Praying

This is Walk the Way. Brought to you by Q Place. I’m Jeff Klein. When all of my kids “ganged up on me” to convince me to go out to our backyard rink for one of our last family hockey games of this short winter, I looked at them cross-eyed. I just didn’t feel like it. But they persisted. And I gave in. You know why? Because I value spending time with them. And we all love hockey! They know I share their heart for the game. So I got off the couch. I think God often responds in a...Read more …

I’ll be honest: I’m a bit of a control freak. As a firstborn, I’d like to blame my genetics, but I think there’s more going on than birth order. I want things to turn out the way I think they should, and I am rarely without a plan to move things along toward my desired end. That’s why prayer has always been a struggle. I believe in its power. I believe in its effectiveness. I believe it changes things. I just have difficulty declaring my dependence on God to do something I’d like to make happen the way I think...Read more …

Dr. Jerry Root, professor at Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL, challenges us to start our evangelism journey through prayer. Elaborating on what Jesus told His followers at the end of Matthew chapter 9, he explains why the simple act of prayer can lead to life-transforming encounters. Jerry also believes that as each one of us begins to pray for those who don’t know Jesus as we do, that our hearts will begin to beautifully break for them. Watch what Jerry has to say. You, too, can begin to pray for the people around you. _________________________Read more …

This is Walk the Way. Brought to you by Q Place. I’m Jeff Klein. I have this habit. Every day, I crave a Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino— the kind that comes in bottles sold in convenience stores, supermarkets and gas stations across America. I confess, that, for years, I’ve given into that craving, and now, my body cries out for one each day. And if one place is out of them, I’ll drive to the next to get my chocolaty delight. I know, it’s sick. But it makes me think. Why is it so hard for me to consistently crave God...Read more …

Recently, I was teaching on The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13), and with each verse, God opened my heart more and more to what Jesus meant when he said, “This then is how you should pray.” The Lord’s Prayer doesn’t look much like most of the prayers I hear from people in today’s church. For instance, there is basically nothing in there about praying for your Aunt Helen’s hip surgery—not that you shouldn’t do that, mind you, but it wasn’t in this teaching that Jesus offered. We tend to fly right through The Lord’s Prayer because it’s become something of an...Read more …

This is Walk the Way, brought to you by Q Place, I’m Jeff Klein. My friend (and Q Place colleague), John, is pretty honest about how he used to view the process of helping someone else find Jesus. He told me that he was convinced – at some unconscious level – that someone’s conversion was all up to him; his clever presentation of the gospel, his compelling apologetic or solid argument. John was sure that it was somehow his job to convict, confront, and convince others of the error of their ways. But—and is this really surprising?—he soon discovered that his...Read more …

Q Place caught my attention in 2008. I had tried other evangelistic methods but nothing worked. A small group Bible study for seekers where they would be in the majority sounded so simple and yet so powerful. I joined the Q Place tribe in full force expecting great results for Jesus. Little did I know, that before I shared God with others, He had to strip away my biases, my prejudices, my Christianity ideals, my expectations…. I wanted success, where God wanted brokenness. I wanted to win souls for Jesus, where God wanted my surrender. I learned to step aside...Read more …

Do you long to reach out to those far from God? Do you want to know where God is at work and join him in it? Do you facilitate a Q Place and desire to see your friends and neighbors know Jesus? Start by praying! Jim Egli, a small groups pastor in Champaign, IL, wanted to find out what really makes the greatest difference in the growth of a group. After completing extensive Ph.D. research involving more than 3,000 small group leaders in more than 200 churches, Egli wrote an article entitled “A Small-Group Leader’s Most Important Job.” Here is an excerpt:...Read more …

This is Walk the Way, brought to you by Q Place, I’m Jeff Klein. When it comes to prayer, most Christians have limited focus. Often, we relate it to our personal devotions, using it to spend some time alone with God in order to build a relationship with Him. The second way we use prayer is for sick people. Asking for prayer requests anywhere usually results in a list of illnesses or physical conditions that people are suffering from. Now, don’t get me wrong – these are important ways prayer is used. But have we ever deeply considered how prayer...Read more …

Editor’s note. As often happens with God, the timing of this week’s Monday post by John Crilly, Personal Prayer, was perfect. None of us knew as I was getting Crilly’s piece ready for publishing, that our National Church Partnership Director, my husband, Jeff Klein, would be seriously injured during his regular lunchtime ball hockey game. Thanks be to God, Jeff is healing and he’s on his way to what appears to be full recovery. All that to say, it was fitting he would “continue” Crilly’s thoughts today with his own reflection after having experienced personal prayer. We believers certainly do...Read more …