One Prayer

In full swing now with One Prayer

What is it? Why are we doing it? What are we expecting out of this? Great questions that have some simple answers.

In John 17, Jesus prayed that we, His followers and His church, would be ONE. SO THAT the world may believe! He continued to pray for us to be IN the world, going in His glory and His power - "I in them and you in me." He continues to call for UNITY in the body of Christ, so the world may see Him glorified. ONE PRAYER is an answer to this prayer that Jesus prayed. The church, globally, unifying in prayer, giving and service at the same time to impact the global church. He talks of the love of the Father, the GIVING Father that God is.

The goal for us here at FBC is to be united through prayer and service with other churches around the globe, and for us to join together as a body in prayer throughout the series. As scripture reminds us, there is power when 2 or more gather in HIS name. A couple of hundred people praying the same prayer, studying the same scripture verse daily, lifting the will and name of Jesus - that is an UNSTOPPABLE force! We also want to SERVE together and GIVE together through this event.

And that's the theme this year - UNSTOPPABLE! What can His church look like if WE, His church, lived out Jesus' prayer - united, going into the world in the power and glory of God? It would be something that NOTHING on earth could stop!

Each week in June, we will have a 'guest speaker' that will share (via video) a message that focuses directly on this theme of unstoppable. We've already heard from Craig Groeschel, and will soon hear from Ray Johnston, Perry Noble and Scott Harness. What will we, the teaching staff be doing in the meantime? Great question. This will allow us to focus on finalizing the rest of the summer and preparing fall series. In addition, I will be available to work with the elders on leadership, governance, vision issues and work with on developing other leaders for ministry.

• Is it scary? Probably. We don't know how it will all turn out - but He does.
• Is it predictable? Nope. "To be Spirit filled is to be unpredictable and yet completely reliable!" (Perry Noble)
• How will it impact our church? Don't know. My HOPE is that we will answer the call that JESUS puts out in the prayer - be one, be united, be serving IN the world, be an unstoppable force for God, give like Jesus gave.

1. If you haven't already, pick up a copy of the Fasting and Prayer Guide in the back of the Worship Center. EVERY TUESDAY is fast day, so pick either a meal or all meals, a form of media or tv or something else to abstain from that day. Spend that time in prayer on the issue that coincides with the Bible verses for the day.
   
2. This culminates on the weekend of July 4th, our parade weekend. Coincidence? I think not! We will worship together on Saturday, July 3rd (5 p.m.) and then SERVE together on the 4th. YES, it's Sunday. The parade runs RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE CHURCH! Talk about the fish jumping into the boat!!!
3. We will also take an offering at the end of the event for either a local agency that we work with or one of our national/international missions groups (Samaritan's Purse for example).

HANG ON for what God will do through us and IN us during this event. May God receive all the glory for what happens next!