Have you ever been at church when the pastor shows a short video that is a weak connection to the sermon? You know he just liked the video and wanted to share, but even so he tries to make the connection. Well let's put ourselves in his shoes.

Below is a random, but funny, video clip. Watch the video then add your sermon topic in the comments that you think the video would relate to. If you leave your twitter account, we will tweet the winner that we liked best at the end of the week. Granted it is not a real prize, but maybe a little promotion on how clever you are. There will be extra credit if you can tie in a Bible verse.

So often our lack of prayer comes from our busyness. Watch this short teaching from Doug Fields of Saddleback for encouragement to slow down.

When the fire of prayer goes out, the barrenness of busyness takes over.
George Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury

Kids Prayers from Granger Community.

These are prayers from real children at Granger Community Church in Granger, Indiana. It is amazing what you find out by just asking kids. There is a lot of pain being carried by our children as they come into church. Will we help them?

Here is a video from North Hills Community Church in Taylors, SC. It was done for a series on prayer about two years ago. I thought it was worthwhile to re-post for a couple different reasons.

1. It gives examples of what others pray about. It has honest, simple, heart-felt requests.
2. It shows how the Bible can lead you into prayer. It is so important to read the Bible to lead you into God's presence. 

I hope you find it encouraging.

(via Harmless Thoughts blog)

Recently we shared about a way to mitigate the distractions in your prayer time. This video is a funny representation of what these distractions may look like. This video was put together by eleven72, a company that creates videos and illustrations for churches.

I felt I should balence the last post with this next one. Please read the last post as the need to pray against the advancement of a false religion. And, the need to respond to its followers with love. I lived in the Middle East and have many friends who are Muslim. My stay in their country was a great experience for me, and it mainly related to the people I was able to interact with. With that said, I will leave you with a movie trailer that is hitting the theaters today. I found this on a post on Michael Hyatt's blog.

The movie is, Lord, Save Us From Your Followers.

Prayer as Mission from 24-7 Prayer.

I have held a belief for a long time that prayer is the ultimate envangelistic tool because everyone believes in prayer. You can go up to just about anyone and ask them what you can pray for them about and they will have something for you. They may give you a crass answer, but for the most part, people are not offended by prayer. 24-7 Prayer has taken this idea to the extreme in Ibiza, Spain. The above video is long, but I feel that it can be a great resource to motivate churches to pray for their community.

One side note... we must belive in prayer for this to be effective. What I mean is asking someone what you can prayer for them about mean you will pray for them, not just use it as a transition into the Gospel. Make the transition when it is there, but always pray for the request. Miracles happen when we pray.

Have you ever seen the movie Bruce Almighty? Bruce steps in for God for a while and is overwhelmed by all the incoming prayers. Is that really the way God receives all of mankind's prayers? Listen to his perspective on eternity and time. Perhaps it will encourage you to know how God views time and how that influences his hearing of our prayers. Enjoy!