CONFERENCE EVENTS
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PRAYER FOR YOUR CHURCH
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Youth Workers
Lord, I lift up our Youth Workers. Let these young men and women set an example in their speech, life, love, faith and purity. Cause them to be strong, alive-in-the-Word overcomers. Help them to have discernment as they deal with the young people in our church. Help them to notice any youth who lacks judgment so they can teach them to value Your life-giving principles. Pour out Your Spirit on them. (1 Tim. 4:12; 1 Jn 2:14; Prov. 3:21, 7:7; 7:2; Joel 2:28)
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Home  November 2005 Taking It from the Top
By Sandy Mayle
Prayer is already a priority at First Alliance Church in Erie, Pennsylvania. The first of our eight core values as a church is “Prayer is the first work.” But as four of us traveled to our first-ever CPLN prayer conference, we anticipated the discovery of ways to help our church more fully live out this goal.
The Empowered Conference (June 2005) in Minnesota, did not disappoint. It was there we learned to identify our most vital prayer asset! We did not understand how integral this asset has been to the prayer life of our church.
The programs we have implemented to “make prayer the first work” are
varied. Our Pastor’s Prayer Partners group prays with the pastor,
prayerwalks the building, and intercedes during worship services each
Sunday. After each service, elders make themselves available for anyone
who wants to receive prayer. Senior Pastor Rick Crocker leads an
early-morning prayer gathering each Monday, Wednesday and Friday. And
“Prayer Warriors: Kids Stormin’ the Gates” is our active children’s
prayer ministry.
Urgent requests are communicated through a prayer chain. An inviting
prayer room is maintained. An annual prayer seminar provides a weekend
of motivation and instruction, and a semiannual Day of Prayer combines
silence and meditation with corporate prayer and sharing.
Inspired by the Kansas City House of Prayer model, two of our young men
shared a vision for a 24/7 Prayer Initiative. When 360 people signed up
to pray through the month of May, the Prayer Team immediately made
plans for a similar initiative in the fall.
These programs helped us to make prayer the first work—but it wasn’t
until we listened to keynote speakers and workshop leaders at Empowered
that we discovered why they have been successful. Amazingly, it was not
a resource we had purchased, a program we had implemented, or a concept
we taught. We had this all along, and didn’t realize how blessed we’ve
been. e have a praying senior pastor.
“We take it for granted,” admits Prayer Team leader Karen Brumagin,
“but I’m thrilled to have Pastor Rick as a mentor and co-laborer with
us on the Prayer Team. It’s a joy to have a committee meeting knowing
you’ll have support from the top down.”
The young men who implemented the 24/7 Prayer Initiative, Andy Wood and
Marco Pazmino, worked closely with our senior pastor. “Pastor Rick was
extremely helpful,” says Andy. “We’re younger and more naďve, and he
showed us things we hadn’t thought of, and gave valuable advice in
making the process [of coming to the Prayer Room] convenient for
people.”
Support from the pastor hasn’t always been there. Five years ago, Rick
found himself wandering in a spiritual desert, lacking power and joy.
He finally took a month-long sabbatical and traveled to New Mexico for
a spiritual retreat. The days passed in continual, discouraging dryness
until the Lord delivered a clear and unforgettable rebuke: “This
retreat isn’t about you. It’s about Me. You have been in ministry for
11 years, and you haven’t given Me the time of day.” It was a turning
point in Rick’s ministry.
“That time away was crucial.” Rick remembers. “God showed me that my
dryness was due to my prayerlessness. As I realized this and endeavored
to correct it, I began to experience the joy and peace of walking
intimately with God.
“Now prayer is my vital link to God—personally, as a child of God, and
also as a pastor/undershepherd. I realize that [prayer] is vital to
individual believers and to the congregation as well, and should be the
foundation stone upon which we build all other ministries.”
It was after that retreat, that he initiated the Prayer Room and
founded the early-morning prayer gatherings. He oversees the Prayer
Team, attends meetings and is actively involved in all Prayer Team
ministry.
“I stay involved because I believe that the whole idea of a life of
prayer is more easily caught than taught. As people see leaders living
out the life of prayer and witness the power and joy that results from
an intimate walk with the Lord, they’ll understand that prayer is key,
and it will be something they want.”
Pastor Rick intentionally chooses to stay involved. In fact, when the
restructuring of our church is completed, prayer will be the only
ministry team out of 42 for which Rick will have direct responsibility.
“I’m guarding that pretty jealously,” he says, “because I believe it’s
so crucial. We pastors have often delegated the ministry of prayer to
other people—sometimes capable, talented people—but in doing so we
delegate away an important responsibility.”
He builds his priorities on a firm biblical foundation. In Acts 6:1-4,
leaders of the New Testament church faced growth and conflict. Fearing
the fragmentation of their ministry, the Twelve called for the
appointment of godly leaders to relieve them of all but two
responsibilities: “We will give our attention to prayer and the
ministry of the word.”
Consequently, Pastor Rick concludes, “Out of all the things God calls
me to do as a pastor, two things are most vital: sound teaching and
preaching, and encouraging people to a life of prayer.”
Our delegates returned from Empowered with a variety of books, CD’s and
prayer aids. We have fresh vision and new ideas. But the most valuable
thing we acquired is a new appreciation for the vital resource we had
taken for granted all along: a praying senior pastor.
--Sandy Mayle is a prayer leader, a freelance writer, and a frequent contributor to Pray!
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