intercession for churches

I met last week with my friend Hank, who has served as a spiritual guide for at least the past twelve years, off and on. We met through Cursillo, as it was called then. I always appreciated his intellect (he had degrees from Princeton and Yale, and had taught at Converse for a good portion of his adult life), but also his openness to the mystical (and he truly gave some of the more bizarre and stream of conciousness talks I had ever heard on these weekends). We have met on a somewhat regular basis since then....he preached my service of installation at Mount Tabor in Winston-Salem.... and we meet these days either in Charlotte, or in Davidson, or in Winston-Salem.

Much of Hank's ministry since his retirement has been in attending to global ministries of which he has been a part, especially in Eastern Europe and Africa, and, increasingly, it is all about intercession, prayer for others. I have had an interest in intercession, trying to practice that more faithfully in our congregation, following through when I tell people I will pray for them, trying to understand what that means (and I have written about that on this blog and in some essays circulated with friends, and with a manuscript that is in search of a home).

My intention of late, shared with Hank, and following his example, has been to try to pray for particular churches. And so here is my list. I served a few of these churches as pastor. Some are the churches of relatives and friends. Some are on the list because of mission experiences. And some are there because the Spirit leads me to bring them to mind.

I invite you to pray for these churches as well:

Providence UMC, Charlotte
Mount Tabor UMC, Winston-Salem
Saint Timothy's UMC, Greensboro
Christ UMC, Greensboro
Smithtown UMC (Prospect, New Home, Shady Grove, Mount Pleasant)
Trinity UMC, Kannapolis
Cap Haitien Methodist, Haiti
El Salvador Methodist, Cochabamba, Bolivia
The Church of The Saviour, Washington, DC
The House Church, Winston-Salem
Mount Zion Baptist Church, Columbus, Ga
The Anglican Communion
Haitien Church of The Nazarene, Charlotte