The Power of a Praying Church - Review

The Power of a Praying Church

By: Stormie Omartian

Published: March 1st 2009 by Harvest House Publishers (first published 2009)

208 pages

Source: Personal Library

( Goodreads | Amazon )

Goodreads description--Believers are promised God's powerful presence when they gather with others in prayer. Now bestselling authors Stormie Omartian (more than 10 million books sold) and her longtime pastor, Jack Hayford, look at the life-changing benefits and world-changing effects that result from praying with others. Readers will see how they canstrengthen their personal prayer times with Godexperience the joy of finding a prayer partnerchange their lives by becoming part of a dynamic prayer groupuncover the far-reaching power of a praying churchdiscover how in the world they can make a difference

As they boldly enter into close fellowship with other believers to effect change in the world, they will touch lives and needs with the power of the Father in heaven. Rerelease of "The Power of Praying? Together"

The Power of a Praying Church has probably been my least favorite Stormie Omartian book. Sad to say, but I guess one of them has to be the least favorite, right?

My copy says that The Power of a Praying Church is BY Stormie Omartian WITH Jack Hayford, who Ms. Omartian refers to as "Pastor Jack." My first impression of this was that Ms. Omartian puts "Pastor Jack" on a pedestal that no human being should occupy, and that she speaks of him as if his word is the standard (the standard is The Word of God, aka The Bible). And this really disturbed me. It kept me from truly getting excited about this book.

That being said, as I continued to push through, I could see wisdom in what Mr. Hayford said many times and thus decided that I didn't need to disregard his thoughts just because someone else might have placed him in higher esteem than any human deserves--a spot only reserved for the Author/the Word Himself. It's between that person and God if they have done so and not for me to judge. Plus I should be gleaning what wisdom I can from wherever I can.

Once I got past this, I was able to see more clearly the message that I was to get from The Power of a Praying Church. Picking this read back up after having put it down for quite a while reinvigorated my zeal for my prayer life and has prompted me to actually start a women's prayer group that I'd been tossing around in my head for the last three years or so.

My disclosure for any "Christian" book review is and always will be that man does not have everything right--no one single man and definitely not I. That being said, if you decide to read this book based upon my recommendation, please be aware that I don't agree with 100% of everything this book says doctrinally and that for truth you must go to the Source, The Bible, God's written Word.

I did find this book helpful and I know that I have grown because of it. Despite it not being my favorite Stormie Omartian book and my hangups as mentioned above, I still pulled a lot of great information out of it, I finished it feeling invigorated and more eager and prepared to increase my prayers and be the warrior for Christ that He has called me to be.

I give The Power of a Praying Church 3.5 stars. Have you read it? If so, what did you think? Let me know!