GLUE

Prayer: A Struggle for Control

Admittedly, through nearly twenty-four years of full-time ministry, I have not often viewed prayer as something I enjoy. Of course, I know I am “supposed” to pray, but I struggle with a temperament compelled to action. Surely, I am not alone.

With a desire to advance in this critical area of my life/ministry, I have recently turned to Philip Yancey and his work, Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference (Zondervan, 2006). Written by one who states that his “main qualification for writing about prayer is that I feel unqualified-and genuinely want to learn,” the book offers a refreshingly balanced assessment of the subject: of all that prayer is, is not and still can be for those, like me, who are not yet satisfied.

One section entitled “Guilty” has me thinking. There, Yancey reminds that God asked only two questions of Adam and Eve: Where are you? What is this you have done?

The first question, he notes, addresses our present reality. Are we attempting to hide, feeling exposed, suffering from guilt or shame, the hurt and rejection of others, or perhaps even angry with God due to unmet expectations, etc.?

The second question recalls the past and, if we are honest, provides an opportunity for proper assessment of what exactly has brought us here.

Having answered these questions before God, we are prepared to leave the garden (of prayer) newly clothed and rightly positioned for the journey ahead.

In other words, authentic prayer is that excerise through which I realign myself with God; through which I again admit, “Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.” Prayer compels me, therefore, to cease from striving to control, and to will myself to be controlled by the One who not only knows me best, but who is, truly, about what is best for me.

Perhaps prayer, then, is time to answer once again the question, “Do I really believe that?”

What It's All About, Part II

As it turns out, my experience on the plane, Saturday, October 20, (see post entitled, What It's All About) was only the beginning of a historic week of salvations we were blessed to witness and record at Mosaic.

That same evening, we hosted an evangelistic crusade for the Latino community living in and around our church. Nicky Cruz was the featured speaker and that night, more than 40 people embraced Christ by faith.

The following day, Sunday morning, Dr. Daniel Sanchez served as a guest speaker at Mosaic and 12 more individuals responded to invitations to receive Christ offered at the end of both services.

By Thursday, October 25, Mosaic's short-term missions team in Antioch (East Asia) sent us a text message to say that they had led nine individuals to the Lord in a span of only four days, including a Muslim woman who was blind. This is truly remarkable; for when we began going to Antioch, there were only 100 known believers among the 9 million or so Asian Muslims in the entire country. Since Mosaic started targeting the city of Antioch (the true name of this town is intentioanlly withheld), however, God has used our people to help bring a dozen people to Himself.

But wait, there's more!

Cesar Ortega, Mosaic's Pastor of Latinos and Benevolnce, led a Guatemalan to Christ that same day, and by the end of the week, Amos Gray, Mosaic's Youth and Children's Pastor, reported that four had come to Christ after hearing him speak at a Lutheran high school in Nebraska.

All totaled then, some 67 people came to Christ via the efforts of our people from Saturday, October 20 through Friday, October 26! And I share such things not in anyway to boast, but only to comment once again on the power and pleasure of God that is uniquely displayed via a people who walk, worship and work together as one in Him via the local church. Indeed, it is the healthy multi-ethnic church that provides us the most effective means for reaching an increasingly diverse, sectarian and cyncial world in the 21st century.

What It's All About

When I first came to Christ and for many years after, I made it a point to share my faith at every turn. In fact, I would often turn otherwise benign conversations into an opportunity for the Gospel. And because of such efforts, I led many people to Christ. Through the years, however, I have become much more passive in this regard. It's not that I don't share my faith anymore, only that I am not nearly as intentional with strangers as I used to be.

That's why a recent experience was so personally inspiring.

On Saturday, October 19, I boarded a flight at 6:00 a.m. bound for Chicago on my way to Boston. As it turned out, the plane was delayed and we sat on the ground for about an hour due to a computer malfunction. I'm not kidding; after some investigation, the pilot told us we would be able to fly that day, but only after the sun came out! There are probably better ways to inspire confdence from the cockpit, don't you think?!

Anyway, as I happily entertained myself with a Sudoku puzzle, I soon noticed the woman (mid-50s) sitting next to me had nothing to read. In fact, at one point she lamented the fact that "of all days," she had packed her books in her luggage. So after reading the airline magazine and browsing the inflight shopping guide, she asked me how to play Sudoku and we struck up a conversation. At the "twenty-minute lull," however, it hit me. I had a book in my backpack she could read; it just happened, though, to be my own book ... my own first copy which had only arrived the day before.

At first, I resisted the temptation to share it with her for fear that it might seem self-promoting, etc. But then, I wondered ... perhaps she is not a believer and who knows, maybe there will be an opportunity to talk with her about Jesus.

And so I asked, "Do you like personal stories of life-change or transformation?" She said that she did and then, pointing her to such accounts at the end of each chapter, I handed her the book. In so doing, I did not at all call attention to the fact that I was the book's author. However, she began to read the introduction and after a while, somehow put it together.

"Is this you? she asked. "Are you the author?" Thus began a discussion about things much deeper than Sudoku!

To make a long story short, I shared Christ with the woman all the way to Chicago. And just as the plane was landing, this woman invited Christ into her life! "Though I have been to church in the past, I never heard such things before," she told me. "No one has ever explained this to me."

While only God knows for sure, from everything I could tell, this was a very authentic and uncoerced confession of faith. And since the woman and her husband live in the Little Rock area, I am hoping to see her at Mosaic soon.

But beyond what God did in her life that morning, it is what God did - or more specifically, rekindled - in me that day that stands out in reflection. Have I become so engrossed in the doing of all things spiritual that I too often neglect being spiritual myself? Though I am now a recognized leader of others, am I still eager to recognize and respond to the Holy Spirit's leadership in my own life, as well?

Good questions for me to address. Good ones, perhaps, for you to consider, as well.

Indeed, this is why I am so passionate about the multi-ethnic church, i.e., it's unique power and potential to advance the Gospel among the lost and disenfranchised on the 21st century. This is what it's all about! And through this experience, I have been reminded not to neglect individually what I am pusuing with others corporately; namely, evangelism. I hope you have been, too.