Revitalizing CLBC: Part 7

This is part 7 of an ongoing series walking through the revitalizing process, thus far, of Cypress Lake Baptist church. You can read part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here, part 4 here, part 5 here, and part 6 here.

It's about time for me to close out these posts, but I have this one and then a concluding post for this series. This one is crucial. This one is prayer. Prayer has no doubt contributed in unbelievable (and probably unknowable) ways. However, I do not simply mean prayers over the past 18 months. I came to this church 18 months ago, but they had their pastor search committee for over a year. Since I was the second pastor of CLBC this was a new process for them. I've heard several members of the committee talk about the process, the struggles, and the drive to prayer that they were often led to individually and together.

However, that's not where it began either. The truth is I came into a place that had prayed for years for God to do a work, reach the community, and increase His glory in this place. I came into a place that had labored in prayer and work for over 30 years together. I came into a place that God had already been working in and moving to accomplish great things for His name's sake.

I have recently come to realize this truth more and more. While it is true that 18 months ago our church was struggling in some ways, they were not struggling in prayer. They believed God had a plan for them and they continued to seek His face to see what that plan might be.

Over the past 18 months God has answered numerous prayers in our midst. They called me as pastor, which was an answer to their specific prayers in that season. We've seen God work in and through our people to bring about healing spiritually, emotionally, and physically. We've seen guests show up nearly every Sunday for 18 months, and the overwhelming majority of them have not been invited by us. I've also seen and heard of many of our members mention how they pray for my family and I daily. I cannot stress enough how important this is and how blessed I feel.

God is doing a work. God is answering prayer. And these are prayers that have been going on for many years, by many people, at many times, in many ways, and in many places.