Archive for prayer

Teacher’s New Year Prayer

My Mother went to her heavenly home on February 27, 2016. She taught an Adult Sunday School Class at First Baptist Church Lexington, Tennessee for fifty-two years. Here is a poem that she wrote entitled “A Teacher’s New Year Prayer.”

Give Us, dear Lord, throughout the New Year
A sense of your presence each day
May we trust that you are here with us
And will be each step of the way.


Help us, dear Lord, to be patient and kind
When things seem to go the wrong way
May we seek your wisdom in each circumstance
And trust you to guide what we say.


Bless us, dear Lord, with your Spirit of Love
Give us love for each student we teach
And may in our lives they see Jesus
And in us see His love and His peace.


Thank you, dear Lord, for the privilege we have
Of knowledge and truth to impart
May we make a difference in lives this year
As we teach from our head and our heart.


Nell Miller

Making prayer a priority

How many times have you heard or maybe even said, “There is nothing else to do but pray.” In reality, shouldn’t it be the first thing we do?

A couple of days ago, I was putting some new books on my shelf. I turned my back for a second, and the books started falling like dominos. That’s when I realized I had forgotten to put the bookend back.

How often do you do the same thing in your life? You treat prayer like a forgotten bookend by beginning or ending with prayer but find you are way too distracted to spend quality time with God talking and listening.

When I went through cancer, I learned that one of the most humbling things is having to depend on others. But as children of God, we are totally dependent on Him for our justification, sanctification, glorification, and every single breath we take.

The Apostle Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18, “Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

When we spend little time with God, we are implying, “I can handle things.” When we talk to God in the name of our Lord, the door to the throne of God is opened up. 

When you pray, your conversation with God should be filled with passion both for Him and for:

  • Those in our groups
  • Those who are lost
  • Our family and friends
  • God to show us how we can move from isolation to innovation in a pandemic environment 
  • God to reveal ways we can serve those who have needs

Never stop praying. We should always delight in spending time conversing with our Father.

Take time to teach those in your Sunday School class or group how to pray as part of your discipleship.

Written by Rick Hughes, Groups Sr. Consultant/Coach, North Carolina Baptist Convention

How Do We Effectively Gather Prayer Lists?

Missy was the class prayer leader for the Next Stage of Joy (Empty Nesters) class in our church. Each week she took pride in asking for prayer requests at the beginning of the class and then leading us in a guided prayer for these people. Before long, 20 minutes of the class time was being taken just for gathering names and praying, and Missy realized that was taking too much of the Bible study time away from John, our teacher. So, she decided to find some creative ways to gather the names of the people for which we needed to pray.

First, Missy handed out a list each week on a clipboard and asked people to add any names and reasons for their addition to the prayer list. (Missy was very sensitive to the fact that not everyone wanted the details of their health condition or special requests made known to everyone. So she encouraged people to be sensitive as they wrote reasons down. She urged people to share a reason without breaking anyone’s confidence or violate the HEPA laws. Yes, she had to explain the HEPA laws several times.) Then, she took that list and made copies for everyone in the class. At the end, she called attention to the names and encouraged people to pray for these people throughout the week. Missy now had the challenge of keeping the choir members up to date with these requests. The choir members would leave about five minutes before the class was over. And of course, she always hoped John left her at least a few minutes. Prayer seemed very rushed.

After an emphasis on prayer in the church body, she developed a bulletin board in the room that was called our “Prayer Board.” On the board, she divided the board into seven days of the week. And for each day of the week, she had headings — Monday – Family/Church Health Concerns, Tuesday – Outreach Opportunities/Ministry Projects, Wednesday – Pastor and Staff and Teacher, Thursday – Missionaries, Friday – Witnessing Opportunities, Saturday – College Students/Children/Grandchildren. She developed a pocket of index cards that she kept on the bulletin board. As people walked in, she would always ask people to update the board with requests under each category. People would then fill out the index card and place the name or situation under each category. As she began, almost everything listed was under Family/Church Health Concerns, but after about three months, people had placed needs under every category. Each week, she would make sure she took a picture of the board and sent it to every person by email or postal mail. People could use it as part of their prayer time each day.

Someone also taught Missy how to use the computer to keep an updated prayer list. She was very nervous about this one because of security issues. Still, she finally got to the point where she created a Facebook group that she designated as a secret group. With all the security settings checked off to make sure only people in the class could be members of the group, she encouraged people to share prayer requests through the Facebook group. Then each day, she posted a prayer that acknowledged the particular needs of the day. Missy learned how to post a Facebook Live video of the prayer requests and created a template that people could record their answers to prayer. People were slow to use the group at first, but now the group creates lively discussions of prayer needs for health, job, family, witnessing opportunities, leaders, and other areas. Each Sunday, Missy points people to the Facebook group for prayer requests and prayer time. John now even has more time to lead the Bible study, and people are still encouraged and held up in prayer.

Missy says she continues to find new ways to keep up with prayer requests and opportunities. One of the things we in the class know is that Missy will keep prayer before us. We lift up each other, the church, and our mission opportunities all the time!

Written by Ken Kessler, Coaching Network Director/Northern Seminary Liaison, Baptist General Association of Virginia

What about Students and Kids?

I was recently reading “It begins with Prayer” by Dwayne McCrary of LifeWay. It made me start wondering why students and kids have been left out of the equation when it comes to ministry. We include them in the group to reach and teach them but far too many times we as disciples of Jesus exclude them in the work of ministry. Is this a result of lack of trust or possibly the lack of intentional effort in making disciples? We as a church have made the Great Commission, Matthew 28:19, a classroom experience instead of practical application. You see, the thrust and the emphasis in this verse of scripture is MAKE and you do this AS YOU GO. One of the greatest ways to learn is by doing. This is what Jesus did! As He lived His life He brought along 12 others and taught them how to love God and love others. Jesus poured out His life into His disciples and He has called us to do the very same thing.

I’ve heard so many churches say the Youth are the future of the church, but we know the correct response is they are the church now if they have put their faith and trust in Christ. Maybe the reason so many teens stop coming to church after High School is because we have excluded them in the very thing that helps people build community and stay involved in church their entire life. I wholeheartedly believe serving is one of the main factors for people to build friendships, grow in discipleship, and actively become a part of the local community.

So what about students and kids? I’m glad you asked! We can involve our younger Christ followers by including them in almost every area of church ministry. Think of this, how about we teach our Youth how to be a part of evangelism by bringing them with us as we visit and lead others to Christ. We can teach them about caring by allowing them to make contacts through small groups. This list could go on for a long time. Serving matters, we must be intentional in involving students and kids in ministry as we go!

Written by Jay Barbier, Youth Specialist, Tennessee Baptist Mission Board

Creating Care Groups That Serve Others

Now more than ever people need care. How can the church effectively provide this care? People in the church need to be organized and trained to care for one another, their neighbors, and isolated, hurting people.

In the past, Sunday Schools or small groups might be organized in terms of care groups. These care groups were designed to discover the needs of people in the Sunday School class or small group to be sure the needs got met. The expectation to meet these needs might be shared with other church leaders or the pastor.

Two shifts are needed. The first shift needed is for the group itself to respond to the need once it is discovered. The second shift is for the needs of people who have never attended the group to be considered as a means of ministry and outreach to them. The pressure people are now experiencing presents an opportunity to address church and community needs differently.

Care groups may not be a new idea to your church. But shifting the expectation for service to the care group itself might be. Consider these steps in re-framing your care groups from needs discovery to needs meeting groups:

  • Determine the number of care group leaders needed and expectations for them
  • Enlist care group leaders and provide training for them.
  • Create care groups by organizing people by geography, life situation, or interest.
  • Balance the care groups mixture of regular, sporadic, and never-attenders.
  • Provide regular feedback for care group leaders so they can learn through serving

The need for care is not the only need people have. People also have a need to serve. People need the spiritual growth that comes from serving others. If the need for serving others is understood as a means to spiritual growth, people may start finding value in serving.

Written by Clint Calvert, Church Leadership Catalyst,  Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention.