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| Kirk at one of the "on the hill" gatherings we have hosted |
in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.”
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.”
Psalm
139:15, 16 (NASB)
Rev. “Kirk” Petterson spoke a
lot about prayer. In fact, you
could say that after serving a congregation in Shell Lake for ten
years and then moving to Chetek to serve here it's about all he ever
spoke about. But more than just talking about it he actually did it
and demonstrated with his life that among his other loves – such as
his wife, LeAnn, and their children and grandchildren as well as the
efficacy of certain barbecued meats – communion with the Father and
intercession for God's people was one of the top priorities of his
life.
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| Some of the membership of the Breakfast Club. Kirk's spot was usually at the head of the table |
We met
at a Pastor's Prayer Summit held at Luther Park back in the mid-90s
but after he moved to town a few years later he quickly became a
regular compadre of our circle of intercessors and assorted prayer
warriors here. In fact, Kirk was a significant catalyst for a prayer
movement that began in the mid-2000s when a number of us began to
gather at what was then Bob's Grill (now Chetek Cafe) every Tuesday
morning. The format was simple: breakfast, coffee and conversation
followed by a time of prayer. We dubbed ourselves “the Breakfast
Club” and with the exception of when Christmas and New Years fall
on a Tuesday, have been meeting there ever since throughout the
calendar year. We pray for each other, for our community and for
God's Church in our area.
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| "Around-the-Grounds '15" |
Kirk
was a founding member of our club and that regular meeting and eating
and praying together naturally fostered love and trust. And out of
love and trust, as all of us should know, so many good things
happened and continue to happen. In order to give us some kind of
cache with those outside our group we created what we called the
Chetek Area Prayer Initiative. On top of our weekly breakfast
meetings we continue to sponsor so many corporate prayer events
including “Around-the-Grounds” (an annual prayer walk around and
through our schools prior to the beginning of the new school year),
“See You on the Hill” (a prayer meeting for our city on top of
the only hill in town), “A Day Away to Pray” (an informal
pastor's prayer gathering that occurs every so often), “A
Progressive Prayer Meeting” (just like a progressive dinner we
moved from church to church), not to mention the annual “See You At
the Pole!”, “National Day of Prayer” and “Sanctity of Human
Life Sunday” gatherings. Over the years participation in these
events has ebbed and flowed according to people's interest and
schedule but Kirk was always
there. He agreed that we God's people needed to be about the business
of intercession and he lived it.
When
Pastor Norm, another founding member of the Breakfast Club, owned a
pontoon one Tuesday morning in the summer we loaded up the boat and
puttered around the lake praying for our city from that floating
platform. As much as the Chetek Hydroflites regularly pack out their
ski show and just as the lawn between Advent Christian and their
parsonage is always full on the night of the fireworks we asked God
(among many other things) that His house would be just as full of
people seeking Him. For a few years running five of us drew the names
of participating fellowships out of the proverbial hat and whatever
church we drew that was where we preached that Sunday. Yes, love and
trust can move mountains where organizational meetings only seem to
grow them.
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| Kirk praying on the pontoon |
When
George Otis, Jr began producing his Transformations documentaries, it
was Kirk who got us watching them and the watching fueled our
imaginations what might be here in our city and area if we redoubled
our efforts to pray for not just revival but wholesale
transformation. When The Elk River Story: Transforming the
Spiritual Climate of a City came
out it was Kirk who gave us all complimentary copies. When a group of
intercessors from our community felt compelled to begin a House of
Prayer right here in town, Kirk and LeAnn not only frequented the
weekly gatherings held there they supported it financially every
month. When his own church decided to take one of their Sunday School
rooms and turn it into a prayer room, it was Kirk who designed and
outfitted it. Yup, prayer was very much what he was all about.
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| This is the book he gifted us all with this past Christmas |
He
prayed long. In fact, he once laughingly told me that someone from
his fellowship called him a “prayer hog” as once he started into
praying he wouldn't stop until he was prayed out. (I won't speak for
the other guys but I know that on more than a few occasions I
struggled to hang in there with him and secretly hoped for the meter
to run out!) But regardless of the length of his intercession, his
prayer generally included a cry for God to send “a Holy
Ghost, heaven-sent revival”, a
prayer that we who remain will continue to pray from this side of
eternity.
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| Praying at the HOP |
He
prayed continually. Tuesday mornings and Thursday nights (at the
House of Prayer), Wednesday nights (at Northside Christian, the
fellowship he was a member of), and once a month on Friday nights (at
The Well in Barron, a ministry focused on the local Somali population
there). And that's only the gatherings I'm aware of. I'm sure there
were others. I am grateful for his example of persistent prayer.
Jesus Himself, the Captain of the Host, exhorted his First Century
disciples and also exhorts us his Twenty-First Century ones the same:
we “should always pray and not give up” (Luke
18:1). As far as I see it, Kirk was faithful in that. He liked his
meat rare and his preference in pancakes was always “gooey”
(regardless of the cook who was on he always offered to demonstrate
just what that was but for the record he never sent any back). But he
prayed on regardless of the consistency of his cake.
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| Praying at The Well 2010 |
In
recent years he had been struggling with various health issues. In
fact, three years ago he nearly died while attending the
international convention of the College of Prayer International in
Atlanta. He recovered and returned to his normal routine of prayer
around our community. Psalm 139:15-16 became one of his verses
claiming that since every day of his life was already recorded in
God's book he planned to live every one of them. During the last year
he liked to quote some African brother he heard at a COP gathering
who said, “If God has ordained for you to die on Friday you cannot
die on Thursday.” To him it gave purpose to each day he was given.
How ironic that he actually died on a Friday.
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| A Concert of Prayer held at Northside 2016 |
Some
people serve their community by volunteering at a local food shelf or
at the school. Others serve as an alderman or as a member of a
non-profit organization. Kirk served us here in Chetek by praying
persistently and consistently for all of us. I will miss his presence
at the Breakfast Club and every other prayer event that we usually
host in the course of a calendar year. I will miss his prayers, long
though they could be, but now the rest of us will just have to pray
on a little longer now that his voice has been silenced. Of course,
his prayers that he raised in this life, especially the ones that
have not been realized with regardless to that 'heaven-sent, Holy
Ghost revival' he asked so persistently for remain continually as
incense in God's presence (Revelation 5:8). And for that I am
grateful because it seems like we need that more now than ever
before.
May
the Lord bless and keep him and may there be stacks of gooey pancakes
cooked to perfection in the presence of the Lord he loved so dearly
in this life.
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| At our most recent "Day Away to Pray" gathering in January 2019 |
