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A Gift for Pastors

I love pastors! They are the key to grow a church deeper in prayer. A good lay prayer leader can have significant influence, but the key to any church’s prayer life is the pastor.

A good prayer leader can help plan a prayer strategy for his or her church, and she or he can play a huge role in equipping, encouraging and implementing to see increased prayer, but the lead pastor is still the key. In my 23 years of prayer ministry I have watched many churches “take off” as they increased their prayer emphasis. In each one, something happened in the heart of the pastor regarding prayer, and he or she started becoming a champion of prayer.

All pastors pray. And most recognize that prayer is a vital key to the work of the Spirit in their church. But making “prayer happen” in the lives of their parishioners and church life is daunting—especially given all the areas of ministry a pastor needs to oversee. So prayer can take a “back seat” in everything that needs to be done.

A Plan to Help Pastors

In September of 2019, the Lord started stirring an idea in me, a strategy to encourage and equip pastors to be prayer champions. This plan involved raising funds to gift a packet of key resources to pastors that would inspire and equip them. I was especially interested in gifting either pastors in a specific location or pastors of smaller churches who did not have a money in their budgets to purchase resources.

But other work kept me busy, so I put it on a back burner. That is until December 31 when two ministry donors (a couple) phoned me and told me the Lord had been moving their hearts to gift pastors in their region and beyond with a packet of prayer resources (and they named the exact resources that I was thinking)! Well, needless to say, I took notice!

After more prayer and further discussion, the first 30 packets were sent out to a region of small-town Arkansas, and the Pastors Prayer Resource Project was born. In the packets were copies of City of Prayer, Forgotten Power, Restored Power, and the “Pray for All the Saints” issue of Prayer Connect magazine, plus letters from the anonymous donor and from me sharing why we want to encourage and equip them.

Our vision is to see thousands of pastors reached with a Pastors Prayer Resource Pack. And you can help! Are there specific pastors God is moving you to reach? We can work with you to get the packets to those pastors you want to encourage. Donate $40 per pastor. Or if you would just like to help fund this project, a donation of any size would help.

To give to the Pastors Resource Project simply use the donate form below or send a check made out to Church Prayer Leaders Network, to:

CPLNP.O. Box 10667Terre Haute, IN 47801.

If you want to fund specific pastors include a list of names and addresses.

Partner with us to help pastors–key individuals in the development of praying churches.

–Jon Graf is the president of the Church Prayer Leaders Network.

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