Pastor, what would happen if prayer moved from the edge of your church’s ministry to the center?

Not another prayer program. Not one more event added to an already crowded calendar.

What if you simply took something your church was already doing and gave that time back to God in prayer?

That is part of the story unfolding at Champion Baptist Church in Dayton, Ohio.

A Simple Change Toward a Prayer-Centered Church

Jimmy Williams serves as pastor of Champion Baptist, a small church with a long-standing Sunday rhythm. After the morning worship service, the church gathered for what they called their “third service”—about 20 minutes devoted to discussing the sermon.

There was nothing wrong with that.

But after taking part in Praying Leader Coaching Cohort in the spring of 2025, Jimmy began moving more deeply toward a conviction that sits at the center of The 6:4 Fellowship: prayer and the Word belong at the center of spiritual leadership and church life.

So he made a change.

Instead of spending those 20 minutes talking more about the sermon, the church began praying.

They engage in Worship-base prayer. They worship God. They respond to Him. They bring their needs before Him. They pray from the truth they just heard from His Word.

Jimmy began making the same change in the church’s traditional Wednesday night prayer meeting, moving the congregation toward Scripture-fed, Spirit-led worship-based prayer.

It was not flashy. It was a pastor helping his people pray.

Then They Began Watching God Work

In the months that followed, Champion Baptist began recording answers to prayer.

During calendar year 2025, the church recorded more than 100 specific answers to prayer, including several people making decisions to follow Christ, as well as reports of seven people that experienced healing from cancer.

Those numbers should not turn prayer into a formula. We do not pray because we can control what God will do next. We pray because He is God, we are His people, and Jesus taught His disciples to depend on the Father.

But when God answers, we should remember, give thanks, and we should tell one another what He has done.

That is what makes Jimmy’s story worth sharing with you.

Prayer Is Not The Warm-Up

It is easy for prayer to become the part of church life that surrounds the things we think really matter.

We pray before the sermon.

We pray before the meeting.

We pray before the planning begins.

Then we get down to business.

Acts 6:4 gives us a different picture: “We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

For the apostles, prayer was not preparation for the ministry, prayer was the ministry.

That conviction sits behind the name The 6:4 Fellowship. We believe pastors are called to give themselves to prayer and the Word, and to help their churches become places where dependence on God is more than something we preach.

It is something we practice together.

Jimmy did not begin by adding hours to the church schedule. He looked at time they already gathered and asked a better question:

Could we use this time to meet with God?

That is a question worth carrying into your own church.

You Do Not Need To Copy Champion Baptist

Your church is different.

Your schedule is different.

Your people are different.

The point is not that every congregation needs a 20-minute prayer gathering after Sunday worship.

The point is simpler: In your context, where could prayer move closer to the center?

  • Maybe your Wednesday gathering could spend less time talking about prayer requests and more time actually praying.
  • Maybe your elders could open Scripture and pray together before discussing the agenda.
  • Maybe your small groups could learn to respond to the Word through prayer rather than ending with a rushed list of needs.
  • Maybe Sunday worship could make more room for people to call on God together.

You do not need to overhaul everything this week, just begin somewhere.

Pastor, You Go First

A praying church begins with praying leaders. Not perfect leaders. Not pastors who feel like prayer comes easily every morning. Pastors who keep returning to dependence on God.

Jimmy’s story is an encouragement because it comes from a small church in Ohio, not from a platform most people know. It is a reminder that God is at work in ordinary congregations where pastors and people turn their attention toward Him.

The church does not need prayer as one more activity.

We need God… we need to seek His face.

So this month, ask one question about the ministry you already lead:

A First Step Toward a Prayer-Centered Church

Ask: Where is God calling us to stop merely talking about prayer and begin praying together?

Then take one faithful step.

And when God answers, write it down.

Remember it.

Give Him thanks.

Then tell the story—because another pastor may need the reminder that God still hears the prayers of His people.