Minnesota Prayer Breakfast

“I am the vine, and you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me.”

Jesus of Nazareth

www.minnesotaprayer.org for helpful resources on small groups, Scripture,

community transformation and prayer

Please visit our website at:

The Minnesota Prayer Breakfast730 Second Avenue South, Suite 415

Minneapolis, MN 55402

We are grateful for our leaders this morning: Kahse Atkinson (Bemidji)

Evergreen Youth and Family Services

President of C-Level Consulting Service Lee Rainey (Plymouth)

Naomi Johnson (Minneapolis) Dancer & Choreographer and Unity Network Outreach

Yolandita Colon (Minneapolis) Pastor, Maranatha Minneapolis Church

Ben Utecht (Lakeville) Former football player for the Minnesota Gophers

and the Indianapolis Colts

Mayor Betsy Hodges (Minneapolis) Minneapolis’ 47th Mayor, sworn in January 2014

U.S. Federal District Chief Judge Michael Davis (Minneapolis) Federal Judge since 1994

Governor Mark Dayton (Minneapolis) Minnesota’s 40th Governor

Representative Jim Ramstad (Wayzata) Retired Congressman and former Breakfast Co-Chair

Dave Horsager (Verndale) Son of a bean farmer; best-selling author

Charlotte Davis (St. Paul) Singer, songwriter and worship leader

Minnesota Prayer Breakfast

Welcome ..................................... Kahse Atkinson & Lee Rainey

Worship in Motion ........................................... Naomi Johnson

Opening Prayer ................................................. Yolandita Colon

Music ......................................................................... Ben Utecht

Purpose and Video ...................... Kahse Atkinson & Lee Rainey

Prayer.................................. Representing Nine Sub-Continents

Readings from the Holy Scriptures .......... Mayor Betsy Hodges Federal District Court Judge Michael Davis

Eurasia: Andre Bulyma (Ukraine)Asia: Stephen Ma (China)

Southeast Asia: T. Cher Moua (Laos) Latin America: Jose Annieu (Guatemala)

Middle East: Armin Assadi-Ziair (Iran) North America: John Turnipseed (US) Africa: Francois Zongo (Burkina Faso)

Europe: Lee Byberg (Norway) Indigenous Peoples: Cassandra Medina (Potawatomi & Navajo)

Closing Song ................................... Charlotte Davis, Ben Utecht

Remarks ................................................. Governor Mark Dayton

Prayer for the Governor and the State ...................... Rep. Jim Ramstad

Keynote Address: “Trust” ................................... David Horsager Son of MN bean farmers and best-selling author

54th

Minnesota Prayer Breakfast

Unity In Action

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Hilton Minneapolis Minneapolis, Minnesota

also via livestream at www.minnesotaprayer.org

UNITY in ACTION Why do we do this?

For 54 years, Minnesotans have been gathering together to pray, eat breakfast and listen to speakers, readers and singers. However, our goal is not just a nice event, it is the transformation of our State. We love this place where we live — whether we were born here or chose here. And we, each in our own unique way, love God. We believe that by loving God together and loving all the neighbors we have in this place, something revolutionary can take place.

We live in fast-changing and highly-developed times. In spite of our natural Minnesota optimism, we share a sense of disappointment that things are not as they should be. Sadly, many of the things we thought would bring us together — growing prosperity, new technologies, unlimited access to information, intellectual pursuits, and vastly expanded communication — have instead driven us apart somehow. “Together” is not such a common word as it once was.

Jesus has something vital to say to us in such times. When asked what was most important for a human being to do, he answered simply, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself.” So for Jesus, it is not about how much we own, or achieve, or learn or say, but how we love that matters.

Our Prayer Breakfast, like thousands that occur around the country and all over the world, is a faithful work of a large group of friends who have come together to try to learn from and follow Jesus. Our growing vision here in Minnesota is for a state-wide experience of loving God and our neighbors that reaches every person and place in Minnesota. We gather to be sent out.

The only measure of success of an event like this is its legacy: what happens after the last car leaves the parking lot?

Our theme this morning is “Unity in Action”. It is love that unifies. It is love that takes action. We are also thinking deeply about trust this morning. Love is the way to learn how to trust and earn it.

We ask you to consider three ways you can join the movement the Lord is calling us to serve.

A big dream to serve a big place for a big God. Will you join us?

And third, start or join a small group. Throughout the pages of the Scriptures and the history of the faith, people have come together in small groups. Our experience is that is where the power lies. In a small gathering of people, there is genuine encouragement, accountability, learning, conviction, and faithful action. These gatherings come under many names, but we are thinking of small groups that are: intentional — something to belong to; relational — where we connect and learn from each other; private — so intimacy can develop; and focused — putting Jesus and the Scriptures in the center of the conversation.

The Minnesota Prayer Breakfast is ready with resources, materials and people to help you make this all-important step. It is our prayer, hope and vision that every person with us this morning will be in a small group, and that those groups will flourish until they reach every county, city, neighborhood; every office, every unit of government, every school and every place where people gather in Minnesota.

We love God and we love this place of Minnesota so much that we want it to be all it can be through the love, unity and trust that small groups bring. God has plans for Minnesota, to make us a spiritual Star of the North, and we believe that will happen one small group at a time.

First, listen carefully and prayerfully to the many voices you hear today with an open heart. Love, unity and trust begin with exposing our hearts to people and ideas which we have not experienced before. Ask God:what are you trying to teach me today?

Second, take an extra hour and attend one of the outstanding seminars right after the breakfast. Actually, they are as much a part of the breakfast as what happens in the big room, maybe even more so.