Category Archives: Event

Guest Writer: Pastor Joe Ganahl

Pastor Joe Ganahl

As a pastor, I am passionately involved in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the world and I am not ashamed of it. I am also not ashamed of being an American and I passionately love our country and her Christian values. I preached on “politics” for several weeks surrounding the November election… not necessarily on a particular candidate… but on each parties political platform and encouraged our people to vote on the platforms, not necessarily candidates. One platform was unashamedly Christian, while the other platform was filled with opposition to biblical values. They were some of the most powerful… and most informative… messages I had ever preached. Praise God that SD… and the rest of our nation… elected a party and people who share those biblical values… back to positions of power.

On February 7th… I was able to attend the FHA Action’s SD Ministry Leaders’ Capitol Summit in Pierre. It was the first one I had ever attended. I’d love to say I had a great time and can’t wait to go back… but for me, as an introvert… it was a little uncomfortable. I didn’t know anyone except Dale Bartscher… and he was a little too busy to babysit me all day!! However, as I walked around the Capitol and witnessed numerous State Representatives, Senators, and Cabinet officials boldly proclaiming their faith… God spoke to me about how they needed our support and our prayers.

I came back with a big project in mind. Personal prayer cards for every Representative, every Senator, and every Cabinet official… regardless of political party… based on 1 Tim 2:1-3…
“First of all, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for everyone… for kings and all those in authority… so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity… this is good and it pleases God our Savior.”

That’s a tall task. Hundreds of envelopes had to be addressed and stamped… and hundreds had to be taken by our congregation and personally written in. My administrative assistants, Darlis and Sarah, did an amazing job of getting that ready in a short week and then preparing them for our congregation. We made an announcement on a Sunday morning… telling people what we were doing… and asking them to take at least one card, but possibly more… and write something in there encouraging our elected officials. By the end of the day… ALL the cards had been taken. God was using us to do exactly what He had planned. To pray for those in authority… all those in authority… even those we might possibly disagree with. We hope we were able to be a blessing and encouragement to those folks during an extremely difficult time… and to let them know there were people that supported them and were praying for them. It was a great privilege for us to be involved in this way.