Ministry Prayer Requests...

[Pray] also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly
to proclaim the mystery of the gospel...
-Ephesians 6:19

One thing I find interesting when I hear the giants of the faith, even in our own day, is that few of them are bashful when it comes to asking for prayer.

I find this very refreshing - not only because the Apostle Paul set this precedent (Eph. 6:19; Col. 4:3; 1 Thess. 5:25; 2 Thess. 3:1) and thus made it a truly Scriptural practice in regard to gospel ministry, but also because it's a constant reminder to me that even people whom we would see as heroes of the faith are able to do what they do only because of other people of God.

In other words, ministry is never a one-man effort. 

Even in the most well-known "Renaissance-man" passage of Scripture, which in context is no "Renaissance-man" passage at all - it's just been accepted as being so for the last however long (Phil. 4:13) - even then Paul goes right on to say: "It was kind of you [Philippians] to share my trouble" (Phil. 4:14).

If our own day's heroes of the faith are not above requesting prayer for their respective ministries, if not even the Apostle Paul was above requesting prayer for his ministry, how much more then do us lesser-servants of the gospel like myself need such prayer support for our ministries?

(FYI: I'm not trying to have some back-door ("false") humility here when I say "lesser-servants." I'm just meaning those of us whose ministry is not a full-time vocation - and there are many of us out there)

So please, if you're reading this at all, I invite you and plead with you to pray for me and this ministry to which I believe God has called me. ... Along those lines, here are some specific requests I have...

Imminent Requests

The 2015 Walk for Life - 5/16
My family and I will be participating again in the Miami Valley Women's Center's annual Walk for Life this year, along with several from our church and many other churches in the community. This is a great opportunity to impact the community in not simply saying that abortion is wrong but in providing positive Christ-centered solutions to those facing a crisis pregnancy situation.

You can read more here about how the Miami Valley Women's Center does this. And it's also not too late to sponsor our family for the walk, which you can do here.

Either way, please pray that this will be an effective fundraising event for the Miami Valley Women's Center as well as an effective and positive impact on the community.

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The King's Chapel Speaking Engagement - 5/24
I'm honored and humbled to be speaking at The King's Chapel in West Chester, Ohio on Sunday, May 24th. This will be a great opportunity for me to exposit God's Word for the fellowship of believers there as well as be mutually edified by them.

Please pray that my preparation for the message would go well and that God would get me out of the way from speaking my own words and open my mouth to declare His Word boldly and effectively.

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Mission Trip to Honduras - 7/4-7/11
I don't know all the details yet, but I would greatly appreciate your prayers as I prepare to go to Honduras this summer. Assuming the trip stays as planned, I'll be gone for a week in July with our Pastor Erik Spohr and some others from our church, Centerville Christian Fellowship, in order to do some Bible teaching to several pastors there.

Please pray that the trip will go as planned, and that we'll have a great opportunity to train up men in sound Bible knowledge and Bible study practices so that they can in turn teach their own congregations as they grow in the Word of God.

Ongoing Requests

The Lord over Life Ministry Reach
When the Lord first put it on my heart to start this ministry I did not have much experience with blogs. But over the last (roughly) year and a half, in God's goodness I've been able to create a fully functioning website and a blog to where I'm able to post semi-regularly. I've also been able to create a facebook page for the ministry in order to further the ministry's reach and impact.

But along with these achievements that God has given me come several requests.

Please pray for me in the following:

• That I would first and foremost apply what I teach regularly to my own life first
  
• That I would be able to post more regularly, with meaningful, relevant posts grounded in God's Word
  
• That the ministry would continue to gain more followers on facebook so as to increase its impact
  (If you haven't yet "Liked" Lord Over Life's FB page, I invite you to do so here)

That I would better know how to balance my time with the below remaining requests:

• Make more time for personal communion with God and personal study in His Holy Word
  
• Make more time with my amazing wife (even getting a regular date night or two going)
  
• Make more time to giving uninterrupted attention to my wonderful daughters
  
• Improve in giving a solid (or even exceptional) work performance for my wonderful employer
  
• Make time for serious and regular study in my seminary classes.
  

Other Requests

The Future of Lord over Life Ministries
While I'd like to continue to post to the blog regularly, I'd also really like (God willing) to have more speaking engagements and/or formal debates that would magnify the Word of God and bring encouragement and edification to the participants.

Please pray that God would give me wisdom in knowing how to seek and participate in those kinds of opportunities, and that He would grant those opportunities and empower me to exposit His Word in a way that shows clearly that He is indeed Lord over all of life, in every area of life.

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The Bahnsen Project
Greg Bahnsen was an amazing theologian, philosopher, pastor, teacher, and debater. A gifted man in many areas whom God took home after a very short time on this earth (Greg Bahnsen died on December 11, 1995, at the age of 47). He left an amazing legacy in his writings and lectures.

But since the majority of Christian scholarship and even layman edification in the Christian life seems to be done through books - and since the majority of Bahnsen's great works are in his audio lectures and sermons - it seems that it would be a great gift to the church if many of Bahnsen's lectures and sermons were available in written format.

Please pray that, God willing, I would be able to seek and find a way to make that a reality - to help convert some of the church's greatest teachings to word-text format so that they're available to a wider audience.

Also, as Greg Bahnsen has had such huge impact on my life and the lives of many others, I have a strong desire to write a full biography of his life and ministry.

Please pray that I would know how and when to pursue writing such a biography.

Well...that's about it for now. If you have or are or will pray for me and my family and this ministry, I can't tell you how greatly I appreciate it. Either way, dear Christian, I'm so thankful for you and your inclusion in the body of Christ!

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus
-1 Corinthians 1:4