What a privilege it has been to experience God's presence and favor while praying together with other pastors in my region.  Even though their is great value in listening to one another in our conversations as we meet, it is even greater to listen and agree in prayer together as we pour out our heart's to God for his blessing on our families, our communities and our ministries.  Through a person's words in conversation we become acquainted with a person's thoughts and ideas.  When we hear a person pray we have the honor of becoming acquainted with their heart.

      The Lord has used our weekly prayer meetings to bring us out of an attitude of competition into one of collaboration.  This has also opened the door for us to minister to one another, pastor to pastor.  One example is the morning I received an encouraging phone call from a fellow pastor.  At that time I was overwhelmed by several tragedies in my family.  When I answered the phone, I asked if someone had shared with him about what had happened, and he said, "No, the Lord put it on my heart to call you."  

      What a double blessing this was to me!  First, that the Lord put it on a pastor's heart to call right at the moment that I needed someone to minister to me.  Secondly, that this pastor was willing to listen to the Lord's leading and take time to listen to my situation, give me words of encouragement, and pray for me.

      Through this experience I felt the faithfulness of my Lord through the faithfulness of my pastor friend.