Disclaimer PG 13 Suicide discussion
Patti Herrington is the founder of Firefly Outreach Ministries, Pray Mississippi, MGAP (Mississippi Standing in the Gap Prayer), and Mississippi State Capitol Coordinator for the National Day of Prayer. She serves as Mississippi General/Reformation Network at Generals International.
Patti has always been an intercessor at heart and a deep passion for prayer. Tragically, her life changed forever on August 3, 2011, when she lost her youngest son Conner to suicide. Her son struggled from a very young age. He failed the second grade by one point, and that began his cycle of defeat. He never believed in himself and always felt very insecure. Kids bullied him and made fun of him. When Connor was a little boy, he would always say mom when I grow up I will be a missionary and travel all over the world.
After the funeral, she moved to Nashville, Tennessee to be with her oldest son. Upon moving to Nashville, she felt in her spirit that she needed to get alone with the Lord and found a little cabin on the Piney River, seventy miles west of Nashville. During her six-month stay at the cabin, there were many nights of deep despair and crying out to God with questions flooding her mind of how did I miss it Lord and how can I live without my precious son. How can I find hope again? She had an encounter with the Lord that changed her life. Little did she know that God would take her on a journey that she would have never imagined.
One day as she was worshiping before the Lord and praying, suddenly she heard in her spirit, Firefly, the Lord said to her I want you to build this ministry on three foundational stones purity, humility and honor and within the three foundational stones, I stand as Jesus, the Firefly, the light in the darkness and you my hands and feet to reach the younger generation. The Lord spoke with me about sharing my story of the empty chair and giving young people an actual picture of the aftermath of suicide that what I’m left with is an empty chair for the rest of my life.
She began traveling, speaking in schools and churches, sharing my story of the empty chair. A close friend connected her to Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant and First Lady Deborah. They invited her to the governor’s mansion, and she shared with them her story, heart and passion. Mrs. Bryant shared that she had lost her father to suicide and a nephew. We shared the same heart to bring awareness, to make a difference in the younger generation.
Suicide is the second leading cause of death in the United States between ages 10 to 24 and has almost tripled in middle school students since 2007. As she traveled, speaking in schools and churches, she encountered many youths who were suicidal and self-harming. Many youths have father issues and feel alone. Some live in circumstances that no child should ever have to endure. Many of these youths were molested, raped, or consider themselves to be transgender/homosexual.
After speaking in schools and churches she would come home and sit on her sofa praying and crying out to the Lord for the youth she had encountered that day. She was so burdened. This went on for some time and as time passed, she felt the Lord speaking loudly in her spirit SOUND THE ALARM, WAKE UP O YOU SLEEPER!!! She kept hearing the words a call to arms to “Sound The Alarm.” The Lord spoke as she was in prayer and intercession and said, Patti, you are making a difference but the only way you will truly see change in the younger generation is through prayer.
She founded Pray Mississippi, a state-wide movement of prayer and fasting unifying hundreds of churches and tens of thousands of people strategically praying for every young person in the state of Mississippi. She serves as Capital Coordinator for the National Day of Prayer. In 2019 the Lord spoke to her to mobilize pastors and leaders for five months at MS State Capitol grounds monthly to pray and intercede for upcoming elections. With righteous leaders in the land, they will implement laws to protect the younger generation.
Patti continues to work with youth and especially ministering inner healing to those who hurting.
She travels speaking at seminars, retreats, and conferences, ministering inner healing and deliverance, offering prayer and counseling, and seeing youths healed and set free and equipping lives for the Glory of God.
The empty chair represented nothing but death and despair at first. Though heartbreak and tragedy, the Lord has awakened a renewed hope and ignited a flame of fire to reach a hurting and broken generation to help them know they have a hope and future through Jesus Christ. Jeremiah 29:11
