It's not too late to participate in a 21-Day Fasting and praying emphasis to start the new year. At our church we have traditionally challenged our congregation to set aside 21 days in the month of January to focus on God as we participate in a fast for the purpose of hearing His voice regarding His plans for our lives as we set our intentions, goals and strategies for our year.

Here is a link to an article that explains what fasting is and why we participate in it: 

Fasting: What it Is, Why We Practice It and How We Do It

And here is the 21 Day prayer guide we are using this year:

This year we will focus our prayers on these things (rotating every 7 days to correspond to the days of the week):

Sundays: Marriages and other relationships

Mondays: Finances and other overwhelming needs

Tuesdays: Prodigals and other spiritual breakthroughs

Wednesdays: Health and losses

Thursdays: Salvation for the lost

Fridays: Direction and discernment

Saturdays: Encouragement to overcome: Fear,...

I rarely ever, in fact, have never done this before but I'm doing it this week because this message is so important for us to embrace. In preparing for my podcast this week I came across a powerful message from Tony Evans titled, The Authority of Binding and Loosing. I encourage you to take a few minutes to go and listen to it.

What follows is the manuscript to my podcast. Feel free to go listen to me share it, and then enjoy having the notes for yourself. TEACH THIS!! It's important! And if you haven't already started a Prayer Clinic ministry at your church consider doing so. And let me help you succeed. It's what I'm here to do. :) 

Binding and Loosing...

In Matthew 16:19 Jesus said, “ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Many times we hear this verse and take it terribly out of context. We go about binding in Jesus’...

I had the privilege of interviewing a pastor today; one who got saved after he graduated from seminary and pastored a few churches.

How cool is that?! Listen to my Leighann McCoy podcast and you'll get to hear Rick Nelson's story next week. This week I posted an interview with Dr. Chuck Lawless who shares with us a great definition of spiritual warfare and discusses the battle to believe. You will love this conversation as well.

Back to Rick. As he was sharing, I thought how hard it must have been for him to overcome the humility of admitting to his congregation that he'd been leading them all this time and he wasn't even saved. And then, I got to thinking about how hard it is to live our faith authentically as we lead ministry. 

I want to encourage you today with these 3 truths:

1. It's okay to struggle in your own prayer life while you urge others to pray.

One of my favorite Bible stories is the one that tells of Jacob's tussle with God near the Jabbok...

Dave Butts, the former leader of Harvest Prayer Ministries began his article titled "Prayer Power in the Church" with this quote by S.D. Gordon, 

“The great people of the earth today are the people who pray!  I do not mean those who talk about prayer; nor those who say they believe in prayer; nor those who explain prayer; but I mean those who actually take the time to pray. They have not time. It must be taken from something else. That something else is important, very important and pressing, but still, less important and pressing than prayer. There are people who put prayer first, and group the other items in life’s schedule around and after prayer. These are the people today who are doing the most for God in winning souls, in solving problems, in awakening churches, in supplying both men and money for mission posts, in keeping fresh and strong their lives far off in sacrificial service on the foreign field, where the thickest fighting is going...

I'm starting a mini-series of blog posts on the importance of prayer in the church. And I'm going to begin with the argument that the activity of prayer ought to take priority over all of other activities in the local church.

Wait, what? 

You mean prayer ought to take priority over Bible study? 

Yep.

It's more important than fellowship? 

Yep.

...preaching? 

Yep.

...evangelism?

Yes.

If I were to do a survey of how many churches make a priority of prayer, I would most likely be disappointed. When compared to the priority of children's and youth activities, nurturing relationships with each other, women's ministries, men's ministries, and weekend gatherings, the presence of corporate prayer experiences on the church's calendar would lag far behind.

Barna discovered that the culture we live in today has impacted the way we approach prayer in the church, this is what he has to report: 

"The forces of our individualistic culture...

At our church we have a team of over 100 people who've committed to fast and pray once a week, or one day a month specifically for the purpose of praying for our church. We provide this team of prayer partners with a private prayer list. The list is compiled by collecting prayer requests from church staff members. Staff share their requests both for their personal lives and for their areas of ministry. At the first of the list we include churchwide annual goals (what we update monthly). Each month we update our requests and list praises for the answered prayers we've experienced. 

In order for you to capture the spirit of this vital ministry, let me share the introduction I wrote for the first private prayer list we sent to our team members this past January 2022: 

Happy New Year! If you have just now joined our praying and fasting team, WELCOME! We are so glad you are here. This list is for your personal use as you fast and pray a day a week, or a day this month.

The best...

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...

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...

Hello my prayin' friends! 

I've got something exciting to tell you but I want to roll out a personal genuinely heart-felt invitation to you first: 

We now have the Prayer Clinic Virtual Open House online so that you can learn more about the Prayer Clinic ministry from the comfort and flexible convenience of your own home.

If you want to discover how to get your church praying...

If you want to mobilize the people of your church to pray...

If you want to teach your people to pray...

If you want to connect with other prayer leaders via zoom for encouragement, insight and growth...

If you want to experience God answer prayers in a way that makes His power and His love undeniable...

THEN YOU WANT TO OPEN A PRAYER CLINIC at your church! 

And we can show you how. Just participate in the Virtual Open House here, OR plan to come to middle Tennessee, spend a great weekend in the beautiful historical town of Franklin, and join us on a Sunday morning for our next In-person Open...