Jim Cymbala is the pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, a New York based church which has grown to a membership of over 6,000 with branches in several states. His wife, Carol, is the director of the Grammy-award winning Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.
They were not always this successful, however, and in this nonfiction book, Pastor Cymbala tells us of his journey and how he achieved the things he has.
Toward the early years of his marriage, which were also the early years of his life as a pastor, he was doing all right in his small church when word came that a struggling parsonage in Brooklyn needed a new pastor. He agreed to go down and preach a few sermons to tide them over until a new preacher could be found for them. When he arrived, he was dismayed at the small numbers in the congregation and he didn’t see much of an increase in the time he was there. In fact, he was tempted to let the project go altogether instead of continuing his hectic schedule of driving to Brooklyn to preach, coming home to take care of his own flock, going back out to Brooklyn for an afternoon service, and then back home to do the same at his church. It was very wearing on him physically, emotionally and spiritually. However, when he sought to know what he should do, the answer surprised him. He strongly felt that he should resign from his church and take on the Brooklyn Tabernacle full-time.
Taking a deep breath and a leap of faith, he and his wife moved and began their ministry in Brooklyn. Attendance was still small; often they would have less than thirty in a meeting. Pastor Cymbala was disappointed in the results of his preaching; he hoped to find many more people who were searching for Christ. And to top it off, their first year, they brought in less than four thousand dollars in salary to feed their family.
Going to the Lord with an earnest desire to know how he could magnify his ministry, Pastor Cymbala was given another unusual answer: to concentrate on teaching his people about prayer. He realized that his regime had been a little strict, with a certain number of minutes in preaching and another segment of time for songs, and there hadn’t been much time left for praying. From that moment, he loosened up his schedule and incorporated a great deal more prayer into his services, and invited the congregation to come to prayer meetings every week. As he taught the people to open their hearts to God in prayer, he discovered miracles happening in his flock. They were changing their lives for the better and influencing those around him.
Pastor Cymbala credits all the success of his church to the healing power of prayer in people’s lives, but he is quick to point out that the numbers don’t mean a thing unless you realize what God has done in each of these lives. It’s all well and good to say, “Wow, that church has 6,000 members,” but what we should be saying is, “Wow, that’s 6,000 walking miracles.”
This book was an interesting read for me. I enjoyed learning about the growth of this church and the personal journey Pastor Cymbala took. However, the best part for me was the reminder of how wonderful prayer is and how we can reach out to God at any time and feel His love surrounding us. This is a powerful book with a powerful message.
(This book was published in 1997 by Zondervan.)
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