A Christian pastor grieved by the chaos and violence in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is amid a significant prayer effort that he believes can help heal his community. Bishop Dwight Pate of Church Point Ministries is known for turning to God to help cure social ills. With crime rising since the pandemic, he again seeks the Lord for a miracle.

The 68-year-old pastor told WAFB-TV, “It’s impossible for someone to really be sincere about seeking God but not drawing other men and women to pray,” and prayer is the tool he’s using amid cultural chaos. WAFB-TV reported that Pate has been inside a prayer room, a former car dealership he bought in 1981, for the past three months.

The preacher told the outlet he believes crime and other issues can only be solved through faith. He spent almost eight months inside the prayer room in the 90s. Again, he opened the room in 2000 and 2014, and once more, he’s been locked away since May offering intense invocations. “The only place it can be solved is in the church,” Pate said. “And the teaching and the loving of God’s people.”

Pate added his belief “prayer can change the hearts of the individuals” responsible for the chaos. He plans to give away 200,000 bottles of holy oil and has no plans to leave the prayer room until he feels God gives him a sign to do so. Pate believes the effort will spark actual change.

He told WAFB-TV, “There’s going to be such a move of God among people. There’s going to be such a move of some of the most violent people in this city instead of going out killing, robbing and hurting people bringing peace and joy and victory and forgiveness and love that you’re going to have to come out and report it.”

Pate has a reason for that faithful optimism, as he’s seen prostitutes, addicts, and others find healing through his ministry over the years. He believes God led him to create the prayer room to impact his neighborhood and city positively.

“I heard the voice of the Lord, and he said he wanted to give me this little building at 700 Scenic Highway to start the first prayer line where people could call in and pray 24 hours a day,” he told The Advocate. “He told me he was going to reach the city through that little building.”

Pate continued, “We started ministering to prostitutes and addicts. Anyone that was would pass by. People thought I was crazy. Eventually, the chairs started filling up. So many people started coming, they wouldn’t leave.”