Pray something!I first read this book by Ronald Dunn when I was a teenager, and recently there has been a story from the book that has been playing on my mind. I went round to see the friends who lent me the book all those years ago and they promised to try and find it for me. When I got home yesterday the book was on the door mat. I read the whole book that night. Here's a summary of the bit that had been on my mind.
Basically, the story goes that while Ronald Dunn was pastor of a church, the youth choir were to go and do some performances in shopping malls, parks and evening meetings as part of a big evangelsitic event. They needed $4000 to enable the trip to take place.
In what he describes as a moment of "sublime unconsciousness" the pastor agreed they would do a fundraising event. The young people held a pancake breakfast in which they sold pancakes from a marquee under the slogan WhatAChurch! WhatAPancake! The marquee was conveniently situated next to a hamburger outlet called WhatABurger.
They raised $2000 that day. For the next three days the pastor says God beat him over the head until he repented of his foolishness and agreed to trust God to provide the remainder of the money through one person. A few days later the prayer was answered.
The conclusion...
"We raised $2000 selling pancakes and $2000 praying. When we sold the pancakes we thanked the choir members for standing in the middle of the street. We thanked the deacons for giving up their Saturday to cook pancakes. We thanked WhatABurger for the silly-looking chef hats. We thanked Aunt Jemimah for selling us mix at a discount, and Log Cabin as well - and then we worried that we might have forgotten to thank someone.
When we raised $2000 by prayer, we simply thanked the Lord. He got all the glory and all the credit. After all, that's what prayer is all about."
I'm not anti-fundraising, but I am pro-prayer!
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