Praying With Power: A Conversation with Cindy Mercer

One of the highlights of Carolina Camp Meeting this year has been the powerful prayer seminar led by Rick and Cindy Mercer. Throughout the week, attendees have gathered to hear their inspiring testimony and to be equipped for deeper, more transformative prayer lives.

Rick and Cindy Mercer are known for their compelling testimony of transformation through prayer and their dedication to family restoration and spiritual revival. Rick, formerly a CPA and poultry farmer, experienced a profound personal change after his wife, Cindy, committed to years of intercessory prayer and fasting during a tumultuous period in their marriage. This journey led both to embrace full-time ministry. Rick currently serves as the pastor of Adventist Fellowship in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he passionately shares biblical truths. Cindy, a registered nurse with over three decades of experience, serves as the Prayer and Women’s Ministries Director for the Oklahoma Conference, having previously held similar roles in the Carolina Conference. Together, they co-lead Mercer Ministries, focusing on prayer, addiction recovery, marriage enrichment, and youth mentorship. Their ministry includes speaking engagements, such as the “Bloom in Marriage” cruise retreat, and Cindy’s authorship of Pray Big: God Can Do So Much More!, which encourages believers to deepen their prayer lives. The Mercers’ story continues to inspire many, demonstrating the transformative power of faith and persistent prayer.

We caught up with Cindy for a brief conversation about their ministry:

Carolina Conference: What is it that makes you so passionate about prayer ministry?

Cindy Mercer: Rick and I are over-the-top passionate about prayer ministry because we’ve seen real-life transformations as a result of people praying the promises of God!

CC: You talked this week about how your marriage had a rocky start. What’s it like to now be at this place in life where you two are ministry partners every day?

CM: Ahhh!! That one is an easy one!! It’s a dream come true! Serving together in ministry truly resonates what a faithful God we serve and that the scripture I claimed consistently (Ephesians 3:20) is being lived out in our life now.

CC: You two have been teaching here all week about the power of prayer. After all the teaching, speaking, and training you’ve done here this week, if there was one thing that you wanted every member of the Carolina Conference to know, what would it be?

CM: Always remember that when we pray, an apparent delay in the answer doesn’t mean that God has not heard us. It does not indicate that help is not on the way! 1 John 5:14–15 says, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” Rest assured, God’s Word will not fail us. Never, never give up!

CC: One last question. If you had to choose one thing that each church needs to build a transformative prayer ministry, what would it be? What’s the missing ingredient?

CM: The Holy Spirit! Prayer should be seen as foundational in our churches, not as a supplemental resource or afterthought. Church leaders led by the Holy Spirit will cultivate a prayer-saturated church that will inevitably lead to revival individually and corporately!

CC: Thanks so much for your time! You two are such a tremendous inspiration.

CM: You are so welcome!

— Christopher C. Thompson