Archive for Prayer Requests
Pray For Your Pastor November 30, 2009
This particular post may seem a little self serving…but so be it…this needs to be said (AND…I don’t mind asking people to pray for me!) :-)
This past Thursday (Thanksgiving) I was enjoying some great food and watching a football game when all of a sudden I began receiving text messages about something happening to Matt Chandler, the pastor of The Village Church in Texas. Long story short…Matt passed out, hit his head…was rushed to the hospital and after some tests was diagnosed with a mass on his frontal lobe that will be looked at this week. Matt is a young leader (33 or 34 I believe) whom God’s hand is all over. His preaching/teaching is amazing…and God has used him to grow the Village Church from about 100 or so people to over 7,000 in just a few years. (He is an incredibly gifted preacher/leader!)
Hearing about what happened to him shook me up…BIG TIME. I had VERY few words for the rest of the day as I began to think about the stress and pressure that is on pastors that simply is not understood by many.
My prayer is that things like this will cause the church to rally behind their pastor…and pray for him with more passion and intentionality than ever before. Here are several areas where you can be praying for your pastor…
#1 – His Walk With God – Pray that his relationship with Jesus isn’t one out of obligation…but of OBSESSION for HIM!!! It is VERY tempting for a pastor to read the Bible for sermon prep and NOT to know Jesus. Pray that His relationship with Jesus will be FRESH and that he will be filled with vision and passion like never before.
#2 – His Integrity – It takes YEARS to establish integrity…and it can be destroyed in seconds. Pray for your pastor to keep his eyes on Jesus and OFF of anything that might lead him astray!!!
#3 – His Marriage – Pray that your pastor just doesn’t preach about a healthy marriage…but LIVES it out. I promise you the enemy comes STRONG after his marriage…and his kids!!! Lift up his wife and children by name as well!!!
#4 – His Sanity – He deals with critics, he deals with unrealistic expectations, he deals with accusations, he deals with pressure that is intense. Pray that he will keep his sanity. I recently heard of a survey that said only 10% of the men entering the ministry actually retire…the others either get disqualified OR drop out! That is a 90% failure rate!!! THE STAKES ARE HIGH!!!
#5 – His Health – I was in a meeting of pastors a few years ago…everyone of us were leading large churches…everyone of us were under 35…and over HALF of the men in the room (remember, we were under 35) had been hospitalized in the past two years because of serious medical problems (most likely brought on by stress and anxiety!) Good health is so vital for ministry…and I can promise you that physical, emotional and spiritual health do not just “happen!” Do not assume that just because your pastor is young that he is healthy…lift him up.
Whoever your pastor is…seriously…I would ask that you lift him up. No matter who you are…no matter who your pastor is. I don’t care if you are reading this site and hate me…don’t hate your pastor. Cover him…and pray that Jesus will speak to him and through him in ways that he has never experienced.
Rick Warren once said that he believes pastors are the most underrated changes agents in the world…and I believe that!!! SO…let’s lift him up before God…and pray that Jesus will have HIS way in his life!
AND…keep praying for Matt!!! He is in God’s hands…God has a plan for him…and I know God will receive ultimate glory out of all of this!!!
Prayer Requests July 1, 2009
Quite often people will ask me how they can pray for me…which always encourages the heck out of me! Today I wanted to share some things that you can be praying for if you feel led to do so.
#1 – My Walk With Christ!
I have never really struggled with having a quite time…I love to meet with Jesus every morning with a huge cup of coffee, a Bible and a pen. However…the desire of my heart is NOT to meet with Him in the morning but rather to walk with Him all day long! My prayer is that He will continually draw me closer to Himself.
#2 – My Relationship with ‘Cretia!
I desperately want to be a godly husband and not be the man I think she needs me to be…but to be the man Scripture commands me to be. I am praying that I will continually become a better listener and also continue to become intuative in regards to who she needs me to be.
#3 – My Relationship with Charisse!
I have NO IDEA how to be a dad…but I am LOVING the learning process. My prayer is that she will grow up loving Jesus, loving me & ‘Cretia and loving the church.
This past Sunday at our Anderson campus I let her watch people being baptized and I begged God for her salvation and for the privilege to one day baptize her! I want to be the type of dad that she respects and admires…not despises because I was so busy with other people that I neglected who was supposed to be more important.
#4 – My Leadership
God has been BLOWING MY MIND lately with thoughts and ideas. We are coming up on our 10 year anniversary here at NewSpring Church…and there is NO WAY that anyone would have ever predicted what has happened since we began with 15 people in a living room!
SO…if this is what He has done in the first ten years…and to whom much is given much is required…then what does He want out of us over the next 10 years. That thought causes me to be PUMPED UP…and also to pee my pants! I am BEGGING Jesus daily for His wisdom (James 1:5) and would appreciate it as well if you would ask the same for me.
#5 – My Book
Yes, I am writing a book…and it is a little frustrating. I’ve got the best agent in the country (in my opinion), I have publishers who are interested, I have an outline that I believe the Lord has given me and I have a desire to write…
It’s just that I can’t get started for some reason! I am trying like mad to write this thing…and I know that in order to do so I am going to have to make some adjustments to my schedule in order to get it done. I would appreciate the prayers so that I can make all of that happen!
That’s it for now–thanks!
STOP What You Are Doing Right Now… May 19, 2009
We all have problems…Jesus told us in John 16:33 that in this world we will have trouble…but also that we can take heart because HE has overcome the world.
Yet sometimes we forget how good He is because we get so focused on our circumstances.
Will and Kelly Rhodes are both on staff at NewSpring…they are an amazing couple who God is using in this church to impact thousands of lives. When you meet them you HAVE to like them…seriously.
About five months ago they found out they were going to have a baby…and so they’ve been doing the things that parents do to get ready for the arrival of their child…until…
Last week they got the news that their little girl was not going to be the “healthy baby” that they, along with others, had been praying for.
HOW in the world does one cope with that news?
We as a church have been praying for them and surrounding them with as much love and care as possible…and have NOT tried to explain what happened (because we can’t!)
So this morning I get up and read this post on Will’s blog about his perspective on the situation. (WARNING…YOU WILL NEED KLEENEX!) It blew me away and I thought, “ONLY JESUS can give a person THAT kind of strength!”
“Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” I Corinthians 15:54-58
Praying For Your Pastor June 3, 2008
This Sunday NewSpring Church (along with nearly 1,000 other churches across the world) will begin our One Prayer series…and so, in recognition of this I would love to ask for everyone to commit to pray for their pastor every single day for the rest of this month.
I know, I know…seems a little self serving doesn’t it? Well…I make no apologies for that–we need your prayers. And yes, I know that every staff member needs prayer…but I will go ahead and say it…no one in the church–NO ONE–feels the spiritual, emotional and physical highs and lows like the senior pastor. Trust me!
With that in mind…let me share five things that I think all pastors need in regards to being prayed for…
#1 – Our Connection With God
Nothing is more important in a senior pastors life than his personal walk with God–nothing. This is where vision takes place–there is where God sets our hearts on fire like in Jeremiah 20:9. This is where PERSONAL conviction, correction and encouragement takes place…and the thing EVERYONE OF US NEED more than anything is to REMAIN IN HIM so that our ministry will be fruitful. (John 15:5)
#2 – Our Family
Going to be honest here…the pastors family goes through things that most pastors will not talk about in front of their church. There is usually constant pressure on the children. People expect his wife to be perfect. AND…what the family goes through spiritually is INTENSE. My wife usually has nightmares five or six nights a week. Charisse has often woke us up at night screaming. I could go on and on…but trust me on this one…if you want to BLESS your pastor–COVER his family in prayer!
#3 – His Relationship With The Staff
The elephant that exists in many churches is that the pastor and the staff don’t really like each other…or there are some serious jealousy issues in regards to the senior pastor, staff will think, “I do as much as he does…so why does he…” You get the picture.
Pray for the staff that he serves with to be loyal to the vision. Pray for the relationships he has…trust me, it is AWESOME to work in an environment where everyone loves each other. (By the way…I have that!) Pray for the staff to help lift up the pastors arms so the enemy can be defeated. (Exodus 17:8-16) Pray for there never to be any unresolved conflict so that ministry does not turn into a war zone.
#4 – His Battle With Spiritual Warfare
I alluded to this earlier…but let me say it again, you would not believe what a pastor faces in regards to spiritual warfare. There are things that have happened to me that I have never preached about (or blogged about) because, well, they are intense.
Most preachers I know have serious bouts with depression (especially on Sunday night and Monday morning.) Every time a critic attacks it takes a chunk out of his soul…whether he admits it or not. Preachers have SERIOUS struggles WHILE preaching messages…I have literally had thoughts like, “Hey idiot, these people hate you are aren’t listening to you–they all wish you were dead.” NO–I’m NOT making that up.
I could literally develop an entire post on this one area…trust me, the pastor goes through INTENSE spiritual warfare…so pray he would walk in victory, resist temptation, hear the voice of Jesus…and so on!
#5 – Rest
Most of us pastors are AWESOME hypocrites! We teach our churches to follow God’s Word–but then we often violate one of the top ten commandments by not taking a day of rest. (See Exodus 20:8-11, I wonder why God took more time to explain this command than the rest…maybe because it is IMPORTANT!)
It’s tough for some pastors because, well, they serve a lazy bunch of people who expect him to do it all while they sit on their butt and have meetings about how inefficient he is. (This is why the average stay for a pastor in America today is less than two years–churches KILL pastors!)
But, for others where the church does not expect him to do it all–he still can never truly disengage from what God has called him to do. Personally, I am always thinking about what’s next. I usually can’t shake the upcoming sermon from my thought pattern…and…I always feel like that I should be doing something.
Pray for us to get rest–the last thing the world needs is ONE MORE burned out pastor. Pray that he could have at least one day a week where he completely disengages from the ministry. And pray that he would have about four or five times a year where he can get away for at least three or four days to chill and relax.
(For the church member somewhere out there that just thought, “I don’t get that.” True…but you also don’t have to go to bed at night with the reality of Hebrews 13:17 hanging over you…so shut up and pray for your pastor!!!) :-)
By the way…I do this, take time to get away…and because of that my walk is stronger, my marriage is better, I am able to connect with my daughter more…and God ALWAYS fills me up with HUGE vision.
So there you have it. Please pray for your pastor. I know there are lots of people who visit this site from other churches…and I pray that you will use this as a means to get started praying for him. If you want to know how to pray for him more specifically–ASK HIM, seriously, I am sure he will let you know.
When To Pray For Your Pastor March 6, 2008
I’ve had four conversations in the past several weeks where someone has said to me, “Perry, my family and I pray for you and your family everyday.”
Let me be very clear…there is almost NOTHING ELSE I would rather hear from a Springers (attender/member of NewSpring) mouth than that! It always blows me away that people would think enough of me, Lucretia and Charisse to talk to the Creator of the Universe on our behalf.
I know there are people from other churches who read this site and I would strongly encourage you to pray for your pastor…when are the three times he needs it the most?
#1 – Sunday Night/Monday Morning
If a pastor EVER feels like giving up–it’s either on Sunday night or Monday morning.
I would say that 99% of the worlds population doesn’t really have a clue as to what pastors endure emotionally, physically and spiritually.
- If they are going to be under a heavy spiritual attack…it’s usually during this time.
- If they are going to have a sleepless night, even though they are exhausted–it will be on Sunday night.
- If they are going to battle discouragement…it will be on Sunday night.
Trust me on this folks…I am saying what most pastors won’t tell you (either because of insecurity or some sort of Messiah complex!)
When a pastor preaches a message he has SEVERAL adrenalin rushes–ever had one of those? Sure you have! Let’s say you are riding down the road in a car and another car runs a stop sigh and you manage to avoid a collision by mere inches.
BAM…you get an adrenalin rush that studies show it takes between four to six hours to recover from.
NOW–take under consideration that most pastors in today’s world preach more than one sermon per Sunday…and with the shots of adrenalin the body produces to keep the dude going…it completely kicks his butt–I promise. That is why it is so essential to lift him up during this time–he feels like a used washed cloth!
#2 – On Saturday Nights
If I am going to have a sleepless night, other than Sunday night–it’s Saturday.
Pastors have a hard time shutting their minds off on Saturday night–we think about the message, the music, who is and is not going to be there…and about one million other things. We can literally drive ourselves crazy.
ALSO…for me personally, if I am going to have any sort of nightmare–it’s usually on Saturday night. Oh yeah…PLEASE don’t just pray for him…but his entire family as well!!! There needs to be complete peace in and on the pastor’s house the night before church…and I believe that this comes through people passionately praying to God on his behalf.
#3 – Anytime The Holy Spirit Brings Him To Mind
If you are riding down the road and your pastors name pops into your mind…pray for him. It really is that simple.
If you are in your living room and watching television and his name pops in your mind…pray for him.
If you are riding down the road and you see a dead squirrel splatted all over the place and your pastors name pops in your mind…PRAY FOR YOURSELF, you have issues!!! :-)
The Holy Spirit knows when people need prayer…and I can’t tell you the number of times He’s brought someone’s name to my mind, I’ve prayed for them and then later found out that at the exact time I prayed for them was at a time when God was doing some serious work in their lives.
Prayer works…thanks to all of you who pray for Lucretia, Charisse and myself…you will never know how much we appreciate it.
I Almost Got Into A Fight Last Month… October 10, 2007
Seriously! I just about had to throw down. I didn’t want to…it just happened and I was forced into a situation in which I had to make a decision.
It was at the Clemson/FSU game…and when it was close to halftime I began making my way to try to find some food. If you were at that game you know that it was REALLY crowded and, inevitably, I bumped into a rather large man in an orange Clemson shirt and said, “Hey man, sorry about that,” smiled and just kept walking.
All of a sudden I heard, “Call me SIR when you speak to me.”
I turned around and he was looking dead at me with a “go to you know where” look on his face. I looked at Jason Moorhead, my friend who was with me, and asked, “Is he talking to us?”
Before I could tell what was going on he said something else and then Jason yelled “quit drinking” at him, which I am not sure was the best thing to do because at that point he began walking towards me with a look on his face that said, “I am going to kill this guy!”
I had to make a decision…was I going to throw down with this man. I thought, “I ain’t as good as I once was….but I’m as good once as I ever was.” But then this thought hit me, “Perry–he’s wearing ORANGE, he’s a Clemson fan–you guys are pulling for the same team–WALK AWAY!”
So…I turned around and began just walking way…which caused him to say something else and actually begin walking towards me a little faster. Part of me really wanted to just let this guy have it and tell him he was acting like a kid–but–he was drunk–and I know from past experience that drunk people do not like to reason!
SO…I walked faster and simply refused to fight. I could have…and honestly, I think I would have taken him. But it just wasn’t worth it to slow down my search for food AND to spend some time in jail just to beat up a big dude who had drank about a beer or twelve.
AND believe it or not–God has used that experience to show me something about the infighting that seems to be going on within Christianity.
I have purposefully tried on this site to move away from “foolish and stupid” arguments. Sure, I will address issues from time to time…but over all I try to keep a positive tone. And I have received a lot of e-mails from people saying that they see the difference.
I am pretty much through fighting with Christians. I can’t–the Lord is showing me that, more and more, we are on the same team…AND that Christians who think they are always right and feel it is their job to discipline and correct the world are drunk…drunk on their own pride and arrogance and cannot be reasoned with.
SO…I just don’t fight that much anymore. I don’t go to other blogs to see what they are saying about me or NewSpring Church. I don’t read any mail that does not have a return address OR that is unsigned. I don’t ever read or respond to anonymous e-mails…I just can’t–there are WAY more important things to do.
NOW…I am a PIT BULL about the vision, always will be…and I, like everyone on the planet, do have hot buttons that, once they are pushed, I will address them. However, I refuse to use this site to call out other specific churches and people by name and pretend that I have all the right answers and then damn them to hell because they don’t believe exactly like me. I have been guilty of this in the past–but no more.
I don’t have time to fight…I will say what the Lord leads me to say…AND I think I will always be about offending the religious…but fighting among Christians is something I do not have time for–Matthew 16:18 is happening and I simply refuse to come down off the wall to involve myself in theological arguments that haven’t been solved in hundreds of years…and never will be!!!
NewSpring…please continue to pray for me in this area as the Lord continue to refine me and mold me into who He wants me to be!
A Couple of Other Things… September 5, 2007
OK…I said a couple–but there are really four. (Hey, I made a 790 on my S.A.T–BACK OFF!)
- You have GOT to read this post on Jake’s blog–this is one of the coolest things I have ever read. Folks, THIS IS CHURCH!
- Tony blew me away with this post about the Clemson game…if the church became as passionate at the fans were at the game the other night…this nation would once again be a Christian nation.
- I am REALLY excited about speaking at Clemson’s FCA on Thursday night! Please pray for me!
Finally, a friend sent me the following quote from Martin Luther last week–it REALLY encouraged me, I hope it will do the same for others.