I Wish I Had Learned This Sooner

My Grandparents tried to teach me what their parents had taught them.  The saints at my home church tried to teach me this important lesson.  The lay leaders in my first church in West Bend, KY tried to teach me.  Marjorie and Grady tried to teach me in Covington, GA.  Mary and Margaret tried to teach me this lesson in Toccoa.  Frank and Mary Alice tried in Greenville. EC and Charity tried in Alpharetta.

Many others wanted me to know this and worked very hard to teach me.  Some of their names are now even forgotten to me, but I remember the lessons.  They wanted me to learn this in good times and bad, in times of joy or sorrow, in times of clarity or confusion, in times of inspiration and  perspiration. I learned some of it, but these lessons were not heeded as well as they should have been.

The message finally really started to find good fertile soil when Lynn Gibson began the Prayer Ministry at my church over 20 years ago.  I did not know of another UMC which had an organized Prayer Ministry with equal status to the Finance Co. or Children's Ministry.  But Lynn created a prayer ministry that transformed the work of the church and multiplied our effectiveness.

The ministry was begun in a broom closet and moved to front room "Parlor" status.  Those readers old enough or traditional enough to know about church parlors will understand the sacred cow in many churches is the church parlor.  NOTHING touches or changes or modifies its decor, use or space - and certainly not preeminence. 


Yet that is exactly what happened when Lynn started growing our Prayer Ministry. The Parlor gave way to the Prayer Chapel.  That was symbolic and indicative of the changes this prioritization made in the life of the church and in my own personal life. For example, as laity huddled in the Prayer Chapel in prayer during the four worship services, lives began to be transformed in worship at a rate we had never seen.  When a new vision was sought for the church, the process was bathed in prayer and a clarity was known that had never been known before.

I have asked Lynn to write a book or manual on the Prayer Ministry.  In the meantime, I have put together a guidebook for a Prayer Campaign.  This is a great start to leading a congregation into a Transformational Prayer Ministry or enhance the existing prayer ministry.  This book outlines a process that will be especially helpful to church leaders seeking to create and communicate a clear direction or vision for the ministry, who want to launch a new ministry or focus of Ministry, or who simply believe prayer is a transforming work and needs to be experienced by the entire congregation.


"Prayer Campaign - A Transforming Experience" contains some of what these people taught me.  I believe it can be helpful to you. I wish I had learned it in the first half of ministry. (Cost $12 plus $3 s/h.)  Order from warrenlathem@gmail.com or come see more about it by clicking on the cover at the right.. Essie and Aunt Winnie tried to teach me.  I just wish I had been a better student...