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Hello and welcome back. We're
glad to see you for Issues and
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Answers. We are so glad to be
able to share this and it's an
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important, very important topic
to us. But I have a question
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I want to ask you. How important
is prayer in the mission of your
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church. I don't know what church
you go to, I don't know what
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denomination you belong to but
I want to ask you how important
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is prayer in what you're about
in your community and in your
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church? Prayer really should
be the basis for everything
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shouldn't it? The undergirding
of everything that we do in our
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church whether it's evangelism,
whether it's something for our
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children, our couples or the
women's ministry or the 50 plus
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or whatever you call what you're
doing for the older generation.
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Prayer needs to be the power for
the mission, everything we do in
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our church, every outreach.
Because God tells us in Psalm 25
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that he is going to pour out
his favor. You know because we
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belong to his family we can
expect preferential treatment.
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If you were born into Bill
Gates' family you could expect
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preferential treatment, right?
Because you are a child of
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privilege. But because we belong
to God's family we are children
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of privilege. What a wonderful
God. Today we'd like to talk
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with you about prayer and
mission, prayer and the mission,
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our personal mission and
the mission of our church.
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Our guests today are again,
thanks for coming, welcome back,
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Tim Garrison and Bill McClendon.
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Good to be with
you again Ruthie.
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From California and Oklahoma.
So how important should prayer
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be in the mission of our church?
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Well it's critical. I mean it's
foundational. It should really
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be the beginning of anything
that we do. We always start with
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prayer. I like to say prayer is
the answer because prayer really
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is what prepares us, it's what
inspires us, it's what guides us
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You know we've been building
bridges, of course, to other
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people but we must remember
that the first bridge we have to
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build is to God and consequently
we have to be in a conversation
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with God in order to be clear
on exactly the direction that
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he's sending us. When
we have made the church a
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house of prayer, when prayer is
the backbone of everything we do
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then God is in control. Because
it's not that we worship prayer
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or we depend on
prayer but we depend on God.
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It's easy to forget that. It
is easy. You know I come from a
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church plant. I started a
brand new church and we're about
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eight years into it. But I would
hate to admit that for the first
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few years we were so busy doing
the mission and doing other
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things that prayer ministry
wasn't even developed at that
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time. It wasn't until our third
or fourth year that we really
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began to realize something
was missing and it's not just
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something that we add on. It
has to be really foundational to
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everything that we do. If we're
not careful we forget about that
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That we can be so busy doing the
work of the Lord that we don't
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have time to pray.
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You know that is sad isn't it
but we are all prone to do that
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very thing, to be so busy for
God that we don't have time for
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God. Yeah, isn't that ironic.
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And we think we can do anything
with him? I mean that is totally
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false. But how has prayer
changed everything you do?
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How has it changed
your church service?
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Again, it's something that we
didn't have early on but I was
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reading a book and it was
talking about just in a church,
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and think about it in your own
church setting. How much time
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do you devote to making
announcements and other things
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about church life and how much
time do you devote to praying?
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And I realized that as a very
busy church, active church, we
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spend 15 minutes talking about
announcements, talking about all
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these things and we would maybe
spend a couple minutes in prayer
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So we just decided that was not
God honoring. If this is a house
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of prayer we needed to really
focus on that and we really made
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that to be a part of our service
eliminating announcements and
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really calling our people to
have an experience with God in
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prayer. I hate to admit it
but we model in a church what we
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expect people to do. And if
we leave it out of our church
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service, if we leave it out of
our community events as we come
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together as a faith body
what does that say to our church
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family? That
prayer isn't important.
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I talked to a pastor about
this not too long ago. He said,
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Ruthie, my life as a pastor
was miserable. He said I finally
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told the Lord I'd rather be a
farmer. I don't know why I ever
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thought you were calling me to
the ministry because this is not
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it. I don't like these people,
they don't like me. I'm out of
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here. That was really where
he was. About that time he got a
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flyer in the mail introducing
and inviting him to a pastors'
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prayer conference at the beach
in Oregon. He tossed it. He said
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no I'm not going to be a pastor.
This isn't for me. This is for
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these guys that are pastors and
I don't plan to be a pastor any
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more. He had a church out
in Jefferson, Oregon out in
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beautiful green country
over there. They have sheep and
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cattle. His father was a farmer
and he really wanted to be a
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farmer. I was in his office.
On his window sill he had little
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miniature tractors of every kind
That was his love. He just liked
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the soil and liked the farm, but
he did not like the interaction
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with people. He said I didn't
like those folks and he said
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we tried everything but I
was losing members all the time.
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every time I'd lose some members
I'd try a new program. And he
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said nothing worked. They had
a membership of something like
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600, 500, but it was getting
smaller, it was dwindling. Well
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he got another flyer and
he tossed it. Finally somebody
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called him and they said are you
going to this pastors' prayer
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conference? He said, no I'm too
busy, I don't think I'll do that
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and they said well you know
somebody has underwritten the
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cost of all this. You have
free housing, free travel, free
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meals and there's no expense
to the meetings. Why don't you
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show up and go? He said you
could go and spend some time
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at the beach. They plan to give
you a little bit of free time.
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You could get out on the beach
and just enjoy it. So he thought
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what have I got to lose.
I'll go to one meeting so that I
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could report to whoever is
paying for this, thank you very
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much and just have a good
vacation, have a good break. I
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deserve a break, he said. So
he went. The very first night
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he went to the prayer conference
meeting. It was just pastors. I
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think I attended that one
because I remember the spirit of
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it and what was going on and it
matches what he was experiencing
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He said they would take one
pastor at a time, there were
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about maybe 200 pastors there,
but they would take one pastor
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at a time and he would sit on
a chair and he would talk about
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his needs as a pastor.
People would surround him. These
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pastors were struggling with
real issues like pornography and
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wasting time and financial
issues and relationship issues.
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They were just coming clean and
they were saying if I'm going to
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be a pastor I need help, I need
prayer. Somehow the Holy Spirit
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got through to him and the
Lord seemed to say to him, Dee,
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there's hope for you. You think
you hate those people, you think
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they hate you and it's just
totally futile. But you haven't
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tried prayer. You haven't tried
to see what God can do. So he
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stayed, of course, through
the conference, didn't miss a
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meeting and when he went back
to his church he stood up in his
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church and he said
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I was going to leave the
ministry because I wasn't
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succeeding for you. Nothing was
working. But we haven't tried
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prayer. He said I want you to
know that I want to try. I want
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to see what God can do and I'm
going to be here at the church
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tonight and several nights a
week and I'm going to be here
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from 9 o'clock until 11 or
12 and we're just going to pray.
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I don't have any agenda, I don't
have any meeting planned. We're
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just going to call out to God
and ask him to help. I know that
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there are people in this church
that have needs that we haven't
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addressed; we haven't even
thought about it, but God knows
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so come. We want to pray for you
and I want you to pray for me.
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I was sitting there across from
his desk and he was telling me
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this story. I said how many
people came? He said I didn't
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know if anybody would show
up because I didn't think I had
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that much collateral with them.
But he said you know just about
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my whole church family showed
up. Because I guess they wanted
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to really test me. They wanted
to see if this guy was real.
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We prayed for several hours.
They came back the next night
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and the next night and he said
our church was slowly changing.
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We were slowly understanding the
power of prayer, the power of
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love and the presence of
the Lord. He said now I have 25
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different prayer ministries
that meet at different places,
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different times around the city.
We have groups of men that meet
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and pray together over
a breakfast meeting in a
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restaurant. We have people
that are praying in hospitals.
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We have all kinds of prayer
ministries. I said your church
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is growing isn't it. He
said, yeah. He said we have 1400
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members now because people are
coming for prayer. God can do
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anything. You know Ruthie you're
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absolutely right and both Bill
and I are church planters and
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so our congregations are new
churches that have been planted.
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One neat thing about it is I
think there's a great sense of
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community in a brand new church
that's starting up and you're in
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this together and you're focused
and you're really zeroing in on
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reaching people. We have at
the beginning of our worship a
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sharing time, a very open
community sharing time and
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people share their innermost
feelings and when you give
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permission to do that, and
I think this pastor who was
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willing to stand before his
congregation and be vulnerable
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and ask the Lord to bless and
to heal him and bring to him to
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something really changes
the whole dynamic of what takes
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place there. And it
allows the Lord to move
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in  in a deeper way than
you ever permitted him before.
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Just a couple of weeks ago as we
were opening for and having the
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sharing time there was a young
mother in our group who's 24-
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year-old son had died of a drug
overdose just the week before.
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It would have been easy for her
just to skip church, to not be
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there, to go into seclusion
during this time of her grief,
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but the fact that we had this
sharing time and we were open
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brought her there. The other
neat thing about it is when I
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saw her come in and I knew
the circumstance because I had
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talked to her through the week,
etc., I knew what was going on,
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I told the group what she had
experienced and immediately we
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had prayer. And we had a
heartfelt prayer for her and I
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mean there wasn't a dry eye
there as we had this feeling for
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her. She then has now as a
result of her experience started
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a ministry for young adults who
are just like her son. She has
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taken her grief now and
channeled it into something
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positive and I believe that the
power of prayer enables us to
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take those feelings that we have
like this pastor, like this poor
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mother and channel them
into something good for God.
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It's the power of God and I'm
glad you said what you did about
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the bonding that takes place.
The Lord wants to love the
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hurting. He wants to love the
people who have need for him.
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He can't help us if we don't
need him. But he wants to meet
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our needs and when we pray for
one another there is a bonding
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that comes because it's the love
of God. The Lord is using you to
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love someone. The
beauty of that is that
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prayer crosses all lines. I mean
every male, female, any kind of
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supposed barrier that exists
out there, economic, etc., is
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completely shattered because
prayer is the common need of
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every human being.
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Bill tell us something about the
anointing service that you have
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in your church. You mentioned
that earlier and I really think
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that that's a powerful ministry.
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It is. It came as a result
of trying to make the church a
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house of prayer and not so much
focused on the other things that
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we can do but really connecting
with God and teaching people to
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be vulnerable to God and to ask
God for their greatest needs in
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their life. It came about
because I have a church of about
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600 or 700 people and we don't
have a large pastoral staff and
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you know we believe in what the
Bible says in James 5 that if
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your sick you can call for the
elders of the church and they
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will pray over him and we
were finding that people were
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reluctant to burden the elders,
that type of thing, the whole
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idea of going to someone's house
or whatever. So we said how can
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we facilitate our church
family being able to act on this
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promise that God has made so
we said let's do it when most of
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our people are together. So on
the first week of every month as
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we worship together we invite
people during a prayer time.
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The congregation is seated, the
lights are turned down a little
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bit and we just bring our elders
to the stage and if somebody has
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a physical need that they would
like to be anointed for they can
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come and it's a
one-on-one thing.
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Is it always physical needs?
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Well not always. Sometimes they
need help in overcoming some
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addiction or some sin in their
life. We've seen a number of
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things. I've even had people
that have come up and want to
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be anointed in place of someone
else. It's bringing that person
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spiritually to the altar.
But it's really a very powerful
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thing. We slow it down, we take
a little bit of time. But the
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nice thing about it is the
congregation is there and we're
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not miked. We're doing it while
they're singing. But people are
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seeing Joe; I need to pray for
Joe. I need to pray for Sally.
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And usually we have a number,
12, 15, 20 people sometimes that
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want to be anointed. But what's
exciting is every month, the
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week I do that is I find how God
has answered someone's prayer.
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You know, we're not talking
about little things, we're
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talking about tumors, we're
talking about cancer, gone as a
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result of this. It teaches
people that I can trust God with
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these big things in my life
but also the little things...
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You know that's a landmark,
that's a landmark, not only in
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the life of the person who
is anointed but it's also a
00:17:51.91\00:17:55.81
landmark for the church. Do you
also then give them feedback?
00:17:55.85\00:17:59.85
Does everybody know when someone
has experienced a healing?
00:17:59.89\00:18:04.46
We try but I'll tell you God is
working so fast and in so many
00:18:04.49\00:18:08.65
cases we literally don't have
time. And sometimes I don't even
00:18:08.68\00:18:12.75
find out the answer until weeks
and months later. You know what
00:18:12.78\00:18:16.82
I really love about it is
sometimes it's not me. I mean
00:18:16.85\00:18:21.88
I've got a number of elders and
it's an elder that's praying for
00:18:21.92\00:18:25.16
them and they're receiving
healing and it lets them know
00:18:25.19\00:18:29.14
it's not the pastor's prayer.
It's not the faith that I place
00:18:29.18\00:18:33.69
in this oil but it's my faith in
God that has brought about this
00:18:33.73\00:18:38.21
miracle in my life. It's in
prayer, it's about miracles.
00:18:38.24\00:18:43.63
A praying church is a church
that's filled with miracles.
00:18:43.66\00:18:48.41
Really when you think
about carrying on the mission of
00:18:48.44\00:18:53.12
believers, if we can create an
environment where people sense
00:18:53.16\00:18:57.40
God is working and God is moving
why wouldn't people want to be
00:18:57.43\00:19:01.64
a part of that?
00:19:01.67\00:19:02.70
That's right, that's right. And
those are the churches that are
00:19:02.73\00:19:06.71
growing because people need God.
I got a call just yesterday or
00:19:06.75\00:19:11.24
the day before from a friend out
in Washington state and she said
00:19:11.27\00:19:16.01
guess what I did. She said I put
a little blurb in the bulletin
00:19:16.05\00:19:21.77
and I said if you are a retired
person and maybe you feel that
00:19:21.80\00:19:26.80
your church doesn't need you
anymore because you maybe for
00:19:26.84\00:19:31.32
some reason can't be as active
and you used to be, I have a
00:19:31.36\00:19:35.50
request for you. She said you
don't have to bake anything, you
00:19:35.54\00:19:38.09
don't have to go anywhere, but
we have one very important thing
00:19:38.13\00:19:40.65
that you can do, that we're
going to ask you to do and that
00:19:44.51\00:19:49.95
is to pray every day for your
pastoral staff. Pray for them by
00:19:49.99\00:19:54.62
name and find out what their
prayer needs are and really take
00:19:54.66\00:19:59.24
that seriously. I think she's
calling it the Gap Ministry
00:19:59.27\00:20:03.83
because you know standing in
the gap for someone. She said
00:20:03.86\00:20:08.51
people have been very responsive
They've talked to her after
00:20:08.55\00:20:13.17
they've seen
this in the bulletin.
00:20:13.20\00:20:14.66
One of things that's
very encouraging is to have a
00:20:14.70\00:20:19.99
prayer journal available for
your church or your congregation
00:20:20.03\00:20:24.77
where they put in their request
in one space but there's a space
00:20:24.80\00:20:29.51
there for the answer. Later
they come back and write in the
00:20:29.54\00:20:34.27
answer. Then when people go
then and look at that there's an
00:20:34.31\00:20:39.69
amazing support in sense of real
power of prayer when you just
00:20:39.72\00:20:45.07
see these answer after
answer that have taking place in
00:20:45.10\00:20:49.16
people's lives. Then you don't
begin to doubt that God will do
00:20:49.20\00:20:52.48
something in your own life.
00:20:52.51\00:20:53.66
That's right. You know a
few weeks ago I was in Brazil in
00:20:53.70\00:20:59.81
Brasilia which is up north
in that country. They have a new
00:20:59.85\00:21:05.87
initiative that I think is
going to be so powerful. They're
00:21:05.91\00:21:12.51
growing, that is the part of
the world that is growing... yes
00:21:12.54\00:21:18.59
because they're members are so
involved. But their initiative
00:21:18.63\00:21:24.47
for 2009 is that every family
will be praying earnestly for
00:21:24.50\00:21:30.27
another family. One family takes
another family and the names of
00:21:30.31\00:21:36.03
their children, they know where
they work, maybe their neighbors
00:21:36.07\00:21:41.11
maybe their relatives, maybe
their friends; but it's a prayer
00:21:41.14\00:21:46.15
initiative that one
family takes for another family.
00:21:46.18\00:21:50.62
No doubt it will work.
We have a lay person in our
00:21:50.65\00:21:55.02
conference that has taken on the
ministry of praying with pastors
00:21:55.06\00:22:00.85
and I will get a call maybe once
a month or usually early in the
00:22:00.89\00:22:06.65
morning because he knows
pastors are available and not
00:22:06.68\00:22:09.93
out in the field yet. He
will just simply have a word of
00:22:09.97\00:22:14.55
prayer with me. You don't know
how wonderful that is to know
00:22:14.59\00:22:19.28
that somebody has taken the
time to pray with you and it's a
00:22:19.32\00:22:23.68
simple thing we think but it's
a powerful thing when we touch
00:22:23.72\00:22:28.87
another person's life and adopt
them, as you say, in prayer.
00:22:28.90\00:22:32.79
Praying for the mission of a
church is so important. You know
00:22:32.82\00:22:36.68
as I was sharing our own
experience of leaving that out
00:22:36.71\00:22:39.94
and yet we still saw growth
whatever, but the moment that we
00:22:39.98\00:22:43.70
implemented a prayer ministry
and really got serious about it
00:22:43.74\00:22:47.64
our growth doubled. I mean we
saw twice the number of people
00:22:47.67\00:22:52.93
and we were spending less money,
We were seeing more acts of God
00:22:52.96\00:22:57.80
where he was bringing people,
he was working and I think that
00:22:57.83\00:23:02.64
does something for
the believer to see that.
00:23:02.67\00:23:05.56
Oh I really believe that.
You know when someone has been
00:23:05.60\00:23:09.88
touched in anointing or
just observing and praying there
00:23:09.91\00:23:14.12
singing quietly, you can't help
but be influenced when the Holy
00:23:14.16\00:23:18.38
Spirit is doing something deep
in the life of another person.
00:23:18.41\00:23:22.49
And you share that with your
family. You don't know how the
00:23:22.52\00:23:26.54
Lord is using all of those
conversations. Of course the
00:23:26.57\00:23:30.52
person who has been healed or
touched in some way is changed.
00:23:30.56\00:23:36.25
Their life is changed.
00:23:36.28\00:23:37.31
I know when we had prayer for
this mother, there was an energy
00:23:37.34\00:23:42.39
in the room, I mean a synergy
of all kinds of things that were
00:23:42.42\00:23:47.16
going on both in her life as
someone who was desperately in
00:23:47.20\00:23:51.79
need and grieving but also in
the life of every member of the
00:23:51.83\00:23:56.19
group there who had the empathy
for her but also sensed that
00:23:56.22\00:24:00.28
power in their own lives too.
And that's the beauty of having
00:24:00.32\00:24:04.34
anointing prayer or having other
prayers where you involve the
00:24:04.37\00:24:08.36
entirety of your group and
you've sensed that feeling of
00:24:08.39\00:24:12.78
bonding together through God.
00:24:12.81\00:24:14.23
That's right, I agree. I believe
too that when we're praying
00:24:14.27\00:24:19.41
as a church for the pastor
there is a new unity and less
00:24:19.44\00:24:25.33
bickering and less criticizing.
When we're complaining and
00:24:25.36\00:24:32.51
criticizing and gossiping we're
off task. We're diverted and
00:24:32.54\00:24:39.66
we're on the wrong
side in the army, really.
00:24:39.69\00:24:43.27
What do they say if you prayed
as much as you worry you'd have
00:24:43.31\00:24:48.02
a lot less to worry about.
00:24:48.05\00:24:49.43
Absolutely. But when you
are really praying for somebody,
00:24:49.47\00:24:53.69
praying for your pastor,
you're saying Lord bless him, do
00:24:53.73\00:24:58.49
something for her. Bless this
whole family and just keep them
00:24:58.52\00:25:03.40
strong in the Lord. Bless his
sermons and go to the baptistery
00:25:03.43\00:25:08.28
and pray for baptisms. And
you're really praying for the
00:25:08.31\00:25:13.08
mission of the church,
then you're must less prone to
00:25:13.12\00:25:17.82
criticize. A member who is
critical and negative is really
00:25:17.86\00:25:23.45
destroying their own spiritual
life. So this is why prayer
00:25:23.49\00:25:28.70
brings the bonding and the
focus and the power that we need
00:25:28.74\00:25:33.92
desperately. Yeah,
we've actually implemented
00:25:33.95\00:25:36.03
two different prayer events on
a Saturday morning when we have
00:25:36.07\00:25:40.43
our worship service, one before,
early, early, 8 or so o'clock in
00:25:40.47\00:25:44.80
the morning where we invite
people to come and pray and then
00:25:44.83\00:25:47.42
in the afternoon when we've
gotten all these requests of
00:25:47.46\00:25:49.98
people wanting to be prayed for.
Really the focus of the one in
00:25:50.02\00:25:53.71
the morning is praying for
the church and praying for the
00:25:53.74\00:25:56.30
people who will come and
praying for our members to
00:25:56.33\00:25:59.49
connect. One of the things they
pray for is for the message or
00:25:59.53\00:26:04.30
the messages that will be
preached. That's very powerful
00:26:04.33\00:26:07.76
to know that it's
been bathed in prayer.
00:26:07.79\00:26:11.44
Amen. Let's pray together right
now. Father in heaven we thank
00:26:11.48\00:26:16.04
you for the power of prayer.
We thank you for the power in
00:26:16.07\00:26:20.54
the name of Jesus. And Lord
we've been talking about how
00:26:20.58\00:26:24.98
vitally important it is that our
churches become houses of prayer
00:26:25.02\00:26:29.69
places based on prayer,
congregations who depend on God.
00:26:29.72\00:26:36.46
So I just want to hold up every
person who is watching and the
00:26:36.50\00:26:41.86
church represented, the pastor
represented by every viewer. We
00:26:41.89\00:26:46.78
thank you that you are such
a big God and this is a totally
00:26:46.82\00:26:52.08
impossible task for us but easy
for you to do. So we give you
00:26:52.11\00:26:57.11
these churches, these pastors
and these congregations and we
00:26:57.15\00:27:01.79
thank you that you want to
and will work in their behalf
00:27:01.83\00:27:06.43
because we pray in the
strong name of Jesus, Amen.
00:27:06.47\00:27:10.08
Our time goes so quickly. Thank
you so much, big thank you to
00:27:10.12\00:27:18.34
both of you. Well
thank you Ruthie. It's been
00:27:18.37\00:27:20.28
a real pleasure
and inspiration for me.
00:27:20.31\00:27:22.15
I had a great time.
Thank you for inviting us.
00:27:22.19\00:27:25.09
And thank you for being with us
for this program on prayer and
00:27:25.13\00:27:31.08
the mission of your church.
I hope that this has been
00:27:31.11\00:27:35.37
something for us all to think
about and it's a serious but
00:27:35.41\00:27:40.54
powerful and life changing topic
Issues and Answers is something
00:27:40.58\00:27:45.13
that we've enjoyed doing with
you and we'll be praying for you
00:27:45.16\00:27:49.68
We hope your church is a
place of prayer. God bless you.
00:27:49.71\00:27:54.35