Ordination Prayer

Many people have commented about the prayer that my dad prayed during my ordination service. I thought I would upload it and share it with everyone. Oh, I also put the wrong date on the video. It should be 5-31-2010.



Transcript of ordination prayer by James Chesney for his son, Byron Chesney, during his ordination into the Gospel ministry:

"Let’s pray,
Heavenly father we come to you today on this most solemn occasion. An occasion, Lord, in which we present to you a man that we believe, has been called by you to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We know Lord this is one of the highest callings there can be; the highest calling being the call to accept Christ as our Savior. But Lord we know that the ministry of the gospel is the ministry of the power of God unto Salvation to save the souls of men. Lord I pray, thanking you today, for this time that we have, this experience that we have, to present Byron to you. Lord and we pray, Lord the blessings upon him. We pray Lord that your holy spirit would rest upon him in such a way that the messages that he preaches will be powerful, they’ll move upon people’s hearts and upon people’s minds, and Lord, that we’ll see souls saved and we’ll see people reconciled to you and we’ll see backsliders come back to you. And Lord we pray that you’ll give him these great experiences as he dedicates his life to the preaching of the Gospel. And Lord we also pray that you’ll be with him during those times when they become hard. We know Lord that a Minister of the Gospel has a hard road to travel. And we know Lord that there will be times when some of the people that he thinks support him the most will turn against him. And Lord I pray that during those times that you’ll lift him up. We pray Lord that he’ll be reminded of our Lord Jesus Christ and how that He hung on the cross and all of His friends forsook Him. We pray that you will strengthen him during those times and show him that he still has the task of preaching the Gospel to those people. I pray that he’ll always preach it in love. I pray that he’ll always preach the Gospel not in the spirit of vengeance or retaliation but in the spirit of love and reconciliation reaching out to people to get them to repent of their sins and turn to Jesus Christ. And Lord, we pray too Lord, that when those times come when he sees success, we pray Father that it won’t go to his head. And we pray Lord that he’ll always understand that success that he sees is due to you it’s not due to him, and I think he knows that now, but Lord we pray for this anyway because the human mind, the human heart, is such that sometimes we allow things to affect us and we start thinking that somehow or other that it’s us, that somehow or other that we have done something great. Lord we know that it’s you; you have done the great things. Not only do we pray for him we pray for Mary. We pray Lord thanking you so much for her and standing by Byron. We pray Lord that you would continue to be with her and strengthen her and help her during times when he needs encouragement. And we pray Father, that she’ll always be there by his side and always be willing to help him during the times that he needs her. And we pray for his children. We thank you for them. We pray Lord that they will always be very pleased that their father is a Minister of the Gospel and never at any time should they ever feel somehow that they are ashamed of what he does, because Lord we know that this is one of the highest callings there could be – to preach the Gospel. And we pray for them especially Lord. Because sometimes they are in the spotlight, sometimes people are looking at them and judging them. We pray Lord for your Grace upon them. And then finally Lord, we pray that you’ll give Byron opportunity. We pray Lord believing that you called him, and we pray that you would give him opportunity to go out there and preach the Gospel and to see souls saved. And we know Lord that he prepares; we know that he studies, and I pray that you continue to help him as he learns and as he develops his preaching skills. And we pray Father, that those skills and all will be rewarded by you by offering him opportunities to serve you and opening doors that he may reach people for the Gospel’s sake. These things we pray in Jesus name. – Amen".

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A Humbling Day

It was the day I had been both dreading and looking forward to for a very long time. On Sunday, May 30, 2010 at 2:00 PM, I was Ordained by the Church for the purpose of working in the Gospel Ministry by members of Highland Baptist, along with 10 ordained men which made up the Ordaining Council. Although I was called to preach many years ago and was an interim pastor at another church and licensed over 10-years ago, my pastor believed it was the right time for me to be ordained. 

I fully realize that God is the One Who calls men into the Gospel ministry and man's approval or ordination is not needed in any way; however, it is one of the customs of the Baptist Church to ordain men that have been called into the ministry to show that he has proven his calling and has walked worthy in the council of God and is trustworthy. Some people do not agree with this custom and that's okay, they have the right to their own opinion. 

Being ordained is a very humbling experience. I am one of those folks that doesn't like to have a lot of attention focused on me so you can only imagine what it was like to be brought under the microscope. I had imagined all sorts of wild things that could possibly happen (I should never have read the horror stories on the Internet or listened to idle tongues that like to wag) everything went very smoothly. In fact, it was more like a very good worship service.

As I've already mentioned, there were 10 ordained men on the Presbyter including; 

1. Pastor Dave Hutchison (moderator and preached the charge)
2. Bro. A.J. Crawford (Quiz Master)
3. Bro. Mike Earl
4. Bro. Dave Hutchison Jr.(Clerk) 
5. Bro. Kevin Roberts (Presented Bible) 
6. Bro. James Chesney (Ordination Prayer)
7. Bro. Mack Orick 
8. Bro. Edd Buckner 
9. Bro. Oliver Arms Jr.
10. Bro. Frank Roberts. 

I really appreciate each one of these men that took a part in the service. I've only been to a handful of ordination services to be able to compare with but everyone that I have talked to said that it was better than any they had ever experienced. I pray that I will always honor the LORD and never do anything to bring shame to His name. He has brought me through so much and shown me his Love, Grace, and Mercy, more than I deserve.

Listen to Pastor Dave's charge HERE, and my mother and Sis. Carol took some pictures during the service, you can view them all HERE

Listen to my dad as he prays the ordination prayer:

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