A Praying Church Stories Paul E. Miller, Jon Hori, Liz Voboril

In this introductory episode, Paul Miller, Jon Hori and Liz Voboril talk about some broad themes from Paul's A Praying Church book and set the stage for the interviews and stories that follow. For more information about the book, visit seejesus.net/aprayingchurch.

Lyle Caswell, Senior Pastor of Christ Community Presbyterian Church in Lakeland, FL, joins Paul, Jon and Liz to talk about A Praying Church. Our conversation centers on how a vision for having prayer at the center of a church affects how we might lead and manage. As Lyle put it, "It's one thing to look at a chart where the spirit of Jesus is in the center and there are all these squiggly lines going through everything, and another to sit at your desk and imagine what practically needs to happen for that chart to reflect the DNA of what you're doing!"

Steve Estes, author and pastor at Brick Lane Community Church in Elverson, PA, joins Paul, Jon and Liz to talk about A Praying Church. "As we pray we access Jesus himself," as Steve put it. "We give lip service to the importance of prayer but don't really do much about it, and this separates us from Jesus himself... whereas his presence is the essence of what the church is, we being his body." Listen in as Steve and the team share their thoughts on how having the Spirit of Jesus at the center of the church changes everything.

Jimmy Agan, author and pastor at Intown Community Church, joins Paul, Jon and Liz to talk about A Praying Church. “You wrote ‘without supernatural passions, you don’t need supernatural means.’ Perhaps one of the reasons I think I can get productive ministry done without real prayer and dependence on Christ by the power of the spirit is that I’m aiming too low! I’m aiming for something that can be done without supernatural power.” Listen in as Jimmy and the team share their thoughts on how prayer fuels ministry.

Adam Barker, a member of our A Praying Life staff who served for many years as a pastor in Texas, joins the team to talk about the weight of leadership. “Many times in ministry you feel like you’re trying to push things forward in your own power, to make something happen on your own. And so this invitation to see the spirit at work and join him in what he’s doing was something that I needed to hear. It feels like it shouldn’t be revolutionary but it is. It changes the weight of leadership.”

James Pavlic, pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashua, NH, joins Paul and Liz to talk about “doing church through prayer.” “What we want as pastors is we want to see God’s people on fire and enthusiastic for Christ -- but there comes a death of self in all that,” shares James. “It’s what John the Baptist said, ‘he must increase I must decrease.’ But the gospel is about Christ and about who he is to the glory of the father through the power of the spirit. Don’t be afraid to let him run the church because he will do it, and he’ll do good."