Every church knows that prayer is important but these churches have prayer ministries that work. And I'm not just saying they work! I'm saying they are structured in such a way that there is a time, place and plan for people in the congregation to participate in their prayer ministries. 

Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama

  On the Church of the Highlands website you will learn that they are "here to help people know God, find freedom, discover their purpose, and make a difference." When you click on their "about" page, there are several ministries listed from left to right on the page. The first option of ministries is prayer.

  Don't you love that? This is a congregation with their priorities in order! When you click on the video of Colette Green, their prayer pastor, she shares that prayer is foundational to the life of the Church. Then she tells you how their prayer ministry functions and how you can be involved. 

  I LOVE IT! 

...

I thought I'd take a minute in this week's blog to tell you about the Prayer Clinic podcast and how it can serve as a tool to mobilize your people to pray.

What is the Prayer Clinic podcast?

I'm glad you asked! With so many podcasts to choose from, why, on earth, would you choose to fill your ears with mine? Here are 3 reasons you definitely want to hit the "subscribe" button and never miss a minute of the Prayer Clinic podcast:

1. The Prayer Clinic podcast will teach you how to pray. Right now I'm finishing up a series of podcasts where we're addressing the difference between faith and doubt. I cover subjects such as...

• Is it Right or Wrong to Pray, "If it be Your will?" 
• The Power of Praying Scripture
• How to Exercise Spiritual Authority and Win Spiritual Battles

2. The Prayer Clinic podcast will introduce you to great prayer leaders! I've had the privilege of interviewing...

• Jaime Hampton of the Prayer Christian Women podcast
• Jon Graf with Church Prayer Leaders Network
• ...

Hello my friends! 

I want to take a minute to tell you about the trip I took this month to visit with Teresa and Toni at Indian Rocks Baptist Church in Largo, Florida. 

About a year ago, Teresa called to learn more about the Prayer Clinic ministry. We became fast friends when we recognized the kindred spirit we share as prayer leaders in our churches. Teresa started teaching the 4-session course, Teach My Heart to Pray to those who expressed interest in learning more about prayer, and the Prayer Clinic ministry at IRBC. By December, she was teaching their deacons the prayer study, and in January she, and her solid Prayer Clinic team, launched the Prayer Clinic ministry in 3 locations during all 3 weekend services on their massive campus.

The Prayer Clinic team is in the greeting area where the pastor meets people after services; they are available at the altar where people can come for prayer in response to the message; and they staff their prayer room where they...

 I've written 19 books, and most of them are on the subject of prayer. I could write a book a week between now and the day I die and I'd never exhaust the subject, nor would I reveal the entire mystery of prayer. (That's not going to stop me from trying, though!) 

But perhaps the most useful tool I've had the opportunity to create is this 4-session study called, Teach My Heart to Pray. If you haven't already done so, take a minute to watch the attached video.

Teach My Heart to Pray is designed to teach anyone and everyone what prayer is; how prayer works; what answers you can expect to your prayers; what barriers there are to our prayers' answers; and how to pray through to a break through. The study is designed to be taught in a Sunday morning, Sunday evening or Wednesday night church setting. It could also be used in home groups.

The material can be taught by me (on video) with a facilitator who is good at turning the video on and off, and leading discussion. Or, it can...

It's back to school time and if you're like me, you are eager to get those precious little people scrubbed clean and loaded up with new school supplies, hugged and kissed, and out the door, and off to school. The return to a "normal routine" is welcome this time of the year.

But as you send your people back to school, you do so with a bit of sadness over the fact that they are another year older, there are less marbles in your jar (have you seen the marble and parenting illustration?), and other people are about to be pouring into the minds and lives of your cherished offspring.

Unless you're homeschooling. If you're homeschooling you are giving yourself pep talks as you gear up for another year of pouring out and in to the children who call you "Mom" and/or "Dad." 

I've written on this topic before and decided today to simply give you links to the blogs and podcasts that provide you encouragement as you commit to pray your students through this upcoming year in school.

I don't usually use this blog page to promote events, but today I'm doing just that because I believe that the

ABSOLUTE BEST THING YOU CAN DO FOR YOUR CHURCH THIS YEAR IS TO OPEN A PRAYER CLINIC!

There are a few things we can do that make a really big difference in LOTS of things we can do. And one of those is this...

Come to a Prayer Clinic Open House 

In fact, come to our next one! We are hosting a special Open House for people who serve on Sundays. That would include pastors, prayer leaders, associational missions directors, pastors' wives, women's ministry leaders and any one else who believes that God responds in power when His people pray.

The next Open House for the Prayer Clinic will be held at Thompson Station Church in Thompson Station, TN on Wednesday, August 3 from 10:30-1PM. 

The day includes: Teach My Heart to Pray book, meeting with the highly trained and amazing Prayer Clinic team at Thompson Station Church, some extra surprises, lunch and time with me...

I'm glad you asked!  

Prayer is my passion, and I'm on a mission to get the local church praying.

I'm on a mission to get your church praying.

My husband has been the senior pastor at Thompson Station Church for 33 1/2 years. Most of those years our church has baptized over 100 people a year, and grown in significant percentages. Some of those years we've held our own and considered that growth! But every one of those years

PRAYER HAS BEEN THE HEART BEAT OF OUR MINISTRY

When we first came to TSC, Tom's mother (who'd been a pastor's wife longer than Tom and I had been alive), told him that if he'd pray, God would bless our work. This was especially good advice because we came to Thompson Station to join 8 people and a dream.

One of the first things Tom did was invite the leader of those 8 people to meet him on Tuesday mornings to pray. Since that guy was a successful plumber, he and Tom met before daybreak and poured their hearts out as they knelt on the linoleum covered...

When Willie McLaurin (interim president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee and interim pastor at First Family Church just south of us in Columbia, TN) got to this point in his message at the Southern Baptist Convention in Anaheim, CA, I wanted to jump up and SHOUT! 

If prayer is not our main business, we will be out of business! 

I thought about all the "business" we'd been doing at that Convention. Most of the business I observed was managed by a parliamentarian (like, WOW! That guy did a great job!). And moderated by a president, Ed Litton(husband of my friend, Kathy Litton, and president of the SBC this past year--who did a remarkable job moderating this 2-day, thousands-of-people-in-attendance, old-fashioned church business meeting.).

And I wondered what might have happened in Anaheim if we'd fallen to our knees in prayer together. What might've happened if, after the vote on the Sexual Abuse Task Force recommendation (which passed...

Our people come to the altar to pray during our Sunday morning worship services. They come because we invite them to come.

Yesterday (May 29, 2022) we invited them to come to lament and repent over the state of our world today. Just this past week we suffered the reality of another mass shooting event at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX. We also suffered the exposure of 20 years of cover-ups and mishandling of sexual abuse in the SBC (the world's largest protestant denomination and the one we at Thompson Station Church are affiliated with). The war in the Ukraine continues to rage as does the craziness in Washington DC, and the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard trial. Our newest supreme court judge in waiting can't (or won't) define what it means to be a woman. (Something I did on Mother's Day--click here if you want to see how; and listen to our podcast this summer as we launch a series called "The Truth about Women" beginning next week.) 

We are living in a season of increasing...

In 2004 we had an "Awakening" at Thompson Station Church where we watched as over 500 people made decisions to follow Christ. You can read about it here: Church Prayer for Revival, 515 make decisions

This blog post is taken from the training I led with our Life Group leaders (We called them Connect Groups in 2004). We were working hard to mobilize our people to pray because we genuinely believe that when we work, we work...but when we pray, God works.

“I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them.” Matthew 18:18-20

Prayer prepares the way of God—

  “A servant of the Lord has well said: Prayer is the rail for God’s work. Indeed, prayer is to God’s...