The Vienna SDA Church held a special Prayer Sabbath entitled “Pray for Me.” Vienna had recently launched a Prayer Team–led by Elder Ellen Morgan and acquired a new Prayer Request box to meet the needs of the church members, their families and friends and the community at large. The idea was to make prayer a centerpiece in supporting and helping others.
Matt James giving his testimonial on prayer with Pastor CJ Cousins, Bonita James and Beno Rosa looking on.
During the special worship service, the congregation rediscovered the power of prayer, deepened their communion and relationship with God, and received and shared God’s love. Pastor CJ Cousins moderated the service that featured powerful testimonials by Matt James and Beno Rosa on how prayer touched them. The congregation had the opportunity to break into small groups of 2-3 people and pray for each other. Songs of Meditation set the tone for the special worship with Betsy Caban singing “The Lord’s Prayer,” Bonita James singing “Pray On,” and Ellen Morgan concluding with “In the Meantime.” The children also got into the action with a story by Lisa Hamilton on the importance of prayer.
Vienna’s Prayer Team (L-R): Heather Pederson, Matt James, Ellen Morgan, Bonita James and Lisa Hamilton (Rosa Marques not shown).
Vienna plans to hold more “Pray for Me” worship services throughout the year. Afterwards, Mr. Rosa said “I am glad that I had the courage to tell my story. It was unbelievable how many people came to me to thank me. Some went thru what I went thru and some said that they now have the courage to tell their story. I would like to say that this type of program should be done more often. There are so many people sitting in our church with their own testimony to share.”
