Please find below the notes from the Elder's Prayer this past Sunday.

Our great and mighty, yet gracious God,

As we come to the close of 2019, we thank you with all that we are, for you have been with us through the days of this past year.

There definitely have been many days when we have not felt you are near, and at times we have even felt that you have forsaken us and given up on us but we thank you that it has never been so and as always we were so wrong.

We thank you that as you have promised us in your word, you are with your people always, and that you have enabled us to persevere in grace:

• You have comforted our hearts
• You have heard our prayers
• You have been a great and only help in times of trouble.

We pray that you will go with us into this new year.

We do not know what the new year has in store for us, but we thank you that every moment of that year is in your sovereign hands, and as you have promised you will be with your people.

We thank you that you are a promise-keeper. We go forward with confidence and in your peace. We pray that you will help us to walk with you in this new year better than we have ever done before. Please forgive us, Lord, for our sins and our backslidings of this past year.

Please graciously grant us a closer walk with you in this New Year.

As your word exhorts us to, please help us to put to death, the sins that entangle us and help us to joyfully and willingly surrender our lives completely unto Jesus Christ, our Savior, and God.

Shepherd of our souls, we are entirely at your disposal to be, to go, and to do your will.

It is our greatest privilege to serve Christ, to bring glory unto His name, to help others to know Christ better, and to graciously introduce Him to some for the first time.

Please have mercy on our unsaved family members, Church members, visitors and guests, O Lord. Our hearts grieve for those connected with us who come to the end of this year and their hearts are still closed against you, still hardening their hearts against you.

Please grant that this new year would mark the beginning of new life in Jesus Christ.

We are eternally thankful for your Holy Spirit, for His limitless power to bring conviction of sin, to give new birth, and to draw those who are away from you to faith and to repentance.

Lord, we pray that you would do that in the hearts and lives of all who are upon our hearts.

We want to lead a life that is pleasing unto you. Please save us from ourselves.

We cry out to you that you would help us to abide in you and bear fruit in the upcoming year 2020 and through the end of our days.

Father, I pray for those in our midst who might have lost their loved ones this year. Please continue to comfort their hearts in you.

Thank you for the hope that we have that we will see your children in your presence. As those of us who lost the unsaved, please embolden and energize us to share the gospel.

We thank you for your faithfulness to the cycle of life. Thank you for the scores new babies born in Summit Woods this year. May they grow up to be fine young men and women who serve Christ till the end.

Thank you for the stability you gave us in Children’s ministry leadership this year. Please bless all the teachers, volunteers and children. We beg you for each child’s salvation. Please help them to understand the mysteries of the gospel and surrender their lives unto Christ Jesus.

We pray for the non-members and the unbelieving parents who do faithfully drop their children off for the Awana’s. Please use their own children to bring the unsaved to you.

We thank you for our Student ministries. Please bless the leadership and the students. Please grant our students clearer understanding of the practical implications of the gospel.

We pray for our young adults. Thank you for their love for your word and their burning desire to do your will. Please honor your word in their lives. As you have promised us, please guide them and lead them in accordance with your sovereign will.

We pray for our women. Please bless the Titus 2 discipleship groups, Moms and Mentors groups and other ministries. Please bless their upcoming winter conference. May your presence be with them. Please grant them deeper understanding of your word and its practical applications as they desire to.

Please continue to help the men at Summit Woods to be the men of the Word. Please bless the Ironmen discipleship groups and our quarterly gatherings. Please bless the upcoming ironmen conference in Emporia.

We thank you for our teaching ministries on Sunday mornings and evenings. Thank you for enabling us to allow our Pastor-Teacher and family to go on Sabbatical this past Summer. Thank you for raising men from our midst to ably guard the pulpit by their faithful ministry of your word. To God be the glory!

I thank you for the new marriages that were solemnized at our Church this past year.

Please bless each of the marriages represented in our membership. Please protect us from sin. Please help us to be Christlike as each of us play our God ordained roles.

Thank you for our growth groups, equipping classes, Wednesday night study groups, weekender, our choir, music ministry, sound engineering and meal ministry. Thank you that each of the ministries are a blessing to our souls and helping us to grow in Christ.

We pray that all of the named and unnamed ministries of Summit Woods will continue to be Scriptural discipleship oriented.

We praise you for our volunteer leaders in various ministries, our deacons, our staff, our interns, various committee members and our elders. I thank you for those who serve without any title or recognition. Please help us to continue to serve you faithfully in a Christlike manner.

All of this came from you and it belongs to you. Be magnified. Be glorified. Be highly exalted. May we be decreased, and may You be increased.

Please help us to walk in the Spirit until you come or call us home. We pray this Jesus name, Amen.