I’ve been waiting for this weekend for more than 6 months.  Ever since I saw the movie, THE WAR ROOM, I’ve been telling everyone how great it is and the changes it brought into my life and how excited I am to see the impact it can make in our church and in our community.

And finally, the time has come for me to tell you why.

This Sunday, we’ll be kicking off a 5 week series at The Well, called INTO THE WAR ROOM.  You don’t need to see the movie to benefit from the series, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt.  Without giving away too much – about both the movie and the series – I want to briefly share why I’m so excited for this series and why I’ve been awaiting it anxiously ever since I saw the movie 6 months ago.

To put it simply: THIS MOVIE CHANGED MY LIFE.

Now, I know that is an easy thing to say and people say that all the time.

“This book changed my life…” “Getting rid of Facebook changed my life…” “Discovering frozen yogurt, kale smoothies changed my life…”

I know it’s an overused cliché, so let me try to narrow it down a bit.

This movie changed my life by transforming my PRAYER life.  And that difference can be seen clearly by looking at these two pictures here.

The “before” picture is the only room in my house that I used to call “mine.”  It was my office.  My space.

It’s where I kept all my stuff and did whatever I want in there.  This was where I worked.  This was where I kept my stuff.  This was where I spent most of my waking hours when I was home.

But no more!  It WAS an office; but now it’s a prayer room (or war room for those who have seen the movie).

You may not be able to tell from the pictures but I cleaned house in there.  The first thing I did was get rid of my computer (that’s a big deal for someone who has no work office and spends most of his time working from home).  That’s where I spent most of my time.

The second thing I did was clean out the drawers and get rid of all the clutter – another big deal because I don’t really have any place to put it.  I went from a nice office all to myself, to sharing a small little wooden desk in my bedroom that is half the size and conveniently located right next to our laundry basket allowing for a pleasant aroma every day except for Fridays, which is laundry day (my wife wouldn’t let me take a picture to show you).

The third thing I did – and by far the most painful – was clean out my bookshelves and get rid of all the books that were cluttering up the room.  I filled two suitcases worth of books that I will be making available to our church family for free next Sunday (another great reason to come church!).

Now in case you don’t know me, I HATE getting rid of books.  I don’t even like letting people borrow my books – even if I have multiple copies.  I would rather pay for you to have your own copy as opposed to risk you losing my copy.  All that to say, I place a HIGH value on books and this was very painful for me to do.

But I had no choice.

The prayer room was a higher priority and if this room was going to be used for prayer, I needed to remove the clutter and distractions.  The piles of books on the floor and on top of the shelves needed to go.  The computer needed to go.  Everything that was not related to prayer or distracted me from prayer needed to go in order to make this MY WAR ROOM!

And what inspired that change?  The movie!  That’s why I say this movie changed my life.

It changed my life because it changed the way I pray and how much I invest in prayer.  And that one change has already had a gigantic impact on me and on my family and I pray it will have the same great impact on my church and my community.

Yeah I may not be able to work as comfortably; but I will be able to pray more comfortably.

It’ll make working from home more difficult; but it will make praying from home more focused.

This change definitely won’t improve my work life; but it will certainly improve my prayer life.  And I believe that that change will make all the difference in the world.

So go check out the movie for yourself and then come join me this Sunday as I share more about what this movie has meant to me and how it has impacted my life.  You never know… it may change your life as well.

p.s.  This Sunday is also Friends & Family day so if you’ve never been to STSA, consider this as a special invitation from me to you.