Prayer Guide - A Manual for Leading Prayer
I appreciate the practicality of your Prayer Guide. Many prayer leaders do not know the first step toward facilitating a prayer experience that really connects people to God as they pray. I hope the following interview with you will give many potential customers the information they need in order to start using your resource. Phil - Lowell, you write 'the purpose of this book is to help you help others talk with God' ... Who did you have in mind; {Back cover mentions more than pastors} Lowell - Every follower of Christ eventually leads prayer. My Prayer Guide book starts with the prayer basics that a soccer mom might need to lead a prayer on the sideline before the game and concludes with leading congregational prayer in the heart of a worship service. Between those extremes are chapters on many prayer leadership opportunities from leading a Bible study class prayer time to praying for someone who s experienced a tragedy. I ve asked many pastors if they had training in leading corporate prayer while earning their college and seminary degrees. Very few have. This lack of training has filtered down through the laity to the point that most churches don t have anyone who s proficient in this important skill. That s why most group prayer is just an extension of monologue prayer, what I call spiritual speeches aimed in God s direction. That s all folks know how to do. For many, just a casual reading of this book will open doors of understanding simply because it s the first training they ve ever head. For those who are ambitious to lead life-changing group encounters with the Almighty, a thorough study will introduce them to group prayer possibilities they ve never realized. Phil - Identify two of the most effective methods prayer leaders should be proficient at. Lowell - Two methods I use constantly are Scriptural meditation and prayer by suggestion. They are simple and effective, but seem to be new to most prayer leaders. Scriptural meditation is simply asking the group to listen to a scripture after they bow their heads. I use short verses that are easy to understand and I usually read them two or three times, putting different inflection on the words each time. The purpose is to focus their attention on the things of God. Prayer by suggestion is deffinantly a new concept for most. The method here is to guide the group in silent prayers by making suggestions out loud. I usually suggest praise and thanksgiving first, then confession, petition, and supplication in that order. This gets the whole group praying, not just those who are comfortable praying out loud. It also allows folks to talk with the Lord about things they wouldn t pray about publicly. On my web site, I have an audio recording which includes both of these types of prayer. The rest of this interview can be found in the archives of the authors web site and at Phil Miglioratti's National Pastors' Prayer Network and Church Prayer Leaders Network --Phil Miglioratti at National Pastors' Prayer NetworkNow, about the book (Prayer Guide - A Manual for Leading Prayer). It is a marvelous work! I found the book not just easy to read, but also inspiring. And, there is very good progression of ideas and expansion of foundational thought that allow you to read each chapter connecting each chapter as you move along through the book. The book addresses traditional ideas about methods of prayer in a non-threatning manner and stays aligned with scriptural teachings as we understand prayer in the Bible. The book presents a very healthy departure from some traditional methods that few have thought to question.  In my estimation, there need only be more exposure given to your book for you to realize success in its distribution. Churches with a pronounced teaching ministry and those with on-site bookstores will (I think) quickly welcome the offering of this new resource. All and all, the book meets a need that no others I've seen have met. --Rev. Robert E.C. Jones, Jr., Resurrection of Life Fellowship, Philadelphia, PA