December - Jeff and I have journeyed together for several years. We started meeting soon after we had arrived back in the USA. God allowed me to be there at key points for him. When we moved to Georgia, Jeff and I continued to meet (via phone) each week for prayer, encouragement and coaching. Here is his take on it...
During the past few years my weekly prayer times with Steve Smith have brought many personal insights, focus, and overall health in the ministries I am a part of at the church where I lead.
I have appreciated the way Steve will listen and ask the deeper questions to help identify, address, and release the tensions of ministry within me. I have also valued the fact that whatever I need to share with Steve, he has been able to hear the deepest, darkest aspects of my life without judgment or fear of what it was that I could choose to do with all the options that lay before me.
I have always valued prayer enough to have intercessors praying with me, paving the way for the work that God wanted me to do. However, I very much wrestle with my personal commitment to praying on my own. Steve and I have shared very insightful moments in prayer together, and I have never questioned Steve’s motives or his agenda when we have met. This time with Steve is one of the highlights of my week.
For me, it would be easy to say that I am too busy for another prayer meeting. I can say without any doubt in my own mind that these times of prayer together have been essential to where I am in ministry today. Quite humbly, I would add that I would not be in ministry today if it were not for these times with Steve. What I am sharing is less about Steve and more about the way God uses Steve to represent His love and grace in my life.
I’m grateful that God’s brought our paths together during this season. My life has been impacted in ways that have breathed new life into me for the work that God still has before me. Whether you share a similar experience with Steve Smith or another intercessor, my prayer for you would be that you would find joy in the work God’s called you to do and that you would run your race in a way that would allow you to endure to the end—finishing well! The local church needs more leaders like this!
I have appreciated the way Steve will listen and ask the deeper questions to help identify, address, and release the tensions of ministry within me. I have also valued the fact that whatever I need to share with Steve, he has been able to hear the deepest, darkest aspects of my life without judgment or fear of what it was that I could choose to do with all the options that lay before me.
I have always valued prayer enough to have intercessors praying with me, paving the way for the work that God wanted me to do. However, I very much wrestle with my personal commitment to praying on my own. Steve and I have shared very insightful moments in prayer together, and I have never questioned Steve’s motives or his agenda when we have met. This time with Steve is one of the highlights of my week.
For me, it would be easy to say that I am too busy for another prayer meeting. I can say without any doubt in my own mind that these times of prayer together have been essential to where I am in ministry today. Quite humbly, I would add that I would not be in ministry today if it were not for these times with Steve. What I am sharing is less about Steve and more about the way God uses Steve to represent His love and grace in my life.
I’m grateful that God’s brought our paths together during this season. My life has been impacted in ways that have breathed new life into me for the work that God still has before me. Whether you share a similar experience with Steve Smith or another intercessor, my prayer for you would be that you would find joy in the work God’s called you to do and that you would run your race in a way that would allow you to endure to the end—finishing well! The local church needs more leaders like this!
"I have brought you glory on earth
by completing the work you gave me to do."
John 17:4
Jeff Logsdon
Pastor - The Flipside
Rancho Cucamonga, CA
25 December 2010
http://flipsidechurch.com
