by Rick Bonfim Available in paperback, digital and audio formats on: AMAZON and BARNES AND NOBLE Rick is a General Evangelist with the North Georgia Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church and President of Rick Bonfim Ministries.

Excerpt from the preface...

I left Athens, Georgia in the middle of the night and arrived in Brookhaven, Mississippi just in time for the evening service. The service was about to begin and the pews were filled with the saints. The pastor welcomed me into the pulpit. The organist started with the opening song and soon it was time for me to speak.

My text came from John 11, the resurrection of Lazarus, and I made an invitation for those who felt they were spiritually detached from God. The response was overwhelming when over ninety percent of those attending came forward. As they knelt at the chancel rail, I saw so many faces. Before me were faces filled with fear, faces trying to hide anger, faces with sadness, and faces revealing trauma and hurt.

Every person I prayed for that night left an impression upon me. I remember that my inability to connect to the needs of so many was disheartening to me. They had come seeking guidance and direction, and I did not know how to say anything that would truly help them change their lives. So I sat in the chair near the pulpit and wondered how an evangelist should function. I refused to make up prayers that came from my head, all of those “eloquent” prayers that were filled with words, but did nothing to ease the burden of people longing for healing and deliverance. I simply had had it with that type of empty “mind-based” prayer.