Pray for Prayer

I have been reading an excellent book on prayer called The Kneeling Christian by an Unknown Christian. I am barely into chapter 3 and I realize that I do not have the prayer life that I could or should have. The author refers to a man named John Hyde, whom everyone referred to as Praying Hyde. Hyde was a missionary in India who learned the value of fervent prayer.

 

The point that drives home in me is that he was already serving in India when he realized that he was not operating at full strength simply because he was not praying to the fullest of his ability. The author wrote at the beginning of chapter 3: "A preacher who prays little may see some results of his labors. But if he does, it will be because someone, somewhere, is praying for him. The fruit is the pray-er's –not the preacher's. how surprised some of us preachers will be on that day when the Lord shall 'reward every man according to his works.'"

 

My desire is to become the prayer warrior I should be. If you are reading this blog, please pray for me to be fervently devoted to prayer. I tend to value action and interaction as a means of obedience. I pray that God would foster in me the discipline of fighting on my knees!

 

Our First Worship Celebration!

Today was the very first worship service for LifeTree Church, and the days and weeks of prayer and preparation truly paid off. We had a great group of 26 people present. Kent Caperton led the worship music, and he was excellent. Kent is a real pro.

 

I had a couple of things that I felt I could improve, but on the whole I really feel like God was glorified today. We are now working towards the second Sunday in February. Keep us in your prayers.

 

The week before the week before the first worship celebration

What an incredibly busy week this has been! I have been working feverishly to get all of my writing done before next week so that I can focus on details to the setup of the worship celebration. The sermon is ready. The powerpoint is basically ready. I have talked with my worship leader and he is ready. Right now I am trying to get the family bible studies together for the next month. I don't know if anyone has ever mentioned, but church planting is A LOT of work!

 

I know that I am inviting more work for myself by writing the family bible studies myself, but I think that our core values of excellence and placing a high value on scripture mean that I should write the studies for what needs to be done rather than what I can find.

 

Speaking of finding things, I found a wonderful resource for family integrated churches. Scott Brown at Hope Baptist Church http://www.hopebaptistchurch.info/hope/Welcome.html in Wake Forest, NC has excellent articles for the family Bible study. I also like his concept of the five year discipleship plan. We are going to seriously consider implementing a similar plan at LifeTree Church.

 

January One

Last night, we had a family night as we awaited the new year. After dinner, we had a Bible Study and family prayer time. Then we played board games until 11:15. Brooke was really into the Star Wars Trivial Pursuit, Karen eventually quit. She said she just isn't dweeby enough for it.

 

Karen and Paige went to bed at 11:30. Couldn't keep their eyes open. Brooke and I stayed up till the "ball dropped," and went outside to see the fireworks. It was COLD. I pointed out constellations. Today we are having corned beef. It has been years since I had corned beef. Mainly because Karen hates corned beef. Maybe she will eat chicken fingers instead.

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