November 4, 2002
ANOTHER VIEW:
Impact churches' spiritual vitality: Pray for their pastors
___By Bubba Stahl
___Our church had been steadily growing for a number of years and we were about to enter into a building program. I had only been a pastor for about 12 years and had never led a church in a building program. As we began preparing for the fund-raising stage, I decided to go on a three-day prayer retreat. My idea was to pray about asking a group of pastors who had been through a building program to pray for me. Who better to ask to pray for you than those who had already been through the experience?
___I had heard many horror stories about the problems that churches had during building programs. To avoid those problems, I thought asking others to pray for me would be the thing to do. I wanted to pray about who I should ask to pray for me and thought for sure God would reveal a list of names for me to call and enlist to pray. The idea sounded so spiritual, but nothing happened.
___For two days, I p
rayed, confessed, sang, confessed, read the Bible and confessed even more, but got no list. I went back as far as my junior high years, knowing there must be some sin I had overlooked, but still nothing. I did not understand. Asking people to pray for you is in the Bible. Paul had asked people to pray for him. Even Jesus had asked the disciples to pray for him in the Garden of Gethsemane, but I was not getting a list of names to pray for me.
___Finally, I asked God, "Why am I not hearing from you on this request?" His answer surprised me: "Why don't you give what you need?" I remembered preaching that very thing many times, loudly. God also reminded me prayer is a stewardship, and many, many people had prayed and were praying for me, and he wanted me to share out of that reservoir of prayer by praying for others. So I asked, "Do you want me to pray for other pastors?"
___"Yes."
___"Who?"
___In about 40 seconds, I had a list of 30! It was amazing. Names came so fast I could hardly write them down--pastors I had known in areas around our state and some in other states, pastors in other countries I had met on mission trips, retired pastors and seminary students all came to mind. Pastors of large churches and small churches, pastors of my denomination and other denominations were all given as fast as I could write. It did not seem to matter to God whether the pastors were of a particular age, church size, denomination or on what side of denominational issues they happened to be. I was to pray for them.
___The rest of my retreat was spent praying for these men, for their families and for their church families, asking God to give them his Spirit, his words and his wisdom. I asked God to protect their families and to bless them with spiritual strength and fruit. I prayed for their churches, asking the Lord to give them unity, peace and the awareness of his presence.
___I asked, "How often should I pray for them?"
___God said: "You know how hard it is on Sunday mornings. Pray for them early on Sunday mornings."
___ I said, "Lord, I usually do last-minute work on my sermon early Sunday morning."
___God said, "That will be easy to change."
___ I arranged my list according to different geographic areas and decided to pray for three or four each day, which allowed me to work through the list every week to 10 days. I also pray for all of them every Sunday morning and occasionally will send them a prayergram, letting them know they are being prayed for.
___The ministry of praying for other pastors has been one of my most fulfilling and satisfying experiences. I have had ongoing correspondence with many of these pastors over the years. At conferences and conventions when one of them would be preaching, I would be overwhelmed with gratitude that God had allowed me to be involved with him in prayer. There have been occasions when God gave me the opportunity to pray with some of these pastors. Some have shared prayer requests over the years. Some have moved to new churches; others have retired. A few have gone to be with the Lord. My list has changed some over the years and has now grown to over 100. Many of the original 30 are still on the list.
___God has shown me that by praying for these pastors he has allowed me to be a part of their ministries and their churches' ministries. Prayer is the foundation of all ministry and is not limited by time or space. Our prayers will outlast us and are far-reaching. Jesus taught us in the model prayer to pray for others with the important little words "our," "us" and "we." Who better to pray for pastors than pastors?
___As a result of this ministry, our church's prayer ministry has grown. We pray for the teachers in our school district, the men and women who wear a badge, people who sit in "our" pew and section of the worship center and for all of the weekly ministries of the church. Over two-thirds of our weekly average attendance of all ages is personally involved in the prayer ministry.
___One of these prayer ministries is called the 2 Chronicles 7:14 prayer ministry. About 40 people commit to fast and pray one day a month for pastors and churches in our area, state, nation and world. They are given a list of four churches to pray for each month with prayergrams to send. God has allowed our church to be involved in over 500 churches and their pastors' lives through the 2 Chronicles 7:14 prayer ministry. We are praying that the spiritual salt and light of these pastors and churches would become strong and stout and drive back the spiritual darkness and decay in their communities. All this and more is the result of God's simple answer, "Why don't you give what you need?"
___What about you? Would you be willing to ask God to give you a list of pastors to pray for regularly? Would you be willing to give those early morning hours to God in prayer for pastors who are feeling the spiritual struggle as they prepare for battle? Would you be willing to lift their families and church families up in prayer, asking God to pour out his blessings on them even though they are not in "your" denomination or on the same "side" of denominational issues? Are you willing to give what you need? You have a great reservoir of prayer to draw from, and prayer is a stewardship. As you pray every day and especially on Sunday, pray for "your" pastors.
___Bubba Stahl is pastor of First Baptist Church in Boerne
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