Pastor’s Prayer
Our Vision of God
Every January we as a family of Common Ground come together at our annual All Church Visionary Gathering. The purpose of these gatherings is to acknowledge where we’ve been with God, and to look ahead and dream and to cast a vision of what God wants from His church and where we are headed as a local body in the coming years. So often it seems we have to come up with some new creative strategy and idea for doing…
A Pastor’s Prayer (Part 5)
Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas is a traditional greeting during this particular time of year. What are we to make of such a greeting when we wish upon our family and friends a Merry Christmas? Obviously we are wishing for them good fortune and happy times during this traditional holiday season. But is that all there is to this Christmas season, good fortune and happy times? First off I have to admit I’m a certified sentimental sucker for traditions and especially…
A Pastor’s Prayer (Part 4)
The other day I had some pastors pray for me. And what they prayed for in particular was that God would bless our church and that God’s favor would be upon me. I’ve somewhat wrestled biblically with what exactly we mean when use those phrases. Of course I desire to be blessed by God, and who wouldn’t want God’s favor upon one’s life? And when we pray those types of prayers of blessing and favor, what do we want blessed…
A Pastor’s Prayer (Part 3)
When one thinks about church growth what does one think about? What comes to your mind when people discuss church growth? Believe me, the topic of “church growth” is constantly on the mind and heart of almost every pastor. And sadly in today’s American church this is what characterizes and stigmatizes and distinguishes a supposedly good pastor from a bad pastor. If you can grow a church numerically, and better yet if you can do it in very short time,…
A Pastor’s Prayer (Part 2)
Acts 1:14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. Acts 2:42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Acts 6:4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. Romans 12:12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert…
A Pastor’s Prayer
Greetings beloved family of Common Ground, My heart beats for Christ and His beloved bride. My hope and prayer is that we as a family would continue to go deep with God as we cry out to Him for His sustaining grace and power in our lives. Would you please beseech our Lord with me this week with this prayer? Oh most gracious Lord and Father, You’re not surprised at the size of our church. You knew far in advance…