‘Memorial Stones’ prayer ministry makes big difference to small church
Sasser UMC in the Americus District was a small, hungry church in June of 2002. While they loved the Lord and their church, they knew very little about the Bible and were meeting only on Sunday Morning. Then in July of 2002 they began a Sunday night study on prayer and in September began a Disciple I Bible study. There were 8 -10 active participants in those two evening Bible studies. These participants were and are still the spiritual strength of the church. Small though the Sasser congregation is, they have become known as a praying church.
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Vestibule Basket with stones and instructions for the people to take with them to remind them to pray about a specific need. |
For nearly seven years now, they have been intentional about being a praying church. Anyone who knows any of their members will pass a need on to them for the church to put on their prayer list. The back page of their bulletin currently has an active list of nearly 100 names.
In January of 2007, God gave their pastor, the Rev. Wesley Kaylor, a message to begin a ministry that he has titled “Memorial stones”. “This has been an opportunity to really focus our prayer ministry, and to give us a visible way to be reminded of the mighty things that God has done as a result of just a few faithful people praying,” Kayor said. “It is based on the two statements that Joshua makes in Joshua 4 about the 12 stones that the people took from where the priests were standing in the Jordon while the people passed by on dry ground.” They placed a basket of stones in the vestibule. The people are instructed to take a stone with them, and place it someplace where it will remind them to pray about some need each time they see it. When God answers that prayer, they are asked to stand in church and testify to the greatness of God and place that stone into the bowl on the altar.
They started with a flat desert plate for people to place the stones on. Now they use two bowls which contain 258 stones representing answered prayers. One large stone was placed there according to Kaylor, when one of their members, Dwaine, received a “cancer free report.” Other answered prayers have included deliverances from cancer, heart disease, deliverance from drug and alcohol addictions, restored marriages where one or both spouses have been in adulterous affairs, and restored relationship among family and friends.
This ministry has become so important to their worship service, they had to add 15 minutes to allow time for praise and prayer and not limit the teaching of the Word of God. “The key,” according to Kaylor, “is believing that the Bible is true from cover to cover and obeying what we are commanded to do.” The Rev. Ronnie Wills, Americus District Superintendent, has shared this ministry with several small congregations and they have shared with him that it is working for their people also. “It is a way for a small congregation to be able to make a big difference for the Kingdom of God even if they don’t have the people or resources to be successful in the eyes of the UMC,” Kaylor said. “By every standard that the UMC uses to measure success, Sasser is a failure. The last two years have been a real struggle in every way. The people have persevered and we have believed that God’s Word is true. And we have walked in His blessings since last June in an un-believable way. We are having many answered prayer testimonies and new visitors almost every week.”
Laugh & Learn: On the Air . . . With a Hair!
Cathy Lee Phillips
Eight seconds until air time. I took my place on the sofa and noticed, of course, that my feet wouldn’t touch the floor. My microphone was secured. The lights glared. Call me vain, but I grabbed a compact I tucked behind a sofa cushion and couldn’t resist one last check of the hair and make-up. Two seconds. Cue the music. I was appearing on Atlanta Live (March 2), filmed locally at WATC-TV studios. Shown live, the show is taped and beamed via Sky Angel to places all over the planet. Any goof I made could have global consequences, so it was natural to check the mirror one last time.
That’s when I saw it. A nano-second before the mirror snapped shut, I saw it. Horrified, I tried to convince myself I hadn’t seen what I had seen. The camera points, the red light glows, and we’re on air. There was no chance for a second look. So, with a slow, graceful movement, I placed my hand beneath my chin(s) and felt the area. Yep! It was back –one menacing black chin hair that terrorizes me occasionally.
I don’t know when or why it began. I can live for months with a clean, smooth chin(s) even though I check for this enemy daily with a lighted mega-magnifying mirror. The rogue hair never appears when I’m in the privacy of my own home with tweezers at hand. But put me in public, and that heretofore unseen black hair blossoms into a 12-foot tentacle cemented to my chin(s)! It grows from nothing to nightmare in two seconds. And tonight it was being broadcast across the globe via satellite. Let me die! The hosts chat and introduce me. I hope to be eloquent, humorous, and compelling. I’ve been on ***Atlanta Live*** frequently so I know what to do. I am there to discuss the difference God has made in my life. But I’m on air . . . with a hair . . . and I don’t want it there.
In my mind, the whole world sees a tree sprouting from my chin. I imagine it glistening and waltzing beneath the studio lights, the four cameras covering it from north, south, east, and west. Just call me Esau and kill me! Focus, Cathy, focus. The hosts are asking about my new book. Where did I get the title, Honey, There’s a Cat in the Freezer! Does the book have a theme? Are the stories real? What do they teach us about the love of God? My brain was spinning with ideas. They wanted to talk about God but my mind was gripped by a lone chin hair. Though I looked relaxed and said all the right words, my brain recalled the Song of Solomon where someone said, “Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Gilead.” (6:5, NIV). Now there’s a compliment you don’t hear every day. I pictured goats grazing on my chin. Would this interview never end? Didn’t the hosts or producers (and viewers) see this gruesome growth? But this is LIVE TV and we can’t stop filming. I keep responding to questions and evidently I am coherent because the hosts smile, nod, and ask more questions.
But in my mind, I’m remembering, “Troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than my hairs, and my heart fails within me.” (Psalm 40:12) Well, I did feel my heart dying . . . my chin hair flying . . . and my spirit crying! It is amazing how long a thirty-minute segment can last when you are plagued by chin hair growing like kudzu on a Georgia road. The interview mercifully ended and, strangely, the production staff commented on my poise and natural humor. The hosts asked for an autographed copy of my book. Another guest told me I “radiated” the love of God!
Were they kidding? No one noticed the vine climbing down my throat . . . or goats . . . or kudzu? The hair was there . . . on the air . . . and no one else knew (until now!). Once again, God’s miracles eclipsed my flaws. Hallelujah!
But I do wonder . . . Scripture assures me that God knows every hair on my head (Matthew 10:30). But does that include the one on my chin(s), too?
Cathy Lee Phillips can be reached at (770) 938-3911; P. O. Box 365, Tucker, GA 30085, or cathy@cathyleephillips.com. Visit her new Web site www.cathyleephillips.com.
From the Counselor’s Notebook: Centering Prayer: A Lenten Devotional
Martha Tate
“It is by the door of the deep self that we enter into the spiritual knowledge of God.”
- Thomas Merton
For years now the Lenten season has been important to me, a deepening of my walk with the Holy One. My Lenten rituals have been conscious attempts to loosen my grip on certain attachments to material satisfactions and emotional or spiritual habits of mind. Extricating myself from these blockers, I have been better able to know and respond to Spirit’s call on my life. Some years I have had experiences that remain for me clear, undeniable examples of God’s direct interaction in my life. Other years have been more subtle, yet meaningful still. I have come to look forward to Lent as spring cleaning for my soul. Cataract surgery for my spiritual vision.
This year I have committed to the twice daily practice of Centering Prayer. At this writing, I confess to a regular daily and occasional twice a day practice. I am thankful for God’s blessing on the “good enough”, while I continue to strive for completion of my intention. Centering prayer is the practice of transcending thought in order to experience God. The three rules are simple. First you quiet your body and mind and move into a faithful attitude toward God. Next, you choose a single word, one that connotes God’s love and faithfulness, and allow that word to repeat itself continuously in your mind. When other thoughts, ideas or images come into the mind, which they will incessantly do, you gently refocus your attention on your sacred word. After 20 minutes, come out of the meditation and offer prayers for others, yourself and the world, whatever is on your heart and mind.
Nothing could sound simpler. Yet, because the mind is made to think, quieting it into silence is challenging and requires the continual, gentle nudging of attention back and back and back again to the sacred word. When we follow this process, we are led over time to a place outside of ordinary time. A place where our agendas do not rule the day. A place in which we become more receptive to the sometimes whispering, sometimes resounding movement of the Holy Spirit. “Beneath all our feelings, beneath our reasoning, beneath all our limitations, there is a deep Center, the Center and ground of our being, and we can pass through that Center into the very Center of God.” Father Basil Pennington
Long time practitioners of Centering Prayer profess that they are profoundly changed by the experience. Consistently, it is reported that others in their lives notice the changes before they do. Changes in attitudes, countenance and behaviors. Changes that attest to the workings of grace upon their souls. In his book, Centered Living, Father Basil Pennington, shares that, “Most who are faithful to the Prayer have experienced that after a time the inner eye does adapt itself to the deifying light. They begin to see things differently, to experience life in another way.”
I have intermittently experienced this way of being with God for a while now, and more consistently this Lenten season. I can say that, when I begin my prayer time centering in this sacred space, I find that the subsequent content of my expressed prayer is different. I am more willing to allow God to be God, while I simply ask for blessings upon loved ones, myself and the world. It is more evident to me, then, that His thoughts and ways are higher than mine. Resting in this knowledge allows me great peace.
“When we pray in accordance with the law of love, we pray in accordance with the will of God.”
- Agnes Sanford
Martha M. Tate is a licensed clinical social worker in private practice. She can be reached at marthatate@mindspring.com.
Pathways to His Presence: A Living Room Sermon
B.J. Funk
I’ve heard many wonderful sermons in my day, but the one spoken in my living room in October of this past year stands among the very top on my list. Roy’s 92-year-old dad flew in from Michigan to see his son. Roy’s sister, Janet, came at the same time. The occasion was not a joyous one. Roy was very sick. Leukemia invaded his body with a relentless weakness that sapped my strong husband of all energy.
On the third morning of his stay, Mr. Funk came to breakfast and asked me for oil. He woke up with this clear impression from the Lord. “You didn’t just come to see your boy. You must pray for him.” Janet and I gathered around Roy as Mr. Funk placed his worn fingers into the oil and then made a cross on his son’s forehead. “Dear Father, We don’t want anything between you and us while we pray. This is my only boy, and he is sick. He’s the seventh generation of our family to serve you. I’m asking you to heal him.”
The prayer went on a little longer, but the sermon started at the end of the prayer. With tears in his eyes, Mr. Funk said to us, “Now I’ve done what He told me to do. What He does now is up to Him, and we leave it with Him.” Then Roy said, “And whatever He does will be all right.” The best sermons aren’t always happy ones. The best gifts aren’t usually wrapped. That morning, grace swept across our hearts, reminding us of one family’s spiritual journey through seven generations and of the certainty that this same faith would wrap arms around us all, no matter what. Holiness invaded earth that day as a living room sermon assured us once again that God’s grace, that same grace that carried Roy’s forefathers through, will truly be sufficient. Praise His name.
Rev. B.J. Funk is associate pastor of Central UMC in Fitzgerald. She can be reached at bjfunk@bellsouth.net.
