Mobilizing

Sunday we had our first official new person show up. It was kind of cheating though because I knew the guy already, but it was great to see him immediately feel welcomed and accepted. He's really excited about the group, and wants to be a part. Kind of a ceremonial beginning, but the doors are open, and we're anticipating new people starting to come.

So just in case I haven't been clear in the past, I want to be crystal clear now:

Yes, we are planting a church.

So what's the plan? Every revolution of God begins with prayer. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to disprove that statement. I’m really hard pressed to find an exception. The normal experience of the Church is to constantly bathe the advancement of the Gospel in prayer. When Jonathan Edwards reflected back on the beginning of the Great Awakening, he concluded, “When God has something very great to accomplish for his church, ’tis his will that there should precede it the extraordinary prayers of his people.”

We must make progress in our spiritual lives right now, as a church. And the truth is, prayer is the predecessor to progress in the spiritual life. Why? True prayer places us flat on our faces before the Father in the throne room of God. True prayer centers us in the presence of the King. True prayer and the presence of God are intricately linked. Where there is prayer among the people of God, there is power from the presence of God.

That’s why, you show me a thriving church and I’ll show you a praying church. You show me a powerful church in public and I’ll show you a desperate church in private. A church flat on their faces in utter helplessness before the Father who alone can provide us with all our needs, and give us the power through the Holy Spirit to walk moment by moment with Him.

Prayer is essential to the health of the church. You’re beginning to understand why this is true when you begin to understand that we have been given moment by moment access to God through Jesus. Prayer is a moment by moment encounter with the presence of God. The Gospel didn't just give us eternal life with God in the future, but right now.

So from the very beginning we are mobilizing in prayer. What we are practicing today will determine the culture of our community tomorrow. If you were out here with us, you'd see us gathering on Sundays in formal prayer, men meeting on Wednesdays to lie flat on our faces in honest heartfelt prayer, some of us walking through public praying quick silent prayers over the thousands we pass by everyday, women sitting in silence just to learn to be with God, other people studying Paul's prayers just to learn the difference between asking for bread or asking for a rock (cf. Luke 11:11-13).

Every revolution of God begins with prayer. So before schemes and programs and plans can have any chance of success, we will mobilize in prayer.

Please, we need your prayers. Would you take some time to pray for us. Ephesians 3:14-21 would be a great place to start, not only for us, but for you too!