DAY OF PRAYER letter
July 2026
Requests & Answers
Pastor Carrie Butler
Faithful Intercessors,
One of the ways I have been growing lately is by getting more specific with what I am asking God to do in my own life. For various reasons, I became so general with requests for myself that I could never really tell when the answers came. This wasn’t a noble approach—I was often afraid to ask specifically because I didn’t want to be disappointed. Can you relate? Why is it sometimes so easy to ask God for what we need or want, and other times it seems impossible?
To stretch my faith, I began writing down specific personal prayer requests each night as part of my evening “examen”. And I'm seeing God answer them! Some in small daily reminders of His care, others slowly over time, and a few swiftly and directly. Thankfully, I am more encouraged than surprised, because our Father loves to hear our requests and He loves to answer, even if the answer is “no”, “wait”, or “yes”. Our job is to ask with childlike trust. And as we ask, inviting the Holy Spirit to direct our prayers so they align more and more with His will, He responds. This reminds me of a familiar exhortation from Paul to the followers of Christ in Philippi:
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
Even when the need is intense and the answers seem slow—or when what we truly need isn't what we're asking for—God protects us with His peace. It is my belief that sometimes we hesitate to pray boldly not because we doubt God can answer, but because we're unsure whether our requests align with His will and He’ll answer “yes”. Yet, Paul encourages us to bring everything to God with thanksgiving and trust Him to guard our hearts with peace. Further in the letter to the Philippians, Paul says “...I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances” (Philippians 4:11). Whatever the circumstances, we can rest in Christ, who quiets our anxiety in the midst of the unknown.
I hope this encourages you, as it did me, to ask bold prayers for yourself today, entrusting the answers to Him. What do you need from the Lord? What “situation” are you contending for? What prayers have you kept lukewarm or held onto for fear of the answer? Ask, friend. And let His peace guard your heart and mind.
If you'd like additional guidance for praying for our community and the world, consider picking up a 24-7 Prayer guide to focus on a specific topic.
Praying with you in unity,
Carrie
CHRIST THE KING PRAYER GUIDE
This is the prompt that was given to the ministry leads:
Please share what your ministry needs right now to accomplish what the Lord has given you to steward over the summer. Additionally, name one way God has answered a prayer for the ministry in recent weeks (big, small or in between).
CTK Staff (from Melonie Kemp, Executive Pastor)
Hello Prayer Warriors!
Thank you for continuing to faithfully pray for our staff and ministry teams. We are in a season of transition, both with staff and volunteers.
This month we said goodbye to Josh Lease as he and Mae moved to Portland, and we are excited to welcome Kua Guevara (and his wife Ashley) as our new Next Gen Worship Pastor. At the same time, we still have a significant opening on our Student Ministries team and would deeply appreciate your prayers for God's provision in this important hire.
We also have several other staff vacancies that have remained unfilled. In the meantime, our current teams are faithfully carrying the extra load. They are serving with faithfulness, but the added responsibilities are stretching them.
In addition, several key volunteers have recently moved to other parts of Washington and to other states, leaving important gaps in our ministry teams. We have done our best to simplify and refocus the work so we can care well for our staff while continuing to serve our church effectively.
Please pray that God would bring the right people for each staff position and raise up the next set of volunteers to step into the work He has entrusted to us. Pray for wisdom, endurance, and mostly encouragement for those who are carrying extra responsibility during this season, and that the Lord would continue to provide exactly what is needed for His church.
Blessings,
Melonie
Worship & Creative (from Ivelice English, Worship Pastor)
- Request: We need more piano players and overall musicians! Our team, just like many others, goes on a lot of trips during summer. This means we have less people available for Sunday services, leaving the heavy load for our staff to carry.
- Answer: Our team has received the change to our extended service times and Wednesday rehearsals so well. We have seen our volunteers show up excited and with more expectation for what the Holy Spirit is doing!
Adults Ministry (from Julie Burleson, Lead Adults Pastor)
- Request: This summer, we are partnering with other ministries, and praying for adults to say yes to serving at Go Camp, Children's or Student Ministries, the CTK Farm, and as Response Teams project participants. While we are busy prayerfully planning for what our ministries will do in the fall, we are hoping that many adults will try volunteering in a new space or inviting friends to serve alongside them.
- Answer: We are already thanking God for the many adults who have said yes to opportunities like that, and we are also so incredibly thankful for another amazing Spring Alpha session.
Young Adults (from Jake Hruza, Young Adults Pastor)
- Request: Our biggest need right now is for God to bring a new core group of young adults who are seeking Christian community and are ready to invest in the life of the local church. We have a solid foundation of young adults who are connecting in other areas of the church, but we need new young adults who will consistently engage, build relationships, and eventually become integrated into our Church community.
- Answer: We are thankful for our new Next Generation Worship Pastor, Kua, who will be helping to steward musical worship with Young Adults.
Student Ministry (from Julie Burleson, Lead Adults Pastor)
- Request: This summer, as our rhythms slow down, we are using the time to prayerfully recruit new volunteers and staff. Specifically, we need 10-12 volunteers to help us with SUMMIT, our Sunday school for 5th/6th graders, and multiple school year volunteers for our mid week Middle School and High School ministries, in addition to the 80+ adults we need to help at Go Camp. We are also looking for a Student Ministries Pastor to lead this team, and are hopeful that God will bring the right person at the right time. We are also praying for the summer to provide times of refreshment for the rest of our students team even while they hold fun events for the students all summer.
- Answer: We have already seen God answer our prayers by providing us with a Next Generation Worship Pastor, who will help our students grow as worshippers.
Kids & Family (from Duane Weaver, Children’s Pastor)
- Request: We still have many volunteer needs, which are great opportunities to impact lives for Jesus by serving weekly or 2 Sundays a month.
- The nursery needs 4 volunteers for the 11 am service.
- Adventureland Early Childhood rooms need 4 lead teachers and 4 support leaders, with the greatest need at the 11 am service.
- Basecamp Elementary needs 5 lead teachers and 6 support leaders with the greatest need at the 9 am service.
- Answer: From the beginning of May, we have onboarded 10 new volunteers in CTK Kids. Praise God!
Prayer (from Carrie Butler, Prayer Pastor)
- Request: Summer is a time to reflect and listen for what’s next in the ministry year. Please pray for wisdom, clarity and discernment over the next couple of months as we ask “what’s next, Papa?” when it comes to prayer ministry at CTK. There is hunger in our congregation to grow, learn and practice, and wisdom is needed to know what to implement next.
- Answer: We are so proud of the table leaders who used the tools they learned in training to bless and pray for healing over those at Alpha. God used them powerfully!
Blessing (from Nathan Ford, Outreach Team Director)
- Request: When it comes to the work with Response Teams and the Farm, the specific requests would be for 150 volunteers across Response Team projects and 300 volunteers for the Farm. The other thing that comes up is that we would steward and disciple the volunteers well. The work is simply the vehicle by which we have the opportunity to put faith into action, so pray that folks would see serving at the Farm or on Response Team projects as not a box to check, but an invitation to living out the Kingdom as Jesus calls us to.
- Answer: Praise God for rain! We are thankful for the cooler weather and rain that is making this growing season that much better.