The Challenge of Ministry Today...

We receive more than 200 (sometimes as many as 500) prayer requests every week.  Praying for them is one of the most sacred privileges I have.  I read them, lifting the names of people I know well, and people I've never met personally before the throne of God and entrust them to God.  As I read I wonder about the stories behind each request.  Some are obviously stories of pain.  Others are stories of praise.  Some are written by people walking in darkness, barely able to make out the hand of God but still trusting.  Some are written by people who are taking their very first steps toward God.  So many are about finances and unemployment.  Today, as our staff gathered to pray we also prayed for one another.  Our church wisely responded over six months ago to a changing economic climate.  But, we are needing to do it again.  Budget reductions, layoffs and salary reductions are part of the landscape everywhere you turn - and it is a part of almost every ministry organization as well.  This is one of the hardest seasons of ministry I have ever faced.  And yet I know that God is in it.  I read Psalm 105 and was struck at how God was the director, the producer and the author of details of Israel's history...and I am sure they didn't always recognize it.  Sometimes we don't either.