After more than a month...

After more than a month of not having much to write about...I think I'm ready. That doesn't mean I haven't had something to talk about for a month. In fact, I just finished 5 weeks of sermons laying out what I believe God would have us focus on as a ministry. I am convinced that Jesus Christ called us to "make disciples." As a church we are going to be very intentional and strategic in our approach to making disciples and we are going to be motivated by excellence in all our efforts to the glory of God. It excites me to think about us sharpening our focus and keying in on the thing that brings God the most glory in the lives of his children - Christ likeness. We look and sound more like Christ as we mature - as we begin and continue to Worship God, Connect in the body, Serve the body and Grow in our understanding of God through His Word.

I'm convinced of another thing that we need to focus on at Haven...Prayer. I've been talking to several folks over the last few weeks about my burden for prayer at Haven. In seminary I was trained how to evaluate ministries by either their stated or unstated but assumed core values. One of the questions you would ask of a ministry being evaluated was ""Are they doing the things they say they value?" It wasn't enough to say you valued something if you were not doing it. In that line of thought, I was asking myself this question - "Do we value prayer at Haven?" The knee-jerk response might have been "Absolutely we value prayer; what kind of question is that." However, I wasn't asking if Haven believes prayer is good or if Haven believes that prayer is important. I know that every person associated with our church would agree that prayer is good and important. Yet my response was "No, we don't value prayer at Haven." My response did more to point the finger at me than anyone else. Someone has once said, "If you want to know what's important to someone, look at their checkbook register." Most folks don't use a checkbook so much anymore but I think you get the point. People spend their money on the things that are important to them. And in the same way, people spend time doing the things that are important to them. We don't spend a whole lot of time praying at Haven. Actually, we don't spend much time at all. Maybe you're praying on your own. That excites me but it doesn't let me off the hook as the leader of this local body. To my shame, I don't think I have done a good job leading Haven to value prayer. I've got to do better. I have resolved to strive for a stronger personal prayer life. I have also resolved to lead this ministry to focus on prayer. To a place on our knees before God asking Him to lead us and empower us to be and do all that He desires.

I'm trying to think of ways that we can focus more time in prayer in our worship services. As pastor, I've wanted to take time to lead us in times of prayer during our worship in song but I have allowed playing the drums with the praise team to hinder that. Not anymore. It might be odd for me to lead in prayer from a drum stool but then what could be more odd than a pastor who also plays drums on Sunday. The point is that we, as a body, need more focused prayer time on Sunday.

But I don't want us to simply stop at praying more on Sundays though. I want us to go farther to recreate a culture at Haven that says "we value prayer because we make it a priority." One way that I would like for us to begin making prayer at priority is by adjusting our Wednesday night program for the entire summer. For 13 Wednesday nights (every Wednesday in June, July & August) we will open the auditorium from 6:00 - 8:00 pm for prayer - no teaching - just prayer. During those two hours we want our folks to come and spend as much time as God leads. We don't expect anyone to come and stay the whole 2 hours. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure what to expect. I do, however, expect that God will hear us and answer us according to His perfect and holy will.

I can almost hear some of you (even my own wife) saying "What about our small kids; what are we supposed to do with them?" Honestly, I don't know. I haven't thought that far out. I think you can bring them and I think that they can watch as the family begins to value prayer in a new way. But, if that's uncomfortable I can surely understand. Who knows, someone might just pop up and say "Hey, I believe that God would like for me to commit to watching small kids on Wednesdays this summer while their parents have a chance to pray." We might even think of ways to get creative and take turns as parents. Either way, I want every family to be a part of this opportunity and we'll figure out the logistics together.

Maybe you're afraid that you'll be pressured to pray out loud. Fear not. This will be a time when you can come and go as you please with no pressure of any kind. Some folks might want to pray out loud. But you don't have to. We do want to encourage folks to pray together if they will. It would be wonderful if several folks got together as a group and just connected in prayer for the evening. But if you want to be alone that's okay too. If you want someone to pray with you or for you, we want to be able to do that too.

Here's the bottom line. I believe that God will honor our desire to make disciples. I believe that our process for discipleship is rooted in scripture and theologically sound. I believe that if God does not empower us that we will fall flat on our faces. I want Haven to succeed in ministry. I want Haven to be a sweet aroma in the nostrils of God. I believe that will only be achieved as we come humbly before Him in prayer. I'm excited about the fall but my dad use to say "Half the fun of being there is getting there." That wasn't always true then but I believe it's the absolute truth for us now. Let's be excited about being there but let's also recognize our need to get their bathed in prayer. Hope you're on board.