I Remember Prayer Meetings Part II…
I have received a lot of interest via comments a quite a few emails from my post on “I remember Prayer Meetings Part I…” So I will write on this subject and include my thoughts on prayer meetings that we had here in North East MD.
When I came here I was not involved with the youth group “officially”. Though I had been on the District Youth Board in California and had been involved with the youth at The First Church in San Jose Ca. Pastored by Rev. Jim Shoemake at the time.
But as always I still had a burden for the youth. Praying and fasting youth is the foundation for revival in many of our churches. Plus this gives them a solid foundation to build on in reaching out to the lost. If their mind is on prayer and fasting then it will not be on the temptations that the world throws at them every minute.
I set up a scheduled time after awhile that I would go to the church and pray. Then I told others that I had been praying at the church on Saturday nights for several weeks. They suspected something because the Spirit was moving and we were praying several through to victory in the services. So they asked what’s-up? I told them come join me at prayer.
Later after I stepped down from the NJ/DE District Youth Board, Pastor Wayne Trout put me in as the Youth Pastor here at Truth & Life Center in North East MD.
From there God began to move in a mighty way. Several of those at the prayer meetings are now pastors or pastor’s wives. Some back slid later, then came back to God and are doing great in the church today.
But the impact on the church was felt when the youth kept praying at the altar along time after the adults were finished. We just kept pushing and praying every night. Eventually the youth started helping to pray for the youth.
Then one night Pastor Trout mentioned the youth and that everyone could see the results of their praying. So he had the adults come forward for the youth to pray for them and God just blessed every one. The altar area filled up with adults wanting to get in on the revival.
It was awesome to see parents and grandparents come up so their young people could pray for them. Even now I weep when I remember the sights and sounds of revival!!
We continued the push for prayer and revival. The young people were comfortable in praying. We had prayer at all our activities whether it was a fun night or service night; for example most of the time after an activity we closed with a song and a prayer.
The result was that the visitors became very interested in what we were doing. They noticed that we considered God to be more than some one we went to worship on an occasional Sunday. The other positive result was that our youth grew very comfortable in praying in all situations or surroundings. This led to other things that I will explore in another post!
Thank you for stopping by today! It is my desire to share my thoughts and ideas to be encouraging and uplifting to you. So enjoy and feel free to leave your comment!
9 comments:
Isn't it wonderful that we mortals have learned that praying to Him, will in turn bring the results of His saving, and keeping, power. Keep on praying (and fasting) Kevin, and our Lord will keep supplying the increase. To God Be the Glory!
Bro. Kevin, I am so excited - I wanted to share this with you. Our church has a newly appointed Youth Leader & his wife. They have been at our church for many years, and have had the respect and admiration of our youth from the beginning. He and his wife and my husband and I have talked here and there about our desires for the youth to all pray through and go higher in Jesus, a lot lately.
I emailed them this post of yours yesterday. He came up to me at church last night and said, "Believe me, sister, I have already been planning this before I got this email!" I said, "I believe it! God is confirming it to you!" He was so fired up and went to Pastor and told him, "Pastor, I'm going to come to the church every Saturday morning @ 10:00 and pray until I touch God for the Youth. If anyone wants to join me, that would be wonderful." So, Pastor announced it and, HERE WE GO! After church I already heard the young men talk about coming to pray on Saturdays @ 10:00!
We are all part of one body and even though we are scattered across the country, God can use us to minister to our brothers and sisters. Thank you for your encouragement to pray for our youth! God bless you!
Please say a prayer for this Youth Leader and his wife, Kirk & Tina. Thanks.
Aunt Karen, you said it so well! I plan on keeping on until Jesus comes!
Tina, I am honored that God would take part of my story and use it as a confirmation to someone else. Sometimes we think we are all alone and that nobody knows what we are going through. But God is there with us and he can send someone to tell us just what to do! I will be praying for you and the youth in Hollister. I am sure the single mother that moved to Hollister and started teaching Bible Studies, never dreamed that God would use her to raise up a church for His glory!
All God needs is a willing vessel!
Bro. Hopper
I read your most recent blog about prayer and I just wanted to let you know that those prayer meetings on saturday night as well as all the other times of prayer (i.e. prayer journeys and countless wednesday nights) served as a catalyst for my spiritual formation. not only did it focus the youth group and keep us moving in the right direction, it had a profound and personal impact on my faith journey as well. So thank you. Thank you and Sis. Hopper for your faithful and diligent shepherding during those formative years. All of us (I think I can speak for all of us) are indebted to you to some degree for your efforts, patience and love, the chief of these 3 being love.
Looking back, I now recognize how pivotally important those days were to me, a brash, naive, yet called young man. Thanks for seeing that in me and doing all that you did to equip me for ministry. Leadership isn't easy...I know that now...but it's worth the expense of time, effort and self to truly lead people to become devoted disciples and worshippers of Jesus.
An overdue thanks to an underappreciated leader,
Love and prayers,
Anonymous, things do change when you get into leadership. It is one thing to go through life as a teenager where all is fun and you want to go with the crowd. But then as you get older you see where the crowd has ended up and sometimes it is not a pretty sight.
Then you realize that maybe you made some mistakes or some decisions that weren’t the best in your teenage years. The prayers of family and church leaders helped you. You ask “Didn’t others have the same opportunities as me?” Yes, they did, but they allowed outside influences to “distract” them and lead them astray. They were overly influenced and wanted to be accepted by the crowd. The crowd has a very strong pull. Their common or much used motto is “Everybody is going this way.”
Those decisions that you made to pray, fast and heed to the call of ministry is what helped you when the going got tough. Because you started early to build a solid foundation when the winds of adversity blew your way you were able to stand.
Now you have a heritage to build on and uphold. As a leader you have people looking to you. Help them to build a foundation like yours so they too can make the right decisions. So we will continue to pray! Again I am humbled that God would use me and my wife to help someone find their way!
Woo HOo! I've been enjoying all these wonderful posts lately, Bro. Kevin. I don't know if you're still layed off or not, but if you are, in the midst of that storm, you're such a blessing to us through these uplifting posts.
Shannon, Yes I am in the storm but Jesus is my refuge!! I have been called back to work. I have been off since before Christmas. I am up by 4am and gone by 5 and I am home by 5pm.
Kevin, thank you for this inspiring post, and for the privilege to read all these wonderful comments. It truly is amazing how God has used you to minister across the United States.
These surely are the last days, and we must walk through the doors of ministry that God opens. We no longer live in the days of brush arbors, but we are dealing with technology and with a different culture.
God bless you and your wife as you continue your dedicated labor to God. Your reward will no doubt be great.
Shirley Buxton
www.shirleybuxton.wordpress.com
Shirley, I don't think anything is by chance. If we walk with God he will direct our paths. Even to who we talk to and what we say. So everything I do is ordered of God. This makes me sensitive to the Spirit when I am dealing with people. Through God 's grace my wife and I have been blessed to help build a foundation under a few young people that God has allowed us to come in contact with.
I am honored that you enjoyed my post! You have inspired me for years even when we lived in San Jose.
Post a Comment