Praying It Forward: Continuing the Prayer Chain Ministry
With Margaret Hotze stepping down from the Prayer Chain team, Jason Landers was invited to continue this ministry and help connect our future generations through the power of prayer. If you'd like to connect with him or be held in prayer by the prayer chain, please email prayer@fcfumc.net.
Jason recently answered questions about his long history with First Church, his personal relationship with prayer, and his hope for the future of the prayer chain team.
A Little Bit about Me and my Family…
For those of you who may not know me, I have lived in the Fort Collins region since I was 13 years old, after moving away from Steamboat Springs. We joined First Church promptly on our arrival, and I started attending youth group and was also confirmed at First Church. As a youth, I loved getting involved with service projects and mission trips, and helped lead a few youth conferences. I moved away from Fort Collins after graduating high school, and did not return “officially” until my wife, Liz, and I bought our first house in 2021 when my daughter Raegan was in Kindergarten and my son Desmond had not yet turned two years old. We started attending First Church as a family at the start of the 2023 Advent season.
Prayer - A Personal Relationship
Prayer has always been a personal relationship between me and God. I have always liked to look at it as conversation, as well as traditional prayer, and gratitude. I try to avoid praying when I feel like I “want something”. That has never been what my prayer relationship has been like. I try my best to pray for other people in my life, and when I am going through really challenging times, I try to pray when I know I can appear before my Father in Heaven naked and unafraid. I believe that when my walk with God is supported by an attitude of humility and gratitude, that is when I find the power of prayer at work is most clearly seen. Sometimes I have short prayers, like “Thank you, God” or “I love you, God”. I think these prayers are just as impactful in my life as a long prayer.
How do you see your spiritual gifts being used in this ministry role?
I don’t think I am conventional or traditional or formulaic in my “spirituality”. What I am is open, honest, and willing to do my best. I would rather approach someone who is able to receive me knowing that I am not judging them for what they believe or how they express their faith, than someone who is hesitant because they know I have a “system” in place that might create a conflict. I think this is descriptive of my spirituality, because I want to sit and listen more than I want to talk when I am with people.
The Call to Lead This Ministry at First Church
When Reverend Brad called me and asked me if I would lead the Prayer Chain team, I was thrilled! I was so excited that I was almost offended that he asked me to take some time to think about it. I was really pleased I took that time though, and it helped me understand some very important aspects of my spiritually that I recognized I was not accessing. I was able to tune my mind toward “occupational prayer”. Even as a volunteer, I understood the gravity of what I was being called to do. But finding that part of me that could pray “is this the right choice?” was a challenge. How do you do that when you believe the answer is yes but don’t actually know if that is true? I was dwelling over those prayers for a little longer than a week before I was able to finally deliver the “yes” to Reverend Brad, but in that time I was able to get to know the prayer chain and how it works, I was able to have a blessed conversation with Margaret Hotze and learn about her amazing gift that she has given this church, and I have been able to deliver this news with genuine pride and humility to my family and loved ones. When my daughter asked me what I was doing, and I told her, and she said “congrats” I was on cloud nine. It couldn’t get better. But I don’t think those gifts would have flowed the way they did if I had not taken the time to consider, and to pray, “is this for me?” This isn’t off limits for God. This also is part of our relationship.
Share Your Hope and Vision for the Future of the Prayer Chain
I hope the prayer chain and the prayer ministry is accessible. Through and through, that is my vision. I hope that anyone, anywhere, anytime, feels like if they have a prayer that they want the prayer team/chain praying for, they know how to make it happen and that they don’t feel encumbered or limited in any way with making that happen. I would be remiss if the prayer ministry was not always ensuring that prayer submission could meet all needs and abilities at all times. I think that is what is truly awesome about the goal to provide a prayer submission on the church website. I think that increases that accessibility and can probably help with getting prayers to the prayer chain more efficient. But I also want people to remember there is nothing wrong with submitting a prayer card in the collection plate during the offertory either! I am happy to continue Margaret’s method and work that started 40 years ago and field prayer requests by phone. It will allow me to develop relationships with the congregation in a very special way, and I am excited to see how that develops. I don’t plan to change much of what has been in place the last 40 years. The only change that people might find challenging to adjust to is that I won’t be able to provide the same presence in Fellowship Hall after the service that Margaret has grown accustomed to doing. With my family and little ones, it would simply be too much of a challenge to make sure that those conversations earn the appropriate respect and confidentiality that Margaret was able to provide.
Rev. Brad and I have discussed most of these ideas together, but something he brought up that I have to give him credit for is trying to move the prayer ministry in a direction that helps people not only access prayer when it is requested, but also feel like it is a space where they can learn how to pray or practice prayer if that is something that interests them. I know sometimes people feel like there are rules to praying, or maybe they are new to their faith and might feel like they don’t know how to pray. I believe that prayer is whatever you are doing to get God’s attention. If that is where we start the foundation, then I think acceptance becomes that other piece of accessibility that people are looking for if they have questions about prayer. So, if someone is interested in learning what that looks like, then perhaps simply joining the prayer chain is a good step just to get a feel of what a prayer can look like to provide that spark that might get you praying about something you feel called to lift up to your Creator.
-Jason Landers