Recently, I was privileged to attend a LOV (Lighthouses of Valley) Movement Luncheon. This is a group of pastors, ministry and marketplace leaders who love the Coachella Valley and want to share the love of Christ with everyone within it. For me it is an extreme answer to prayer. Back in 1999 a pastor at Palm Springs Baptist church and I started a prayer group that included pastors and others from Desert Hot Springs, Cathedral City and Palm Springs. When that pastor left the Valley this group bounced around to a couple of other churches over the next few years until it finally disbanded. I remember the night it disbanded, standing with my Senior Pastor in the courtyard of our church, talking about the vision that we had for prayer in the Coachella Valley. We both agreed that if this sort of thing was keep going it needed to be rooted in a pastoral group that comes together in unity. We prayed for God to bring a group of pastors together in His time to start this group.
In 2004 my Senior Pastor was asked to meet with two other pastors to discuss forming a pastoral group that could support each other as they ministered in the area. The next meeting they had included twelve pastors. At that point they formed the LOV Movement. Since then, many of the original pastors have left and new ones have come, but the unity continues to be astounding considering the diversity in the group. This group is committed to praying and caring for each other and the people of the valley, which has opened doors to sharing Christ within their spheres of influence. Together they have accomplished some amazing things. However, for me, every meeting jump starts my faith because they are a living breathing answers to my prayers and they remind me that God reveals to us His plans, so that we can participate in what He is doing.
God often waits to answer prayers, but if we keep watching and waiting we will get to see some awesome things.