Archive for the 'Pastors' Category
The Pastor and His Prayers in Public Worship Services
In the past few years, I have given a clear and consistent call to bring prayer back into public worship services in the church. I want to lift up a specific and significant way to do this today.
We Need to Recapture the Pastoral Prayer
Prayer led by the pastor of the church used to be a normal part of worship services. What was deemed in the past as a part of public worship, has now been minimized, eliminated, or delegated. This is not acceptable or good for the church.
There are several examples in the Scriptures where spiritual leaders called out to God in prayer before the people of God. Their prayers were passionate, from the heart, and meaningful. Prayers offered by the pastor of the church during worship services should be the same way.
When Pastors Pray in Public Worship Services
Prayer by the pastor should be one of the highest moments in public worship services. As the spiritual leader of the church, the pastor is standing in the gap, calling out to God in prayer for the church. This moment of public intercession can be absolutely powerful.
I would like to suggest these things for consideration:
Context
The pastor needs to set the context for this prayer moment. He can do this before or after asking the congregation to bow their heads, preparing to pray. Setting the stage for this moment needs to be an important part of worship planning.
Timing
The timing for the pastoral prayer is very important. Personally, I like to set it just before the offering is received, prior to the final song before the message. Many times, the previous song can help me set the context and the moment. Not only is the timing important, but the amount of time allocated for the prayer is important. Allocate enough time for a four to five-minute prayer led by the pastor. Having latitude to follow the Spirit of God is key in any worship service. If we are not careful, we are going to schedule God right out of our public worship services in the church.
Agreement
Teach your people how to agree in prayer with you. As pastor, they need to be engaged with you while you are praying. They do not need to just be listening in, but involved with you in prayer. They can agree with you verbally while you pray. As we turn the church house into a house of prayer for the nations, people need to become involved as you pray.
Planned
While the pastoral prayer is determined to happen within a set time or to help create an atmosphere, what the pastor prays about should be planned as well. This is very important. The pastor needs to set this in his planning, so he can go forward that moment with purpose. If this is not planned, it can become meaningless and disconnected. The pastor can even list the topics of prayer to the people before the prayer begins.
Conviction
When the pastoral prayer occurs, after setting the context in the best timing within the public worship service, and after planning for this moment, the pastor should pray with a strong conviction. A conviction is not just something that you have in your heart, it something that has you. Convictional prayer will illustrate to the people that you pray because you believe in it, and it really matters. It does work and it does matter, so pray with conviction.
Passionate
When the pastor prays before the church in a public worship service, he needs to pray passionately. The people will become passionate in their prayers when they see modeled before them a pastor who prays with passion. Never should we be afraid to have our emotions involved while we are praying, from enthusiasm to expectation, to weeping, and perhaps even shouting. Regardless, be authentic, but make sure you are passionate.
National and Global
I am convinced that the pastoral prayer needs to be a time the church is led to pray for national and global needs. Pastors and churches need to pray for our national leaders, and about situations existing in the nation and across the globe. If we really believe prayer matters, we need to pray for national and global issues.
Posture
While most of the time I kneel in reverence to God when I do my pastoral prayer, this past week, I walked around the stage while I prayed. This is something I determined at that moment and not before. By the way, I think it is very healthy for the people of God to see their pastor kneel as he intercedes for the people and national and global issues.
Recapture the Pastoral Prayer
Pastor, recapture the pastoral prayer in your public worship services. I promise you, you will never regret it. You are the Worship Leader of the church; therefore, lead like it.
Now is the Time to Lead,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
Guest Post | Every Minister’s Wife Needs A Friend, by Jeana Floyd
Today, RonnieFloyd.com welcomes guest writer, Jeana Floyd. Jeana is the wife of Dr. Ronnie Floyd, mother, grandmother, author, and 27-year breast cancer survivor.
The year was 1990. It was the month of March, and I had been diagnosed with breast cancer in January. Ronnie and I were attending a conference for pastors and wives, and I had arrived with a broken heart. I knew some of the women by name who were attending, but there was no one in the room I felt like I knew well.
A Special Friendship Emerged
But something happened during the conference that began a friendship that has now been going on for 27 years. During the final session for the women only, we were asked to draw the name of another pastor’s wife out of a basket and commit to pray for her for the next year. To be quite honest, I don’t even remember whose name I drew… I was there in body, but not so much in mind and emotion. But the person who drew MY name really did commit to pray for me and kept MY name on her refrigerator for the next year.
Don’t underestimate the value of attending meetings with your husband where you have the opportunity to make and develop relationships with other ministry wives beyond your local staff and church. The friendship that grew from that experience is of great value to me.
Friendship Is Sharing Life Together
That friendship that started 27 years ago has been a constant encouragement to my life. We have shared life together. We’ve laughed and cried, vented and roared. We’ve experienced the joy of the birth of 13 grandchildren between us. We’ve walked through seasons of concern with aging parents and prayer needs for our children and grandchildren. She’s heard me in days of personal desperation and in personal exhilaration over seeing God move in my life and the life of our church. Very few people understand the daily path of my life as a wife, minister’s wife, mother, and grandmother!
Develop A Friendship With Another Minister’s Wife
As I’ve walked the journey of being a minister’s wife, I have come to appreciate and understand the value of friendship among our sisterhood of ministers’ wives. No one understands our life like we do. We can honor and validate our joys and struggles like no one else.
Frances J. Roberts writes in Come Away My Beloved, “Surely He has given you ministering angels, who may sometimes come to you in the form of your friends. Accept their help as from God, and your blessings will be doubled. You may also, in turn, be used in similar manner to bless others.” This is certainly true for ministers’ wives. I’ve often needed ministering angels in my life and many times that encouragement has come from another ministry wife.
Invest In Other Ministers’ Wives
For 30 years, I’ve led a monthly luncheon (during the school year) with the purpose of building relationships among our staff wives. We meet for fellowship and encouragement. Through this luncheon, we are able to connect our wives who all live very busy lives.
We’ve discussed everything from how to make chicken pot pies, to loving our husbands, to how to minister to our congregants in critical times. We are not all best friends, but this luncheon serves to build a camaraderie and spirit of unity among us. It reminds us that we are all on the same team – attempting to carry out the same purpose of sharing the Good News, making disciples, and walking beside our husbands in ministry. We even cross over generations and ethnicities.
As a minister’s wife for 40 years, I’ve found myself needing friends who will make me laugh, cry with me, sympathize with me, understand my life, create inside ministry jokes with me, and most importantly, I need relationships that point me to Jesus and His Word.
Every Minister’s Wife Needs A Susie Hawkins In Their Life
This is why Susie Hawkins has been a faithful and trusted friend of mine for 27 years. She is the wife of a God-called minister, Dr. O.S. Hawkins, President of Guidestone Financial Resources, located in Dallas, Texas.
Become A Susie Hawkins To Another Minister’s Wife
Allow me to challenge you to be that friend to another minister’s wife. Maybe she’s on your staff team. Maybe she lives in another town, city, or state. Find time to chat with her, email or text her, share your life with her – that same life you are living – the life of a minister’s wife.
I’m grateful for the sweet friendship that began in a room full of other ministers’ wives whom I did not know very well. I’m grateful God sent Susie Hawkins to be my friend in a very hard season in my life. It was a friendship I didn’t even know I was lacking, yet I’m grateful that we got past that very hard time, developed our friendship from afar, and have enjoyed the happiness and sorrows of daily life and ministry life. What a blessing – what a sisterhood we can have as ministry wives.
Jeana Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.