My More Prayers

Let's start with some basics:

• I'm a follower of Christ.
• I attend a Southern Baptist church.
• I love my church.
• I was a lead pastor and youth pastor of SBC churches for nearly 28 years.
• What I'm writing comes out of my experience and personal faith as an evangelical follower of Jesus.

OK, with that out of the way...

I agree with the President on the following points

• Churches do provide many essential services to their communities.
• Faith leaders love their congregations.
• Faith leaders will (with a few exceptions) work very hard to make sure their congregations are safe.
• Faith leaders don't want bad things to happen to people, whether they are are part of their congregation or not.
• We need prayer.

However...

• The work of the church did not shut down because churches were unable to meet corporately. 
• The power of God did not disappear because buildings were empty on Sunday morning.
• Churches have been involved in their communities throughout this time of quarantine providing essential services.
• Church buildings themselves are not essential. They help make the work and life of a church easier, but the life of a church is not dependent on the building, it is dependent on the people who make up that church.
• Not all followers of Christ are demanding to go to church (if by "church" he means in-person corporate worship).
• You can embrace worship as an essential part of life without corporate worship. (Please see a post I wrote on this some years back - 11 am Sunday Morning (Prime Time).)
• Note: I am not saying "stop going to corporate worship" - while I love the online services my church is doing, I miss being together. Scripture reminds us to gather together (Hebrews 10:25)... but checking off perfect attendance on your offering envelope is a man-made rule, not a Biblical mandate.
• More prayer is not dependent on people gathering on Sunday mornings... it is (once again) dependent on the people who claim faith in Jesus Christ.
• Forbidding larger gatherings was not an injustice - it was a manifestation of concern to life and health of the communities our churches reside in.

My prayer is for churches that continue to love Jesus and love people, regardless of the status of their Sunday morning worship gatherings.

My prayer is that our focus as Christ followers will be on speaking and posting with the fruit of the Spirit in mind rather than to grind a particular political ax.

My prayer is that we will allow God to remove our hearts of stone - hearts heavy with the claiming of rights and absorption on self - and give us hearts of flesh that filled with grace for those who disagree and concern for others despite the frustrations of this season.

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The picture above is from the church my family & I attend here in Nashville... it was taken late last fall.

The transcript below is from the President's remarks earlier today. They are from uncorrected Closed Captioning from CSPAN. The transcript was all caps at the original source.

PRES. TRUMP: AT MY DIRECTION, THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION IS ISSUING GUIDANCE FOR COMMUNITIES OF FAITH. I WANT TO THANK DR. REDFIELD AND THE CDC FOR THEIR WORK ON THIS MATTER AND ALL THE OTHER WORK THEY HAVE BEEN DOING OVER THE PAST WHAT SEEMS LIKE A LONG PERIOD OF TIME. TODAY, I AM IDENTIFYING HOUSES OF WORSHIP, CHURCHES, SYNAGOGUES, AND MOSQUES, AS ESSENTIAL PLACES THAT PROVIDE ESSENTIAL SERVICES. SOME GOVERNORS HAVE DEEMED LIQUOR STORES AND ABORTION CLINICS IS ESSENTIAL, BUT HAVE LEFT OUT CHURCHES AND OTHER HOUSES OF WORSHIP, IT'S NOT RIGHT. SO I AM CORRECTING THIS INJUSTICE AM CALLING HOUSES OF WORSHIP ESSENTIAL. I CALL UPON GOVERNORS TO ALLOW CHURCHES AND PLACES OF WORSHIP TO OPEN RIGHT NOW. IF THERE IS ANY QUESTION, THEY WILL HAVE TO CALL ME, BUT THEY ARE NOT GOING TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN THAT CALL. THESE ARE PLACES THAT HOLD OUR SOCIETY TOGETHER AND KEEP OUR PEOPLE UNITED. THE PEOPLE ARE DEMANDING TO GO TO CHURCH AND SYNAGOGUES, FOR A MOSQUE. -- OR A MOSQUE. MANY EMBRACE WORSHIP AS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF LIFE. THE MINISTERS, PASTORS, RABBIS, AND OTHER FAITH LEADERS WILL MAKE SURE THAT THEIR CONGREGATIONS ARE SAFE AS THEY GATHER AND PRAY. I KNOW THEM WELL. THEY LOVE THEIR CONGREGATIONS. THEY LOVE THEIR PEOPLE. THEY DON'T WANT ANYTHING BAD TO HAPPEN TO THEM OR TO ANYBODY ELSE. THE GOVERNORS NEED TO DO THE RIGHT THING AND ALLOW THESE VERY IMPORTANT, ESSENTIAL PLACES OF FAITH TO OPEN RIGHT NOW. FOR THIS WEEKEND. IF THEY DO NOT DO IT, I WILL OVERRIDE THE GOVERNOR'S. -- THE GOVERNORS. IN AMERICA, WE NEED MORE PRAYER, NOT LESS. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. THANK YOU. >> [INDISCERNIBLE]