Pastor Dan Gates died today.  I lost an amazing friend. Truth be told, I never actually met Pastor Dan. We talked about meeting one day, but that never happened. I did speak to Pastor Dan once on the phone. Our only other contact was through email. He was a dear friend and prayer warrior for my family.

Pastor Dan came into my life several years ago through his email prayer ministry.  My sister contacted him when my husband was going through many serious health issues.

Pastor Dan began to email prayers for our family to us through his eprayer ministry. Those prayers were used in a mighty way to comfort and encourage us during difficult times. Pastor Dan had other members of his eprayer team praying for us. It is one thing for someone to tell you that they are praying for you and it is another to hear them speak that prayer over you or to read precious words of supplication  on your behalf.

Pastor Dan called me to on the day that Teddy had his kidney transplant.  He was so precious to celebrate God’s faithfulness to us. Pastor Dan learned in January 2010 that he had cancer. During his illness I would send Pastor Dan cards and we prayed for him and his family every day.  What a prayer warrior friend. I will miss his friendship and his eprayer ministry greatly.

God does great things such as placing Pastor Dan in my life during a season of difficulty. I never saw his face until I read his obituary in the newspaper but I saw his heart in every prayer.

When reading Pastor Dan’s obituary, it was obvious how wide his scope of influence reached. He not only served as the pastor of his church in Columbus, he ministered to the city of Columbus at large and then went beyond the city gates to the ends of the earth with the eprayer ministry. What a testimony of how limitless our boundaries can be to serve the Lord.

Are you leaving a legacy of prayer?  Have you had a Pastor Dan in your life? Could you be someone’s prayer warrior friend? When someone asks you to pray for them, do you pray for them? What are your ministry boundary lines? Can you see how you might widen your boundaries for ministry?

Pastor Dan has left a legacy of prayer. I can only guess how many people, such as me, were impacted by the eprayer ministry started by Pastor Dan in Columbus, Georgia.

There is power in prayer. There is power in praying with and for someone in need. I challenge you to take up the Pastor Dan prayer ministry and pray for someone today. Call them, pray with them on the phone. Email them and write your prayer for their specific needs. Pastor Dan never prayed a generic prayer for our family. He prayer for the specific needs we were facing at the time.

I thank God for Pastor Dan teaching me, through example, the power of prayer and the unlimited boundaries of our ministry for the Lord.

Philippians 1: 3-4

I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all.

Revelation 5:8

And when He had taken the book the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb having each one a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.