A Nudge to Pray
Our current prayer ministry began with a simple nudge to my wife, Anita: “Gather people and pray for B4.” I regularly revisit that command as we continue to seek God’s direction. I love its simplicity. No complicated agenda. Just gather and pray.
During the Pandemic, we started slowly. Anita, I, and a couple of others sometimes had to stay outside and pray. In the last couple of years, Pastor Bo has added Tuesday nights, and that early handful of people now numbers more than 90 who have said, “I will pray with you and for you.” Some make Sunday morning prayer before our services their priority. Others consistently attend the All Church Prayer on Tuesday evening. A few do it all, and some who can’t gather consistently still reassure us that they’re praying with us. Though we don’t see them, they share in the fruits of this prayer ministry.
Last week, we prayed for our B4 Kids and Youth, and it had an immediate effect. For example, we prayed for one student who is regularly disruptive and requires special 1-on-1 care. This child was observably calm and engaged this Sunday after we prayed last Tuesday. That’s rare. I’ve been this child’s 1-on-1 buddy numerous times, and I’ve never seen that.
That’s just one story. More are in the works as we continue to pray for B4, our Pastor, the staff, and the rest of our church. We will have much to celebrate. We have much to celebrate!
On Sunday, we baptized 23 people. To calibrate that a little, consider the national average for a typical congregation: four new baptisms per year. As Pastor Steve Mickel said last week, God is moving among us. We see healings, deliverance with freedom from besetting sin, marriages reborn, and new children of God entering His Kingdom. Pastor Steve Mickel’s encouragement hit me much like these Scriptures:
“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. (Isaiah 43:18-19)
Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask such questions. (Ecclesiastes 7:10)
One is soaked in prophetic promise, and the other is rooted in the Bible’s ancient wisdom books. Either way, God seems to understand our propensity to look backwards, to say, “We should do it like we used to.” We love to rely on the concrete things of the past. But in doing so, it’s possible to miss the breath of the Spirit.
So, let us look forward and see what God will do as we pray. This week, the focus of those prayers will be our newly baptized brothers and sisters. We will pray for them by name as the Spirit leads!
— Pastor Steve