was no rain. There was no storm.

10:06 There was nothing for all the time that I was on the mountain. Yeah, yeah. Praise God. Situations like that build our faith. And it's very rare for a pastor in America today or a Christian to take a day, much less days at a time, to draw close. But in revival history in America, that wasn't uncommon. And I think back to the Great Awakening 300 years ago. Even George Whitefield, who would come to the U.S., he would say he would spend days and weeks prostrate on his face seeking God. And this is true in the second great awakening as well. People that were revere for their godliness, to take a lot of time to draw close to both speak, but also to listen to God is really, really essential.

10:54 And we've lost that. And we suffer because of that. We filling of the spirit we don't have the spiritual strength we don't know the lord's uh will i think of i think it was in jeremiah 10 it says uh the shepherds are stupid because they do not inquire of me and the sheep are scattered all over the hills and we don't want to be stupid shepherds we want to know the voice of god and some christians in america i come across them quite commonly feel like they never hear god's voice um And it's a matter of learning to hear His voice. It doesn't mean it's perfect, and we always know for sure, and sometimes things are vague. But as part of being a good Christian, we really have to develop that. And I enjoy helping people lean into that.

11:36 The people that I minister to are usually quite cognitive people. We've got the students at Stanford and the Ivy League schools who are Christian Union ministers, but then to a lot of the alumni and others, and they're people who are very successful being cognitive people. approach towards everything. And that's fantastic. And at the same time, however, let's be like the apostle Paul who heard the Lord's voice and he was a brilliant man. And so they go together. And so it's great to hear about that. And we mentioned before we had this, that sometimes you go by the title prophet, but I just want to say to the listeners that sometimes I can throw people off. Archer by no means sees himself as a Elijah prophet or better than other people or anything like that.

12:19 But what he means by that, and so many internationally too, is that this is possibly a main calling as a minister, is to hear God's voice and then to speak his truth out that way. But for non-charismatics, it can be kind of confusing. And certainly some people use... the title in a self-aggrandizing way, but that's, of course, not your heart. But if you tell us more about what your prayer is like and what do you focus on and what do you do and pray on a regular basis, tell us about that. You know, since the Spirit of the Lord has led me into prayer and fasting back in 2012, after I got baptized, it was more about...

13:05 being in his presence, not looking for something specific, just being in the presence of God. That's where I actually find peace when I'm in his presence. And interestingly, I don't know. Sorry, and are you praying in tongues or are you listening or what are you doing? I do a series of many things. I could pray in tongues depending on how I'm being led. I could pray in tongues for a good two or three hours. And sometimes I pray in intelligible words for either two or three hours as well. And I would pray. you know, go in the Word, read and study the Word, meditate on the Word.

13:48 I could do a series of many different things depending on what I am doing during that time. Like there are times if I'm in prayer, I could just go straight six, seven, eight hours or just pray straight in tongues depending on what I'm doing. And there are other times I would just go for like two, three hours of prayer in words and in tongues. And then after that, I go in the Word of God, meditate on the Word of God. So there's a combination of many different things that I do when I am in the presence of God, especially when it comes to fasting. There are times, you know, I go to our own prayer mountain. We do have our own prayer mountain, as you're aware of, called Perfection Prayer Mountain in New York.

14:28 And sometimes I go there, I would spend, you know, a few weeks there and pray. When I go there, some days I just go straight in the Word. I could just stay in the Word for hours in the Word, study the Word, meditate on the Word. And then after that, I would just go into prayer. So there's always a combination of things. But as I was saying earlier, it's more about seeking the presence of God when it comes to be in prayer. Honestly speaking, for the most part, I barely ask God anything personal when it comes to being in his presence. You know, let's say I have like competitions or a prayer request for God or do something for me.

15:14 God, give me money. God provide. I do that prayer sometimes here and there. But for the most part, for the most part, it's just that God, I just want to be in your presence. I just want to be with you. I just want to have that passion, that zeal. Like earlier this morning, I was in prayer on my rooftop, actually. I was on my rooftop praying. We're joking about that yesterday. Yeah, we were talking about that. I was on the rooftop earlier this morning, and every time I try to ask God for something else, I try to ask God for something personal, and I'm being led back to worshiping God, thanking God, being grateful, just to...

15:59 you know, do his will just to make sure that I follow God and I follow Christ. Like, like Apostle Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. I just want to follow him. I just want to do his work, his will and continue to remain steadfast. That's what, that's what my prayer has been really when I come, when it comes to praying and fasting. And sometimes other times I pray for nations because I do believe as well that God has given me a mandate. to go to many different nations to win a lot of souls for the kingdom. Back in 2025, December 2025, I don't know if I've ever shared that with you, I was in prayer and fasting.

16:45 December is the month of my birthday. I basically took the whole month praying and fasting. On the 10th, which is my birthday, I was meditating on Psalms 2, verse 7, the message translation. There's a part it says, today is your birthday. He said, son, today is your birthday. What do you want? Name it. If you want nations as a present, continent as a prize, name it. And right there, I took a. a piece of paper and a pen and I wrote for the Lord to grant us grace for successful lunch for the prophetic war room globally to win 5 million souls and bring back the lost ones Then 12 days later, I met with someone out of nowhere.

17:38 And the person said, listen, if you want to do something in Nigeria, I'm here for you. I'm like, okay, I'll get back to you. I was not even thinking about what I wrote because I wrote it and I left it in my prayer room. And that was it. And after that, I was like, you know what, let me just tell them I'd like to do something over there in Nigeria. Fast forward to May 2026, this year actually. So we had our first conference in Nigeria where we had over 1000 something people that came and we're also planning on going to different parts of the world. Ghana, Turkey, wherever the Lord is taking us to bring a lot of souls and to collaborate with other denominations on the churches.

18:21 Because we believe God wants the body of Christ to be united. But that's one thing a lot of churches, a lot of leaders they're doing now. They are dividing the body of Christ, thinking that, okay, as if they're the one that owns the kingdom. But the kingdom must be united in order for God to bring the revival that he must bring. Amen. Amen. And I want to go back to what you said earlier when you were talking about your prayer mountain. Because for my audience, what I want there to be understanding about is, it's a phrase used, especially starting in the Far East, but now all over the world. What a prayer mountain is, it's not necessarily a mountain. But in the Bible, it says in several places that a place where you can meet God is either in a garden or a mountain.

19:07 And you see in the ancient Near East, and the scholar Heiser said, Michael Heiser, who passed away recently, he talks a lot about this. So when you're going to meet God, that's kind of where you go. And it's just a place in the ancient Near East where people thought where the center of God's presence might be. So for that reason, people will say, hey, let's establish, quote, a prayer mountain. So it's not a mountain, but it's a track of land outside of New York City, about an hour or so, hour and a half. where you have conferences and people go to pray and see God and you're adding to it and putting buildings there. But a lot of other nations have these churches have prayer mountains. That is places set apart, dedicated to draw close to the Lord.

19:47 And we need a lot more of those in the U.S. because we got to take that time to draw close. So I enjoyed being out there with you. I couldn't go to your conference, as you know, in July, but I went last year, which was a blessing to be there and to help out in a few ways. So there's so much spiritual need. So I'm sorry. Thankful for your incredible work that way. Now, I do want to share the story, if it's all right, with you about that amazing vision that you had one time in prayer. And then a week later, you're here and my friend from the Caribbean, who has a great gift, kind of confirmed that with you. You know what I'm talking about? I'm talking about Anne-Marie, right? Yeah. That's right. That's right. Yeah. So you're praying. I mean, you had a concentrated time of prayer.

20:29 And in that, the Lord gave you a vision, but you weren't quite sure if it was from God. I mean, you're testing it and seeing it. But go ahead. And what was that vision you had? Yeah. You know, it was, I don't remember the exact day or date, but I know it was around January. And I was in prayer. Yeah. And I was just talking to God. It was around two, three o'clock in the morning. And I was sitting in my prayer room. I said, God, you know, I don't wanna move in a office that you have not called me into.

21:13 I don't wanna do anything that you didn't want me to do. And I said, but God, if truly you have called me, to move with such gift, you know, the gift of prophecy. I want you to show it to me. I want you to confirm it to me. So after prayer, and I was praying for about a good three to four hours, then I took a nap right there in my prayer room. And I saw someone came to me and there was a vast land. There was a field, very green. And then the man said to me, you see, all of that needs to be harvested.

21:56 And then he said to me, but no one wants to go. He said, no one wants to go. And then after that, the person said to me, and I said, well, I said to the man at the time, I said, okay, okay. The man said to me, just like Isaiah said, here I am, send me. The person said to me, are you ready? So when the person said that to me, and I woke up out of the dream. And then I was like, all right, so that was on a Tuesday, actually. Now I remember that was on a Tuesday. Then the second Thursday, as you know, Heritage Pastors, we always gather together to pray.

22:39 And the second Thursday— Sorry, one second. So you had that, but did they show you a talk about a chapter from the Scriptures too? Yeah, actually, it was about Isaiah. The person mentioned Isaiah, but he didn't give me the exact chapter. But the person said, just like Isaiah, you know, said, here I am, send me. And the person said, are you ready to go? Because the person said, just like Isaiah said, here I am, send me. Are you ready to go? And then I was like, okay, so... Then I woke up about 10, 10 days later. So we have a day of prayer in my place in Midtown. Right. And my friend was in town and she was for those who wanted it because some of the people come aren't really charismatic.

23:24 We got all kinds of pastors who come for a day of prayer. But those who want to receive a prophetic word sign up for that. And so she was speaking with you. Yeah, actually, it was not even 10 days later. Actually, it was two days later. I had that dream on a Tuesday, then on Thursday. Then we gathered to pray. And then she came and she was ministering to other pastors individually. And then after that, I was like, well, I'd like to get some of that for myself. Yeah. And then she sat down with me. We were talking. I didn't say anything to her. She was just talking.

24:04 She was giving me a lot of word of prophecy and confirming some of the things that I knew. And then after that, she just took my Bible. During the time when she was talking to me, I never said anything to her. And she took my Bible. She put her hands on my Bible. And then she opened the Bible exactly on Isaiah 61. And then she read Isaiah 61 for me. And then after she read it for me, and then she looked at me. And me, I'm looking at her. I'm like, okay. And I'm looking at her. And she said, this is not from me. This is from God.

24:46 He said, it is God talking to you. And then after that, she said, are you ready? The same question that I was asked in the dream by that man. Are you ready? It was the same question that she asked me two days later. And she opened the book of Isaiah 61, Isaiah chapter 61. And she said, now it is not me talking to you. It is God speaking to you. Are you ready? So that's when I had that confirmation. And it happened another time as well. You know. Like the next month. Yeah, it happened another time with somebody else, actually.

25:26 Same place, but that other person came from somewhere in the south, if I'm not mistaken, I don't remember. North Carolina. North Carolina, right? Yeah. So the person came from the same thing. And then as the person came and talked to me, and the person took my Bible, before the person talked to me, and I said, God, if this man is of you, I want you to confirm my calling, to confirm my office through that man. And then he took my Bible again. He opened the Bible exactly on Isaiah 61. And then he started to read Isaiah 61.

26:09 And he said, this is for you. So now imagine two different occasions. three different occasions, including the dreams. So it's like God speaking to me, confirming my calling, confirming my office, confirming how I'm supposed to move when it comes to the ministry that he has entrusted in my hands. Amen. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And that's such a great illustration, too. If a person gets a prophetic word from someone, take it and confirm it. Ask God, make sure it's really of him. And that's what you are doing. And that's really, really key, but wonderful to have that confirmation from God for his calling on your life.

26:50 It's really, really beautiful. And I think about the average American Christian that does not take that much time. You mentioned spending hours and time drawing close to God. A lot of times we don't get much hearing from God until we take a lot of time. And we don't get the spiritual armor. We don't get the spiritual strength. And so when you come across Christians in the U.S., What do you say to them to try to cast a vision for them to see God at a much higher level, more consistently in terms of prayer and emphasis on holiness and devotion? You're a minister. You come across people like that individually or in group settings. What do you say to them?

27:32 Well, one of the first things I usually say to people like that is to, draw closer, draw near God. That's my first thing, is to try to deepen our relationship with God. I always try to find ways to help Him to build or to develop a great prayer life. A great prayer life. And... Because we know in order for us ministers to be successful in the work of God, so we need to really spend a good quality of time with the Lord in prayer and fasting and consecration.

28:18 And you'll find that a lot of leaders, a lot of pastors, ministers, they got very busy with their daily activities and not having the time for God anymore. Now, they're more busy with the ministry. They're more busy with business. They're more busy with other things than spending more time in the presence of God. In our church, I can say most of our people, or I would say those that are serving in different departments in the church, I try not to turn everybody as an intercessor so that they can build a relationship with God.

28:59 Whether you go to praise and worship team, you will see that a lot of these people have a good, solid prayer life, consecrated life. You go to even the ushers. A lot of them, they have a good prayer life. Those who go out there to do outreach, they have a strong prayer life as well. We have our intercessory team, forget about it. We're praying at six o'clock in the morning, 12 noon. We pray at midnight and at 3 a.m. So we're always in prayer. So I try to help other ministers when I talk to them and they don't have a solid prayer life.

29:41 It's like they're, I wouldn't say they're joking, but it's like they're giving the enemy so much advantage over them. You know, so much advantage over them. Because they might feel like, okay, I'm doing the work of God. I'm protected. I'm good. I'm fine. I'm okay. But, you know, the enemy will always look for other things in your home to try to use against you. You know, whether it's your families or your children or whatever the enemy can try to use. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's really, really great. I've come across pastors, and these are pastors of good churches. These aren't people who are in some of these false churches out there, but they'll say, I can't pray 10 minutes a day.

30:21 Or at one time, they'll say. And yeah, it means they're very vulnerable, very open to the enemy's attacks. They have almost no protection. They're not moving in a way in the spiritual realm that can really see a lot of enhancement. Yeah. And it's forgotten today. And we're in a spiritual crisis in the United States. I've spent a lot of time, as you know, looking and researching the scriptures and looking at church history about how much time is needed. And I put it all in danielspirituality.org. I lay out what the average Christian needs to do. Every Christian will say, well, you have to pray sometimes. You've got to go to church sometimes. Well, I'll say, how much? And people don't want to answer that. But the answers are in the scriptures.

31:02 And we see also in the lives of great saints how much time is needed. Everybody has other work to do, too, whether it be in ministry or taking care of kids and family and work and everything else. And also, I lay it out in a bunch of videos at christianunion.org slash seven keys, which It's 20 videos going step by step, how we see the kingdom of God advanced by the grace of God. And this is what we need today. And, oh, Archer, I want to wrap up here, but I want to say thank you. Thank you for being on here. But also thank you for being a man of God. Thank you for emphasizing holiness and consecration. You and I had a lot of conversations about us personally, but also in the need in the body of Christ today.

31:43 and even intervening when needed and to inspire people to seek God. So thank you for your example. And may we see many more in the United States seek the Lord with that kind of fervor and zeal by His grace. Thank you. Thank you so much, Matt, for having me. It's a great thing that you're doing. And I believe that God is going to do a whole lot more, especially here in New York. The church needs to stand up. Leaders need to stand up to pray a lot together. I try to follow even the model of Daniel praying many times a day. So I try to follow that. And I believe with people like you and others, and we stand together praying for the church, there shall be a great awakening that's going to come not only in New York, but I believe in the United States of America.

32:35 That's what God is preparing a group of people to stand in the gap, praying for a revival in this nation. So thank you once again. Thank you for having me. And I'm looking forward to be with you soon and be in prayer with the rest of the team. Yeah. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Archer, so much. All right. Thank you. Thank you for joining me for this episode of the Bennett Broadcast. To learn more and find additional resources to help you grow in your walk with God, visit BennettBroadcast.com. To accelerate this movement of helping America return to God, visit ChristianUnion.org slash Cornerstone.

33:15 Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And I hope you'll join me again as we seek the Lord together for our lives, for our communities, and for the future of the nation.