Are You Thankful for Your Leaders?

As you approach the Thanksgiving holiday and pause to consider all God’s blessings, are you thankful for your political leaders? ALL your political leaders?

In 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Paul challenges us to make it a priority to pray for our political leaders (“for kings and all who are in authority”). He uses four distinct words for prayer: entreaties, prayers, petitions, and THANKSGIVINGS. We are to be thankful for the leaders God has set up to rule over us. The leaders of whom Paul spoke in his day were those of the Roman Empire. They were immoral, brutal, and corrupt, soon to bring great persecution upon the church. Yet Paul exhorted the church to offer God thanksgivings for them.

We are to be thankful for all our leaders, regardless of party or ideology. This becomes easier when we remember they are established by God (Romans 13:1; Daniel 2:21) and are God’s servants (Romans 13:6).

We should be thankful for the order our government and its leaders provide as opposed to the chaos and disorder that would result in their absence.

We should be thankful that God is in control and has a purpose and plan to work out through the leaders He has put into place.

We should be thankful for how God is working in the hearts and lives of leaders and pray they would turn to Christ and grow in their walk with the Lord.

We should be thankful for Christian leaders who take a stand for the truth and pray they will have a tremendous testimony for Christ before those they serve as well as their colleagues.

As you take time for giving thanks, please remember to be thankful for the leaders God has placed over our communities, our state, and our nation.

Pray for Interim Committee Meetings & Bible Studies

Every month our legislators gather in Charleston for three days of interim committee meetings. Each lawmaker is assigned to one or more committees in order to work on various issues throughout the year.

In these meetings they deal with a variety of topics, many of which will be taken up during next year’s regular session.This month's interim meetings will be held on November 15-17.

During the interim meetings, Capitol Commission provides Bible studies for our legislators and elected officials at the capitol. Our studies for this month entitled "Final Thoughts on Treasuring God's Word" from Psalm 119:10 will be held on Tuesday, November 16.

Please pray for our legislators as they gather for these meetings:

Pray for safety as they travel.

Pray for them as they take this time away from their families and jobs.

Pray for them as they deal with many issues important to our state.

Pray that our Bible study and other aspects of our ministry will be a challenge and encouragement to our leaders.

You can learn more about the legislative interim committee assignments and meetings at the West Virginia Legislature web site.


You can download the complete study HERE.

Interim Bible Study: "Final Thoughts on Treasuring God's Word"

From next week's interim Bible study at the West Virginia state Capitol:

"How can we begin to treasure God and love Him more deeply? We can do so simply by looking at the cross of Christ. It is at the cross we see God’s absolute holiness and hatred of sin. It is at the cross we are reminded of our own wretched sinfulness and the fact that there Jesus bore the wrath and punishment for our sin. In so doing we cannot help but grow in love and affection for Him."

Read or download the complete study HERE.

Pray for God to use His Word to impact hearts and lives at the capitol next week.

Pray for Our New West Virginia Legislators

We will have 21 new lawmakers serving in the West Virginia Legislature beginning with the regular session in January. Please pray for these leaders as they assume new positions of leadership:

West Virginia Senate

David C. Noe - 3^rd (Pleasants, Roane, Wirt, Wood Counties)

Ronald F. Miller - 10th (Fayette, Greenbrier, Mercer, Monroe, Summers Counties)

Mark Wills - 10^th (Fayette, Greenbrier, Mercer, Monroe, Summers Counties)

Gregory Tucker - 11^th (Clay, Fayette, Nicholas, Upshur, Webster Counties)

Making the move from the House to the Senate:

Robert Beach - 13th (Marion, Monongalia Counties)

Orphy Klempa - 1st (Brooke, Hancock, Ohio Counties)

West Virginia House of Delegates

Erikka Storch - 3^rd (Ohio County)

Ryan Ferns - 3^rd (Ohio County)

Brian Savilla - 14^th (Mason,Putnam Counties)

Rupert Phillips, Jr. - 19^th (Boone, Lincoln, Logan, Putnam Counties )

Marty Gearheart - 24^th (Mercer County)

Joe Ellington - 25^th (Mercer County)

Rick Snuffer - 27^th (Raleigh, Summers Counties )

John O’neal - 27^th (Raleigh, Summers Counties )

John Pino - 29^th (Clay, Fayette, Nicholas Counties ) (Del. Pino is returning to the House)

Erik Nelson - 30^th (Kanawha County)

Harold Sigler - 35^th (Nicholas County)

Denise Campbell - 37^th (Pocahontas, Randolph Counties)

Amanda Pasdon - 44^th (Monongalia County)

Anthony Barill - 44^th (Monongalia County)

Gary Howell - 21^st (Minera County l)

Larry Kump - 52nd (Berkeley, Morgan Counties)

Erik Householder - 56th (Berkeley, Jefferson Counties)

We look forward to ministering to these new leaders as they serve in Charleston.