The Public Servants’ Prayer

Matthew June 21st, 2007

Christmas Season

Much has transpired since I last wrote and I will try to briefly cover the end of last year and bring you up to date quickly. The months of November and December were filled with writing and directing a Christmas play. The “play” was more a production than a play. It was a joint venture between our church and another church with over 70 people involved in it. The gospel was clearly presented in the play, and over four hundred and fifty people attended the two showings, PTL!

Are We Moving?

Throughout the month of Nov. we continued negotiating on a house in Greensburg, IN. Both Miriam and I are excited about the possibility of moving there. Miriam loves the house and I like the location - 45 min. from downtown Indy (cutting my time and gas bill in half) while still remaining only 23 min. from our church. Our bid was accepted the first part of Dec. and thus began the necessity of finishing many projects in our house to get it ready to sell. Many thanks go to all who helped in this effort. It is now on the market, and if you know anyone who’s interested in a cozy little bungalow in Southeastern IN., please give us a call.☺ (Prayer Request: Buying the other house is contingent on selling this house, so please pray that we can sell our house quickly!)

Statehouse Prayer Service

In between the Christmas play, preaching at several churches, working on our house, attending nine Christmas get-togethers and just the general busyness of the holiday season, I was also planning a prayer service to be held in the Statehouse. We had the service on Jan. 4^th, the first day of session for the House of Representatives. A key motivator (although not the focus) for this event was the recent ruling by the United States District court ordering that prayers given as part of the official proceedings of the Indiana House are not to use Christ’s name or title or other denominational appeal and should not, “Proclaim or otherwise communicate the beliefs that Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior, that he was resurrected, or that He will return on Judgment day , or is otherwise divine.” As you can see by the content of this ruling, we as Christians have been specifically prohibited from praying in the name of our God. This should highlight the need to pray for ALL that are in authority.

Last year during session I held a meeting focused on prayer for our leaders. I was able to pull on the experience God gave me from that event and apply it to organizing this one. 200 - 300 people from all over the state of Indiana made the special effort to come to the Statehouse to pray! There were many elected officials in attendance as well. I would like to pass along their gratefulness at seeing so many people come to pray for them. The feedback I received from the people who attended was that they truly felt the Holy Spirit of God in the meeting and appreciated the words of the colonel, pastors, and representatives who led the prayers. I would also like to thank all those who expressed their regret at not being able to attend but were praying with us anyway. I talked with people from South Carolina to California who were praying in like mind with us. Praise the Lord, who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think.

Speaker’s Decision

What did the Speaker of the House, Brian Bosma, do in response to the ruling? The 189 year tradition of having a prayer to open session daily has been temporarily suspended while the case in being appealed. However, at the same time, Speaker Bosma has allowed for a voluntary prayer meeting in the back of the chamber five minutes before the start of each session. We must persist in fervent prayer for Speaker Bosma. Please pray that he would be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove (Mt. 10:16) in this monumental case that will have far-reaching effects throughout our nation.

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