Doctoral Dissertation on Corporate Prayer

[John Whitsett]

For any that have interest, I have attached a pdf version of the dissertation I submitted in April 2013 to Asbury Theological Seminary on the topic of corporate prayer.  I hope it proves helpful.

Blessings,

John Whitsett

Overcoming the Omission.pdf

[Stanley D. Gale]

Thanks, Dr. Whitsett

[Eddie Smith]

John, would you possibly be interested in having your

dissertation published as an audio, eBook, perfect bound

and/or hardcover book?

I've just launched a new digital publishing company and

am looking to build up my portfolio. I could make it quite

affordable for you.

Example:   A 200-page book that would have a cover

price of $14.99 would cost you around $3.00 each.

I charge 10% above printing price. Plus you'd receive

69% of the royalties on books we sell. You'd get 75%

royalties on the eBooks and audio books.

Let me know if you are interested at all. I can work

up a more exact offer. Thanks!!

[John Whitsett]

Hi Eddie--

Thanks for getting back with me.  I hadn't really given publication any thought.  Let me think about it and perhaps we can look at it more closely after I get past Christmas.  

Blessings,

John

[Dave Imboden]

Just perused the table of contents and was impressed with what I read. Looking forward to reading further, John.

[John Whitsett]

Thanks, Dave.

While this project was required as part of my degree program, my hope is that it can be a source of help to people who are seeking to mobilize corporate prayer at the local church level.  Hope it proves to be a blessing to you as well.

John

[Reimagine Curator]

John - from your research what do you consider to be the greatest misconception throughout the Church about corporate prayer ... and how can we see a break through?

Phil

[John Whitsett]

Hi Phil--

You really asked a couple of questions.  Let me try to answer quickly:

One of the most prevalent misconceptions is that effective corporate prayer is prayer request based.  My research indicated that an excessive focus on praying for identified requests--health needs, etc.--can actually be a bit of a demotivator.  For corporate prayer to have a sense of life and vitality, much more time needs to be spent on "Kingdom issues" then "personal issues."

As it relates to facilitating a breakthrough, a couple of thoughts come to mind: (1) be strategic about how you plan to implement corporate prayer, rather than getting people together and figuring it out as you go, and (2) the need for long-term leadership and persistence on the part of the pastor.  It's exceptionally difficult to change the culture of an established local church if the pastor does not have an long tenure to where he or she can become the primary influencer.

Both of these concepts are elaborated on within the dissertation at greater length, but I hope this helps to prime the pump.

Blessings,

John

[Merton J. Hershberger]

If a local pastor of the church I participate in would be interested in reading this, but is not a member of the PrayerNetwork.org, may I share the file with him? [e-mail] . The pastor is enrolled at Asbury distance education ... or was last time I had a sit down talk with him.

 

Blessings,

Mert

[John Whitsett]

Hi Mert--

Please feel free to pass this along to anyone that you think would have interest.  My hope is that it wouldn't just help me meet a degree requirement, but that it might be of value to people in the trenches of local church ministry.

Blessings,

John

[Linda Bemis]

John,

Thank you for sharing your resource piece. Downloaded it and will take some time to get into it over the holiday "down time" I am hoping for. Blessings to you for your generosity to share what God led you to write about.