Are volunteers the best solution in the media department?

   Volunteers can be a blessing! But if you are not careful a volunteer could become your greatest nightmare in ministry as well. When it comes to media and volunteer help you have to breakdown the media department into several categories. One has to also give consideration to what size ministry base you are dealing with as well.  Before I answer the question on” best solution” let’s break down the media department into four subcategories first.  

1. Website
2. Internal Projections
3. Sound System
4. PC Operations

1. Websites: This area of ministry can be done by someone who volunteers, but if they are 'real limited' and as well 'real proud' of what they can do for you, then you could get stuck with less than the quality you desire. Your web presence is your front street sign on the web and you need some basic things in place regardless of who does it. Some churches over sell and under deliver (the majority) and others under sell who they are and over deliver. Paying for a good web based system sometimes is worth the headache you could inherit with a volunteer trying to save you money. Be careful with free and volunteers in this area of media. Any ministry website needs to be updated at least once a month if not more often depending on the activities of your local ministry. I have worked with one Website Company for 9 years now and they offer a wide variety template system with a zillion tools which are easy to use and almost anyone can run it as a volunteer. The beauty of paid subscriptions services like this is that your help might leave you but you can still get someone else into the driver’s seat the next day. If you want to give what I use click above and send me an email let me know you think.  A free website and volunteer can frustrate a pastor to no end so be careful.
2. Internal Projections:  Sight and sound for the people sitting in a sanctuary you need folks that know there stuff. Believe me it can make or break the service. If you are in the lime light and broadcasting on TV or over the Internet then your ministry just took on a different life. When you are doing ministry beyond the seats in front of you then it is wise to have the best in the booth for sight and sound since the other audience might not be so understand as those in your building.  If you are paying someone avoids the pits falls and have a good professional backup system in place for the unexpected complications and projection bulb blow up. One company I recently became acquainted with makes available sub contractors to have on site to deal with such challenges for the high end entertainment division of the church.  What happens inside the building is projected outside the building and that determines a lot on how a ministry will be perceived. If you want the best in quick turn around for custom built high end sight and sound equipment including service I would recommend this company.  I meet with the leadership team of this company sometime back and was thoroughly impressed with what they had to offer larger ministries.
3. Sound System:  If you have a volunteer who knows sound and technology you are blessed and should treat those people with utter kindness and blessings. In the economy of the day many people are cutting back in the local church, but in this area of sight, sound and projections I would not be as quick to cut back if you can help it. If you need an upgrade on sound and sight systems I would recommend this company. The owner is a friend of mine and he will customize what will work for you and he specializes in churches running less than 1200 in attendance.  
4. PC Operations:  The PC or MAC link in the sound booth is the link to it all. Do not fudge in this area either. Many can multi task and depending on the size ministry and the production depends on how many people can be behind the scenes at any given time. You need people who can run a variety of programs and also trouble shoot on the spot if needed.  If your ministry can afford it then paying at least one person to be over all the operations who then recruits a volunteer staff might be better than just having a volunteer staff for all these areas. If you are jammed with needing a good PC trouble shooter and networker then I would recommend my PC guy down the street. He can assist remotely for a reasonable fee anywhere in the country.

  

  Volunteers in my opinion are not the BEST solution if you are mega church that is high quality conscience unless you are blessed with the best that happen to attend your church. Whether you are a church running fewer than 100 or a mega churches running in the thousands you need top knowledgeable and reliable people. Before you just get anyone in position as a volunteer that you might later regret think about just one good person to head up the whole media department and work down from there.

     I recommend having at least one person with the experience and passion to help build a team. If paying him or her a small stipend is helpful by all means do such.  Youth are a great resource for today’s growing media oriented ministries, but use with caution.  Children and teenagers are growing up on technology and can be a great resource, but many lack dependability and the maturity needed to deal with high pressure situations. The problem you will have with them is often reliability and maturity and the pressure in the booth requires both so be careful when recruiting that techno group. If you have other suggestions please post and or reply as we all need to learn from our experiences and resources.   

Will technology change the attitude of a church?

    When churches embrace technology is it all about enhancing and connecting the ministry and message of Jesus Christ to others. Every church has its culture and every pastor and pastoral team have their style. As long as churches use technology for the gospel then it is a great tool. It is when technology becomes the focus and so dependent upon that the church can get into trouble, Will technology change the attitude of the church? I would certainly hope so as we use it to be relative to the evolving technology culture around us.  

             Some churches need a reality check in regards to the culture around them. The entire government school system in the United States is following the technology progress curve. Many teachers who started years ago grew up in the educational system changes may prefer caulk and eraser over a smart board. Why?  When you start out one way it’s often hard to change. Chalk teachers who started out one way and then went to dry eraser enhancement and then most recently are getting introduced to the smart board have to deal with their own attitude of adjustment. Chalk was simple affordable and messy whereas dry eraser boards were quicker, color enhanced and less messy.  Now smart boards are expensive, highly interactive and exceptionally multi media as well as very culturally relevant. The teacher right out of college left a smart board world and no adjustment required so to speak. Regardless of the medium of education we need to remember that 2 plus 2 still equals 4 and preaching and teaching the gospel is still about making disciples and transformed lives through personal relationships.  

      One thing for certain about change is that change is inevitable. I think in the years to follow we will also find that technology itself will become a subculture within the culture and even resisted by many who grew up on it. As nice as technology is to some it also can be addictive like anything else in life if not used with moderation.  I am already witnessing the anti technology cultural emerging from all generational groups.  Some people will be attracted to churches that use high tech and are low touch and others will be attracted to a church that is high touch with low tech. Churches that have a mix of people are likely to keep a good balance verses the over the top high tech church and the under sensitive low tech church. It is kind like balancing age groups in the church. You need all generations in a church for it to be health and continue the discipleship model for years to come.

               I was among some of the innovators in 2005 to use video email and conferencing in ministry. I got lots of wows along the way and fully enjoyed meeting people remotely by video from around the world. To this day I still know people only by voice and video in Australia and New Zealand that I have yet to meet in person. As well, I recall meeting other people for the first time face to face after months of video conferencing and how different the relationship felt after meeting people face to face.

           

           In many regards the walk of faith will be like this when we meet Jesus face to face for the first time. Our faith in Christ is similar to using technology as a bridge tool to touch more lives quicker, but it will never replace the face to face or high touch of personal relationships.  I cannot wait to meet my Savior for the first time face to face and I am certain the relationship will change wonderfully on that glorious day. 

             Regardless of how often or how seldom we use and integrate technology in our ministry context we need to be mindful that the highest touch is still the personal touch. 

          Technology is not for everyone at the same level. My wife and I are a good example of this and how opposite we are with technologies use and application, yet we still both use it. We both have email and we both use technology. She uses it as little as needed to do what has to be done which saves her time and effort and I use it much more often and enjoy the latest and the greatest tools. I have no problem recording myself on video and she wants nothing to do with it. The other day I was talking to a youth pastor in his mid 20’s in town. He wished he could totally get away from technology and loves his day off when he shuts off all his devises and gets away from all screens completely. He uses technology as he needs it but prefers to disconnect. On the other hand many leaders twitter all day, use facebook, text and are totally connected. 

             We need to be sensitive about our attitude toward technology as well as against it and recognize it as a tool and a relevant cultural.  As much as I enjoy and use technology I must be careful that it does not control me. We should use it for His glory and make sure we use what works for our context and be sensitive to those around us. If we force technology into a ministry context that is not already operating with at least a core of high tech people then we might end up with a low touch on lives.

   

Here are several perspectives to consider when using technology in ministry so that changes in attitude are positive.

•     If the leaders are high tech and the people are low touch then use technology in leadership first. Make ministry enhancements for saving time and being more effective and efficient as staff.  Then gradually teach, lead and demonstrate the value of technology to the people and the cultural around you. 

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•  If the people are high touch low tech then surround the leadership with high tech people to gradually bring the staff up to speed to help them to see the value of embracing high tech, but also respect the time and cultural positioning of the low tech leadership. 

•    If the people and the leaders are low tech high touch then let technology take a back seat and deal with until the culture demands it or the leadership attracts it. Let God direct and lead and then adjust according to high tech demand. As the low tech church discovers the need to be relevant to the emerging technology cultural around them they will seek help anyway.  

•      If the leaders are high tech and the people are high tech then go for it with God’s best tech tools. But also keep in mind the realization that not everyone you may touch is high tech . If you are not careful you could miss an opportunity to reach low tech people. Balance and moderation will always be the key to good attitude with technology.

 Keep in mind that low touch, high tech and high touch, low tech   is no respecter of age, education, culture or generations. I have met some really savvy seniors who get it and use high Tech and as well I have seen and meet teenagers who even resist cell phones and love inaccessibility. 

    Technology will change the attitude of some churches for the better and if leaders push to quickly the low tech people could resist. Technology is only a tool which is amoral. It can wow and fascinate the mind and heart and be used of God to tug on the hearts of men. Let us use technology for His glory when it make sense and resist it when it does not. As we use technology in ministry may we always be aware of being more amazed at His Grace than man’s technology. After all the greatest Technologist  made all that is in Six days and that is truly amazing.  

Should a church even consider reaching others for Christ outside their city?

   Jesus commanded us to go into all the world and makes disciples. That mission is so broad in methodology, yet so focused in purpose. Jesus also taught on how to make disciples by a 3 part step.  1. Testimony through water baptism. 2.Instruction through teaching. 3. Mentoring through example. The applications for all of these can be done in through technology with the exception of water baptism of course.  Even though technology is lowest form of communication and in person ministry is the highest form of communication it is nonetheless communication and should be considered with its present ease and accessibility for so many ministries. 

          

The local church should be focused on making and reaching others for Christ where they are physically located and where they can develop meaningful relationships face to face. That is the highest form of discipleship making. However discipleship / mentoring does not have to be limited to the highest form and especially so when the recording of that highest form can be shared without much effort or in some cases no effort as the lowest form of communication.

     

  James O Davis in a seminar I attended once said, “the lowest form of communication is predictability”. The highest form of communication for the preacher is proclaiming the gospel. So if people can predict what will happen before it happens because it happens that way so often then we communicate predictability as the lowest form of communication. If our disciples making efforts are also predictable why would we not try to share them beyond our Control Zone of personal influence?

            

As a local church of Jesus in your community you have a mission to reach others for Christ right where you are physically located. Granted you send missionaries out beyond your area and support them. But aside from that, if you’re lowest form of communication (predictability) and highest forms of communication (preaching a new message) can be captured and spread around the globe with little effort and little expense why would you not do it? 

                                   The ministries I have been in have been sharing for now over 10 years over the internet. I could tell you story after story of how many different touches I am aware of just by sharing what we already do over the internet. Before the internet was Radio and TV. Those forms of communication were cost prohibitive for the majority of churches. With the advent of the internet the majority of churches are without excuse now. We should all be taking advantage of these tools for His honor and glory.

            

 The objections we can drum up for not considering reaching others for Christ beyond our control and direct influence usually boil down to selfishness, inconvenience and intimation of the unknown. If we are already going to teach and preach locally why not splash that influence and anointing wherever the Spirit of God may direct it?  If you have watched any type of spiritual content on recorded or live  media and learned something, then you just justified why you should do the same. 

Last but certainly not least is the example of Jesus spending time with his disciples. When Jesus was teaching anyone of His disciple He always had the others disciples around listening to that conversation. Rarely do we find Jesus doing one on one ministry accept for Prayer with the Father and very few random examples. Even though a comment might have been directed to one disciple in particular the rest of the disciples observed and caught the splash over by default. What a great example Jesus gives of having influence beyond the target. If we target our local community while also spreading that influence through broadcasting and social media, God can reach more lost and discouraged souls than had you not given opportunity to splash and multiple your influence.      

               In our local ministry we know we have had impact and influence through audio/website/blog and video broadcast around the world. If you would like suggestions and ideas based on your equipment and budget constraints I would be glad to consult and direct. When it comes to communication on the internet the lowest form of communication is print and the highest form of communication is live and interactive video. Let’s reach our world for Christ and not limit what God will do with His word when released beyond our direct control.

Peter Migner is a pastor in Florida who also does personal digital consulting for churches and pastors. You can reach him and review his blogs at www.petermigner.com

The ministry of “Digital Touch”

   So you pastor a large church and you only have so much time to get it all done. Or, you pastor a smaller church and work a full time job and only have so much time to get it all done. Whichever pastor you are, you are busy and desire to be as effective as possible with the same 24/7 as the next guy right? You keep hearing about all the latest tools and sometimes it gets a little crazy trying to discern what you have time to learn in order to save money and time.  

         

         I want to suggest 4 tools to use for consideration for effective touches with less than 3 hours a week. These digital touch tools you likely already own and use. Those tools are your phone, a text, the mailbox and video email.

Regardless if you have 100 or 2000 people in your church those people would so appreciate a personal touch by their senior pastor at least once a year. We all realize that in this post modern culture that the door to door personal visit is almost gone. However, there still does exist those personal visits for the hospital call, tragic situation, counseling and the random builder generation visits. The surprise visits or random drop in calls are quickly becoming a thing of days past.

   So how does the contemporary pastor touch every member in a year regardless of the size of the ministry up to 2000 people? Some folks can be personally touched in different ways and feel just as loved and touched as the next person with a different method or tool. So instead of breaking people into groups I will break tools into groups and you can place the people you have under those respective touches that they would identify and appreciate most. Start touching once a week or on special days and see the blessing you will become to strengthening the body of Christ. Birthday and Anniversaries can be your back up to assure you touch everyone once a year.

~Digital Touches~

The Phone: Call those people in your church who have a special birthday or anniversary with a quick 15 second greeting and a brief prayer. Put those days in your phone or calendar to remind you and many of those you can do between appointments. If they are talkers and you don’t have time to get caught then use one of the next 3 tools.

Text Message: It’s easy to have a standard prayer or Happy something with their name in it under 160 characters. Send a text message and it might hit them at just the right moment in the day. For them to know their pastor had them on his or her mind at that special time is hugh. It’s easy and quick and depending on the age and how often they use text it is just as effective as hearing your voice and for some more so. 

Card in the Mail. For years I used them until the advent of email and then got away from it. But with technology there are some great tools. My favorite time saver is now SOC. I have sent out over 1500 pieces in the last 3-4 years. I can give blast the same card to lists at special holidays too.  I can do many personal typed cards months in advance and have it programmed to send a card, postcard or even include gifts with cards with my signature just in time for that special day in the mailbox. For under a $1.05 per greeting card ( stamp included) it is a pastor’s gift to send a real card without having to leave your desk top. Last of all but not necessarily least is the email but with a personal touch beyond the common.

Video Mail: ComF5 offers a great tool for sending emails with audio and/or video or both imbedded in your email message. I started using that over 5 years ago and I have had amazing comments over the years. This allows your voice or face or both in front of theirs in a very personal way while you still control the time factor.

Schedule your time accordingly once a week and look at your people and who would appreciate which touch the best along with which touch saves you the most time and you will keep the touch of ministry balanced within the digital age without losing your mind.

Peter Migner is a pastor in Florida who also does personal digital consulting for churches and pastors. You can reach him and review his blogs at www.petermigner.com

Driving in the Spirit?

Driving in the Spirit!



Recently I drove to Jacksonville, Florida for a meeting with my District Superintendent. We had a very fruitful and positive meeting. Over lunch he shared with me a few stories of lives transformed radically in his earlier ministry. As I left the office that day I found myself feeling impressed to pick up a hitcher on 1-95 south bound.

I really do not do this very often and when I do I’m with another adult male or alone, but never with my wife or kids in the car. I know that 9-out of 10 hitch hikers are hard pressed stories of life circumstances. If that were not he case they would not be out on the highway.
Wayne caught up to me on the road and hoped in. I had this sense of enjoying helping a fellow human being. Wayne was headed to Orlando. Orlando was another 60 minute drive beyond my home and 2 plus hours from where I picked Wayne up.

In the course of the afternoon Wayne and I got to really know each other. Wayne has no home, no job, no money and no possessions other than the clothes he was wearing. Wayne had been an electrician in years past and worked manual labors jobs as he could. Wayne is 52 and has a life long addition problem with alcohol as well as a long story of other challenges he has had. Wayne and I shared life and talked about dreams. He knew the bible and had a church to attend in Orlando at times. He went all the way to Jacksonville for work only to not find any and had only back in Orlando to go too after.

Wayne was burned from the long hours in the sun walking and told me he had a daughter in her 30’s with grandkids he never meet. He ran a couple errands with me and even bought me a Starbucks ice coffee with a card he had from another ministry earlier in the week.
The more time we spend together the more I wanted to help him. But I also realized that Wayne had gotten to this hard place over many years and there was no quick fix either. He needed hope, love and a new system to take him out of the street system he had learned to survive in.
We prayed together and shared and laughed along the road. As I gave him a new shirt, hot meal and cold water I saw Wayne open up and become connected with me in a wonderful manner over the afternoon. We even went into a Christian bookstore along the way and he started looking books while he waited on me.

As I walked with him and talked and went into a few stores running errands on my way with Wayne I wondered how many people looked at us together and wondered what a strange combo of men that is hanging out.

I really wanted to help Wayne find a place to start over and get a hot shower and a job, but all that was beyond me that day. Wayne said he would be fine and was so grateful for just the ride to the Daytona area. But I called home and told me wife I would be late because I was going the extra mile with Wayne. I decided I just did not want Wayne on the roads all night and felt the Lord would have me take him home.
As Wayne and I got into the area of Orlando that we was trying to get too he showed me his neighborhood. Showed me the gas station he hung out at and the bench where they hung too. Finally I asked Wayne where exactly he was going with no home or family. He told me he was going to the camp. I said Wayne could I see the camp? I finally pulled behind a shopping strip and power lines and we got out.

Wayne yelled out Lenny’s name and I said why you yelling? He said so they would know we were coming into the camp. I had all kinds of fear surface for a few moments. I wondered if they would mug me or what? But they were all fears and as soon as a few of the men in the camp saw Wayne it was like a reunion. Wayne bragged on me as the pastor who drove him all the way from Jacksonville back home to the camp. As I meet these 4 other men I had to just wonder what God was doing with this today. I sensed I needed to share my story with them and proceeded to preach the gospel to 5 homeless men from their 20’s, 30’s 40, and probably 60’s. One guy was hardened and the others were open. The 46 year Robert said he accepted Christ and knew no way out.

Wayne let me take some picture of him and his home less friends and then walked me back to my van. I prayed one last time with Wayne and encouraged Him to get out of this system into and God’s system so he would show the others how God can help them out of such hopeless situations. I truly believe that God has a plan for Wayne and part of that Plan was using me for an afternoon and God also had a plan for me and Wayne and his world was part of it.

I realize now more than ever that Wayne’s world would have been mine to some degree had Jesus not rescued me at age 19. What an amazing God we serve! I hope Wayne will call me with a testimony in the days ahead. He has an invitation to speak in my church to give his testimony when he gets totally free from his sinful addiction. I pray Wayne will pull through someday soon. I hope he will call me with the Joy of the lord I know God has for him. The Apostle Paul may have walked in the Spirit and had adventures, but for me I get to drive in the Spirit and what adventures we can have as well if we listen to the promptings of the Spirit from day to day.

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We just started riding around visiting people in the area for evangelism. We get laughed at alot and laugh alot ourselves. We really need a second Bike. Or should i say Ben needs his own Bike.


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A Maine Prayer Summit

What is prayer? You would think after 20 plus years of being a professing Christian and a Christian leader you would get a easy straight forward answer. Well perhaps! This past week I journeyed to Fairfield Maine to a very small town. At the Fairfield Church of the Nazarene were leaders and laymen gathered for a 3 day prayer summit.


My role was to webcast the event. Before I arrived, I wrote the following for a blog that is now finally getting up online. My perspective up to Maine was far different from the way back.

Train to Maine.

This is not my usual blog type content, but taking a train to Maine is not my usual trip either. Recently I had planned to go to Fairfield, Maine to assist a prayer Summit for web casting the weekend as well as teaching a seminar. There were several options I had for consideration. I could fly and spend half the time, or I could drive and be wiped out from the road or take a train and rest, read and enjoy the trip from a different perspective.

So I ventured for the train option having never taking that length of a trip by rail before. My train was supposed to depart at 6:07 a.m. from Lynchburg, Virginia. When I arrived early, I found out it was running late and going to depart at 7:20 a.m.At 7:20 a.m.: I was off and heading to the U.S. capital in D.C. to change trains and head to Boston. It was an enjoyable trip. I saw cities and stations I had not seen before and seaports from a rail eye view that I would not normally see from the highways. It was a great trip and I meet some interesting people along the way. I meet a contractor from Rhode Island as well as sat with a Wall Street investor from NYC. When I finally arrived in south station in Boston, it was 8:30 p.m. and a long day on the train with a 2-hour trip left to Saco, Maine where I was to spend the night with my mum! I decided to walk from South Station to north station to get some exercise after a long day sitting on the Ritz. It was a beautiful night in downtown Boston with 3 hours to kill as I dragged a suitcase and backpack through the financial district.

Needless to say my wheels squeaked more now than before the trip as I dragged the green monster over cobblestones all the way to Fanuell Hall marketplace where I enjoyed some street entertainer along the way.As I walked along the park near the north end, I saw some beggars working hard to beg a living from every by passer. I work to hard to make it myself, so I am not too much on giving to street charity people. I will admit though that I was tempted for a minute to sit down and try my hand at begging. I thought, “I wonder what it must be like and maybe I should experience it first hand and see what it feels like and how hard it might be to get a quarter by looking and being pitiful”.

I decided if I ever wanted to run for political office in the future, having that experience on my resume would probably do me in, so I kept going along dragging my squeaky box suitcase! As I continued along the small Fanuell Park I noticed a holocaust tribute area and as I went through it I thought of our own modern day abortion holocaust that nobody has been able to completely rescue this hidden class of people from the torment of death yet. As I walked through the archways underneath my feet was a grid with hot coals steaming under you like burning people I assumed. It was a very moving experience, I had not expected in downtown Boston on weeknight.

Just before crossing over to North Station, I snapped a couple pictures to prove I was there and as you could see I took a picture of one of my favorite coffee shop signs of the world. After getting to North Station I still had over 1 hour to wait and decided to change my clothes and wash up after a long trip as I prepared to roll into the next day as I finished out the DownEaster Train to Saco. As I boarded the DownEaster I finally got the opportunity to get a wireless connection to go online, only to not succeed after all. Anyway, it was a pretty long and different day and a most enjoyable experience even though it was a very long day. I went to the very end of the train to get by myself, to experience having all the young and intoxicated young people at the station jump in on my train cart. In particular one young man that spoke to me earlier reminded me of myself when I lived in Maine at age 19. I guess I can

say thank God for trains to Maine.

Now for the Rest of the Story on prayer: I admit it! I do not pray as much as I should want too and as much as I know too. However, what is it? It is just time with the Lord Jesus Christ in Daily Communion or in a certain position for a certain duration of time? Pray does take on different aspects and some aspects help some connect better than others, but all aspects are a part of the great aspect of prayer. During the prayer summit, we are encouraged to fast, pray, and seek God for His anointing and power. This summit was blanketed in much prayer for many weeks and months prior to the gathering. It was awesome! God's Spirit poured out and fell on us all. However, the greatest element of prayer at the summit for me was CONFESSION! I blew it on the way to Maine and knew it all weekend. Therefore, when God fell and confession seemed to be the flow among several including a few leaders I knew I had to confess.

I confessed my selfish fearful act of sinful omission that I had been prompted to act upon during my train ride. You see during the Summit, Elaine Pettit poured out her heart about souls missing heaven and ending up in Hell and I knew I had blown an opportunity and a tug from God to share and build a relationship with a young lost soul on the train. I justified at the time why I did not share Christ or at least begin to engage the soul of a man verses the surface stuff of life most people spend too much idle time chatting about.

Nevertheless, in hindsight I learned that I had blown what God was speaking to me about on the train late at 1:30 a.m. in the morning. You see I realized a again that PRAYER is not just talking, but it is also listening to the Holy Spirit. I had the prompting of His Spirit drawing a young man to my attention and I was pushing it off at the time. However, at the Prayer Summit I realized I was had not been listening in prayer.
The good news is I also saw God work at the prayer summit and one man later confessed that during the day on Saturday he was able to lead his own elderly Father to the Lord. WOW, somehow I felt that my public confession of not listening in prayer to God became part of God using my failure to encourage others to go and share while they could still have the opportunity. We truly serve an amazing God. To think God even uses our confessions of sin and omission of sin to encourage others to win the lost is amazing.

I thank God for one of the boldest Women Evangelist Preachers I know. Rev. Elaine Pettit. She preachers with her Heart, Life and passion as she LISTENS in prayer to God and great things flow from her Waiting Schools and Prayer Summits. Alternatively, should I say, His Waiting Schools? One of the final instructions Jesus left the disciples before leaving earth as He ascended into the Clouds was too wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit. Those 120 disciples were listening in Prayer, waiting in Prayer and then the Holy Spirit Fell and they reacted in prayer. It is all Prayer, as we obey the Lord. The early disciples of the first century did not know what they were waiting to experience when the Holy Spirit came as promised. We should also wait and indeed many of us are starting to truly wait again in these last days, but many do now know how He will show up until he does show up in power and it is often different from previous experience to the next. Therefore, may we continue to pray and wait on the Lord in these last days.