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"And He said to them, "It is written,
'My house shall be called a house of prayer,'
but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"
(Matthew 21:13)
Other churches that I have heard about currently seeing God do mighty things in answer to prayer are Northeast Houston Baptist Church, with Pastor Nathan Lino, and New Beginnings Baptist Church in Longview, Texas, with Pastor Todd Kaunitz. These pastors are experiencing a fresh wind and fresh fire, and I am so encouraged by their testimonies. Their desire (and mine as well) for corporate prayer was preceded by a yearning for God to move powerfully in our churches. I have interviewed both Pastors Nathan and Todd, and they were desperate for a touch from God in their local churches.
Notice that Jesus did not say that His house would be called a house of preaching. Ouch. I love preaching and count it a pure joy to be able to preach God's Word. I am not diminishing homiletics one bit, but preaching is not the central theme of collective or corporate worship; prayer is. But what about praise and worship? Jesus did not say His house would be called a house of praise either. Again, this is not to diminish the importance of worshiping our great God with songs of praise. It is right and most biblical. Colossians 3:16 states, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord."
A couple of weeks ago on a Sunday morning, we had a spontaneous outbreak of prayer. I felt compelled to continue the worship service, so we prayed. Our prayer time was supplemented with some praise and worship, but the central focus was Jesus and us praying to Him. It was so wonderful. Next thing I knew it was 1:30PM! I forgot all about the quarterly deacons meeting. The deacons were cool, by the way, with their pastor praying and missing the meeting! (We have amazing deacons at Great Hills Baptist Church. These are great men of God, servant leaders whom I am honored to serve alongside.)
A really neat feature of our Tuesday evening prayer meetings is the number of people who tune in online and participate. We do not usually have very many in the worship center, but wow, we have hundreds who tune in for at least a portion of our prayer meeting on Tuesday nights. God hears our prayers online just like He does in person at the church. We are seeing God work powerfully and answering our prayers. Thank You Lord!
Here are a couple photos of our prayer meetings on Tuesday nights at GHBC. (Please forgive the low resolution.):
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Build a stronger, more confident faith!
Pastor Danny gives you God’s answers to life’s big questions in his 7-message series, Explore God.
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Family Goals, Pt. 1: the Triangle
Pastor Danny begins a new series of episodes called "Family Goals" with his wife, Ashley. To start the series, they share their story of finding each other, falling in love, getting married, and starting a family. They also discuss how the most critical element of a successful marriage, it's foundation, should be each person's relationship with God and putting God first, each other next, above oneself, and children third.
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