Praying for My New President

The first presidential election I remember was Eisenhower. Everyone in my family was a yellow-dog Democrat and Ike was a Republican, promising change. It was an appropriate promise since Ike’s predecessor, Harry Truman, had the lowest approval rating of any president in sixty years. I remember chaos and confusion. But Ike won and years later members of my family still liked Ike. Now that I think about it every new president since Ike has won the election by promising change. As of this past week we have another new change-promising president. Maybe he can bring change, maybe not. Time will be his judge. At this point in time, I have a new president-elect, once again promising change. I have lived with presidents that I liked and those I didn’t like. I’ve survived presidents for whom I voted and those for whom I did not vote. I’ve lived with change and promised change. I will pray for my new president, because that’s what I’ve always done. The Bible instructs me to pray “for all who are in authority” (2 Timothy 2:2), regardless of how I voted. This much I know, I have visited fifty-six countries of this world, and I still choose America over most of what I’ve seen elsewhere. Would you join me this week in praying for president-elect Obama and the following global concerns?

• Pray for churches across Romania that are trying to transition to a cell church model and for new churches being planted with this model.
• Join church leaders in greater Toronto who are praying for 250 new churches by 2020.
• Pray for follow-up for a women’s retreat held this past this weekend in Belgium.
• Pray for a new church-starting emphasis in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, the seventh largest city in Canada.