It’s not unusual for me to set goals.  I set them all the time.  They help me think through what I should be accomplishing.  They help me know where I’m going.  And they help me devise strategies to meet those goals.

But this goal is a little unusual.

My goal is to see the Wednesday Night prayer meeting become so large that we have to move out of a large classroom and move back into our worship center.  And I want it to grow not because we’re having a special series or because of some attention getting guests or because we have phenomenal music or because we offer top-notch Bible Study.  I want it to grow because our church knows the value of group prayer, knows that a healthy prayer meeting is indispensable to a healthy church, and is willing to make the commitment to pray on a regular basis.

It hasn’t happened yet, so I want to invite all friends and members to consider once again joining our Wednesday night prayer meeting on a regular basis.  And I don’t want you to be disappointed when you come. Outwardly, our prayer meeting is not a spectacular thing.   There is no special music or praise team.  ( We have a pianist and a song leader who leads us in a hymn or two.)  There is no incredibly deep Bible Study.  (I usually give a devotional thought leading us to a specific prayer focus for that night.)  There is nothing high-tech about the night.  (We don’t normally use projectors, computers, or videos.  Surprisingly, we do use hymnals.)  And there are no scripted prayers.  (We get in prayer circles for about half the time and we pray.)

We want to pray, but we don’t want to scare anyone off who is not used to an old-fashioned prayer meeting, so we have adopted these guidelines for ourselves:

1. Our goal is to spend at least 30 of the 60 minutes in actual prayer.
2. We never pressure anyone to pray out loud.  Those who don’t feel comfortable praying out loud just tap the next person in the circle.
3. We do want everyone to pray out loud if they choose, so we ask that everyone leaves time for others.
4. We don’t worry about how we sound to others; God understands even when we use incorrect grammar or when we stumble over our words.
5. We understand that people are busy, so we respect everyone’s time and keep the meeting to an hour.

Our prayer meetings aren’t fancy, high-tech, or well-scripted.  They are simple gatherings of people who believe in the power of God to answer prayer.

My prayer is that there will be so many of us praying that we will have to move out of a classroom into the worship center.  When that happens, I will know that God is about to do something special in our church.

In the meantime, meet us in Building D at 6:30 pm on Wednesday nights for prayer.  If God answers our prayer, we will soon move to the worship center.