I'm glad you asked!
Prayer is my passion, and I'm on a mission to get the local church praying.
I'm on a mission to get your church praying.
My husband has been the senior pastor at Thompson Station Church for 33 1/2 years. Most of those years our church has baptized over 100 people a year, and grown in significant percentages. Some of those years we've held our own and considered that growth! But every one of those years
When we first came to TSC, Tom's mother (who'd been a pastor's wife longer than Tom and I had been alive), told him that if he'd pray, God would bless our work. This was especially good advice because we came to Thompson Station to join 8 people and a dream.
One of the first things Tom did was invite the leader of those 8 people to meet him on Tuesday mornings to pray. Since that guy was a successful plumber, he and Tom met before daybreak and poured their hearts out as they knelt on the linoleum covered...
When Willie McLaurin (interim president and CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee and interim pastor at First Family Church just south of us in Columbia, TN) got to this point in his message at the Southern Baptist Convention in Anaheim, CA, I wanted to jump up and SHOUT!
If prayer is not our main business, we will be out of business!
I thought about all the "business" we'd been doing at that Convention. Most of the business I observed was managed by a parliamentarian (like, WOW! That guy did a great job!). And moderated by a president, Ed Litton(husband of my friend, Kathy Litton, and president of the SBC this past year--who did a remarkable job moderating this 2-day, thousands-of-people-in-attendance, old-fashioned church business meeting.).
And I wondered what might have happened in Anaheim if we'd fallen to our knees in prayer together. What might've happened if, after the vote on the Sexual Abuse Task Force recommendation (which passed...
Our people come to the altar to pray during our Sunday morning worship services. They come because we invite them to come.
Yesterday (May 29, 2022) we invited them to come to lament and repent over the state of our world today. Just this past week we suffered the reality of another mass shooting event at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX. We also suffered the exposure of 20 years of cover-ups and mishandling of sexual abuse in the SBC (the world's largest protestant denomination and the one we at Thompson Station Church are affiliated with). The war in the Ukraine continues to rage as does the craziness in Washington DC, and the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard trial. Our newest supreme court judge in waiting can't (or won't) define what it means to be a woman. (Something I did on Mother's Day--click here if you want to see how; and listen to our podcast this summer as we launch a series called "The Truth about Women" beginning next week.)
We are living in a season of increasing...
In 2004 we had an "Awakening" at Thompson Station Church where we watched as over 500 people made decisions to follow Christ. You can read about it here: Church Prayer for Revival, 515 make decisions
This blog post is taken from the training I led with our Life Group leaders (We called them Connect Groups in 2004). We were working hard to mobilize our people to pray because we genuinely believe that when we work, we work...but when we pray, God works.
“I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them.” Matthew 18:18-20
“A servant of the Lord has well said: Prayer is the rail for God’s work. Indeed, prayer is to God’s...
Hello my prayin' friends!
I've got something exciting to tell you but I want to roll out a personal genuinely heart-felt invitation to you first:
We now have the Prayer Clinic Virtual Open House online so that you can learn more about the Prayer Clinic ministry from the comfort and flexible convenience of your own home.
If you want to discover how to get your church praying...
If you want to mobilize the people of your church to pray...
If you want to teach your people to pray...
If you want to connect with other prayer leaders via zoom for encouragement, insight and growth...
If you want to experience God answer prayers in a way that makes His power and His love undeniable...
THEN YOU WANT TO OPEN A PRAYER CLINIC at your church!
And we can show you how. Just participate in the Virtual Open House here, OR plan to come to middle Tennessee, spend a great weekend in the beautiful historical town of Franklin, and join us on a Sunday morning for our next In-person Open...
We are so excited to be sharing our Prayer Clinic Virtual Open House!
If you've been following me for very long you know that I am passionate about prayer. I'm even more passionate about mobilizing your church to pray.
As a leader in the ministry of prayer, I know what it's like to sincerely believe that when we pray, God answers. I also know what it's like to try to convince my brothers and sisters in the faith that this is true.
I know how it feels to plan a prayer meeting hoping for a great turnout, and ending up with a faithful few. I've been the only one to show up to pray in the prayer room.
But I also know how easy it is to never find myself in those places again. I've discovered ways to get our people praying and I've also discovered it's not that hard to do! And I'm eager to show you how you can get your people praying too.
The Prayer Clinic ministry is the new and improved version of the church's intercessory prayer ministry. Instead of a rolodex we...
The following blog post was first published in 2017 when I taught Teach My Heart to Pray for the first time at Thompson Station Church. I invited participants to ask me their questions regarding prayer. I've added a few new questions and answers to that original post.
Teach My Heart to Pray is a 4-session study on prayer that is designed to teach Christ- followers how to make the most of the amazing privilege we've been given to approach God's throne of grace with bold confidence that results in experiencing God's power working in and through our lives in the world today.
It's also the recruiting plan for creating dynamic intercessory prayer teams that staff Prayer Clinics. You can learn more and order Teach My Heart to Pray HERE.
Here are the answers to some really great questions on prayer:
Every conversation with the Lord is considered a...
Now that you've got your prayer point persons in your small groups, mobilize them to pray for people who are lost.
Challenge your prayer point people to share this super easy method of praying for their lost friends and neighbors.
First, quote or read Ecclesiastes 4:9-12...
“Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up. Also, if two lie down together, they can keep warm; but how can one person alone keep warm? And if someone overpowers one person, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not easily broken.” – Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (CSB)
Even Solomon knew that a 3-cord relationship was stronger than one or two. I've found that the most practical benefit of prayer triplets is that when 1 can't come, 2 can still get together. And if/when 1 or even 2 might be discouraged there is still 1 (or 2) who aren't. We...
Before you can influence the people in your church's small groups you need to build a relationship with a prayer point person in each group. Read on for simple step-by-step instructions on how to do just that.
If we want to change what goes on in our small groups, we will first need to connect with the leaders of the groups. The best way to reach your small group leaders is through the pastor on staff who leads them.
If you don't have a pastor on staff who leads them, make sure your pastor knows that you want to reach out to them and tell him what you're up to.
"Pastor, I want to help mobilize our people to pray in their small groups, and I'd like to start by connecting with our small group leaders. One of our primary goals for this year is to get our people actively praying for those who are lost. Would you be good with me reaching out to...
We call them all sorts of things. They used to be "Sunday School." Then we decided to offer them at other times throughout the week and we wanted people to know they were welcome to come, so we called them Connect Groups, or Life Groups, or House Groups or ... it's not important what we call them, it's important that we participate in them!
At our church we encourage ALL our members to connect in a Life Group. For we tell them that they will grow the most in their faith when they do life together with other believers.
Our small group ministries are the lifeline of our churches.
When people get out of the auditorium and into a group, they become more than a spectator--they become a participant. It's like moving from the student section in the football stadium to the sidelines and exchanging your team colored sweatshirts with the uniform itself.
We live out our faith as disciples of Jesus in small groups.
And this is why I'm committed this year to bring PRAYER to life in...
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