Congregational Excellence Prayer Team [link removed] September 2019
What comes to your mind as soon as you wake up in the morning? You probably start thinking about your day. “Let’s see. My appointment is at 9:30. I’ve got to make some progress on that project, get a card for my friend’s birthday, and follow-up with someone before noon...”

Without realizing it, you are answering a question, “What do I have to do today?” You have done this so many times, you don’t “hear” the question in your head anymore, you just go straight to the answer. We do this a lot. For instance, you don’t look in your closet and say, “What should I wear today?” but that’s the question you’re answering as you pull clothes off a hanger.

We have all kinds of “silent” questions that guide us through our day. You can probably think of three more off the top of your head. Knowing them is important, because questions are powerful. They direct the way we think and act.

I recently started asking myself a new question every day:

Am I spending enough time being with God to sustain my doing for God?

For most of my life, the answer would have been, “No.” I focused far more on doing than being. Although all kinds of “good” was accomplished for the Kingdom, the way I did it was not good for me or those around me. Non-stop activity led to periodic times of exhaustion and despair. I did not have a replenishing rhythm to sustain my doing.

Thankfully, that’s been changing over the past year. On my 5-day silent prayer retreat in July, I received some very clear messages from the Holy Spirit. One was so simple, it caught me off guard. A gentle whisper said, “Abide in me.”

Merriam-Webster says to abide is to “accept without objection,” to obey, follow, hold to, and stand by. Abiding is mostly a lost art in our culture. Perhaps even in our church. It’s a “being with” activity that cuts against our “doing for” culture. But Jesus says it’s our only hope for a fruitful life.

“Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine,
neither can you unless you abide in me” (John 15:4 NRSV).

As you consider the questions you will ask yourself each day to guide your life, perhaps one about “being with” will lead you down a new path that produces bumper crop.
With you on the journey,
Roger Ross

P.S. Want to know the latest prayer need? Text KINGDOM to 573-227-6557, and you will
receive a weekly Prayer Text. Thanks!
Congregational Excellence Prayer Team
Praying daily for the grace needed to start new places for new people
and transform existing churches across Missouri.
Feel free to pray for a different area each day. Thanks for your prayers!
SUNDAY: Let’s pray together: Lord, multiply your Kingdom through us.

MONDAY: PRAISE GOD for multiplication growth in our Prayer Team! We are grateful for 869 people praying daily & weekly (by text), representing over 325 churches. Let’s humbly ask the Holy Spirit to lead a total of 1,000 pray-ers to the Team in 2019. (More prayer releases more power!)

TUESDAY: Seek the Holy Spirit for a Great Awakening in our churches, communities and nation. Pray for the 12 churches in Missouri entering our new Multiplying Kingdom Impact (MKI) consultation process. Ask the Lord Jesus to reveal new insights and ways of being that transform each church.

WEDNESDAY: Invite the Holy Spirit to pour out fresh wind and fresh fire on the 43 people from the Planting Academy going to the New Room Conference in Nashville, TN, Sept. 25-27.

THURSDAY: Hold before the Lord these churches that are starting something new in 2019-20: Woods Chapel Raytown site restarted on March 3 and Eureka UMC 2nd site in the Spring of 2020. Good Shepherd UMC in the Spring of 2020. North Cross is now discerning their next steps regarding a 2nd site.

FRIDAY: Seek God’s will to reveal clear next steps for the United Methodist Church around the world and for our Missouri Conference. Pray: Lord, give us a kind spirit of cooperation to create a new future.

SATURDAY: Praise God for Rev. Geoff Posegate who joined our CE staff as a half-time Missional Strategist on Sept. 1! Please pray for God to reveal the person who will join us as a full-time missional strategist. As we move into a new appointive year and new goals, please… Thank the Holy Spirit for the creation of a “How to Connect New People to Christ” workshop for our local churches that will be offered in each of the 9 Districts beginning in October.
Ask God to spiritually prepare each of our 9 District Innovation Teams to lead these workshops.



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Missouri Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church
3601 Amron Court, Columbia, MO 65202 | Phone 573-441-1770 | www.moumethodist.org