The Time Is Now - Developing A Lifestyle Of Prayer

long before I became convinced of its importance. I was set up from the start. Morn also kept her promiseregarding church attendance. Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night and anything in between-we were there. On this she allowed no debate. If there were five vacation Bible schools at five churches in the area, I attended them all. From Contentment to Frustration Dad retired from twenty-two years of navy service when I was twelve. Dad had never tired of dreaming about that day when he would be free to buy a farm and live the life he had longed for. So I grew up with a farm mentality, even before we moved to our first purchase in South­ ern Oregon, and later to our daily in Washington. I inherited my dad's passion for farming; it was all I wanted to do the rest of my life. I married my wife Patty when I was twenty-one, content to share with her the life I had made for myself. In my mid-twenties, I attended two years of Bible college away from home for the sole purpose of preparing to help with the youth group at our home church. While away, my required student minist1y happened to involve us in a brand new little church in Jefferson, Oregon. When I graduated in 1975, I returned to farming in Washington again. Patty and I were disappointed to learn that we couldn't have children, and six years of childless marriage seemed to confirm this diagnosis. But then our daughter arrived-the first of eight kids! I was sure I had it all. What more could I possibly want from life? My contentment was shattered when I was invited to become Jefferson Baptist Church's senior pastor. For six months I agonized. How could God be so wrong about me? I was afraid of pastoring. I didn't like people. Give me cows any clay! Yet God brought me here in October 1976, and I've shepherded this flock for more than twenty-seven years. Now, looking back, I see those years dividing cleanly into two seasons. For the first twelve years my lack of experience and people skills led to decidedly mixed results. I didn't love my people, and they knew it. Ongoing conflict within the church kept us from growing past a certain threshold. More than a decade of anxiety and pressure had so worn me clown that I was convinced I had no choice but to leave the ministty. My decision to become a pastor had been a mistake all along. Breakthrough to Fulfillment In Februaty 1989, God brought that first season of my ministry to an end and raised the cur­ tain on a previously unimaginable adventure of fulfilled dreams and loving relationships in ministty. Joe Aldrich, president of Multnomah School of the Bible, launched the first regional pastor's prayer summit at the Oregon coast. The letter describing the four-day, agenda-free, multi-­ denominational prayer event held absolutely no appeal to me, an agenda-bound, Conservative