October 2008

Vol. 5, No. 10

 
One of the best ways to rally prayer in your church is to take advantage of situations that concern people. We are currently in the midst of two such situations: the elections and the current financial crisis.

Plan some prayer times around them and see if more people than normal do not come out and participate. There are currently a number of places that have prayer ideas and resources for the elections. www.presidentialprayerteam.org has Pray the Vote suggestions, but there are others available too. Google Prayer for Elections and see what comes up.

Our webstore has several prayer guides on praying for government or finances that can be used at prayer events. Go to www.prayershop.org and click on Prayer Guides on the left toolbar. You may also want to check out a resource like Fasting for Financial Breakthrough. As prayer leaders we need to stay aware of the times and focus prayer appropriately.

Blessings,

Jon Graf
President

A Praying Pastor Leads His Church Deep Into Prayer

Phil Miglioratti interviewed Pastor Jim Nicodem, author of Prayer Coach: For All Who Want to Get off the Bench and onto the Praying Field

Q. Jim, what does the subtitle tell us about your passion in writing this book?
You're absolutely right when you refer to my book's subtitle ("For Those Who Want to Get Off the Fence and onto the Praying Field") as a reflection of my passion. I love to equip people to pray. Oftentimes when I speak on the topic of prayer, I'll begin by asking my audience: "How many of you feel that your prayer life is what it should be?" I've never seen a hand go up! Prayer is one of those spiritual disciplines that we all wish we practiced more—but somehow we never get around to doing anything about it.

I have two shelves of books on prayer in my study. Some of them are quite profound. In fact, during the year and a half that it took me to write Prayer Coach, at least half a dozen well-known Christian authors published books on prayer! So, why add another book to the list? Because I wasn't out to deepen readers' understanding about prayer, I was out to get them to pray. To actually do it.

Q. You paint vivid pictures by using many athletic illustrations and examples. While the teachings in your book apply to both genders and across generations, it seems you have a specific goal to capture the minds of men ... Why?
Before I tell you why I'm after men, let me say that I hope the athletic metaphor of my book's title, Prayer Coach, doesn't scare away any women. This isn't just a guy's book. By God's grace, I was able to get endorsements from an extremely diverse group of people: a women's softball gold medallist, a New Testament scholar, a lead singer for a Christian rock band, the founder of Promise Keepers, a high school student, a female radio talk show host, a world famous evangelist, and the "winningest" coach in college football—-to name a few. Probably the strangest mix of endorsers in publishing history. But I wanted potential readers to know that this book is for everybody who wants to pray more.

Having said that, I'm definitely after the guys. For years I've done quarterly men's breakfasts at Christ Community Church on the topic of prayer. Several hundred men show up. I know how to get men's attention. I know how to say things in a way that they will understand and put into practice. Married men often lag behind their wives when it comes to praying. Maybe we're just not as good at expressing ourselves verbally. But it's time we set the pace in our homes when it comes to prayer.

Q. Just as male readers may have some different issues than female readers, pastors (predominately male in our culture) have a specific set of circumstances and problems others do not face.
Prayer Coach is going to be of tremendous benefit to pastors for at least a couple of very significant reasons. First, it's the tool that pastors have been looking for to disciple others in praying. Most of the guys that I mentor in small groups—businessmen and tradesmen, alike—aren't going to read the really profound books on prayer. They're looking for something that's much more practical. Something that's just a little bit butt-kicking, too.

For over twenty years I've been giving away copies of Bill Hybels' Too Busy Not to Pray—-the most practical book available on prayer. I finally decided it was time to write an updated version! Pastors (I hope) are going to be regularly handing out copies of Prayer Coach, as well as encouraging their churches' small groups to use it as a curriculum.

Second, pastors are going to personally benefit from Prayer Coach because there is an entire chapter in the book that challenges readers to pray for those in spiritual leadership (especially pastors!) and explains how to do it. There are almost a hundred men at Christ Community Church who have formally signed on to be my prayer partners. They are not only committed to interceding for me throughout the week, they also pray on rotating teams while I am preaching at our weekend services.

Q. You identify several normal situations, such as feeling anger or joy and struggling with temptation or anxiety, as actual promptings for prayer from the Spirit. Really? It seems we should take a fresh look at how the Spirit leads and guides us in prayer beyond using the written Word of God.
We miss so many opportunities to pray in the course of every day. Opportunities that God's Spirit is prompting us to take advantage of. I tell the story, in Prayer Coach, of a recent occasion when I was in danger of missing a connecting flight on a missions trip, along with a couple dozen people from my church. We had to claim our bags, go through customs, and then re-check them for the next flight. But there wasn't enough time to get all this done. So, being the take-charge guy that I am, I began strategizing ways to "fix" things (from bribing a customs official to give us a quick pass, to pleading with the airlines to hold our next flight).

All of a sudden it dawned on me that I ought to try praying! Less than half a minute after I said "amen," an airlines representative announced that we could take our time because our next flight had been delayed! The Spirit is constantly trying to get our attention so that we'll pray. We've got to learn how to discern and respond to those promptings.

Q. Talk about your approach to what some call Prayer Evangelism.
Prayer is a huge part of evangelism. And that explains why the vast majority of Christ followers have never introduced a lost friend to the Savior. Prayerlessness cripples our outreach. We don't just need better training or tools for sharing our faith. We need to start praying for those who need Christ.

I like to teach believers how to pray the "3-Open" prayer (a pattern I learned from somebody else). This is a prayer that's to be prayed while we're in conversation with others. Now, my wife is constantly chiding me for my inability to multi-task. (For example, I can't fold laundry and watch a ballgame at the same time. Guys, are you with me?) But in this case we must do two things simultaneously. We must learn how to talk to God while we're talking to others.

First, we pray for an open door, that God will move the conversation to spiritual matters. Next, we pray for an open mouth, for boldness and clarity in speaking about Christ. Finally, we pray for an open heart, that the one we're talking with will respond positively to what we share. I've had some amazing conversations with seekers as a result of praying the 3-Open prayer.

Q. You've put a new spin on the ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) format for praying. Explain how this approach is both similar and yet importantly different.
I was taught, years ago, to use the acronym A-C-T-S when praying. This reminded me to include adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication when I prayed. But I always struggled with that acronym. For starters, I could never remember it. What does ACTS have to do with praying? And then there was that word, supplication—-I had no idea what it meant. Finally, on those occasions when I felt the need to begin my prayers with confession, I realized that I was reconfiguring the acronym to spell CATS—-ugh!

So, I prefer a different acronym: C-H-A-T. Confess, honor, ask, and thank are four action verbs that I understand and that bring balance to my prayer life. CHAT reminds me to talk to God. And putting the "C" (confess) at the beginning of my prayers helps me restore sin-broken fellowship with God before trying to hold a conversation with him.

There is a separate chapter on each of these four aspects of prayer in Prayer Coach. I've heard from those I pastor over the years that the "honor" ("praise" or "worship") part of praying is the hardest. One guy told me that when he closes the weekly small group he leads by inviting the men to "praise God for who he is," the room becomes uncomfortably quiet. Nobody knows what to say. Once again, this is exactly why I've written this book. It's filled to the brim with practical instructions that will get people praying.

Q. Regarding confession, you quote McMinn: "Part of our mess is not knowing we are a mess." How does that apply to our typical confessional prayers. Any special insight for how pastors need to apply this thought?
So much of our confessing barely scratches the surface of our sin. It reminds me of one of the household rules we had as our kids were growing up. Everybody had to have a clean room. But "clean" meant something different for our kids than it did for their mom. So, while the kids kept things picked up, in a general sort of way, mom would occasionally invade their territory and give their rooms a thorough going over.

In Prayer Coach, I use Psalm 51 to teach how to confess sins in an in-depth fashion. How to get at the sins behind the sins. How to come away truly clean and fully restored.

Q. "Get ready to pray 'cause we do a lot of it around here" was the warning a new staff member received as they joined your staff. Many pastors, of congregations large or small, traditional or contemporary, struggle to develop an authentic prayer culture in all the systems and structures of their church. How did you do it? Any wisdom on how to begin?
We do a lot of praying around Christ Community Church. Let me give you just a couple of examples of ways in which this has contributed to a prayer culture. (And, by the way, isn't it interesting to note that Jesus referred to the worship center of his day as a "house of prayer"—-not a house of preaching, or a house of evangelism.)

First, our ministry staff members (about thirty of our overall staff) meet twice a week for an hour of prayer. We share the major ministry challenges we're facing (in twenty minutes or less, leaving plenty of time to pray), break into groups of three (so everyone is actively participating), and pray fervently. It's a noisy room! In over twenty years, Christ Community has never experienced a major split or a mass exodus. Prayer has wonderfully united our leadership team.

Second, we pray throughout leadership meetings. Not just at the beginning and at the end. If there are several items on the elder agenda, for example, we'll cover one or two of them, and then stop, break into small groups, and pray for twenty minutes or so. Then we'll cover a couple more items, stop again, break into small groups, and pray some more. On and on it goes. It seems like such a small thing, I almost hesitate to mention it. But it's a huge departure from the typical pattern of debating issues for two hours and then quickly closing in a brief word of prayer (which everyone is too tired to participate in).

I could say so much more on this score, Phil, about the prayer culture at Christ Community Church. Hopefully, I've said enough to motivate pastors to pick up a copy of Prayer Coach.

Q. Jim, please wirte a prayer that you would hope others, especially pastors and leaders, would pray from their heart about getting off the bench and onto the field of pray.

Lord, forgive us for our prayerlessness. Forgive us for doing life and ministry in the strength of the flesh when you have offered to supernaturally empower us-—if we will only pray. Help those of us in leadership to become role models in this regard. Help us to train moms and dads to pray for their kids, believers to pray for their lost friends, church members to pray for those in spiritual leadership and for persecuted brothers and sisters around the world.

There is only one thing, Lord Jesus, which your disciples ever asked you to teach them. "Teach us to pray," they requested, after observing you at prayer. That's our request, today: "Jesus, teach us to pray!"

Pragmatic Praying…An Oxymoron?

By Dennis Conner

From the very outset of my “born again” journey with the Lord, my mind and my heart were unified in wanting the gospel message and living results to be “practical” in everyday application; not just nice--or even pithy--little “spiritual” sayings! Perhaps it was based on my longtime “athletic” background where the prevailing mentality could be coined in the statement: “Success” comes before “work” only in the dictionary!

Years later, as I became more and more involved in praying, again I desired for my prayer life to be pragmatic. Not merely high and lofty words, but from a perspective that is mindful of the practical matter for which I am praying. I wanted to be rooted in the faith God gives each person who is willing to believe Him to answer prayer. (Hebrews 11:6)

What about your prayer-life? Is it “faith-based” and practical or is this an oxymoron?

At first, I pondered whether my prayers could be both faith-based and practical, until I began reflecting back--with the help of the Holy Spirit--over my Christian walk. I began recalling just how practical God has been in His dealings with me; sometimes in matters that I have prayed about, and other times in providing answers to things going-on in my life that I had not even prayed about yet (Isaiah 65:24).

For example, when I consider the myriad of biblical names of God--each one reflecting a uniquely different characteristic of Who He is and/or what He does--I always tend to pause as I come to the name: Shepherd (Psalm 23:1, Jehovah-raah).

I have not grown up amid fields of sheep with shepherds leading them. But just reading about that relationship has enabled me to recognize the magnitude of responsibility a shepherd has with a flock of sheep. Their very survival is dependent upon the character and competency of the shepherd they follow.

In my almost forty years now of following Jesus Christ as my Shepherd, I have consistently experienced Him faithfully providing me with the very thing every sheep needs from his shepherd:

1. Direction
2. Protection
3. Provision

As each day ends, I find myself--compelled by love--praising and thanking the Lord for proving the truth of His Word again, through His:

Directing my steps (Proverbs 16:9) through the doors of opportunities that He--not me-- had opened; and to the people that He wanted me to meet, as part of His plan for my life and purpose (Jeremiah 29:11).

Protecting me (Psalms 91:4) from being injured--physically, emotionally, spiritually--due to my own or someone else’s wrong decision (Proverbs 14:12) or via schemes of the devil seeking to hurt me (John 10:10a).

Providing me with everything I have need of (Philippians 4:19); and, often times, even beyond what I had prayed and hoped for (Ephesians 3:20).

Yes, the Lord is my Shepherd, and I will be forever grateful! Not only because of the spiritual rewards that await me in heaven, but also because God has proven over and over how “practical” His Word is, which encourages me continuously to pray more and more for the “spiritual” issues I or someone I am praying for faces. This understanding is especially helpful for me as I face “spiritual warfare” issues and recognize that my weapons for battle are unlike normal war weapons (2 Corinthians 10:3-5), and require even more faith-based and practical “strategic” praying.

I have come to realize that voicing a faith-based and practical prayer is NOT an oxymoron; but rather, the blessing of the Lord. We live for and serve a God who purposely chose to leave heaven and walk among us, in order that His life experiences on earth might relate to our own experiences (Hebrews 4:15); and from His victory over death, our prayers are both spiritual and practical! 

--Dennis Conner, along with his wife, Betty Jo, is the director of member relations for the CPLN. He and Betty Jo are also southwestern regional reps for the CPLN and head up a ministry, Called to Serve.

A Sure Fire Catalyst for Prayer

By Jon Graf

Prayer leaders and pastors often ask me, “What one prayer idea seems to be the most effective at getting the most people in a church praying?” There are a lot of effective prayer ideas these days—but each seems to bring a different result.

But when the question is “which idea is most effective at getting the most people praying,” the answer is easy: doing an all-church prayer initiative. 

What is a prayer initiative? It is when everyone prays on the same theme over a set period of time—often a week, month or 40 days. Since it is for a manageable time period, if promoted properly within a church, a prayer initiative often inspires even those who don’t regularly pray about church issues to do so.

Many denominations have annual initiatives such as a Week of Prayer. Churches often use prayer initiatives prior to a building or development campaign. Missions groups have been using them for years (Praying through the Window, 30 Days of Prayer for the Muslim World, etc.) Why? Because if they are supported by the leadership of a church and are promoted well, nothing rallies more people to prayer than an initiative.

The Benefits

What are the benefits of prayer initiatives?

1. They teach people to pray biblically. Most prayer initiatives offer great prayer guides, with powerful, kingdom prayers that are based upon Scripture. So people are not left to their own abilities to think what should I pray? They are given clear direction. And that puts people at ease. The Scriptures also make sure they pray God’s will. As a result, they learn to “pray better.”

2. It provides a season of strong corporate prayer in a church. When praying through an initiative there is a lot of agreement taking place, which Scripture reminds us brings results (Mt. 18:18-20). Powerful corporate prayer brings results—CrossPoint Church is a clear example of how God responds when a church takes prayer seriously. Another small-town church that participated in Seek God for the City (see Featured Resource) a number of years ago saw its congregation double (from 30 to 60) in a few months’ time.

3. It increase participation in the ongoing prayer life of the church. A number of people will get so excited by what God did to them spiritually, that they will continue to pray for and with the church afterwards. Churches that provide and promote additional prayer opportunities following an initiative will see a raise in participation.

As prayer leaders we often struggle to increase our church’s prayer energy. I firmly believe that an initiative can provide the quickest jump start available. It can revolutionize your church!

--Jonathan Graf is the president of the Church Prayer Leaders Network. A popular speaker on prayer, Jon is available for weekend prayer conferences. You can contact him at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .

Five Powerful Initiatives for Your Church

There are a number of very good initiatives available for churches to rally their people toward prayer. Many denominations prepare annual initiatives, but if you are not a part of a group that provides a prayer initiative, you can either prepare your own (see Jacquie Tyre's article below) or we suggest one of the following:

1. Come, Lord Jesus by Prayer Transformation Ministries. This is a year-long, daily guide that focuses on Jesus Christ. Your people will go on an incredible journey of exploration as they pray the characteristic of Jesus into their lives. $3.00 each. Click here for more information.

2. 40 Days of Prayer. A complete campaign that uses the popular Love to Pray devotional by Alvin VanderGriend. This can be done as thoroughly or simply as a church would desire. Everything to help you plan is included in a 40 Days Resource Kit. Click here for more information.

3. Asleep in the Land of Nod , a 30-day prayer devotional that focuses on revival in the church. Written by Dave Butts, the chairman of America's Naitonal Prayer Committee and a man whose heart longs to see God revive His church, this simple guide will get your people's hearts open to more of God in their lives. $6.00 each, with quantity discounts starting at 2 copies. Click here for more information.

4. Seek God for the City . This annual prayer initiative is held for forty days prior to Palm Sunday. It has powerful scripture-based things to pray for your church, community, nation and the world. Available at www.waymakers.org .

5. Ready for Revival . Written by Jacquie Tyre and produced by Pray! Books, this simple 40-day guide is designed to soften people's hearts to surrender in a deeper way to Jesus Christ. Click here for more information. $6.00 each. Click here for more information.

Setting All-Church Prayer in Motion

By Jacquie Tyre

“Hear ye! Hear ye! Starting next month City Community Church will embark upon a new and exciting ministry. Prepare now to be a part and see the blessings of God pour out through this new work!”

“Prepare now . . . ?” How do I do that?

Does this scenario sound familiar to you? Whether you are a pastor, lay leader, or member of a congregation, opportunities for church-wide involvement come along almost weekly. We usually think of roles like teaching, serving, greeting, gathering or preparing supplies, contacting people, set-up, or clean-up as ways to be involved. But what about mobilizing people to pray before, during, and after the event?

Such moments within church life are optimum times to initiate a new emphasis on prayer. Whether it’s an outreach event, a new ministry focus, a stewardship campaign, a sermon series, or a citywide call for evangelism, this can be an opportunity to engage your congregation in purposeful, strategic prayer. How? By developing or using an existing all-church prayer initiative.

What’s an all-church prayer initiative? It is a plan where an entire congregation (or multiple congregations in a city or nation) are all praying on the same theme for a set period of time (often one week, a month, or 40 days, though it can be any length of time that suits your church). Prayer guides are developed to provide content for a congregation to pray together. Praying through the Window and Pray! World are two initiatives that may be familiar to you. The most popular prayer initiative available today is Seek God for the City, which runs 40 days prior to Palm Sunday each year.

Why hold a prayer initiative? Aside from the tremendous blessing of God that is released when the body prays together, prayer initiatives provide a number of benefits to a congregation. First, they bring a sense of unity in purpose. Second, they will have a long-range effect on the corporate prayer life of your church. Each time an initiative is held, a number of your people will get excited about prayer and will continue to participate in prayer opportunities after the initiative is over. You will see your ongoing prayer ministries grow following an initiative.

How do you do an initiative? It’s not difficult! All you need is a focus, a person who is willing to pray and listen for the Holy Spirit’s direction and communicate it to the congregation, and a pastor who will encourage and support the initiative.

Our Story

A few years ago, our church began a stewardship campaign to raise funds to construct a new sanctuary, fellowship hall, and education space. Our goal was to have 25 percent of the total cost in hand before beginning construction. Wisely, the stewardship committee told us that our prayers for the project would provide the foundation for success.

Teams were set up to oversee the various aspects of the campaign, including hospitality, printing, information meetings, publicity, and prayer. The prayer team set to work to develop and distribute a stewardship prayer focus that would match the campaign theme, “Growing Up Together . . . In Step with God.”

For several weeks, the weekly church bulletin included a prayer focus insert with an introductory teaching, Scripture, application, and prayer point for each day. We also listed specific prayer requests related to the overall project. Our primary emphasis was not on raising money, but on growing in grace and maturity as people of God. We asked Him to prepare our hearts to obey the Holy Spirit’s leading when the time came to make our pledges of finances and service.

The stewardship campaign concluded successfully, with a higher than expected percentage of participation. Actual giving exceeded the pledges made! But perhaps more important was that our people grew in prayer, both personally and corporately, and we took steps to “grow up together . . . in step with God.”

Throughout this time, our pastor and church leaders used parts of the prayer initiative in a variety of ways: for the pastoral prayer, during corporate prayer times, in announcements, and testifying answers to prayer. During this prayer initiative, we found that corporate prayer agreement increased within the congregation. As we followed the prayer emphasis for the week in our personal prayer times, the Holy Spirit wove a beautiful tapestry of insight, revelation, and understanding when we came together for prayer.

How to Begin

A number of prayer guides are available to help you mobilize people to pray. However, developing your own program that focuses on the needs of your congregation often provides the relevance that sparks prayer. Here are some action steps for developing a prayer-mobilizing initiative for your congregation. While an individual can do this alone, working with a team has tremendous benefits. If you are working alone, make sure you seek out people who will honestly critique what you are developing during the process.

1. Pray. Seek the Lord’s timing, wisdom, and favor on what to do. Then proceed with faith and assurance that He loves to hear His people praying.

2. Contact your pastor, or the designated prayer leader, and discuss the idea. Any church-wide prayer initiative must have the approval and participation of the church leadership to be a success. Without it, the core pray-ers will engage, but the majority will not be mobilized effectively.

3. Choose an emphasis. For your first effort, consider something that has broad appeal or impact. Big events like vacation Bible school, backyard clubs, youth missions trips, or outreach events are great starters. Seasons of the year also work well (begin an initiative in January, before Easter, or Christmas). Or develop an initiative around a sermon series. As your pastor preaches through Ephesians, for example, an initiative that has your congregation praying through Ephesians at the same time would be a powerful experience.

4. Decide how long the initiative should last. One week is probably too short, and more than three months, too long. We have found that four to six weeks works well.

5. Choose a biblical theme or key Scripture. As much as you can develop your prayer initiative around Scripture, the more long-term benefits your congregation will reap. Learning to pray Scripture will not only mobilize prayer, but will foster prayer discipleship and understanding.

6. Pray over the theme or Scripture that’s chosen. As you pray, the Holy Spirit will release insight and direction for how to communicate the initiative.

7. Start writing the initiative, seeking the Lord’s guidance. The first words are the toughest to write every time. The more you write, the easier the words will flow. Remember, you are simply defining a place of initiation to get people praying—you are not providing all they will pray.

8. Submit your work to the appropriate church leaders well in advance of your deadline for publishing. Allow plenty of time to accommodate busy staff, last-minute corrections, and printing.

9. Pray as the finished project is released to the congregation. Pray that the Holy Spirit will take the initiative and multiply His purposes among the people, for His glory and the advancement of His kingdom.

10. Take advantage of the heightened interest in prayer. Once a specific prayer initiative concludes, it is sometimes a struggle to keep people engaged. We found that continuing to provide intentional opportunities for prayer (in small groups and for the entire congregation), as well as encouragement and reminders, keep the fires burning. Use this opportunity to remind people of the ongoing prayer opportunities your church has. Highlight each one during the last Sunday morning service of the initiative, or the Sunday just following.

Prayer initiatives can launch your congregation into an experience of joy in God’s house. I have seen a number of churches whose prayer foundation was greatly increased due to an initiative. Start seeking God today to see if He might have something special for your congregation, through a prayer initiative.

About the Author

Jacquie Tyre is the president and founder of Kairos Transformation Ministries and the Georgia State Coordinator the National Day of Prayer. Her prayer initiatives, Ready for Revival: A 40-Day Heart Journey Toward the Fullness of Christ and The Jabez Prayer Guide   (Pray! Books) have been used by thousands.