At Kingdom Causes Bellflower, our hope is that the Church and people in Bellflower are praying for our city: its leaders, businesses, schools, law enforcement, congregations, and neighborhoods. In fact, that was the inspiration behind KCB's Lenten Devotional Series! Over the last month, we have had multiple pastors and community leaders write devotions and blogs about how to pray for our local businesses, schools, congregations, and neighbors. Today I'd like to focus on how we can pray for our local city leaders.
I try to make it out to a city council meeting at least once a month. The meetings are quite informative and often amusing. Every two weeks decisions are made at City Hall that shape our community's future. But how often do I take time to pray for the leaders who are making these decisions? Not often enough! It's easy to critique them when I disagree with a decision (or hi-five them after a meeting when I liked something they said), but what does it look like to truly care for and pray for them on a regular basis?
In addition to their responsibility to serve in our city, each of them has a life, a family, and all the joys and sorrows that come along with those things. In fact, three of our council members have full-time jobs or own their own businesses, and the other two are retired, but incredibly active in local service clubs. These guys have a lot on their plate!
Please join me in praying for Bellflower's City Council members and key staff as they do their best to fulfill our city's mission statement: To protect and enrich the quality of life, to make Bellflower an excellent place to live, work and play.
Pray that God would inspire them with dreams and ideas that would make Bellflower a thriving and healthy community for all neighbors.
Pray that God will give them wisdom, discernment, and integrity as they make difficult decisions on behalf of the residents of Bellflower.
*I encourage all of you to attend at least one meeting so you can see how government works at a local level. The Bellflower City Council meetings take place every 2nd and 4th Monday night at 7pm, and you can see upcoming agenda's here.
About the Author: Chrissy Padilla Birkey is the Executive Director of KCB. When they’re not busy chasing their toddler around, Chrissy and her husband, Cody, like to dream and "nerd out" about ways to see Bellflower thrive.