Prayer Team includes, at this point, Jane Gurley Hansel, Jack Cannon, Joyce Faye Myers, Danny Mynatt, Ruth Garrison, James Garrison, Mike Ruff, and Josh Ray.

Ministerial Support for the Prayer Team provided by Rev. Marcy Mynatt

Current Prayer Concerns of the Church:

  • For the love and praise of God our Creator
  • For deeper surrender to the purposes of God in the world, in our nation, and in the life of our church
  • For the many needs of people in our care
  • For forgiveness from God and each other
  • For triumph over temptation and resistance to evil
  • For confidence in the kingdom, power, and glory of God.

To be added to the email distribution list for urgent prayer needs, contact Ruth Garrison at rwgarris2@gmail.com. To submit an request, text Ruth at 919-218-6337.

Use the website response form below to share your prayer requests with a minister.

Prayer Resources

Here is a great resource on expressing our sorrows to God. It explores lament through the Psalms and encourages us be honest with God about our feelings and circumstances.

Providence is affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and they have an outstanding resource for praying for missions and God’s ongoing work in the world entitled Prayers of the People. This guide contains weekly devotionals as well as suggestions on ways to pray and birthdays of field personnel, chaplains, and CBF staff. Printed copies are also available at the church.

The following is an advent devotional from CBF that focuses on a story from our field personnel.

FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT – DECEMBER 22, 2024

Love We Can Recognize

As we enter this week of love, we witness its patient work in building foundations that last, reflecting the divine love that shaped our salvation story.

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.” – 1 John 4:7 (NRSV)

Love is such a complex word.

Most of us have heard the pastor or Bible teacher talk about love from the angles of Hebrew hesed or dod, or in Greek agape, eros, or philia. Bible scholars and theologians have spent years trying to help us better understand love in a Christian context. Pastors compel their congregations to love one another. Yet, through it all, it seems that we still have more to learn.

BUT…we can all recognize it when we see it.

It is the child offering her hat to the stranger begging on the cold street corner.

It is the neighbor baking a casserole for his newly widowed friend down the street.

It is the sanitation worker returning the garbage bin to the back of the house for the man who recently had surgery.

It is the conversation that goes deep into the night with the friend who is struggling.

It is the wagging of the dog’s tail when you arrive home from a long day at work.

It is the shouts of acclamation of those who celebrate the birth of your child.

It is the pastor who shows up to the hospital in the early morning hours to sit with you in your grief.

We see this recognition of love in Louisville, where Soe Wah spent five years working to bring his wife Ku See to the United States. “Build a family with love,” he says, “not with money or gold.” Now, as they welcome their son Jackson, we witness love … knitting faith, reunion, and new life together.

Every time I begin to think we are a long way off from the way of Jesus, I simply remember how much love there is in the world. It is easy to see the examples of those who hate and lack compassion, but it is also easy to see love in the world when we are looking.

This Advent, more than any in recent memory, we need to be reminded that there is love in the world. Love did come down at Christmas and love is still present today. May each of us not only experience love, but may we also be the love we need in the world. I promise you that someone is counting on you being generous with your love this year.

For Reflection:

– Which of these everyday expressions of love most resonates with your own experience?

– Where have you witnessed love building something lasting this year?

– How might you become the love someone else needs this Advent season?

– What does it mean to you that Love came down at Christmas?

Weekly Newsletter