In John 17, Jesus prayed that His followers would be one. My wife, Rosie, and I felt privileged to experience a taste of this unity last month at a GACX Prayer Roundtable in Grand Rapids, Michigan. We enjoyed lively conversation, built relationships and discussed the importance of prayer and how best to integrate prayer into the “DNA” of an organization. And of course, we prayed!
The Roundtable included GACX members from Mission India, DOOR International and Multiplication Network Ministry (MNM). We all agreed that there must be greater integration of prayer in our respective organizations. How that is done depends on the organization and its leadership team, but each GACX member present emphasized the importance of prayer.
“It is amazing how a group of believers who don’t really know each other become friends after praying together!” said Greg Stamm, director of communications with MNM. “The Holy Spirit through prayer knits hearts together. And when four organizations are praying together there is greater awareness of the grandness of the Kingdom of God. Lastly, I was aware of the Holy Spirit in our prayer because as I thought of things to pray others in the room prayed those thoughts. It was truly inspiring!”
“This was a special time of sweet fellowship and encouragement for keeping prayer at the forefront of ministry,” mentioned Jan Ritzema, regional associate with Mission India. “I’m currently seeking the Spirit’s leading for fresh insight that will deepen and encourage even more prayer for the ministry.”
“We will continue to meet regularly for prayer,” added Bob Terpstra, chief operations officer with DOOR International, “and we’ve begun to ask our mentees and ‘Next’ leaders to offer prayer both publicly and personally. ‘Top-down’ prayer will be expanded across DOOR International.”
The Apostle Paul said, “Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.” Everybody agreed that we need to be devoted to prayer and to one another, and we saw that prayer can be the foundation for unity, relationships, and collaboration.
As a result, we decided that those present at the Roundtable would continue to meet together and pray!
We have scheduled a Zoom prayer call for the last Thursday of each month from 2-3 p.m. EST. Rosie and I would love to invite more GACX members to join this call. Our next call is scheduled for Thursday, February 28. If you would like to join, please let us know.