Begin With Prayer

By Pastor Mark McAdow
Every staff meeting at Willow View begins with prayer. It is the very first thing we do together. We share our joys from the week – churchwide and personal – as well as our concerns. It’s been my habit to take the lead and pray on behalf of our staff.

We conclude each meeting by praying for five families in our church as we work through our directory, and we send a note letting you know “you’ve got mail” because you’ve been prayed for by your church family. (Those same five families are listed in the weekly worship folder, so you too can pray “with us” for one another.) Prayer is a precious gift. I trust you are encouraged by our prayers for you.

I shared Tuesday night at our Administrative Council meeting that I want to make a change in the way we begin ALL church meetings. We typically have a brief devotional and “opening prayer.” I want to raise the bar on praying in our meetings. I’d like each leader of our committees to begin your meetings with 7 minutes of prayer! Why seven? It’s the number of perfection in the Bible (7 days of creation) and represents a tithe of our time. Most our meetings run about an hour, so six minutes is the “tithe” of the hour plus one – an added blessing!

Do you believe there is a difference in an ‘opening prayer” and praying? I do. One can become routine but the other can become exciting, energizing, forward thinking, encouraging and so much more. Hebrew 4:16 challenges us, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Do you need any help from your Father today? I know I do! I set my phone alarm on Tuesday evening for 7 minutes and we prayed for one another in pairs. You can lead in prayer however you choose. The main thing is to pray.

I hope to introduce more prayers in worship on Sunday mornings, too. After all, as pastor Jim Cymbala reminds us, Jesus said in Mark 11:17, “Is it not written: My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations?” Not a house of preaching, or worship, or service or anything else ... but a house of prayer! We can all grow in our prayer life including your pastor. Let’s fire up our prayer lives as individuals and as our Willow View church family and see what the Lord will do!

Please pray today for Scott, Bill Shaw, Robin, and me as we attend the Heartland Annual Conference through Saturday morning in Claremore, Okla. We’ll be driving this time, so we will see you Sunday morning for worship! It’s Grad Sunday and Holy Communion, too!

Yours in prayer,
Pastor Mark

We have two full weeks left in our designated Pave It Forward Campaign. We’re currently about halfway there at $50,000. Thank you for your sacrificial gifts – that’s the only way we can meet our goal. “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you”- Matthew 6:33. Blessings!