Pastor Appreciation Night

A sleepless Saturday night was complicated by what one minister-friend calls, “Intestinal uncertainty.” For me at least, it is a rather frequent Saturday night experience when I am preaching on Sunday morning. Even though I’ve spent Sunday mornings doing just that for more than fifty years, the butterflies keep coming and some nights they turn into buzzards. One can either resent this scenario or accept it as a way to keep from becoming self-sufficient on Sunday morning. This kind of night makes preachers extremely God dependent. Preaching on little sleep is a learned activity. This is Pastor Appreciation Month. May I suggest that one of the ways you could show appreciation for your pastor is to pray for Saturday night rest? Maybe before you go to sleep on Saturday night you could pray for your pastor and if you awaken in the night, ask the Lord to “enlighten” the “darkness” (Ps. 18:28) of your pastor’s possible sleeplessness. Most pastors could use more sentries of the night, especially on Saturdays.

Join me this week in praying for the following global concerns.
• Pray that God will open up opportunities for witness for Russell and Melinda at their Czech choir retreat on Oct. 13-14.
• Pray for a core group of believers committed to the vision and mission of the new church start in the Steveston area of metro Vancouver, Canada.
• Pray for Catherine and Danilo as they complete training in southern Mexico.
• Next Sunday (October 20th) is the day of prayer for European Peoples. Pray for those who serve among them.
• Pray for the ten congregations in metro Vancouver that will be without pastoral leadership by December 31, 2013.