ORLANDO—Saying “I am convinced that one of the greatest sins in the life of pastors and churches is the sin of prayerlessness,” Ronnie Floyd, president of the SBC Executive Committee in Nashville, Tenn., implored Florida pastors to revive a discipline of prayer.
Floyd spoke to a crowd of nearly 2,000 attending the Monday afternoon session of the 2019 Florida Pastors’ Conference held Nov. 11 at First Baptist Church in Orlando.
In the sermon “The Pastor and His Prayer Life,” Floyd quoted Mark 1:35, “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He got up, went out and made His way to a deserted place; and there he was praying.” (CSB)
“If Jesus, the Son of the living God, needs to rise early in the morning, even before the dawning of the day to pray, shouldn’t you think about doing this in your own life personally—or at least give God the first hour of each day in your life?”
Floyd follows this as a personal discipline in his own life, he said, spending at least an hour each morning in prayer, maintaining an organized prayer list before him.
“God has always used prayer, and at times prayer with fasting, to keep my heart always willing to follow God anywhere to do anything,” said Floyd, who led Cross Church in Northwest Arkansas for more than 30 years before assuming his SBC position this summer.
“When we are negligent in prayer, then we will be content in leading and doing ministry without the power of God.”
Churches do not pray because pastors do not lead them to pray, Floyd said, attributing that to pride, unbelief and ignorance of knowing how to pray.
He suggested six guidelines for a pastor to develop his own prayer life:
–set a special time daily;
–designate a special place;
–create a special plan;
–read God’s special book;
–write a special letter to God daily; and
–reach a special goal daily.
“A praying pastor will bring prayer back into its rightful place in worship,” Floyd said.
He suggested three ways to bring prayer back into the church:
–bring the pastoral prayer back into worship services weekly, urging pastors to “stop demeaning prayer into serving only as a transitional moment in your service;”
–turn the entire Sunday morning worship service into a prayer meeting;
–create and lead a prayer ministry in your church.
Through prayer, Floyd said, “I believe God can do more in a moment than I can do in a lifetime. I believe God can do anything, anytime, anywhere with anyone.”
