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"God Needs the Church to Work with Him," Caldwell Tells Methodist Prayer Gathering

By Jeanette Pinkston

Suzette Caldwell

(September 25, 2007, GBOD) -- "God needs the church to work with him," says Suzette Caldwell, associate pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church in Houston.

Caldwell was the opening plenary speaker for the General Board of Discipleship's and Aldersgate Renewal Ministries' "Becoming a People of Prayer" Conference in Nashville, September 21-22.

"God does not need people telling him what to do," Caldwell said to nearly 200 United Methodists meeting at Brentwood United Methodist Church.

"Prayer was created for God's purposes (not ours) to get us from the natural to the supernatural where God's plans are," she told the group.

Prayer Conference participants taking notes as Suzette Caldwell speaks

Caldwell's session, "Giving My Heart to God," suggested that believers must praise God, accept their identity in Christ, and work with God.

While the prayer conference called The United Methodist Church to prayer as a prelude to General Conference 2008, the design team hoped that participants would receive help in improving or developing their personal prayer lives, the prayer life in their churches and prayer ministries, both within and beyond the local church.

"The goal was to strengthen and empower our ability to pray: as individuals, as families, and as congregations, said Sandy Zeigler Jackson, design team chair for the prayer conference.

"With the coming General Conference of The United Methodist Church and other critical events happening in our world, it is crucial that there are intentional prayers of the people to undergird and influence these happenings," she said.

Participants heard from a variety of leaders and had the opportunity to pray together in Native American, Euro-American, African-American, Hispanic, and Asian traditions.

In addition to Caldwell, plenary speakers included:

• Terry Teykl, "Becoming a Praying Church"
• Marjorie Thompson, "Seeking the Heart of God"
• Taylor Burton-Edwards, "Giving Prayer and Worship Back to the Congregation"

GBOD’s mission is to support annual conference and local church leaders for their task of equipping world-changing disciples. An agency of The United Methodist Church, GBOD is located at 1908 Grand Ave. in Nashville, Tenn. For more information, call the Media Relations Office toll free at (877) 899-2780, ext. 7017.

Pinkston is director of media relations for the United Methodist General Board of Discipleship.