May 12th Update

Do you believe in the power of prayer? I admit, at many times in my life I have, even though I wouldn't say it out loud, my feelings and my actions would say that the answer to this question was no. If I really believed in the power of prayer, wouldn't I pray more often? Think about it, if we were honest with ourselves most days, wouldn't the answer to this question be no? I want you dwell on this, do you really believe in the power of prayer?

I was struck with that this week as I was reading through a book called "Worshiping with the Church Fathers" by Christopher A. Hall. In the book, Hall describes how many of the early church fathers were frustrated with their prayer life. They too felt that they did not pray often enough. The striking difference between them and I, however, is that they prayed all throughout the day, every day. I have always felt that I do what I can to make sure that I pray daily, yet so often, life gets busy or I simply don't make the time to really sit down and pray.

Maybe you can relate with me on this! Nonetheless, the church fathers were not upset that they were missing daily prayers. No, in fact, they weren't even upset that they were missing hourly prayers. Even still, they weren't upset that they were missing prayers every minute! Instead, they were upset at how often they failed to be praying constantly!

You may think to yourself, whoa Drew, isn't that a bit much? Constant prayer? Well, the church fathers weren't pulling this from thin air, they were pulling it from the Bible. In 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 it says: "Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in everything; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (CSB). Other versions say, "pray without ceasing". It is this command that the church fathers took very seriously, and it's this command that we often don't take seriously.

I was really challenged with this idea this week. Looking at Scripture, I came across a passage I'd like to share with you. In James 5 "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. 17 Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. 18 Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops."

You may have heard this passage before, the question is, do you believe it? Do you believe that prayer is powerful enough to stop rain, to cause a drought? If you did, would you pray more often? Would you pray more fervently? Afterall, we are praying to the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Sovereign God over the universe. Is there anything beyond His power? Don't you want to be an instrument in the hand of God that changes the world? Then you must pray.

COVID-19 UPDATE

I just watched Governor Ducey address the State lockdown order. He announced that we are entering into phase 1 of the CDCs guidelines to phasing back in the economy. This is great news! It is awesome to hear things are progressing to people being able to get back to work and provide for their families. It is awesome that people are getting to connect and see one another again!

It is my desire for us to be able to gather as a church as soon as possible. I hate not being able to gather with you all. Yet, I want every decision we make to be one made with wisdom, patience, and a lot of prayer. As of right now, Governor Ducey, as well as the CDC, are still recommending that we operate with strong social distancing measures. This includes not having full gatherings quite yet. Phase 1 is progress, but we aren't going back to the way things were before COVID-19 quite yet.

For us, a lot of our decision making has been based around working with the leadership of Imagine Prep to honor and respect them, as we meet in their facilities. After speaking with the leadership there today, I can inform you that they are not allowing the use of their facilities at this time. They are looking at July 1st as the earliest date for any events taking place within the facility. In addition, July 1st will be only the first step of many slow steps for them in returning.

As I said, it is my desire to meet as soon as safely possible. We will be looking at other options for potential gatherings as a staff and eldership team in the coming weeks. We have an elder meeting early next week where we will discuss next steps as far as returning. I will continue to update you as best I can as new information arises.

I understand that some of you have disagreed with some of the decision we have made and will continue to disagree with some decision we will make in the future. Some of you will be frustrated with how slow things are going. I want you guys to know that we are doing everything we can to make decision neither in fear nor in foolishness.

Unfortunately, everyone will have a different opinion on what that means!

Nonetheless, I am confident that the bond of unity that we have created as a church and the love that we have for one another will overcome any challenge we face. I appreciate your continued prayer and support of Surprise Christian Church and I love you guys!  

GOING FORWARD

Will you pray with me? When the Israelites were returning from captivity to the land of Jerusalem, they had a decision to make. I encourage you to go read the whole story in the book of Ezra, but one part sticks out for our situation. In the decision to return, they had to decide if they were going to ask king Darius for an escort to keep them safe on the journey or if they would go alone and just trust God. I want you to hear a bit of Ezra's inner dialogue as he thought through his decision on how to travel.

It says this in Ezra 8:21-23:

I proclaimed a fast by the Ahava River, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us, our dependents, and all our possessions. I did this because I was ashamed to ask the king for infantry and cavalry to protect us from enemies during the journey, since we had told him, "The hand of our God is gracious to all who seek him, but his fierce anger is against all who abandon him." So we fasted and pleaded with our God about this, and he was receptive to our prayer.

Ezra makes the decision to go forward alone because he was ashamed of the going to the king because he wanted the king to know the power of God. Going to the king and asking for armed bodyguards, that doesn't show much faith does it? It turns out, Ezra made the right decision, in verse 31: "We were strengthened by our God, and he kept us from the grasp of the enemy and from ambush along the way".

They key to this passage is that Ezra didn't follow worldly wisdom, nor did he give into fear, instead, he sought the Lord in prayer and in fasting and the Lord answered. This is how I want to handle our return as Surprise Christian Church. My decisions are solely based on hearing from the Lord.

I will be praying and fasting this Sunday and every Sunday until we make the decision to meet again. I would love for you guys to join me in this if you want; nonetheless, if you have something for me to pray for, respond to this email and let me know. I would love to pray for you! No matter what the situation, I will wait upon the Lord! May he be Glorified amongst the Nations.

Thank you for bearing with this long email!

May Grace and Peace be poured out in abundance. I love you guys and miss you.

Sincerely, 

Drew Carroll 

Lead Pastor