A Time for Prayer

Week three of my sabbatical focused on a trip to Oregon for the Pastor’s Prayer Summit. Thirty years ago, a group of pastors and I who had already been praying together an hour a week every week for over three years, had heard the story of a former dairy farmer in Jefferson, Oregon whose life and ministry had been transformed through an extraordinary devotion to prayer. The man’s name? Dee Duke. His influence has changed my life, our church, and our community. I’ve also been part of a weekly online accountability group for my spiritual disciplines for nearly twenty years.  He also spoke at TMC a few years ago.

These photographs in the frame are the first three Pastor’s Prayer Summits I participated in. At the top is the picture of the five of us who went to Cannon Beach (Joseph Tumpkin, John Evans, Chuck Carlson, Norbert Kinne, and I) The bottom two were events we held on our own at UCYC near Prescott.

This is a photo of myself and Dee at a prayer event in Phoenix when he spoke at Pure Heart Church.  I’m grateful for the work God has done through my relationship with Dee!

Above is the opening session. There were 88 registered. Below is the view through the window). The first day, we prayed from 1:15-3:15, then took a break to take a walk to be  introspective. Dinner was 5:30-6:00 with an evening session starting at 7:00p which ran until about 9:30p where the men and women met separately and we ministered to special needs of those in our group with deep, personal prayer.

The second day was a similar format with breakfast at 8:00am, a morning session from 9:00-12:30, lunch on your own, praying together from 2:00-4:00, a break for dinner, then an evening session from 7:00 to 9:00pm with communion together.

Everyone else was from that area and they  gathered in the communities where they resided. People from different congregations shared what they believed Jesus sees (like what Jesus revealed to John about the seven churches in Revelation 1-3), took communion together, and then received prayers from others in the room. I had a special moment where I got to share communion with Dee.

The format was different than it was 30 years ago. Now, each session was mostly built around musical worship  punctuated by guided prayer and time breaking apart in small groups. When I came before, there was no band and a few dozen guys in a room for a couple of hours at a time. Any singing had to be done acapella music.

There is a fitness center but it doesn’t open until 8:00am. I guess it isn’t normal outside of Arizona to get up at 5:00am to workout 😂.

I ate as much fish-and-chips as I could get and a little ice cream.

Then on the way to the airport in Portland, I found  Voodoo Donuts so I brought a box  home for the staff. They actually didn’t travel very well. I thought it was a good idea when I was standing at the donut counter but didn’t consider how I would carry them with everything else. Kim was a big help in restoring them to be more of a gift than they were in the first picture. The challenge was sneaking them into the office without violating the terms of my sabbatical ;).

I'll leave you pondering these delicious donuts and look forward to sharing more upon my return from sabbatical!