A few years ago, a friend started asking our Pastors and ministry leaders before the church service, if they had any prayer request we could pray for during our Sunday morning intercession group. She quickly found out that they were starved for prayer. [@more@] Each leader not only had a pray request dealing with the ministry they were leading that Sunday, but they also wanted to pray right then and there. From this humble beginning, the Hit and Run Ministry was born. Our heart is still the same after all these years, we just want to bless our Pastors and help them refocus on Christ before they run off and do their jobs, i.e. minister to us.
Because they are busy, we keep our prayers short and to the point, often only praying for 90 to 120 seconds. Even though the prayer time is short, the impact is huge! Not a Sunday goes by when we are not told how much our short prayers helped. I can still remember the morning where we prayed for one of the Worship leaders who had a sore throat. Her throat hurt so much, she was thinking about not singing that morning. However, after we prayed, she went on stage and sang beautifully – leading the church into God’s presence. Just think of what would of happened if we had not followed God’s prompting and prayed for her? It wasn’t easy – we had to get up early, chase her down that morning and ask to pray for her. But look at how God honored that commitment.
Then there are the countless times we have prayed with the nursery/preschool director about the shortage of helpers. Almost every time we pray, God prompts someone to come up and volunteer to help. What a testimony to the grace of God! One time God even changed the course of the sermon by giving our lead pastor an illustration to bring home his point. Because of this illustration, lives were touched for the kingdom.
Why am I telling you this? Because all too often, we regular Joe Blow Christians, feel that there is no way we can pray for our pastors. After all, they are the ones God has called upon to minister to us. Yet, our pastors are human – they have family problems, work issues, health problems, etc. It is up to us, the congregation, to come along beside our pastors and encourage them; Hit and Run is a simple, yet powerful, way do to this.
I beseech you to take this concept and start praying for your pastors and ministry leaders before each Sunday morning. Be aware that at first your pastors will be a little uneasy as they have a lot going on. Tell them the prayer is only 90 seconds long (and stick to 90 sec.!!!), and then you will leave them alone. After a few Sundays of these Hit and Run prayers, they will began to look for you and eagerly await the prayer. Try it and see what God does.
Joshua Hopping
A Son of the Most High