In his book Deepening Your Conversation with God, Ben Patterson observes: prayer is the work and ministry is the fruit. He’s right. Praying for others is the heavy lifting of wielding influence — especially when your advocacy involves searching Scripture and using God’s revealed will and reputation to make your case. As R. A. Torrey […]

God is in charge of history. He asks us to work, to try, to pour ourselves out to make things better. But he is an actor in history also. He chastises and rescues, he intervenes in ways seen and unseen. Or chooses not to. Twenty-sixteen looks to me like a chastisement. He’s trying to get […]

We had a woman volunteer in September. She didn’t mean to, but there were five students without adult sponsors. For months she met with those girls on Sunday mornings, talking with them, remembering their birthdays, and saying a short prayer. But not much happened. They weren’t a group. They didn’t bond. So she prayed for […]