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Pastor's Page

Posted on February 22, 2008 ...

     The church has some similarities with many other non-religious entities. These parallels include things like buildings, budgets, leadership, structure, and policies. But one of the practices that certainly separates the church from other organizations is the role of prayer. Almost all of our gatherings include times of prayer. Our Sunday worship times typically feature four or five moments of prayer. Bible studies and Discipleship classes routinely open and close in prayer. Committee meetings and staff meetings begin with a word of prayer. And we have several gatherings each week primarily devoted to the practice of prayer. While prayer times are frequent, Jesus warned that prayers should never become mere repetition of empty words: But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions... Matthew 6:7a Instead, our prayers are to be sincere appeals for God's help and guidance. No great advancement of the church has occurred without an emphasis upon prayer.

       Denton Lotz, recently retired General Secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, compared prayer to a magnifying glass concentrating all the rays of the sun on a particular spot. In a similar way, prayer concentrates the concerns of God's people on a particular person, place, or cause.
     Today I want to feature a couple of places our church can concentrate our prayer concerns. First, our Student Ministry's annual DiscipleNow Weekend will take place next week on February 29-March 2. Dozens of adults are helping in this event by opening their homes, being chaperones, and providing meals. One method of involving even MORE folks is through a prayer-vigil. We simply need people to sign up for a 30-minute time slot for some time during DiscipleNow. The goal is to have someone praying for DiscipleNow the entire time the event is occurring. You can sign up on the master list that is kept in the Welcome Center or by calling the church office.
      Another prayer ministry opportunity involves our partnership with Ocoee Middle School. I am asking individuals to take the name of a faculty member and covenant to pray for that person for the remainder of this school year. You will also receive an email address for that individual. You can then email him or her in order to introduce yourself, share that he/she is in your prayers, and invite this person to email back any specific prayer requests he or she may have.
     Please join me also in praying for our ministries this Sunday. Jay